A Brazilian Supreme Court justice blocked Elon Musk’s X in Brazil beginning Saturday after Musk (cleverly? childishly?) attempted to evade legal action by refusing to name a local legal representative. The justice opened an investigation into X earlier this year over “fake news.” Brazil is X’s fourth-largest market with some 40 million monthly users.
Researchers at the U.K.’s University of Bristol claim that some of the biggest U.S. gambling sites published over 1,000 posts in one week that did not include information on problem gambling support or a helpline number. This is in breach of the industry’s own self-imposed marketing regulations. Among those named were BetMGM, DraftKings, ESPN Bet and FanDuel.
Back in the U.S. of A, a federal judge has blocked the part of Texas’s SCOPE Act that required social media companies to filter certain kinds of “harmful content” for teens. Requirements remain in place for parental consent for social media accounts and restrictions on collecting data from the young. The judge criticized the Act’s language as vague and undefined.
Google is facing another antitrust lawsuit, this time in Canada, specifically focusing on anti-competitive practices in online advertising. The Competition Tribunal has been asked to order Google to sell two of its ad tech tools, prohibit future anti-competitive practices and fine the company billions of dollars. In response, Google points to a highly competitive market offering plenty of alternatives.