GoKawiil
Tech News
Paramount reportedly enlisted a nonprofit called Neighbors for Strong Communities to send Californians mass text messages urging them to pressure state Attorney General Rob Bonta to drop his antitrust suit against the $111 billion Paramount-Warner Bros deal. The messages warned that blocking the merger could cost thousands of jobs, citing owner Larry Ellison's reported threat to relocate Paramount to Texas.
Disney has agreed to pay $50 million to settle Biddle v. The Walt Disney Company, a lawsuit accusing it of using ESPN's leverage to force streaming services into pricier bundled channel packages. The settlement covers anyone who subscribed to YouTube TV or DirecTV Stream (including DirecTV Now or AT&T TV Now) between April 1, 2019 and March 31, 2026, and claims must be filed by Sept. 8. Disney denies wrongdoing, and payout amounts will vary based on subscription length and total number of claims submitted.
Apple is facing a new legal challenge in the UK targeting its App Tracking Transparency feature, marking the third such lawsuit in the country. The suit reportedly introduces a new angle compared to prior cases, though it continues to center on claims that Apple's privacy rules unfairly disadvantage third-party developers while exempting its own apps.
Federal judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that Google will not be forced to sell off its advertising technology business, despite an earlier finding that the unit constituted an illegal monopoly. Instead, Google must change certain business practices to give competitors fairer access, though the ruling did not specify exactly what those changes will look like. The detailed written order remains sealed for two weeks while parties prepare redactions.
Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema rejected the DOJ's push to force Google to divest its AdX ad exchange, despite having ruled last year that Google illegally monopolized two ad tech markets. Instead, she accepted unspecified 'behavioral remedies' that reportedly require Google to open its ad tech tools to competitors, with the ruling issued under seal for now.
A federal judge has decided that Google will not be required to divest its ad exchange, formerly known as AdX, despite the company's 2025 loss in the Justice Department's ad tech antitrust case. Judge Leonie Brinkema found Google had illegally tied publishers to its exchange but rejected claims of wrongdoing on the advertiser side of the business. The full set of remedies, which may include fines and mandated changes to business practices, remains sealed for two weeks while parties negotiate redactions.
Judge Leonie Brinkema denied the Justice Department's request to force Google to divest parts of its advertising technology operations, opting instead for behavioral remedies to restore competition. The specific measures, which could include limits on self-preferencing in ad auctions and expanded data access for rival ad tech tools, remain confidential until parties finalize redactions and revisions. Google may still appeal the underlying ruling that found it illegally monopolized the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets.
Following antitrust cases against RealPage, Yardi and major landlords over algorithmic rent-setting software, cities including San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Philadelphia and Providence have passed laws restricting such pricing tools. Tenants and local governments are now filing follow-on lawsuits, including a July 2026 case against Greystar Management Services in San Francisco, using these new statutes rather than traditional antitrust claims.
Meta has reached a settlement with attorneys general from 29 states, ending litigation that covered claims from 47 states and several territories over harms to young users. The company agreed to build an independently tested age-verification system, let teens disable personalized feeds, cap daily app usage at two hours, and pause notifications overnight and during school hours. Meta will pay $17.1 billion over a decade, with $5.3 billion contingent on YouTube and TikTok adopting similar time limits and matching payments.
Zillow and Redfin have settled with the FTC and five state attorneys general over a 2025 agreement in which Zillow paid Redfin $100 million to avoid competing in rental advertising. The settlement, reached just before trial was set to begin, requires Redfin to reenter the rental advertising market and removes limits on its ability to compete for property-management clients. Redfin will still display Zillow's rental listings but can now independently sell ads and pursue its own customers.
Zillow has reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over claims it paid Redfin $100 million to exit the internet listing service market for apartment rentals for up to nine years. The deal reverses that arrangement, requiring Redfin to relaunch its ILS business with significantly more listings and mandating Zillow to share employee information to help Redfin rebuild its team. Several states had joined the FTC's case, which was filed in September 2025 and later consolidated with the federal suit.
The FTC reached a settlement with Zillow ending its antitrust lawsuit over a 2025 rental listings arrangement with Redfin, which regulators said involved Zillow paying Redfin to syndicate listings while Redfin agreed to drop its own advertising business and avoid competing on multifamily listings. Under the settlement, Redfin can keep syndicating Zillow's rental listings without the restrictive terms, but must rebuild the rental advertising operation it had shut down. Several state attorneys general joined the FTC in approving the deal.