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The EU’s antitrust regulator has gone against the grain of its U.S. and UK counterparts by waving through Microsoft’s proposed $69B takeover of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Spotify hasn’t let new Premium subscribers pay for service using in-app purchases via Apple’s App Store since May 2016 — objecting to the tech giant’s “tax” on purchases made through the App Store. There was only about a two-year window (from June 2014 to May 2016) during which Spotify Premium subs could opt to sign up and pay through the Apple App Store. Now, Spotify is no longer letting those customers continue paying through Apple’s in-app purchases. In recent emails to those subscribers, Spotify said, “We’re contacting you because when you joined Spotify Premium you used Apple’s billing service to subscribe. Unfortunately, we no longer accept that billing method as a form of payment.”

< 1 min read Luxembourg’s openly gay Prime Minister Xavier Bettel has condemned Hungary’s implementation of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, explicitly targeting the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán. Bettel comments follow Hungary’s enactment of a highly controversial Child Protection Act in June 2021, which prohibits discussions about LGBTQ+ individuals in schools and media.

Amazon has won unconditional EU antitrust approval for its $8.5 billion acquisition of storied U.S. movie studio MGM, the European Commission said Tuesday.

The UK Government has addressed the issue of mandating Covid vaccines in the UK with a Downing Street spokesman saying yesterday there are "no plans" to make them compulsory.

In a statement, Lord Frost said the time extension was needed to “provide space for further potential discussions” with the EU.In a terse response, the European Commission said the protocol was part of an international agreement in which “both sides were legally bound to fulfil their obligations”.

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Start booking your flight. Ursula von der Leven, president of the European Commission, said today that American tourists who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will be allowed into its member countries this summer.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, has unveiled two bills that aim to regulate, reshape, and rein in the power of big technology platforms, particularly the U.S. giants including Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon.

The European Union said on Tuesday that it has launched antitrust investigations into Apple’s rules for developers on the distribution of apps via its App Store, as well as Apple Pay. The decision by the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, to look into whether Apple's rules for app developers "violate EU competition rules" comes after complaints by music streaming giant Spotify and an unnamed e-book/audiobook distributor.