FTC reportedly finalizing its biggest Amazon antitrust case yet

Tech Crunch

The moment Amazon feared when FTC Chair Lina Khan was appointed may soon arrive: Bloomberg reports that the agency is putting the final touches on its most substantial antitrust case against the tech giant, and could file suit in the next few weeks.

According to documents viewed by Bloomberg and sources familiar, the upcoming suit will allege that Amazon systematically disadvantages merchants who don’t use certain “optional” services like “Fulfilled by Amazon.” If the FTC can show that Amazon is maliciously manipulating a market it has something like monopoly power in, it could make the case that the company needs to be broken up or restructured.

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Can Canada make big tech pay for news?

BBC

Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, and Google say they will block local news from their platforms in Canada after the country became the latest jurisdiction to pass a law aimed at forcing tech giants to pay news providers for content. What happens now?

As president of La Presse, a leading French-language publication in Quebec, Pierre-Elliott Levasseur says he tried for years to negotiate payment agreements with tech giants, which he believed were sucking up data and ad dollars on the strength of news articles his 220-odd staff were supplying.

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Meta is planning to let people in the EU download apps through Facebook

The Verge

Meta is planning to let people in the EU directly download apps through Facebook ads, setting the company up to eventually compete with Google and Apple’s app stores.

The new type of ad is set to start as a pilot with a handful of Android app developers as soon as later this year, I’ve learned. Meta sees an opening to try this thanks to new regulation in the EU called the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that is expected to go into effect next spring. It deems Apple and Google as “gatekeepers” and requires that they open up their mobile platforms to alternative methods of downloading apps.

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China Mobile Forms Metaverse Industry Alliance With Huawei, Xiaomi, iFlytek, 20 Others at MWC

Computer Weekly

China’s biggest carrier China Mobile announced at this year’s Mobile World Conference that it has set up a metaverse industry alliance with 23 other members.

The group’s first 24 members include hardware makers such as Huawei Technology, Xiaomi, Faceunity Technology, and Moore Threads, and application developers, including iFlytek and Unity China, covering the fields of content creation, extended reality terminals, and computing power network, China Mobile said.

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Mobile banking skyrockets with Brazil transactions nearly 80% digital

BN Americas

Fueled by a surge in mobile operations, 77% of all banking transactions carried out in Brazil last year were via digital channels such as smartphones or PCs, according to the second part of a banking tech survey carried out by consultancy Deloitte for Brazilian banking association Febraban.

The transaction include financial ones such as paying bills and non-financial ones such as checking a balance.

The study was carried out with 17 Brazilian banks and released during Febraban Tech, the largest financial technology event in Latin America, which is being held this week in São Paulo.

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How Mobile Payments Are Revolutionizing The Consumer Experience

Forbes

Mobile payments have become more than just a convenient alternative to traditional payment methods. They have ushered in a wave of exciting side effects that are gaining momentum among target consumers. As technology continues to evolve and reshape the way we interact with financial transactions, these side effects are transforming the consumer experience in unexpected ways.

From enhanced security and personalized offers to seamless integration and financial empowerment, 18 Forbes Finance Council members explain how these side effects are reshaping consumer behavior and redefining the future of commerce.

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Spotify, Snapchat & LinkedIn: How generative AI is taking over your favourite mobile apps

Indian Express

With generative AI taking centre stage in the world of software following the launch of ChatGPT, it’s no surprise that some of the most downloaded apps on your phone are finding new and innovative ways to leverage the technology. Most recently, LinkedIn announced that it is testing the ability to create entire posts using generative AI to help save users time and express themselves better.

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Text messaging’s potential could lead to huge growth for the mobile industry

Beta News

If you are under 30, you’ve never known a world without texting. Even if you’re much older, messaging has been ubiquitous for so long, it’s easy to forget you never knew the power of your thumbs when you were a child. Text messaging can mean different things to different people. Some equate text messaging with SMS. For others — and I fall into this camp — text messaging is a wider catch-all for SMS and chat apps such as WhatsApp, Viber etc. That’s the definition we’ll be going with.

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Commission welcomes provisional political agreement on EU Digital Identity Wallet, Europe’s first trusted and secure digital identity app

European Commission

The Commission welcomes the provisional political agreement of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU on the key elements of the proposal for a legal framework for a European Digital Identity. The central innovative element of this framework is a personal digital wallet in the form of a secure and convenient mobile app. This will allow all EU citizens, residents and businesses to have trustworthy access to public and private online services all over Europe.

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