Chief District Judge Bryan Biedscheid delivers closing remarks after the jury reached a verdict against Meta at New Mexico's First Judicial District Court, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Santa Fe, N.M. (Nathan Burton/Santa Fe New Mexican via AP, Pool)

Why New Mexico v. Meta Matters

hand putting ballot paper in box, ballot paper, ballot box, binary code, election, voting, voting ballot, democracy, politics, politics and government, technology

AI Didn't Create the Election Infrastructure Problem. It Just Made It Urgent.

Image of map and computer language over binary codes on server racks in server room.

Global Digital Policy Roundup: July 2026

Attorney General Raul Torrez, is joined by a group of mothers advocating for a change to social media, at a news conference outside First District Court, in Santa Fe, N.M., Monday, May 4, 2026. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool)

New Mexico Court Orders Meta to Pay to Establish $567 Million Fund to Abate Harms to Youth

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) confer during a markup hearing on August 5. Yuqing Liu/Tech Policy Press.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) confer during a 

 on August 5. Yuqing Liu/Tech Policy Press.

Senate Committee Advances Four Bills Aimed at Protecting Children Online

Minister of the Supreme Electoral Court Kassio Nunes Marques attends the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro at the Supreme Court in Brasilia, Brazil, Friday, June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Brazil's Electoral Court Wants Platform Compliance Plans. Can It Enforce Them?

The OpenAI logo appears on a smartphone screen with the Microsoft logo in the background. (Photo by Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via AP)

Why Merger Law Misses Frontier AI's Ownership Structure

Participants, including Nvidia Corp. CEO Jensen Huang (front, 2nd from R), Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa (front, C) and Noetra Corp. President Hironobu Tamba (front, 2nd from L), pose for a photo during an event hosted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Tokyo on July 16, 2026. (Kyodo via AP Images)

What Sovereign AI Budgets Actually Buy

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, center, speaks during a report on children's safety online with co-chairs of the Special Panel Maria Melchior, right, and Jörg M. Fegert, left, at EU headquarters in Brussels, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Marius Burgelman)

Europe's Summer of Digital Services Act Enforcement Targets Platform Design

A pixelated black-and-white portrait of Ada Lovelace where the arrangement of pixels forms intricate borders and repeating patterns. These designs resemble the structure and layout of GPU microchip circuits, blending her historical contributions with modern computational technology.

Lovelace GPU by Hanna Barakat & Cambridge Diversity Fund / 

How AI Hype Helps Render Women Invisible

Police artificial intelligence technology wearing blue vest outfit isolated digital collage. Cop with vintage tv for head with AI text.

Will AI Sycophancy Contaminate Law Enforcement?

Aerial view of the work on White House Helipad on August 1, 2026 in Washington, D.C. Credit: mpi34/MediaPunch /IPX

Five Questions the US Government Should Answer About Its Secretive Frontier AI Framework

On the left, there is an image of a tree on a snowy, rocky landscape, with light shining in from the background. On the right, there is the same landscape, but it is now reproduced as grey and silver cubes in the shape of a tree and technical terrain, backgrounded by the light.

Linus Zoll & Google DeepMind / Better Images of AI / Generative Image models / CC-BY 4.0

The Model You Audit Is Not the Model You Ship

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) speak before a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on artificial intelligence at the US Capitol, in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. The two senators are among those sponsoring the GUARD Act. (Graeme Sloan/Sipa via AP Images)

AI Is Not Social Media. New Child Safety Laws Should Reflect That.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a report on children's safety online at EU headquarters in Brussels, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Marius Burgelman)

Does the EU's Special Panel Succeed in Charting a Third Path for Child Safety?

Earth movers prepare a site for a 2.5 million square foot AI data center Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Independence, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Big Tech’s PR Playbook for Overcoming Data Center Opponents

OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman is seen with aides in an elevator after a meeting with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Capitol Hill on July 29, 2026. (Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images)

July 2026 US Tech Policy Roundup

Google CEO Sundar Pichai talks before a dinner with President Donald Trump and Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in the State Dining Room of the White House, Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Google's AI Governance Plan Draws the Boundaries of What Counts as Harm

A view of the Berlaymont European Commission building in Brussels, Belgium on July 20, 2026. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via AP)

EU AI Act Transparency Rules Are Now In Effect. Was It A Missed Opportunity?

June 6, 2026: Protesters and officers with the Department of Homeland Security clashed outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles on the first anniversary of increased US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids across Los Angeles County. (Photo by Ted Soqui/Sipa via AP Images)

As Google Scrubs ICE Detention Reviews, Platform Power Serves State Interests

Nathaniel Lubin served as an expert witness in State of New Mexico v. Meta Inc.

State of New Mexico v. Meta Platforms, Inc.

 should prove a landmark decision in the battle to make Big Tech accountable for its products' harms: for the first time, a social media platform was found to have caused a “public nuisance” due in part to the mental health epidemic among children on the platform. While headline fines ($942 million across the two phases) will drive attention, the most important aspect of the verdict is the finding that technology platforms may be held legally responsible for the 

 of their products on critical populations of users.

A focus on these types of effects belies the popular narrative of social media as a persistent, small, drag on the productivity and wellbeing of all users. Instead, like prescription opioids, the trial revealed why this view of small effects on typical users is wrong and obscures platforms’ much more catastrophic effects on identifiable minorities of users, a reality that may well be echoed in future litigation.

As one of the state’s expert witnesses in the trial, one particular 

 from 2017 illustrates the key dynamic. Amid a discussion among employees about internal research on excessive use of Instagram, the photo-sharing app that Facebook acquired in 2012, Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri, wrote: “1.3 percent of people in the US spending 30-plus hours a week [on Instagram] sounds like a lot.” The staff member who conducted the research responded with a remark saying that it was a judgment call as to whether that was a big enough group to justify a response.

It is hard to understand asking whether a million people is a big enough group to deserve help. Yet that’s just what the decision requires: that treatment of such issues receive more than a perfunctory response.

The government’s case was vindicated in March when jurors in the first phase of the trial 

, on all counts, that the company had misrepresented the safety of its social-media products. This week’s ruling built on the jury’s finding by focusing on the “public nuisance” created by exposure to social media, similar to the legal responses to products like tobacco.

Judge Bryan Biedscheid’s decision is nuanced, and gives important procedural wins to Meta (which 

 it will appeal). But in establishing public nuisance for the first time – that “Meta’s platforms injure the public health, safety, and welfare in New Mexico” – he also ordered numerous binding requirements on Meta’s products and procedures. Specifically, in New Mexico he required that Meta:

Maintain private by default settings for all under-18 users, including preventing underage users from showing up in search results unless identified by specific username;

Prevent under-18 users from appearing in the recommendation algorithms of unconnected adults and prevent any unconnected adult from messaging an under-18 user;

Enforce a 1-strike policy for adult users who engage in child sexual exploitation, including all accounts related to such a user, and preventing the creation of future accounts;

Create a “clearly visible, forward-facing reporting mechanism” on every surface for unwanted sexual advances that receives a human review within 48 hours;

Prohibit “romantic or sexualized” interactions between children and AI chatbots;

 push notifications for under-18 users during both nighttime and schooltime hours, except for messaging from connected users and for security;

Implement mandatory time limits for under-18 users of not more than 90 hours cumulatively across Instagram and Facebook per month;

Show a warning banner to all adults at least once a month and to all under-18s at least once a week, and show screens to all under-18s highlighting safety tools and features daily.

Besides their direct effects (if upheld on appeal), these requirements are important for numerous reasons. Above all, they demonstrate the need to assess companies’ decisions based on 

 for the most affected users. The ruling publicly clarified that, for years, Meta’s relentless focus on maximizing product uptake came at the expense of users like the ones Mosseri referred to. And it offers a roadmap for both further litigation and future product design rules.

To date, critics of social media have overwhelmingly focused on the experience of 

 users, especially typical teenagers. Questions like “Has social media caused mental health harms to young people?” matter, and the case offered direct evidence that the answer to that question is “yes.” Yet answering that question requires assessing a range of effects across very large groups of people. Especially because independent researchers have lacked access to platforms’ internal data, companies have been able to dispute findings and deflect criticism.

user is often misleading. In the real world, platform engagement is extraordinarily uneven, meaning that a small share of users racks up a disproportionate share of platform activity. As a consequence, the most severe harms from use are also highly concentrated. Other data presented at trial showed that this pattern persisted: between 2020 and 2024, the most active 1 percent of New Mexico teenagers still spent more than 30 hours a week on Facebook and Instagram.

What is true for time usage is also true for platforms’ more acute problems, such as harassment and crimes like the distribution of child sexual-abuse material and human trafficking. The evidence presented showed that these patterns were consistent and that the actions the company took in response often were weaker than other available options.

When companies like Meta acknowledge abuse, they tend to describe such harms as unavoidable. Sentiments boil down to “we’re trying; the problem is really hard,” particularly familiar from Mark Zuckerberg’s congressional 

. Similar explanations were echoed in court. The executives’ arguments focus on procedural choices: look at all the accounts that were removed, they say, or see how we’re using machine-learning models to limit promotion of illegal activity.

Digital tools reproduce offline social problems, a challenging fact to manage. But the court heard tacit recognition that the measures supposed to control such problems were not scoped to solve them. For instance, the judge’s rule enforcing 1-strike policies may seem unnecessary given other descriptions of company behavior. Yet another internal email from 2020 read into 

Number one, perm block [is] actually just one year for terrorism, CEI [child exploitation imagery], CEI solicitation, revenge porn, content-based extortion, and sextortion. Temporary block [of] two weeks for nudity, bullying, NAZI, drug, gang, hate speech, cartel, graphic violence, and impersonation. Do not block for self-harm promotion, eating disorder promotion, copyright, trademark, counterfeit, spam, U13, sex offender, et cetera.

It turns out that enforcing 1-strike policies, including device blocking, may require an outside order.

While the enforcement set by the court will not solve every problem posed by social media in New Mexico, if scaled more broadly to other geographies and jurisdictions it will meaningfully change Meta’s management incentives. At the same time, the Judge’s decision not to engage with stronger rules related to issues like age assurance or features like recommendation algorithms, autoplay, and infinite scroll lend credence to the practical value for clarification by legislatures that such design rules are not protected by statute. (Though, notably, in other parts of his decision, the Judge forcefully makes the case that such rules related to content do not restrict abatement even as he subsequently declines to set restrictions on these features.) In Judge Biedscheid’s reading, 

 is a particular obstacle to orders related to age assurance, despite an FTC 

 from earlier this year on exactly this topic.

Given the radical way that machine learning is reconfiguring people’s lives, the public-interest case for influencing product incentives has never been more urgent. New technologies like large language models are black-box products far more complicated than social-media applications. And reasonable usage by average users, let alone by sophisticated engineers, is driving extraordinary payoffs and value. Yet, alongside these benefits, we must also anticipate abuse among a vulnerable minority of users. For instance, based on our knowledge of how social media operates, we can anticipate that people who spend the equivalent hours of a full-time job each week talking to chatbots are very likely to need extra protection, regardless of whether AI companies succeed in adding other safeguards.

, Rachel Carson argued that a chemical company is responsible for misrepresenting the safety of a pesticide when it knows the risk for the small group of people repeatedly exposed.

 can be a similar turning point in how we understand technology products. While people and companies should be free to pursue their wants and wishes, we cannot ignore the at-risk outliers. We should focus on them: not as vulnerable victims in the making, but as the canaries in the coal mine who warn the rest of us when the environment is becoming toxic.

The roundup is produced by Digital Policy Alert, an independent repository of policy changes affecting the digital economy. If you have

The roundup serves as a guide for navigating global digital policy based on the work of the 

. To ensure trust, every finding links to the Digital Policy Alert entry with the official government source. The full Digital Policy Alert 

 is available for you to access, filter, and download. To stay updated, Digital Policy Alert also offers a customizable 

 that provides free updates on your areas of interest. Digital Policy Alert’s 

 further allow you to navigate, compare, and chat with the legal text of AI rules across the globe.

Drawing from Digital Policy Alert’s daily monitoring of developments in the G20 countries, it summarizes the highlights of July 2026 in four core areas of digital policy.

, including the European Commission's €550 million fine on AliExpress and preliminary findings against Meta and TikTok over compliance with minor protection obligations under the Digital Services Act, France's adoption of a bill restricting minors' access to social network services, Brazil's entry into force of decrees on content moderation and gender-based online violence, and the Republic of Korea's Act expanding the categories of prohibited illegal content under the Network Act.

, including the entry into force of the European Union's Digital Omnibus on AI Regulation, the signature of an agreement establishing the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization by 29 countries, Russia's Federal Law on Supporting the Development of AI Technologies, China's interim measures for the administration of anthropomorphic AI interaction services, and the introduction of five bills amending the Republic of Korea's AI Basic Act.

, including the European Commission's €460 million and €430 million fines on Alphabet under the Digital Markets Act, the General Court's dismissal of Apple's challenge to its gatekeeper designation, China's ¥5.18 billion fine on Trip.com for abuse of dominance, and the Republic of Korea's Fair Trade Commission's investigation into Google's Games Velocity Program.

, including the European Data Protection Board's draft guidelines on web scraping to train generative AI models and on anonymization, the United Kingdom's Upper Tribunal decision upholding the Information Commissioner's Office's £12.7 million fine against TikTok, and the Republic of Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission's fines on Apple and TikTok over unlawful data collection and transfers.

 extending the derogation from certain provisions of the ePrivacy Directive entered into force, allowing electronic communications services to continue the voluntary detection, removal, and reporting of online child sexual abuse material until April 2028.

The special panel on child online safety convened by the President of the European Commission presented its final 

. It recommends an EU-wide framework that includes a minimum social media access age of 13, privacy-preserving age assurance, and harmonized safety-by-design requirements for digital services, among others. The Commission will now assess the recommendations and consider follow-up legislative proposals.

The Commission also continued enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA). It fined 

€550 million for failing to mitigate risks related to illegal, unsafe, and counterfeit products. The Commission also issued preliminary findings that 

 failed to adequately assess and mitigate the addictive risks of Instagram and Facebook features, while 

 default account settings for minors exposed minors' content and profiles more broadly than required. If the Commission ultimately finds the companies non-compliant, it may impose fines of up to 6% of their global annual turnover. In addition, the Commission accepted 

 to address breaches relating to advertising transparency and researcher access, subject to implementation, an independent audit, and enhanced supervision.

 the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that hosting 

 on YouTube falls within the scope of the e-Commerce Directive, but found that Google may not benefit from the hosting liability exemption where it plays an active role in reviewing and partnering with content creators. The Court also ruled on the scope of the "operator" concept under 

Council Regulation imposing sanctions against Russia

 and held that streaming subscriptions constitute digital services rather than digital content under the 

 requiring certain video-sharing platforms to block access for users under 14 where adequate child protection measures are not in place. In Bulgaria, a 

 was introduced that would prohibit children under 16 from creating or managing public or partially public social media and video-sharing platform profiles, without an exception for parental consent.

 on protecting minors from the risks arising from the use of social networks, which had received a European Commission opinion earlier in the month. The bill prohibits access to online social network services for minors under 15, subject to limited exceptions, with implementation scheduled to begin in September 2026 following 

, France’s Competition Authority imposed interim measures requiring 

 to resume good-faith negotiations with French press publishers over remuneration for the use of press content and to disclose information supporting its payment offers. The measures will remain in force pending the Authority's investigation into a possible abuse of dominant position.

Additionally, the French Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Arcom) published an 

analysis of advertising repository effectiveness

 under the DSA, and extended the validity of Amazon Prime Video's amended service agreement until December 2026, allowing negotiations with the French film industry to continue. The agreement requires Amazon Prime Video to maintain its commitments to invest at least €90 million in European and French-language original content. Finally, Arcom opened an investigation into additional 

 over non-compliance with age verification obligations.

 Commission on Licensing and Supervision (ZAK) adopted a legal position stating that German media law applies to 

. According to ZAK, AI-generated responses constitute the providers' own content rather than content covered by the Digital Services Act's liability exemption. It also considers AI search functionalities and chatbots that select and prominently display links or sources to qualify as media intermediaries, making them subject to obligations aimed at safeguarding media plurality and transparency. Furthermore, the 42nd Civil Chamber of the Munich Regional Court largely upheld 

, finding that the AI music generator unlawfully reproduced copyrighted musical works during model training and generated outputs that infringed copyright. The court held that these acts were not covered by Germany's text and data mining exception or by the US fair use doctrine and found Suno, rather than its users, responsible for the infringements.

 Communications Regulatory Authority (AGCOM) consulted on 

 on the integrity of online reviews. The proposed guidelines would require businesses to verify that reviews come from genuine consumers, increase transparency in review management, and prohibit misleading practices. AGCOM also ordered internet access providers to block access to an 

 for failing to implement legally required age verification measures to protect minors. The blocking order will remain in force until the operator demonstrates compliance.

, a law entered into force that expands the powers of the 

 to regulate internet domain name policies and to order the rapid implementation of measures affecting internet content and access, requiring operators, access providers, and hosting providers to comply within 2 hours. The Law also introduces administrative fines for non-compliance and requires conditional access media service providers and internet platform operators to 

 of their annual net sales to a fund supporting the Turkish film industry.

Television Selection Services Regulations

 entered into force, designating 15 services, including those from Amazon, Google, Roku, Samsung, Sky, LG, Apple, and Virgin Media, as regulated "television selection services" subject to prominence requirements for public service broadcasters. The Office of Communications (Ofcom) also issued the 

, extending the UK's listed-events regime to on-demand platforms and internet streaming services and setting rules for what counts as "live" and "adequate" coverage of protected sporting events.

Under the Online Safety Act, Ofcom adopted a 

 subject to additional duties, and opened consultations on draft codes and guidance. The draft Fraudulent Advertising Code of Practice for 

 applies to designated services including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Quora, Reddit, Roblox, Snapchat, TikTok, WhatsApp, X, and YouTube. The draft code would require providers to implement risk-based systems to detect, review, and remove fraudulent advertisements, supported by user reporting and appeals mechanisms. It would also require providers to maintain a searchable public advertising library, increase transparency regarding advertising moderation practices and automated detection technologies, and implement measures relating to 

. In parallel, Ofcom consulted on a corresponding Fraudulent Advertising Code of Practice for 

, including Google Search, Bing, ChatGPT Search, and Facebook Feed Deep Dive, proposing comparable requirements on content moderation, 

content of democratic importance and journalistic content

. To support implementation of these obligations, Ofcom also published draft guidance addressing 

freedom of expression and privacy impact assessment

age restrictions and online safety requirements for children

 under the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act.

 £630,000 for failing to comply with age assurance obligations, opened an investigation into 

's compliance with child protection and age assurance obligations, and issued a revised provisional notice of contravention to the provider of 

 over illegal content risk assessment duties. Ofcom also issued a provisional decision that the provider of an 

 breached the Act by failing to conduct adequate risk assessments.

Online Safety Amendment (Strengthening Enforcement for the Social Media Minimum Age) Bill

, including provisions on increasing penalties for social media platforms that fail to enforce a minimum age requirement for users under 16. The Interactive Gambling Amendment (Gambling Reform) Bill was also introduced to the House of Representatives, including 

. Additionally, the government announced laws to 

empower the Civil and Administrative Tribunal

 to issue demasking orders which would require social media companies to disclose the identities of anonymous users accused of online vilification.

 AU$10 million over misleading and deceptive conduct in its online advice service. The eSafety Commissioner filed a lawsuit against 

 over its alleged failure to remove pro-terror material and implement detection systems and separately published a 

report on measures against child sexual exploitation and abuse

 identifying safety gaps in how large technology platforms detect child sexual exploitation and sexual extortion.

 State Administration for Market Regulation and Ministry of Commerce opened a consultation on amendments to the 

. It includes measures to increase penalties for platform non-compliance, expand government supervisory powers, and establish a tiered regulatory model for e-commerce platforms based on their scale and impact. CAC additionally opened a consultation on the Anti-Cyber Violence Law. It would define cyberbullying and establish obligations for platforms to detect, remove, and restrict the dissemination of harmful content, including through content removal, account measures, and rumor-refutation mechanisms. The Law further includes measures on 

, the CAC announced that, following its investigation into 

 operated by Huawei, Alibaba, Zhipu, Xiyu, and DeepSeek, more than 6 million pieces of illegal or irregular information were removed, action was taken against over 26,000 accounts, and more than 1,300 AI products and nine illegal open-source datasets were taken down. Additionally, CAC confirmed enforcement action against 

 over improper content labeling and launched a 

 to address harmful online content and practices affecting minors, including AI-generated violent content, recruitment for intimate images, and predatory marketing tactics.

, a public interest litigation seeking restrictions on minors' access to 

 was filed against the Union of India. The Lok Sabha Standing Committee on Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution issued a 

 recommending establishing a coordinated monitoring mechanism across multiple agencies to address mislabeling and misleading food listings on e-commerce platforms.

, the Food Safety and Standards Authority opened an investigation into 

 over alleged food safety violations, and the Central Consumer Protection Authority opened an investigation into 

 over dark patterns, including pre-ticked checkboxes to auto-enroll users in loyalty and communications programs without explicit consent.

 Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs announced verification of 

 across 14 digital services owned by Apple.

 Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications consulted on its report addressing 

issues in information distribution in the digital space

, including recommending mandatory age verification, risk assessments, and default protective measures for minors on digital platforms.

, the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization entered into force. The Act expands the categories of prohibited illegal content to include discriminatory and harmful false or manipulated information and requires large-scale service providers to establish policies to identify and address such content. It also introduces punitive damages of up to five times the actual damages for the intentional or negligent distribution of harmful false information and establishes measures on 

. The Amended Enforcement Decree of the Network Act also took effect, covering 

. Amendments to the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Consumer Protection in E-Commerce entered into force, addressing 

 for violations, while a related Partial Amendment to the Act advanced 

. Separately, bills were introduced addressing the 

suspension of music track distribution harmful to youth

repeal of false and manipulated information and hate speech provisions

, two decrees related to online safety entered into force. 

 updates content moderation rules to require removal of illegal third-party content upon notification, while requiring a court order for crimes against honor and for restricted communications services. It introduces systemic failure liability for categories including terrorism, incitement to suicide or self-harm, incitement to discrimination, gender-based violence against women, sexual crimes against vulnerable persons, and human trafficking. 

 establishes protections for women online and addresses gender-based violence in digital environments. It introduces content moderation duties for internet application providers hosting third-party content, requiring the removal of material linked to gender-based offenses or unlawful acts against women, including aggravated threats, stalking, psychological violence, and non-consensual dissemination of intimate content. Additional obligations include restrictions on the use of AI or similar technologies to generate or alter intimate content and requirements to detect and block such activity. Regarding enforcement, the National Secretariat for Digital Rights published a 

 identifying 32 websites offering artificial intelligence tools to generate synthetic nude images and assessing their availability and operating practices in Brazil. The report referred to law enforcement and the National Data Protection Agency for the assessment of potential legal violations and possible enforcement action.

Twenty-nine countries, including Brazil, China, Indonesia, Russia, and South Africa, signed an agreement establishing the 

World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization

. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation member economies issued a 

 promoting AI development in the Asia-Pacific region. Fourteen countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Poland, adopted 

 on minimum elements for software bills of materials. Australia, Canada, and India also signed a Technology and Innovation Partnership.

 Digital Omnibus on AI Regulation entered into force. The Regulation clarifies the 

 for supervising AI systems based on general-purpose AI models, extends its enforcement powers to AI systems embedded in very large online platforms and search engines, expands access to 

, including an EU-level sandbox, and extends SME exemptions to small mid-cap enterprises. The Regulation also amends the AI Act's 

 requirements for high-risk AI systems, the

 legal basis for processing special categories of personal data for bias detection

 for high-risk systems. Furthermore, the Omnibus further amended the AI Act to prohibit, from December 2026, 

 designed to generate child sexual abuse material or non-consensual intimate content of identifiable persons without adequate technical safeguards.

 on the transparency obligations under Article 50 of the AI Act, clarifying disclosure requirements for AI systems that interact with users, generate synthetic content, or perform emotion recognition and biometric categorization. The guidelines also explain compliance measures, applicable exemptions, enforcement penalties, and transitional timelines for certain generative AI systems. Additionally, the 

 and AI, and the European Committee for Standardization and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization adopted a 

 on competition in the AI agents sector, identifying barriers to expansion and competition risks associated with vertically integrated providers and AI-enabled intermediary services. The report recommends regulatory oversight, improved interoperability and data portability, the development of technical standards, and closer monitoring of acquisitions and AI distribution channels. Additionally, the National Commission for Information Technology and Civil Liberties, together with the Council for AI and Digital Technology, published a 

 on the risks of agentic AI for personal data protection.

Federal Law on Supporting the Development of AI Technologies

. The Law establishes a legal framework for the development, deployment, and use of large foundation AI models, provides for government support measures, defines requirements for 

, and introduces obligations relating to AI-generated content labeling and 

. It will enter into force in phases beginning September 2026.

, the Department for Business and Trade opened a consultation on the 

, including AI-enabled monitoring and automated decision-making. The consultation seeks views on potential measures to improve transparency, worker engagement and accountability, including a statutory code of practice, consultation requirements for employers, or non-statutory guidance.

, focused on environmental and energy requirements for large data centers, including obligations to pay for grid connections and contribute net energy to the power grid, and additionally to create an 

. Moreover, the Cyber Security Centre published 

 on AI model harnesses for cybersecurity, finding that well-designed harnesses around mid-tier AI models can achieve comparable defensive capabilities to frontier models.

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