Regulatory pressure over TikTok’s child safety measures continued to mount as the European Commission (EC) warned a preliminary look at the company’s protections found it wanting in various aspects.

The initial results of a formal probe into potential breaches of the Digital Services Act (DSA) show TikTok is falling short of the required standards. The EC explained a public-access setting means child accounts can still be viewed by all kinds of people whether they use the social media platform or not.

Another risk involves the content of 16- and 17-year-olds, which the EC found can be featured in recommendations to other users, presenting the risk of “unwanted contact” or cyberbullying.

It is inviting TikTok to view and respond to the preliminary findings and emphasised there is no prejudice to any final decisions in the investigation.

If TikTok is ultimately judged to be in breach of the DSA, the EC “may issue a non-compliance decision, which can trigger a fine”.

Other areas of concern the EC highlighted include an ability to view the profile pictures of children even when accounts are set to private mode, with discovery available if they are contacts of other users or by non-users of TikTok.

The EC explained the DSA requires platforms which children can use to “ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security”, a standard it considers TikTok may not be meeting.

UK regulator Ofcom is conducting its own probe into TikTok’s child protection measures.

The EC previously warned TikTok over its “potentially addictive design” as part of the same investigation.

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The European Commission claims that Google boosted its own apps and products to the top of search rankings to the detriment of its competitors.

The European Commission (EC) slapped two fines on Google totalling €890 million for non-compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and demanded the tech giant make changes to its search service and app store policies.

Decisions on the two probes follow investigations started in March 2024. Of the total, €460 million is for breaches on its search service and €430 million for app distribution restrictions on Google Play.

On the search charge, the EC determined Google gave its own services preferential treatment in rankings, either by having them at the top of a results page, or using enhanced visuals or filters.

This goes against DMA rules requiring “transparent, fair and non-discriminatory conditions” in rankings, the EC argued.

Its fine related to the Google Play app store was for not allowing developers distributing apps through the platform to inform customers of alternative offers and direct them to make purchases elsewhere.

The regulator acknowledged after what it termed constructive dialogue Google had begun testing changes to its services the regulator noted could “constitute substantial progress towards compliance”.

However, the EC stated the “fines imposed today on Google take into account the gravity and duration of the non-compliance”.

As part of the judgement, the EC demands Google ends the policies deemed in breach of the DMA.

Google has 60 days to comply, with the authority threatening periodic penalty payments of up to 5% of worldwide turnover if it does not.

The company has the right to appeal.

Breaking products
Unsurprisingly Google is unhappy with the changes it is being forced to make to meet DMA obligations.

In a statement, president of global affairs at Google and its parent company Alphabet Kent Walker claimed the way the DMA is implemented “continues to break everyday products” and degraded the experience of businesses and consumers in the European Union.

“To comply, we are having to strip away real-time Search features Europeans love like instant pricing and direct availability for hotels, flights and restaurants, and dismantle safety protections on Google Play,” he added.

“This isn’t fair competition, it’s product degradation driven by a small group of self-serving complainants, with European businesses and consumers taking the hit. Regulation should improve products, not make them worse.”

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The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted final rules for auctioning 160MHz of spectrum in the upper C-Band, setting the stage for an auction to close by July 2027 and creating what the regulator called a harmonised 5G super band spanning 440MHz when combined with existing holdings.

The rules apply to the 3.98GHz to 4.14GHz range, and build on the FCC’s lower C-Band auction conducted during President Donald Trump’s first term.

Combining the lower C-Band with the newly cleared upper C-Band will create a contiguous 3.70-4.14GHz block which the FCC described as a larger swath of licensed, 5G-grade mid-band spectrum than any other industrialised country holds.

“America’s wireless leadership is back,” FCC chair Brendan Carr stated. “Freeing up this spectrum drives down prices, raises speeds, and enhances competition. Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, America will once again lead the world in wireless.”

The commission announced it will auction 60% more spectrum than the 100MHz minimum required by law, a move it stated would raise tens of billions of dollars in additional proceeds for the US Treasury to support deficit reduction and other national priorities.

The auction will offer 3,248 new flexible-use licences across the contiguous US.

Winning bidders will be able to launch wireless services in the top 75 US markets starting December 2030, with remaining markets following from July 2031, a timeline the FCC said is faster than originally expected.

The FCC estimated the spectrum release could generate at least $422 billion in GDP, 2.4 million new jobs and $621 billion in consumer surplus.

Aviation concerns
In 2021, major airline industry players pressed the government and regulators to delay the launch of 5G in C-Band over interference fears.

To protect aviation safety systems operating in adjacent frequencies, the FCC worked closely with the Federal Aviation Administration on rules governing coexistence between wireless operations and radio altimeters in the nearby 4.2GHz to 4.4GHz band.

The FAA said the FCC had incorporated key safeguards to protect the frequencies aircraft altimeters rely on, and the rules include rebates to help the aviation sector retrofit and upgrade altimeter equipment. The FCC said incentive payments to satellite operators being cleared from the band will be lower in aggregate than those paid following the lower C-Band auction, reflecting the smaller amount of spectrum involved, though roughly proportionate to it.

The rules follow a process that began last year under the FCC’s renewed auction authority as part of President Trump’s so called  One Big Beautiful Bill Act, building on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking adopted last November.

Commission staff are expected to seek comment on auction procedures in the coming days before finalising them ahead of the auction.

The order was adopted by a vote of FCC chairman Brendan Carr and commissioner Olivia Trusty in favour, with commissioner Anna Gomez approving in part and dissenting in part.

Space modernisation order
Separately, the FCC voted to overhaul its space and earth station licensing process, replacing the legacy Part 25 rules in their entirety with a new Part 100 framework rebuilt from first principles. The commission said it completed the systematic, industry-wide regulatory overhaul in roughly 18 months, a pace it described as historically unprecedented for a federal agency.

The new rules are intended to speed up space and earth station licensing through a faster, more predictable process the FCC likened to a “licensing assembly line”, while also enhancing space safety and removing outdated regulations to support the country’s commercial space sector.

The FCC framed the reform as part of a broader push under the Trump administration to strengthen US leadership in space.

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Virgin Media O2 CEO Lutz Schuler warned the UK’s net neutrality rules could hamper agentic AI and other emerging technology, as well as limiting innovation today, as the operator published a report making the case for policy reform.

The executive described net neutrality regulations in the UK as outdated and argued they hamper the realisation of the benefits from significant network investments being made.

He asserted the rules requiring all internet traffic to be treated equally meant the operator is “not able to help customers by prioritising taxi and map apps when travelling home at night and can’t prioritise payment apps for sole traders in crowded markets”, two in a series of examples.

“New technologies like agentic AI will improve the online experience and we’re investing £700 million this year in our mobile network to boost connectivity across the UK, but with network traffic growing relentlessly we won’t get the most out of it without much-needed reform,” he added.

The statement comes as the country is in the process of conducting a mobile market review, which Schuler argued should be used to remove “antiquated roadblocks to innovation” such as net neutrality.

VMO2 acknowledged current rules on the issue were initially intended to protect consumers, but noted they were issued a decade ago and set in a different era of connectivity.

The comments accompanied the release of Net Fatality, a 48-page report commissioned by the operator and produced by consultancy Communications Chambers.

It outlines the case against the current stance in the country along with a series of services it asserts are being hampered by net neutrality including the use of time sensitive applications and prioritising important video calls.

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