It was a content team special on this week's episode of The MadTech Podcast - ExchangeWire's research lead Mat Broughton and editorial lead Mariam Ahmad join head of content John Still to discuss Amazon's ad-tier Prime Video streaming service; New York Times sueing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement; and, the UK government's new policy requiring e-commerce platforms to report user earnings to HM Revenue.

Amazon Prime Video to have ads in UK from February (BBC)

Is this comparable to other streaming giants? What do they mean by 'meaningfully fewer ads'?

Last week, Amazon announced it will be introducing ads to its Prime Video service. Ads will be arriving soonest to users in the US and Canada from later this month, on 29th January. Users in the UK and Germany will see ads from 5th February. Throughout the year, Amazon plans to implement the change to Prime in France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia. To avoid seeing ads, UK customers will have to pay £2.99 per month. Meanwhile, German customers will have to pay €2.99 (£2.60), and US customers $2.99 (£2.35).

New York Times sues OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement (The Guardian)

Should government regulations be fast-tracked? How will publisher relationships with search engines evolve?

The New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, over the companies’ use of its content to train generative AI and large-language model systems. The New York Times claims that its content was given “particular emphasis”, and that OpenAI sought “to free-ride” on the publication’s large investment into its journalism by building products without permission or payment. The lawsuit calls on the companies to destroy any chatbot models and training data which use copyrighted material from the Times. It does not contain a monetary claim, but states that both parties should be held responsible for “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages."

E-commerce platforms forced to report user earnings to HMRC (UKTN)

How will this affect the e-commerce market in the UK? Will the likes of Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace also be affected?

The UK government will be exerting more control over the ecommerce market, with a new policy requiring ecommerce platforms on which people sell second-hand goods to report user earnings to HM Revenue and Customers (HMRC). The policy’s purpose is to collect tax revenue on income from used goods sold on platforms such as eBay, Amazon and Depop. Under the new legislation, sellers making over £1,000 per year will be considered self-employed and will need to file a return to the UK tax authority.