News in brief: CMA Launches Google Search Investigation; TikTok Denies Discussion of Sale to Elon Musk While Users Migrate to Red Note; Indonesia Plans Social Media Age Restrictions 

CMA Launches Google Search Investigation

On Tuesday, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority launched its investigation into Google’s Search services. The investigation will determine whether Google has strategic market status in search advertising activities, and whether these services are delivering good outcomes for people and businesses in the UK. The CMA will examine Google’s positions in the search and search advertising services and pass assessment on how these affect players including advertisers, news publishers, and rival search engines. The CMA explains that this investigation falls under the digital markets competition regime, in which the watchdog can designate firms with strategic market status (SMS) in relation to a particular digital activity. Once a company has been designated, the CMA can impose conduct requirements or propose pro-competition interventions to benefit UK consumers and businesses.   

TikTok Denies Sale to Elon Musk while Users Migrate to RedNote

Chinese officials have reportedly been evaluating the option of selling off TikTok's US operations to Elon Musk, according to Bloomberg. This follows TikTok’s final arguments in efforts to fight the fast-approaching US ban in the Supreme Court last Friday being met with skepticism from justices, signalling they are likely to uphold the law. One scenario which has been discussed by the Chinese government involves X taking control of TikTok US. TikTok refutes this, however: “We can’t be expected to comment on pure fiction,” said a TikTok spokesperson. Reaching a firm consensus on the appropriate course of action is still far off. As the urgency intensifies, TikTok users are migrating to Chinese app RedNote. The app is a TikTok competitor, popular with young people in Mandarin-speaking regions. It was the most downloaded app on Apple's US App Store on Monday. 

Indonesia Plans Social Media Age Restrictions 

Following in Australia’s footsteps, Indonesia is planning to introduce a minimum age for social media use. It’s not yet known what the exact age will be. The move is aimed at protecting children in the digital space, said Meutya Hafid, Indonesia’s minister of communication and digital affairs. President Prabowo Subianto is keen to move forward with implementing the measure. News recently broke that Singapore has also been considering introducing age restrictions for social media, and has been in talks with Australia over the matter.