X in Breach of EU Digital Services Act; Google In Talks to Make its Biggest Acquisition; Amazon’s AI Shopping Assistant Available to All US Customers

by Aimee Newell Tarín on 16th Jul 2024 in News

On today’s news digest: X In Breach of EU Digital Services Act; Google In Talks to Make its Biggest Acquisition; Amazon’s AI Shopping Assistant Available to All US Customers

X is the latest to be accused of breaching EU law, with the European Commission (EC) informing the platform that several of its features are in breach of the Digital Services Act. Its new verification feature is first on the list, with the ability for individuals to buy a ‘verified account’ checkmark not corresponding to industry practice and deceiving users. The EC finds that this negatively affects users’ ability to make informed decisions about the authenticity of the accounts/content they interact with on the platform. X’s advertising transparency also falls short of meeting EU requirements, failing to provide a searchable and reliable advertising repository. Lastly, the EC also states that X fails to provide researchers with access to its public data, which is a requirement detailed under the Digital Services Act.

While Google faces EU scrutiny of its own, the tech titan prepares to make its biggest acquisition to date. Google is in talks to buy Wiz, a cybersecurity start-up valued at USD $12bn (£9.25bn). With the potential deal reportedly valued at around USD $23bn ($17.72bn), it would be Google’s largest acquisition yet. The deal would serve Google to improve its offering to business customers. At this point, neither party has responded to comments regarding the deal.

Looking to the world of AI, Amazon’s Rufus AI shopping assistant is now available to all US customers. This follows its launch in February to a small subset of customers. The text-based chatbot can assist users in the Amazon Shopping app with a range of questions, such as tracking orders, making product recommendations and comparing item models. The chatbot can also answer questions not directly related to shopping, such as what they need in order to make a particular dish of food.