Following the European Union’s DMA (Digital Market Act) that moved Apple to compliance, it appears that Australia is planning on cracking down on the dominance of tech giants as well.

Tech giants may face new competition scrutiny in Australia

For those unaware, many regions and governments are facing issues in challenging the dominance of tech giants in the digital market. EU set a major example as it managed to make Apple comply with its stricter regulations. Apple had a closed ecosystem with its App Store but recently allowed third party app stores in Europe. Australia is seeking to repeat this miracle and is pushing for new competition laws in the digital realms as well.

The latest report from Reuters states that Australia’s competition agency is advocating for new laws that will adapt to the rapid growth of digital platforms like Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Apple in the region. The ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) added in a recent report that the Digital Platform Services Inquiry is concerned over the increased risk of wrongful behavior from these platforms.

These wrongfu behaviors could include invasive data gathering and locking in customers into a specific ecosystem and restricting their choices. ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said “Our proposed reforms include a call for targeted consumer protections and service-specific codes to prevent anti-competitive conduct by particular designated digital platforms.”

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Late on Wednesday, July 5, French lawmakers reached a consensus to grant police the authority to remotely access and activate the cameras, microphones, and GPS systems of suspects’ smartphones and other devices. This provision, included in a broader justice reform bill, has sparked criticism from both left-wing activists and defenders of civil liberties, who argue that it represents a step towards an authoritarian surveillance state. Justice Minister Éric Dupond-Moretti sought to allay concerns, stating that the measure would only be utilized in “dozens of cases a year.”

A lot of ethical dilemmas will surround this decision in the near future

The scope of the surveillance measure encompasses laptops, cars, and other connected objects, in addition to phones. It permits the geolocation of individuals suspected of crimes punishable by a minimum of five years’ imprisonment. Moreover, law enforcement would be able to remotely activate devices to capture audio and visual evidence of individuals implicated in acts of terrorism, as well as delinquency and organized crime.

Digital rights group La Quadrature du Net voiced significant apprehensions over these provisions, citing potential infringements on fundamental liberties. The organization emphasized the rights to security, privacy, private correspondence, and freedom of movement, arguing that this proposal marks a worrisome trajectory toward excessive security measures.

During the parliamentary debate, MPs aligned with President Emmanuel Macron’s party introduced an amendment that restricts the use of remote spying to instances “when justified by the nature and seriousness of the crime” and “for a strictly proportional duration.” Furthermore, any utilization of this provision must receive judicial approval, and the total duration of surveillance cannot exceed six months. Importantly, individuals in sensitive professions, including doctors, journalists, lawyers, judges, and MPs, would be exempt from being targeted.

Responding to concerns about excessive surveillance, Dupond-Moretti dismissed comparisons to George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984,” stating, “We’re far away from the totalitarianism of 1984.” He argued that the new law would save lives in the future.

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The Government of India has passed a new law the country which makes the use of USB Type-C charging ports compulsory for all upcoming electronic devices. The government gave a deadline of March 2025 to all the manufacturers out there to impose the changes. This means every product launching after March 2025 should have a mandatory USB Type-C charging port in the country. Further, there is some relief for the laptop manufacturers as they are given a deadline of the year 2026.

However, a recent piece of information hovering online claims that these new rules are not compulsory for all electronic devices. There are some devices which are excluded from the new law. The devices include feature phones, wearables, and wearables. This means they can continue to use the relevant charging method and are is no more forced to use the USB Type-C charging port. Rest all electronic devices, including smartphones will have to bring Type-C charging port in order to comply with the new guidelines released by the government of India.

The government official stated, “USB Type-C port has been made mandatory for mobiles and electronics, and the industry players are also on board, although stakeholders have stated that costs would increase for featurephones, wearables, and hearables.” The official added that the exclusion was implemented as a result of industry participants’ concerns about input expenses, which would increase the price of feature phones.

It is obvious that India is still a very large market for feature phone users, and it will be a very long time until they completely move to smartphones. The Indian government has created another subgroup to look into the viability of a standardised charging procedure for wearables purchased in India. The new initiative by the Indian government is definitely worth praising, and it will undoubtedly result in the creation of a single universal charging cable for all the electronics in your immediate environment.

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The popular social media app, TikTok, is pulling its service out of Hong Kong. The news arrives after the region adopted new national security laws that grow the Mainland Chinese government’s powers.

According to a spokesperson, “In light of recent events, we’ve decided to stop operations of the TikTok app in Hong Kong.” For those unaware, Hong Kong has recently adopted China’s Draconian regulations which have often been criticized for its censorship standards. Thus, global tech giants like Google, Facebook, and Twitter have already stopped processing requests for users’ data from the local government.

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TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is a Chinese firm that has been struggling to differentiate its extremely successful western application from its parent company and Douyin (the Chinese version of the social video app). It has faced various criticism regarding its handling of information, and we had even reported on a claim of its harvesting user data.

TikTok has always denied sharing any of its information with the Chinese government. Although now, the new security laws in Hong Kong might undermine this position as it would require companies to hand over various forms of data to the government. Notably, the US is considering a ban on TikTok and other Chinese applications, with India already banning the social media platform along with 58 other apps from China.

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Government officials in Russia have drafted a new law in the country that will mandate the inclusion of apps that support traditional Russian values in smartphone sold within the country.

The new law is applicable to smartphone tablets, computers and more of such kind and has been created by the Russian Anti-Monopoly Service. According to local state officials, the new guidelines help in the “formation of the priority of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values.” In other words, the smartphones sold within the country should arrive with apps that support Russian sentiments and beliefs.

Previously, the Russian Government had banned the sale of electronic devices that do not arrive with pre-installed Russian software. This law came into effect in November 2019 and was made so the local citizens are made aware of alternatives to popular western applications.

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Oleg Nikolayev, a co-author of the new guideline, stated that the smartphones sold in Russia only arrive with pre-installed western apps and the new law meant to change that. Meaning, help boost the local app makers and make their presence more known within the country. Oleg also mentioned that this will give more choice to the customers and foster a right to choose as well.

Despite the previous law passing in last November, manufacturers and distributors in Russia have yet to fully adopt the practice of pre-installation. The Association of Trading Companies and Manufacturers of Household Electrical Equipment and Computers said that installing Pro-Russian software in some devices might not be possible; with Apple being a great example, as the Cupertino-based giant might withdraw from the market because of the new law.

Apple representatives also discussed the new laws and claimed that they will consider withdrawing from Russia due to the new law. Reportedly, Apple does not consider Russia a significant or strategic market from a global standpoint

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Earlier this month, the European Union announced that it wished to create a new law that could force smartphone manufacturers to adopt a single common smartphone charging standard. The EU believes it will benefit the consumers and environment but Apple has taken a stance against it.

According to the Cupertino based giant, the move to standardize smartphone chargers will stunt innovation in the industry and could leave to force conformity and also create a lot of e-waste and ultimately harm consumers. Notably, this move from Apple is clearly to protect its best interest as the company stands to suffer the most losses if the law is passed.

A large part of Apple’s revenue is generated from its accessories that the company sells from various online and offline assets. These accessories, especially chargers, arrive with the proprietary lightning port, which means that it belongs to Apple. This means that the company can even charge third party manufacturers that make accessories for Apple products.

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One of the main arguments Apple stated was the “forced conformity” which could affect industry innovation. The tech giant also claimed that the move could also potentially harm the European economy. A study showed results in Apple’s favor as the law would cost consumers 1.5 billion Euros over a mere 13 million Euros in the form of environmental benefits.

The study also claims that nearly 49 percent of EU households utilize different types of chargers out of which only 0.4 percent ever face any significant issues. Apple stated that the law is obsolete as the industry is already shifting towards USB Type C ports via chargers or cable connectors. For example, the iPhone 11 Pro uses USB C but still requires a lightning cable adapter.

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IRAdvocates has filed a federal class action lawsuit today on behalf of 14 Doe Plaintiffs who are either guardians of children killed in tunnel or wall collapses while mining cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”) or children who were maimed in such accidents. The DRC has the world’s largest deposits of cobalt, an essential element of rechargeable lithium-ion battery in products made by all tech and electric car companies.

The lawsuit names Apple, Alphabet (Google), Dell, Microsoft, and Tesla as defendants. Plaintiffs have evidence that these companies in particular aided and abetted the mines that abused and profited from forcing plaintiffs and other children to mine cobalt under conditions that led to their deaths or serious, crippling injuries.

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“The young children mining Defendants’ cobalt are not merely being forced to work full-time, extremely dangerous mining jobs at the expense [of] their educations and futures,” says the suit, “they are being regularly maimed and killed by tunnel collapses and other known hazards common to cobalt mining in the DRC.”

“Cobalt is a key component of every rechargeable lithium-ion battery in all of the gadgets made by Defendants and all other tech and electric car companies in the world,” it continues, “that has brought on the latest wave of cruel exploitation fueled by greed, corruption and indifference to a population of powerless, starving Congolese people.”

The suit seeks a trial by jury and ultimately damages and costs to the miners. It also wants the companies to fund “appropriate medical care” for the plaintives, “and clean up the environmental impacts.” The suit seeks a trial by jury and ultimately damages and costs to the miners. It also wants the companies to fund “appropriate medical care” for the plaintives, and clean up the environmental impacts.”

Dr. Liwanga, a DRC national, commented: “this is the beginning of the end of impunity for those who have been economically benefiting from child labor in the DRC’s mining industry. DRC children also have an inherent and inalienable right to be protected from economic exploitation.” None of the companies have made any public statements regarding the suit.

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