The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) Tuesday announced the launch of its investigation into Amazon.com, Inc.’s $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot Corporation, which is known for its Roomba robot vacuum cleaners. The CMA’s findings will allow it to determine whether Amazon’s acquisition of iRobot will reduce market competition within the UK. The CMA must [...]

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Tuesday issued TikTok a £12.7 million fine for its breach of UK General Data Protection Regulation, including TikTok’s illegal use of children’s personal data. UK data protection law mandates companies obtain consent from parents or guardians of children under the age of 13 in order to use personal data when offering information [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) Tuesday filed a civil antitrust complaint to block JetBlue’s proposed $3.8 billion acquisition of Spirit Airlines. The DOJ’s complaint alleged that JetBlue’s acquisition will negatively impact millions of consumers. While Spirit is known for offering low airfare for its customers, the DOJ stated, “JetBlue plans to abandon Spirit’s business model, remove seats [...]

Canada’s President of the Treasury Board, Mona Fortier, released a statement Monday announcing that Canada will ban TikTok on government-issued mobile devices effective February 28. Fortier reiterated the Government of Canada’s commitment to maintaining the security of government information through this ban. While the Canadian government does not have evidence that government information was compromised [...]

Amazon and 1Life Healthcare, Inc. (One Medical) Wednesday announced Amazon’s completed $3.9 billion acquisition of One Medical. Amazon announced its intended acquisition of the membership-based healthcare provider in July 2022. Senior Vice President of Amazon Health Services Neil Lindsay stated that the acquisition will allow Amazon to further its “mission to make it dramatically easier for [...]

Russian national Vladislav Klyushin Tuesday was convicted by a federal jury in Boston for his role in the orchestration of a $90 million hacking and insider trading scheme. The jury found Klyushin guilty of conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to computers, wire and securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud. In [...]

Crypto firm Paxos Trust Company LLC Monday announced the New York Department of Financial Service (NYDFS) ordered them, effective February 21, to cease issuing new BUSD tokens with fellow crypto firm Binance. However, Paxos “will continue to manage BUSD dollar reserves.”  Paxos claimed that, throughout the company’s existence, it “has always prioritized the safety of [...]

Sony on Monday sought leave to file a reply explaining why it needs more time to argue against Microsoft’s allegedly overbroad subpoena in an ongoing Federal Trade Commission (FTC) antitrust lawsuit concerning Microsoft’s proposed purchase of Call of Duty manufacturer, Activision Blizzard. Sony is not a party to the FTC lawsuit against Microsoft but as [...]

The UK Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) Wednesday announced the provisional findings of its investigation regarding Microsoft’s intended $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard. The sale could increase Microsoft’s market share of cloud gaming, and Microsoft products already account for an estimated 60 to 70 percent of the global cloud gaming market. The CMA concluded [...]

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Wednesday announced a $1.5 million civil penalty against digital healthcare company GoodRx for its failure “to notify consumers and others of its unauthorized disclosures of consumers’ personal health information to Facebook, Google, and other companies” in violation the FTC’s Health Breach Notification Rule (HBNR) (18 CFR § 318) and 15 U.S.C. § [...]