EU Slaps Apple & Google with Big Fines; Google Messages Can Now Blur Unwanted Nudes; Tesla Profits Down 71%; OpenAI Wants to Buy Chrome

The European Union strikes again under its Digital Markets Act, fining Apple $571 million and Meta $228 million for breaches of the act. CNBC reports that the EU says Apple failed to comply with so-called “anti-steering” obligations under the DMA. Under the EU’s tech law, Apple is required to allow developers to freely inform customers of alternative offers outside its App Store. The tech giant was ordered by the EU to remove technical and commercial restrictions on steering and to refrain from perpetuating its non-compliant conduct in the future. As for Meta, the EU Commission found that the social media group illegally required users to consent to sharing their data with the company or pay for an ad-free service. This was in response to Meta’s introduction of a paid subscription tier for Facebook and Instagram in November 2023. Both companies will appeal. 

Google Messages is getting a useful new feature…the ability to blur unwanted nudes. Now, if some clown sends you an unsolicited picture of his equipment, Google will blur it out and give you a Sensitive Content Warning on Android. According to arstechnica.com, the option isn’t live on all Androids yet. If you are an adult, you will just get the warning, and then can peek if you like. If it is a supervised teen’s phone, the feature is enabled, and can’t be disabled on the child’s device. Only the Family Link administrator can do that. The detection of the nakedness is done on device. Google says the feature is a part of its Android System Safety Core. Apple just calls their version of this feature Sensitive Content Warning. Google’s should be available soon on all devices running Android v. 9 or higher. 

Tesla’s earnings call was yesterday, and the headline is everywhere that their profits dropped 71% on weak sales…due in no small part to people angry at Elon Musk’s meddling in the government. TechCrunch.com says the electric car maker reported $409 million in net income on $19.3 billion in revenue. They sold nearly 337,000 cars first quarter. First quarter of last year, Tesla did $1.4 billion in profit. The thing is, even the $400 million wasn’t due to car sales! Tesla made about that much on interest from investments, and made another $595 million by selling zero-emissions tax credits to other car makers. According to its earnings report — without those, it would have posted a loss. Elon Musk is now promising to put out the formerly cancelled cheaper Tesla yet this year, and has put off the robo-taxi vehicle to next year. He also promised to only spend one or two days a week at DOGE for what he said was as long as the president wants him.

With the Department of Justice vs Google trial continuing, and the government set on breaking up Google if they prevail, now a new twist has emerged. OpenAI is throwing its hat into the ring to buy Chrome, should Google be forced to sell it. Arstechnica.com notes that while OpenAI is in bed with Microsoft and their lousy Bing, they are eyeing Chrome. Of course there are other suiters too, but OpenAI would look to make it a fully AI first browser. Chrome with its 4 billion users and 67% market share would be a gigantic boost. Google has said that Chrome can’t make it on its own, but that is still another alternative….making it a free-standing company. With Google Ad placement and others, it likely could survive…but it is a fascinating thought that OpenAI could end up with it…with ChatGPT search instead of Google’s Gemini AI.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.