HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) published a guide to the availability and issues of the digital platform reporting service, for checking its status and known issues. The document provides the latest updates on the service’s availability and any issues encountered.
South Africa is increasingly seen as a hotspot for cybercrime, with multiple cases involving cross-border scams, sextortion, and harm to minors. South Africa’s Cybercrimes Act can be used to prosecute offenders, but regulation of the digital platforms on which these crimes rely remains inadequate. A report by the Free Speech Movement and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung says South Africa could draw on the EU Digital Services Act by requiring platforms to meet reporting, risk assessment, and systemic risk mitigation obligations, rather than simply transplanting European law.
The EU ePrivacy Directive (2002/58/EC) is the law governing when websites, apps, and advertisers may access or store information on users’ devices. It is also the legal basis for cookie banners. Article 5(3) requires users’ prior consent to access information on their terminal equipment.
Dark patterns are interface designs that steer users toward decisions they did not intend to make through the way an interface is structured rather than through false statements. Three main techniques are hiding information, giving options unequal prominence, and making it harder to opt out. Their classification often draws on a 2019 paper by researchers at Princeton University and the University of Chicago, which groups examples into seven types: sneaking, urgency, misdirection, social proof, scarcity, obstruction, and forced action.
The EU Council’s position paper, published on June 18, removed Article 88b of the Digital Omnibus, which would have required websites to recognize and comply with privacy preference signals sent by browsers. Nineteen organizations, coordinated by noyb, BEUC, and EDRi, jointly wrote to the European Parliament, Council, and Commission, urging them to restore the provision in trilogue negotiations. Google had submitted comments arguing that the article should be deleted and commissioned a report claiming it would cause online advertising to collapse.
The European Commission published the full reasoning behind its July 16, 2026 decision on Google Search data sharing: Implementing Decision C(2026) 5091 in case DMA.100209. The document records the Commission’s rejection of Google’s anonymization method, value-based pricing, three-year access limit, and exclusion of AI chatbots, because Google’s original method would have removed 90% to 100% of unique queries, making the data almost useless to competitors.
U.S. Trade Representative Greer issued a statement on the European Commission’s announcement of a nearly $1 billion fine against Google, saying the move heightened uncertainty in transatlantic trade relations. The statement also referred to two EU actions under the Digital Markets Act targeting Google’s Android system and search services, as well as the largest state-backed loan ever provided to Airbus. Greer said the United States hoped to address its concerns about actions under the Digital Markets Act and other measures through dialogue.