In the ongoing battle within the EU to regulate multinational corporations, led by European Union antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, Apple has been ordered to pay Ireland €13bn ($14.4bn) in back taxes, while Google has been fined €2.4bn ($2.7bn) for antitrust violations.

Vestager, who has made a name for herself going after Big Tech’s tax arrangements within the EU, said in a post on X, “Today is a huge win for European citizens and tax justice.”

One bad Apple

The case against Apple goes back to 2016 when the European Commission accused the company of receiving illegal tax benefits from Ireland.

According to the Commission, Apple’s subsidiaries in Ireland paid a much lower tax rate than other companies — as low as 0.005% in 2014 — a practice that violated EU state aid rules.

The Irish government, however, sided with Apple, arguing that the arrangement was lawful, stating that its low corporate tax rate is an essential tool in attracting foreign investment.

In 2020, the General Court of the CJEU issued a judgement annulling the Commission’s case, but the Commission appealed the judgement, and the Court has now ruled its 2016 decision stands.

In an official statement after the latest judgement, the Irish Department of Finance said: “The Irish position has always been that Ireland does not give preferential tax treatment to any companies or taxpayers.”

Apple vehemently denied the European Commission’s accusations, insisting it complied with both US and Irish tax laws.

“This case has never been about how much tax we pay, but which government we are required to pay it to,” an Apple spokesperson said. “We always pay all the taxes we owe wherever we operate, and there has never been a special deal.”

The iPhone 16 manufacturer maintained that its income was already subject to taxation in the US and that the Commission was trying to rewrite the rules retroactively.

Despite this, the Court ruled in favour of the Commission, and Apple must now repay the taxes.

In Google, we antitrust

The case against Google dates back to 2017 when the European Commission fined the company for abusing its online shopping comparison market dominance.

According to the Commission, Google gave preferential treatment to its own comparison-shopping service, disadvantaging smaller rivals.

The fine was the EU’s largest antitrust penalty ever issued at the time, totalling €2.4bn ($2.7bn) — until 2018, when the EU fined Google €4.3bn ($4.75bn) for abusing the dominant position of its Android mobile operating system to promote Google’s search engine.

Google has consistently contested the EU’s decision, arguing that its practices improved the quality of its services for consumers.

The company adjusted its shopping service in 2017 to comply with the EU’s ruling but continued to appeal the fine.

In a statement, Google said of its adjustments: “Our approach has worked successfully for more than seven years, generating billions of clicks for more than 800 comparison shopping services.”

Despite these efforts, in its latest ruling, the Court solidified the Commission’s stance that Google abused its market position and that it was right to find Google’s conduct “discriminatory” and its appeal “must be dismissed in its entirety.”

Google faces another similar trial in the UK as a London court has argued that Google should pay £13.6bn in a lawsuit over whether it has too much influence on the online advertising market.

Who EU gonna call?

The cases were undoubtedly being closely observed across the EU as a significant moment for Big Tech’s European tax affairs — especially as the EU’s investigations between companies and member states have faced setbacks.

Just last year, Amazon successfully defended its tax arrangements in Luxembourg in a court battle, and the Commission similarly lost a case involving the Netherlands’ tax treatment of Starbucks, though it chose not to appeal.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that ChatGPT will be integrated into the manufacturer’s primary operating system, iOS 18, “by the end of 2024”.

During Apple’s latest earnings call, Cook confirmed that ChatGPT integration will be available as part of Apple’s new Apple Intelligence offering.

He also revealed features such as support for languages beyond US English would be staggered over the course of the year.

At Apple’s last developers conference, it announced plans to integrate ChatGPT with its own chatbot, Siri.

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TikTok agrees to withdraw Lite feature but still faces US lawsuit

Video-sharing app TikTok has agreed to cull its rewards program, TikTok Lite, in Europe following pressure from the European Commission.

The Chinese-owned social media firm said it would withdraw TikToke Lite from the EU and axe the roll-out of similar rewards functionalities to settle an investigation opened by the regulator in April under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA).

It is the first settlement under the DSA, which took effect in August 2023.

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, was ordered to suspend its app after it launched Lite in France and Spain earlier this year. Commissioners cited mental health concerns.

TikTok Lite allows users over the age of 18 to earn points under a reward program by performing tasks in the app, such as watching and liking content. These prizes can then be exchanged for rewards, such as TikTok’s coins currency or Amazon vouchers.

The announcement came as US regulators filed a new lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the firm of collecting children’s data and failing to delete it at parents’ requests.

The US Department of Justice claims the firm’s actions amount to a “massive scale” invasion of child privacy contrary to laws requiring parental permission to gather data on users under the age of 13.

TikTok has denied the claims.

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X to close San Francisco HQ to move in with Musk’s other projects

Billionaire Elon Musk has announced plans to shut down the San Francisco home of social media platform X.

The move comes less than two years after Musk acquired the firm, formerly known as Twitter. Musk claimed he had “no choice” but to close the office, citing financial regulations.

“It is impossible to operate in San Francisco if you’re processing payments,” he wrote in a post on X. “That’s why Stripe, Block (CashApp) and others had to move.”

Reports claim Musk is expected to move the social media firm to a new location in Austin, Texas, which is also home to some of his other businesses, including SpaceX.

According to the New York Times, California employees would be relocated to Silicon Valley, distributed between an existing office in San Jose and a new office to be built in Palo Alto, and shared with another of Musk’s companies, xAI.

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UK Government unveils £32 million in funding for AI projects to boost public services

The UK government has announced a £32 million investment in AI innovations aimed at improving safety on construction sites, reducing railway repair times, and cutting emissions across supply chains.

The funding supports 98 projects designed to boost productivity and stimulate economic growth through AI.

The 98 projects span from Southampton to Birmingham and Northern Ireland, involving over 200 businesses and research organisations across various sectors.

Minister for Digital Government and AI, Feryal Clark, noted that AI will “deliver real change for working people across the UK”, such as reducing train delays and streamlining NHS prescription deliveries.

This comes days after just days after Labour axed £1.3 billion of AI projects.

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US regulators are set to agree on a deal to investigate leading companies in the AI market, including Microsoft, OpenAI and Nvidia, over antitrust concerns.

A report from the New York Times claims the US Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission have agreed to a deal over antitrust investigations into the three firms, which are leading the way in generative AI adoption.

Nvidia, which recently became the second most valuable listed company (behind only Microsoft), faces a DoJ probe into whether it has broken antitrust laws that oversee fair competition in the chipset industry.

OpenAI and its backer, Microsoft, will also be investigated, with the FTC taking the lead over their relationship and the development of ChatGPT. This follows a January call from the FTC for major players in AI, including Google, Amazon, and Anthropic, to provide information on recent investments and partnerships in the sector.

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Musk and brother accused of insider trading in Tesla lawsuit

Elon Musk is facing a lawsuit in Delaware brought by the Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island (ERSRI).

The lawsuit alleges that Musk and his brother Kimbal, a director at Tesla, improperly sold a combined $30 billion worth of shares between late 2021 and the end of 2022.

This latest lawsuit adds to Musk’s growing list of legal challenges, including a similar action filed by Tesla shareholder Michael Perry, alleging insider trading, and a regulatory investigation into his Twitter purchase.

Moreover, Tesla shareholders are scheduled to vote on whether to reinstate Musk’s $56 billion pay package, which a Delaware judge voided in January due to findings of improper control over the approval process.

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Waymo recalls autonomous vehicles after taxi incident

Self-driving car firm Waymo has issued a voluntary recall of its fleet of 672 autonomous vehicles following a collision involving a self-driving taxi last month.

The Waymo cab collided with a telephone pole in Phoenix, Arizona, but the vehicle was unoccupied at the time. The car itself was damaged, but no humans were injured.

The incident has prompted Waymo to file a recall notion with the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to update the software of its entire fleet.

It is the second recall the company has conducted this year, following a decision in February after two incidents were reported in Phoenix at the end of 2023.

Waymo has grown its fleet from the 444 vehicles in operation during the previous recall, and it is planning to expand to four US cities later this year.

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Apple reclaims top spot as most valuable company following AI plans

Apple has retaken the spot as the world’s most valuable listed company following its recent developer’s conference, at which it unveiled plans to launch a new AI offering.

The tech giant’s market cap surged to over $3.34 trillion, leapfrogging Microsoft (worth a paltry $3.26 trillion) and Nvidia, which only jumped to second place last week.

Forty years on from the Mac vs. PC rivalry, Microsoft and Apple are still locking horns, with Apple on top… for now.

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Carlos Slim buys £400m stake in BT

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has acquired a 3% stake in British Telecom’s incumbent BT, worth around £400 million.

Three companies controlled by the Slim family bought the shareholding, and he joins other major telco investors, such as Altice-owner Patrick Drahi and German operator Deutsche Telekom, as a major stakeholder in the firm.

BT said it “welcomed any investor who recognises the long-term value of our business” and “looks forward to engaging” with Slim’s companies. Slim is one of Latin America’s wealthiest individuals. His telecoms group, América Móvil, has previously invested in European operations, including Dutch incumbent KPM and Telekom Austria.

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