Regulation | The Verge

ABC demands FCC drop its ‘punitive’ early license renewal of its stations

2026-07-30T13:08:14-04:00

ABC filed its formal opposition to the Federal Communications Commission's effort to force it to submit to an early renewal of its broadcast station licenses, calling it an effort to chill the speech of broadcasters across the country.

In a new filing with the FCC, ABC charges that the agency's willingness to pursue the early renewal of eight of its licenses far before they expire is "extraordinary and unprecedented." The company alleges the FCC "has spent the last 18 months searching for some pretext for revoking the Stations' licenses," but charges that the agency's real motivations for pursuing these licenses are clear: "Each is owned by …

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Full school day cellphone bans are more popular than ever

2026-07-29T13:01:05-04:00

As schools across the country continue to implement cellphone bans, a new Pew Research Center survey shows they continue to gain support.

Seventy-seven percent of US adults support banning cellphones in middle and high school classes, and 48 percent support banning them for the entire school day. That's the first time more Americans have supported, rather than opposed, so-called bell-to-bell bans. Two years ago, just 36 percent of American adults supported an all day ban.

Across all age groups over 18 that were surveyed, most respondents support in-class bans. That support is lower but still at least half for all-day bans across most age …

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New Yorkers will soon need to verify their age to access algorithmic feeds

2026-07-28T19:46:49-04:00

New Yorkers who want to see their Instagram or TikTok feed curated by an algorithm, or receive notifications after midnight, will soon have to verify their ages to access those features.

New York Attorney General Letitia James released a set of final rules on how to implement the SAFE for Kids Act, signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul in June 2024. The rules lay out in more detail what social media platforms subject to the law will need to do in order to comply, including standards for understanding users' ages and how to go about obtaining parental consent for kids to use walled-off features. The law will officially go into effect on Janua …

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Whack-a-drone

2026-07-27T09:47:57-04:00

In Pasadena, California, there's a cute red brick courtyard where one storefront isn't like the rest. The glass doors open onto a sparse industrial hallway, which leads to a sunlit foyer with a large spiral staircase. Go up, and you'll see a typical coworking space: open tables, healthy snacks, a collection of meeting rooms with glass walls. Follow one hallway most of the way back, and you'll find Office 18.

There are no signs of life in this tiny private office that's supposed to be the headquarters of Odyssey Robot, an upstart US drone company. We saw three small desks and chairs, but no power strips, no monitors, no keyboards or chargers …

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TikTok’s protection of minors should not be opt-in, warns EU

2026-07-24T07:50:10-04:00

TikTok has attracted the ire of the European Union over its protection of children who use the video sharing platform. The European Commission announced preliminary findings today under the Digital Services Act (DSA) that offer specific issues to address.

The Commission suggests that TikTok should adjust the default settings of minors' "public" accounts so the content they post is only visible to TikTok users the teen has chosen to share it with, and that such content shouldn't be recommended to other users in the For You feed. Even accounts set to private can be easily discovered through the "following" lists of other users, and their prof …

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Google hit with $1 billion fine for breaking EU antitrust rules

2026-07-23T07:16:50-04:00

The European Union has fined Google's parent company Alphabet €890 million (about $1 billion) for two separate violations of the bloc's Digital Markets Act (DMA). One penalty is for giving its own products preferential treatment in search results, while the other is for blocking Android developers from sending users to alternate payment options.

A €460 million fine has been issued to Google for giving preferential treatment to its own Shopping, Hotels, and Flights services in Google Search results. The second €430 million penalty is for Play Store rules preventing developers from freely steering consumers to alternative payment systems that …

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AliExpress fined almost $630 million over illegal product sales

2026-07-20T07:16:32-04:00

The fine is more than double the penalty that Temu was slapped with for similar DSA violations. | Illustration: The Verge

AliExpress has been hit with a €550 million (about $629 million) fine for violating Europe's Digital Services Act (DSA) rules by failing to prevent illegal, unsafe, or counterfeit products from being sold on the e-commerce platform. The European Commission ruled that AliExpress didn't take effective measures to reduce the dissemination of illegal products, noting the company "allocated insufficient staff" to verify products, and failed to remove unsafe toys and dangerous cosmetics for "multiple weeks" after they were detected.

"The spread of counterfeit clothing, unsafe toys, dangerous cosmetics and other illegal and harmful products is not …

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Instagram and Facebook will likely require a redesign after EU rules they’re ‘addictive’

2026-07-10T07:49:56-04:00

Meta is in breach of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), a preliminary investigation has found, over the "addictive" design of Instagram and Facebook. It's likely to be forced to redesign both apps and could face a fine of up to $12 billion.

The European Commission said Meta "did not adequately assess the risks of its addictive design on the physical and mental wellbeing of users, including minors and vulnerable adults." It singled out features like personalized recommendations, autoplay, and infinite scroll, arguing that they "fuel the user's urge to keep scrolling and shift the brain into 'autopilot mode.'"

The report also criticizes th …

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Cleared by the US, derailed by the UK: Getty’s Shutterstock merger falls apart

2026-07-01T05:18:06-04:00

Getty says it’s “not required” to accept approval conditions that would force Shutterstock to offload its editorial business. | Image: The Verge

Getty is planning to axe its $3.7 billion merger agreement with Shutterstock after a UK regulator imposed restrictions that would prevent part of Shutterstock's business from being included in the deal. The move comes despite the US Department of Justice granting the deal "unconditional antitrust clearance" in February.

In an SEC filing published on Tuesday in the US, Getty said it is "not required to accept" approval conditions outlined by the UK Competition and Markets Authority in May that require Shutterstock to sell its global editorial business, including the Backgrid and Splash paparazzi agencies.

Those conditions have proved unappe …

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Under-16 social media ban announced by UK government

2026-06-15T05:31:19-04:00

The UK is the latest country to follow Australia in implementing a total social media ban for children under 16, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced. The ban, which could take effect from early next year, will be joined by wider measures that will also prevent children from talking to strangers in online games, livestreaming, or using sexual or romantic chatbots.

"Do we truly believe that social media creates a happy environment for our children? Do we truly believe that it's a place where they can feel safe?" Starmer asked during a press conference announcing the policy. "I don't think I even need to answer those questions, do I?"

" …

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