Starmer is set to ban under-16s from social media altogether within days – with fines for mobile phone manufacturers that don't comply.

The post Starmer Poised to Ban Under-16s From Social Media in ‘Australian-Plus’ Crackdown appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

The European Commission (EC) took the wraps off a sweeping new package outlining measures to boost the continent’s ambitions around semiconductors, AI, cloud and open source, as part of a bid to strengthen the bloc’s digital autonomy.

EC stated measures in the four areas will help Europe “become an AI continent”, established as a leader in research, development and adoption of AI.

It hopes the package will fast track ambitions around technology sovereignty and protect European digital independence, as part of a long-standing goal to reduce reliance on the US and Asia.

Starting with chips, the EC said it wants to secure the semiconductor base for Europe’s AI ambitions through the Chips Act 2.0, which is designed to speed up permitting, deepen cooperation with “like-minded partners” and introduce a new excellence label for Europe’s semiconductor regions.

It is an update of the original Chips Act, in force since 2023, which represented Europe’s response to vulnerabilities in the semiconductor supply chain.

Secondly, a new Cloud and AI Development Act is designed to aid the buildout of new data centres, streamline conditions for deploying facilities across the European Union (EU) and introduce a single EU-wide framework to assess cloud and AI sovereignty. The wider aim is to triple the region’s data centre capacity in the next five to seven years.

Through open source, the EC wants to strengthen digital autonomy, scaling up alternatives in priority areas, invest in skills, startups and digital infrastructure while support greater use of open source in public administration.

Finally, the EC put the focus on digitalising Europe’s energy system, pledging to define a roadmap in the sector to ensure data centres are integrated, while building sovereign and secure AI models.

Technological sovereignty
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the commission, said Europe “cannot afford to depend on others for the technologies that keep our hospitals running, our energy grids stable and our services secure”.

“This is about protecting our citizens, defending our interests and making our own choices. Europe has the talent, the research excellence, the industrial base and the Single Market. Together, we must turn these strengths into technological sovereignty.”

Before the package is put into force, the proposal will be negotiated by the European Parliament and Council of the EU. The commission will also launch a consultation process with member states.

Investment will be made through existing grants until 2028, while future funding is to be confirmed in the next EU budget. The EC has previously estimated a combined public-private investment of €120 billion by 2035 to rejuvenate the continent’s chip industry.

The post EU targets AI, chips in fresh sovereignty drive appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Ofcom called for a concerted effort from mobile operators, local authorities and other entities to improve coverage across the UK, as it published a study highlighting widespread mobile signal issues uncovered on the country’s railway network.

Its research assessed coverage on 24 segments of the UK’s key railway lines. A good performance was deemed to be a download speed of at least 5 Mb/s, 1.5 Mb/s upload, and a response time of 50 milliseconds or less.

It found EE met those standards on 42% of the lines, Virgin Media O2 hit 20%, Vodafone scored 17% and 3 UK 21%. The latter two are now the same company.

Ofcom noted the research “highlights the core problem that mobile signal from masts on the ground often isn’t strong enough around train lines and that some carriage types are difficult for signals to pass through”.

It also found on-board Wi-Fi by train companies was little help, performing well 1% of the time. This was blamed on “outdated technology” and speed caps.

Goals
Alongside the train-specific research, the regulator published a report detailing general aims to improve the quality of mobile coverage in the country.

Here, Ofcom called for a “national effort” to improve services, noting the roles of the mobile industry, local authorities, central government, building developers and landowners.

Highlighting a binding £11 billion investment commitment from VodafoneThree related to merger clearance, Ofcom expects “other networks to respond with their own investment, and collectively this will be a key driver of improvements”.

Ofcom also pointed to issues with infrastructure planning applications in some areas and the advantage of having dedicated indoor coverage systems within sites such as shopping centres.

On train-specific problems, it noted “competition between mobile networks alone won’t be enough to improve mobile signal on trains, and government is currently considering options for how it can help”.

“As well as providing technical advice to Government to help inform its approach, we’ll also look at whether more spectrum – the airwaves all wireless technology relies on – is required”.

Challenges
A statement issued by trade association Mobile UK on behalf of the country’s three mobile operators welcomed the Ofcom research, explaining it “highlights the unique structural and capacity challenges of delivering consistent connectivity on moving trains”.

Noting building the advanced infrastructure required needed “the right enabling environment” the organisation urged government action through the country’s Mobile Market Review and “planning reform to establish a supportive policy and regulatory framework”.

“Dedicated public investment is also critical to tackle complex trackside blackspots, as commercial rollout alone cannot bridge the gap on the rail network,” the statement added. “We look forward to working with Government and Ofcom to achieve this, balancing the need for major investment with Ofcom’s vital role in maintaining low costs for consumers.”

The post UK regulator bemoans train mobile signal failures appeared first on Mobile World Live.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opened its first spectrum auction in four years, putting 200 licences on the block for bidding by AT&T, T-Mobile US, Verizon and possibly SpaceX.

Auction 113, formally known as the AWS-3 auction, includes licences covering frequencies in the 1695–1710 MHz, 1755–1780 MHz and 2155–2180 MHz bands.

Those frequencies were originally auctioned to Dish Network, which is now part of EchoStar, in 2014 but never made it into service after a series of defaults and bid withdrawals left them sitting unused in the FCC’s inventory for over a decade.

In 2015, Dish Network affiliates Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless surrendered a number of spectrum licences worth $3.5 billion after a dispute with the FCC over discounts.

Last week the FCC and EchoStar reached an agreement which included the latter dropping a lawsuit it filed in a US Court of Appeals over the defaults by Northstar and SNR.

Proceeds from the auction which started yesterday (2 June) will fund the FCC’s secure and trusted communications networks reimbursement program, commonly known as “rip and replace”. It seeks to remove equipment by Huawei and ZTE from US communications networks.

The licences cover territory home to more than 100 million people across 48 states, and two US territories. The auction makes over 1.4 billion MHz-POPs available.

FCC chair Brendan Carr did not hold back in marking the occasion.

“Finally! The FCC is back in the game,” he stated while calling spectrum auctions “the lifeblood of licensed wireless service”.

Carr noted getting this auction moving was the first item the FCC voted on at his first meeting as chair.

“More spectrum means more building, lower prices and stronger competition,” he added.

The auction fits into the FCC’s broader Build America Agenda, which is targeting the delivery of 800 megahertz of spectrum by 2034 under the framework set out in President Donald Trump’s Working Families Tax Cut Act, the legislation which also restored the FCC’s auction authority.

The post FCC kicks off first spectrum auction in 4 years appeared first on Mobile World Live.

AI player Anthropic confidentially submitted paperwork for its proposed initial public listing ahead of rival OpenAI, while also giving the European Union’s cybersecurity body preliminary access to its Mythos AI tool.

The draft registration statement submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission gives the company the option to go public after the agency completes its review.

Anthropic stated the number of shares to be offered and the price have not yet been set.

News of the IPO move came the same day (1 June) Bloomberg reported Anthropic will give ENISA, the European Union’s cybersecurity agency, access to Mythos through Project Glasswing, an initiative which allows organisations to test Mythos’ capabilities before a wider release.

There are growing concerns among governments over the security implications of Mythos, which Anthropic released to some private companies in April.

Anthropic communicated the decision to the European Commission over the weekend.

EC spokesperson Thomas Regnier confirmed the development to Mobile World Live (MWL) followed several weeks of productive discussions.

 “We welcome the latest developments on potential future access,” he said. “This is the result of the Commission’s strong bilateral cooperation and engagement with Anthropic, a leading frontier AI company.”

The EC was careful to frame the moment not as a resolution but as a starting point to work with the US administration, Anthropic and additional AI companies such as OpenAI.

“This is a shared challenge, and we are intensifying our discussions with like-minded partners, including the United States,” Regnier said.

The plan is for ENISA to join Project Glasswing, the coalition Anthropic announced in April which includes Amazon, Apple, AT&T, T-Mobile US, Microsoft, Google, CrowdStrike, Nvidia and Palo Alto Networks, among others.

The post Anthropic confidentially files for IPO appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Meta Platforms reportedly acknowledged its controversial employee surveillance programme captures data from employees outside the US, raising fresh legal questions in Europe.

Reuters reported internal documentation it reviewed showed the company’s Model Capability Initiative (MCI) does capture data outside of the US.

MCI was introduced last month as a tool to record how US-based employees interact with their work computers by tracking mouse movements, clicks and navigation patterns across more than 200 apps and websites.

The goal of MCI is to use the employee-generated data to train AI agents capable of performing coding and white-collar tasks.

Meta told staff the programme is confined to US devices and stated safeguards are in place to protect sensitive information.

The news agency noted Meta acknowledged in a question-and-answer document provided to employees MCI will capture the contents of any emails or direct messages sent to US personnel, regardless of the sender’s ⁠location.

Meta spokesperson Dave Arnold told Reuters the company notified non-US employees the tool was running on the machines of US-based colleagues they might correspond with, describing the step as one of transparency.

A representative for Meta told Mobile World Live: “We’ve been clear that this tool is for US-based personnel only, and in the interest of transparency, we notified non-US employees that it was deployed on the computers of US colleagues they may email or chat with in the normal course of business.”

“We carefully considered and mitigated potential privacy risks in both the development and deployment of this tool, and we are committed to complying with applicable laws and regulations.” 

New regulatory exposure
Reuters stated the disclosure introduces new regulatory exposure in Europe, where technology companies are already fighting a series of heated legal battles over data collection.

Under the EU’s GDPR rules, the news site explained companies must establish a clear legal basis for processing personal data, disclose what is being collected and satisfy strict conditions around sensitive categories of information.

Kleanthi Sardeli, a legal expert at privacy advocacy group NOYB, told the news site even limited or incidental capture of EU employee data could put Meta in breach of GDPR rules.

A key question, she said, is whether data originally gathered for work communications can lawfully be repurposed to train an AI model.

The post Meta tracking tool raises EU GDPR concerns appeared first on Mobile World Live.

The European Union (EU) is pressing for deeper talks with the US administration over advanced AI models, and at the heart of the conversation is Anthropic’s Mythos.

There are growing concerns among governments over the security implications of Mythos, which Anthropic released to private companies in April.

Its release triggered an immediate wave of concern when it surfaced the model could identify tens of thousands of software vulnerabilities at a scale no previous system had demonstrated.

The AI player introduced its Mythos model on 7 April, under the auspices of Project Glasswing, to a limited number of technology companies including Amazon Web Services, Apple, Nvidia and Google.

Anthropic expects to bring Mythos-class models to all customers in the coming weeks.

Bloomberg previously reported the EU made limited progress in securing access to details of vulnerabilities Anthropic’s Mythos AI model could reveal.

European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier told Mobile World Live (MWL) the agency has had several meetings with Anthropic to understand the capability of the model, its implications for the cybersecurity of the EU and Anthropic’s plan around Project Glasswing.

“We will keep discussing with the company the cyber capabilities and risks of its latest model,” he stated.

CNBC reported Anthropic has yet to grant the EU, its AI office or any government organisations outside of the US, aside from the UK’s AI Security Institute, preview access to Mythos.

Since August 2025, the European Commission’s AI Office has held regular technical meetings with Anthropic tied to the General-Purpose AI Code of Practice, to which the company is a signatory.

A spokesperson for the EC noted Mythos is not a one-off as a “new wave of powerful models are coming to the market”.

The EC stated parallel progress is being made towards releasing OpenAI’s GPT-5.5-Cyber to trusted EU entities.

The EC spokesperson told MWL it is intensifying discussions with the US, “particularly on the most advanced AI models, including those with cyber capabilities”.

“Cybersecurity is a shared priority and we have agreed to mutually recognise our respective standards in this area,” the spokesperson stated.  “On EU side, we are also stepping up our cyber defences through targeted investments in AI and supercomputing.”

The post EU pushes for access to Anthropic model as fears grow appeared first on Mobile World Live.