The European Union fined Apple AAPL 2.39%increase; green up pointing triangle and Meta META 4.74%increase; green up pointing triangle Platforms hundreds of millions of dollars and ordered the companies to comply with the bloc’s tech rules in a move that risks ratcheting up tensions with the Trump administration as officials pursue trade talks. 

The FTC’s high-stakes antitrust lawsuit against Meta kicked off today with opening arguments in Washington, DC. Mark Zuckerberg is expected to take the stand to defend his company against the federal government’s claims that the acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp should never have been approved.

MAGA leaders will be watching events in a courtroom in Washington DC today very closely. Meta is defending itself against a competition lawsuit filed by the US government, which may result in the tech company being broken up. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s case argues that the acquisitions of Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 by Facebook (as it was then known) gave the company an unfair advantage. It may seem like ancient history, but the deals provided Meta with ownership of three of the four most popular social networks today.

A whistleblower on Wednesday told congressional lawmakers that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and other executives lied to Congress as Meta actively tried to help China develop artificial intelligence in an effort to win favor with Beijing. 

Meta on Friday announced it will officially end its fact-checking program in favor of community notes on its Facebook, Instagram, and Threads platforms on Monday.

This week, Google became the latest tech giant to do away with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. In an email on Wednesday, Google informed employees that its diversity hiring targets would be done away with. This came after President Donald Trump signed an executive order demanding government contractors scrap these “woke” initiatives (via the Associated Press): Google’s parent company, Alphabet, also signaled the shift in its annual 10-K report it filed this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In it, Google removed a line included in previous annual...

Google is rethinking its goal of hiring from underrepresented groups and other aspects of its D.E.I. programs. The Silicon Valley giant also said it was reviewing other diversity programs and initiatives and would update them if they seemed risky or ineffective. Get it sent to your inbox. Get our best tech reporting from the week. Get it sent to your inbox. Sign up for the On Tech newsletter. Get our best tech reporting from the week. Get it sent to your inbox. Google tried for years to diversify its work...

The tech giant said in an email to staff on Wednesday that it will no longer set hiring goals to improve workplace diversity, the Wall Street Journal (NWS+0.56% ) reported. The company also reportedly told staff it is reviewing some of its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs after recent court decisions and President Donald Trump’s executive order to end DEI programs in the federal government. Google told staff it is “evaluating changes to our programs required to comply,” according to the Wall Street Journal. In the wake of George Floyd’s...

Meta said Wednesday it would pay $25 million to settle a four-year-old lawsuit from President Donald Trump over the social media company’s decision to suspend Trump’s accounts after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. 

Meta Platforms has agreed to pay roughly $25 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit that President Trump brought against the company and its CEO after the social-media platform suspended his accounts following the attack on the U.S. Capitol that year, according to people familiar with the agreement.