Max Bank

US funding for global internet freedom ‘effectively gutted’ Programme that funds groups building tech to evade oppressive government controls under serious threat

US funding for global internet freedom ‘effectively gutted’ - Programme that funds groups building tech to evade oppressive government controls under serious threat.

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

Bonn Against Amazon: A remarkable initiative by the Federal Cartel Office - Rebalance Now Amazon’s market power is huge. In e-commerce, the company accounts for 60 percent of online sales in Germany. The Federal Cartel Office is taking action against the abuse of that power. An important, ...

Bonn Against Amazon: Our background piece on a remarkable initiative by the german Federal Cartel Office.
rebalance-now.de/en/bonn-agai...
#Amazon #Bundeskartellamt #19a #GWB #BigTech

The EU’s clearance of Google/Wiz: the wrong decision - Rebalance Now Civil society organisations across Europe seriously regret the European Commission’s decision to unconditionally clear Google’s proposed acquisition of Wiz. The decision runs counter to lessons drawn ...

The EU’s unconditional clearance of Google/Wiz is a mistake. Civil society statement by @balancedeconomy.bsky.social, @openmarkets.bsky.social, @somoamsterdam.bsky.social and @rebalance-now.bsky.social. rebalance-now.de/en/the-eus-c...

An important step by DG Competition for open competition in AI assistants & agents. Meta is doing what dominant firms do: closing off markets. If you want to use AI on WhatsApp, you must use Meta’s AI — or none at all. That’s not fair competition. The Commission’s action is thus very welcome.

Digital Merger Watch: Current trends in big tech mergers - Rebalance Now We are part of the Digital Merger Watch (DMW) project. In this project, we track Big Tech's mergers and acquisitions. Our latest update.

We're part of the Digital Merger Watch (DMW). Here's an update of the DMW Big Tech M&A tracker:
▶️Big Tech acquisitions increased by 30% in 2025
▶️15 Big Tech acquisitions were AI-related
▶️ 2025 saw a rise in Big Tech’s talent acquisition & licensing deals.
More here:
rebalance-now.de/en/digital-m...

Bundeskartellamt prohibits Amazon from applying price control mechanisms & imposes a 59 Mio. € fine. The prohibition of price control mechanisms is an important step forward, the fine is rather symbolic. Further action is needed, as the conflict of interest in Amazon's business model remains there.

Addicted to the algorithm: how Big Tech lobbies to keep us hooked on social media | Corporate Europe Observatory As the EU prepares the Digital Fairness Act to tackle the addictive nature of social media design, big tech aggressively protects its business models. With Trumpists and far-right allies likely to joi...

Addicted to the algorithm: how Big Tech lobbies to keep us hooked on social media. Important new @corporateeurope.org report: corporateeurope.org/en/2026/02/a...

Our submission on the Risks of Google’s Acquisition of Wiz - Rebalance Now Google intends to acquire the cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion. This would be the largest acquisition in Google’s history and another step toward strengthening Google’s market power. Together wi...

According to MLex, Google's acquisition of Wiz may gain approval by the European Commission soon. This would be the largest acquisition in Google’s history and another step toward strengthening Google’s market power. Here is why this merger should not be cleared: rebalance-now.de/en/our-submi...

Merger Control: Revisions to the EU Guidelines - Rebalance Now The European Commission’s competition authority, DG Competition, is currently revising its merger guidelines. We are closely monitoring this process and are advocating for a strengthening of the guide...

DG Competition is currently revising its merger guidelines. We are advocating for a strengthening of the guidelines in order to prevent further anti-competitive mergers and the resulting harms to our societies. See more on our work on the guidelines here: rebalance-now.de/en/merger-co...

Our submission on the Risks of Google’s Acquisition of Wiz - Rebalance Now Google intends to acquire the cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion. This would be the largest acquisition in Google’s history and another step toward strengthening Google’s market power. Together wi...

The Google/Wiz merger needs further scrutiny and should not be cleared. Our joint submission to the EU's competition authority with @openmarkets.bsky.social, @balancedeconomy.bsky.social, @somoamsterdam.bsky.social & @article19europe.bsky.social: rebalance-now.de/en/our-submi...

Online Behavioral Ads Fuel the Surveillance Industry—Here’s How Each time you see a targeted ad, your personal information is exposed to thousands of advertisers and data brokers through a process called “real-time bidding” (RTB). This process does more than

Real-time bidding, which powers nearly every ad you see online, might be the most privacy-invasive surveillance system that you’ve never heard of. Learn how it works and how to protect yourself. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

Die Stellungnahme der EU-Kommission zu den Trumps Anti-DSA-Sanktionen lenkt vom zentralen Punkt ab: Seit Monaten setzt die EU-Kommission das EU-Digitalrecht nur mutlos um. Die Strafhöhen sind zu niedrig, die Verfahren zu langsam, Sanktionen ja werden nicht verhängt. Das muss sich jetzt ändern!

"HateAid" - USA verhängen Sanktionen gegen deutsche Aktivistinnen - Vorwurf der Zensur Die US-Regierung hat zwei deutsche Aktivistinnen gegen Online-Hassrede mit Einreiseverboten belegt. Betroffen sind die Geschäftsführerinnen der gemeinnützigen Berliner Organisation "HateAid", Anna-Len...

I stand with #HateAid. #breakupbigtech #DMA #DSA
www.deutschlandfunk.de/usa-verhaeng...

This is Europe's secret weapon against Trump: it could burst his AI bubble | Johnny Ryan Growth in the US economy – and the president’s political survival – rest on AI. The EU must use its leverage and stand up to him, says the Irish Council for Civil Liberties’ Johnny Ryan

My message to Ursula von der Leyen in The Guardian this morning:
America’s bet on AI is now so gigantic that every MAGA voter’s pension is bound to the bubble’s precarious survival. If she grabs Trump where it hurts, Europe will win this fight.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Japan App Store Gets Alternative Marketplaces, Third-Party Payments and More Apple today introduced several changes to the App Store in Japan to meet the requirements of the Mobile Software Competition Act (MSCA) that goes into effect on December 18. The MSCA is similar to Eur...

Japan App Store Gets Alternative Marketplaces, Third-Party Payments and More www.macrumors.com/2025/12/17/j...

Hold or fold? The Google adtech case will test Europe’s resolve Donald Trump's new national security strategy casts overseas regulation as an attack on US interests and identifies preserving Big Tech dominance as a national security priority. It leaves no doubt ab...

Why the EU’s Google AdTech Case Is a Test of Democratic Resolve. Opinion piece by @maxvonthun.bsky.social and me in the @euobserver.com. euobserver.com/eu-and-the-w...

Temu's Dublin office raided by EU regulators on Chinese subsidy concerns Temu's European headquarters in Dublin were raided by EU regulators last week on concerns about potential Chinese state subsidies granted to the online retailer, a subsidiary of China's ecommerce gian...

The recent raid on Temu’s European headquarters in Dublin under the EU’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation is a significant moment for fair competition and democratic market governance in Europe. It shows the European Commission's willingness to act & to enforce its rules.
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

Open letter on Google adtech case to von der Leyen and Ribera - Rebalance Now Over 70 NGOs, businesses, experts, and think tanks have called on the European Commission to rejects Google’s offered remedies in the adtech antitrust case.

Alongside over 70 press freedom groups, NGOs, businesses, experts and think tanks, we are urging @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu and @teresaribera.ec.europa.eu to reject the remedies offered by #Google in the #adtech antitrust case. rebalance-now.de/en/open-lett...

Word! We count on you, @teresaribera.ec.europa.eu!

Expert event in Brussels: Tightening the EU’s Merger Guidelines - Rebalance Now The EU is revising its merger guidelines. In the European Parliament, we argue for stronger rules to curb rising market concentration.

The EU’s merger guidelines are currently under revision. We have already contributed to the public consultation. On 19 November 2025, we initiated a cross-party exchange in the European Parliament on the ongoing revision. Here is a short recap on what happened.
rebalance-now.de/en/expert-ev...

It was great to discuss the review of the EU's merger guidelines yesterday in the European Parliament. The review is a great chance to strengthen merger control. This is urgently needed to push back corporate concentration in Europe.

Google snubs EU request to break itself up The U.S. search giant tells Brussels that it has a divestiture-free plan to restore competition to the ad tech market.

"The European Commission wants Google to break itself up. The U.S. search giant says no." The response is no surprise. I can only repeat: Google’s control of the adtech stack represents a huge conflict of interest. Only a breakup can solve it. The EU should do it now. www.politico.eu/article/goog...

US tech giants are doing everything they can to weaken the enforcement of key European rules — from competition law to the DMA &the DSA. They’re doing so with the backing of the US government. The Commission needs to stand up against this and enforce its rules. In particular its competition rules.

Big Tech ups lobbying firepower, €€ in Brussels American tech companies have piled into EU capital with bigger budgets and beefed-up teams.

Tech firms are spending more than ever on lobbying the European Union amid mounting opposition to the bloc’s digital rules, according to new analysis.

Big Tech lobby budgets hit record levels | Corporate Europe Observatory New figures show that the digital industry as a whole is now spending €151 million a year on lobbying the EU, a major increase to what was already considerable firepower.

New @lobbycontrol.bsky.social @corporateeurope.org data highlights tech lobbyists' tightening grip on EU policymaking:

📈 Total lobbying spend up by a third in 2 years
💼 There are now more tech lobbyists than MEPs
🗣️ Big Tech meets EU officials every single day

corporateeurope.org/en/2025/10/b...

Big Tech lobby budgets hit record levels: market power and lobby power go hand in hand, as tech monopolies defend their business models.

Excessive prices, profits & market valuations should become the focus of European abuse control. My colleague Aline Blankertz - together with others - explains what has been the problem so far and how financial analysis methods can help enforce effective abuse control in EU competition policy.

To break up Amazon's market power, @lobbyctrl-tech.bsky.social's legal opinion shows how this can and should be done: www.lobbycontrol.de/wp-content/u...

The disruption at cloud provider Amazon yesterday paralysed numerous online services. It highlights the problematic dependence on the globally dominant cloud provider. We must finally reduce dependencies, systematically curb market power and create opportunities for alternatives.

YouTube video by Open Markets Institute The Future of Democracy - Day 2 at European Parliament

We're live at the European Parliament with @mariaressa.bsky.social!

With introduction remarks by @alexandrageese.bsky.social MEP, Greens/EFA, and @courtneyr.bsky.social director of @cjl4news.bsky.social

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZTw...