What happened: The U.K.'s antitrust regulator is set to issue a final decision by Wednesday in its review of Microsoft's Activision Blizzard merger. Details: The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority has been probing the deal over concerns that it would harm competition in the gaming market. However, the CMA is now expected to support the merger in its final report due out tomorrow, according to The Financial Times. Why it matters: Microsoft announced in January 2022 that it would acquire the gaming company for $68.7B, making it the largest video game acquisition of all time, and the biggest pending U.S. transaction. The deal has been undergoing antitrust scrutiny from regulators around the world, and the U.K.'s decision could shift the tides either in favor or against it. If supported, Microsoft would gain control of Activision’s Call of Duty and other massive gaming franchises, along with its mobile gaming publisher King. 
EUROGAMER 
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A U.S. appeals court has once again ruled that Apple's App Store policies don't violate federal antitrust law, siding with Apple in a years-long legal challenge brought by Fortnite maker Epic Games Inc. In a 2-1 ruling, the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court’s 2021 ruling that mostly favored Apple. More: - In 2021, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Apple does not have a monopoly on the mobile app market.
- On Monday, the federal appeals court issued a 91-page decision siding with Apple in nine of 10 claims made in Epic's lawsuit.
- However, they did agree with the lower court that Apple violates California's Unfair Competition Law by not allowing app developers to steer users to alternate payment options outside of Apple's App Store.
- Reports noted that Apple may seek a rehearing in the next 14 days and/or file a petition to appeal that ruling to the Supreme Court.
- If unsuccessful, however, iOS developers may be allowed in the future to add links inside their apps directing customers to outside websites to make payments. This would circumvent Apple's up to 30% fee for apps and in-app purchases.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
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The European Union said that nearly 20 major tech platforms, including Apple, Facebook, and Twitter, have to comply with stricter rules for algorithmic risk, content recommendations, and more. The companies, designated as “very large" online search engines or platforms with 45 million+ monthly active users, will have four months to comply with the entirety of the EU's new Digital Services Act (DSA), lawmakers said. Failure to do so could result in fines as high as 6% of their annual turnover or a temporary ban. More: - The EU has singled out 19 online platforms as passing that 45-million user threshold. Most of the companies are U.S.-based, though Chinese-owned platforms TikTok and AliExpress are also mentioned.
- Under the broader rules, platforms will need to inform their online users why they are receiving certain recommendations and give them the opportunity to opt-out.
- The terms and conditions in contracts will require summaries in “plain language” and all EU languages.
- The DSA mandates that platforms remove illegal content more quickly and share information about their content-recommending algorithms and efforts to fight harmful content and online misinformation.
- The rules tackle several topics, including prohibiting online platforms from targeting children with ads and barring platforms from relying on algorithms that use data to target users based on gender, race, and religion.
- The EU says it could add more platforms to the stricter "very large" category over time.
BLOOMBERG
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Spotify's number of monthly active users has passed the 500 million mark for the first time, according to the company's latest earnings report. In the first quarter, the Swedish audio streamer beat expectations for monthly active users and premium subscribers. It's also forecasting higher-than-expected Q2 user growth. More: - Spotify now has over 515 million monthly active users, a 22% gain from the same period last year.
- Its 210 million premium subscribers were up 15% YoY. Most of its revenue comes from paid subscriptions.
- In Q1, Spotify's ad revenues came in at €329M ($360M), up 17% over the same quarter the year before.
- Spotify posted a net operating loss of €156M ($172M), much higher than the €6M ($6.6M) loss from the year-ago period but less than the €270M ($297M) Spotify reported in the prior quarter.
- Its overall Q1 revenue of €3.04B ($3.34B) was 14% higher year-over-year but 4% lower quarter-over-quarter.
- In January, Spotify said it was cutting 6% of its workforce or nearly 600 employees. At the time, CEO Daniel Ek said the platform is "fundamentally changing how we operate at the top."
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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A group of Sega of America employees has announced plans to unionize. The 144 workers at the company's North American HQ in Irvine, California, have filed for an election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). More: - The employees, which hail from Sega's testing, product development, QA, and other teams, say they have a supermajority to support the election, though they also hope Sega will recognize them voluntarily.
- They're partnering with the Communication Workers of America, the labor union that also represents employees at Activision Studios.
- The Sega workers have called themselves the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega, or AEGIS-CWA.
- The group is aiming for higher base pay, improved benefits, clear outlines for advancing their careers, and adequate staffing.
Zoom Out: - In January, about 300 game quality-assurance testers from Microsoft's ZeniMax studios voted to form the tech giant's first labor union in the U.S.
- A month prior, a group of workers at Proletariat studio became the third group at Activision Blizzard to unionize.
- A recent State of the Game Industry survey found that 53% of game developers surveyed said they support unionization.
VICE
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Music artist Grimes has offered to split the royalties on any popular AI-generated songs that utilize her voice. The artist, whose full name is Claire Elise Boucher, said she would share the revenue for any "successful" songs. On Twitter, she told followers to "feel free to use my voice without penalty." More: - Grimes noted that she has "no label and no legal bindings" and is "just curious what even happens and interested in being a Guinea pig."
- The offer comes after Universal Music Group, a major record label, requested that streaming platforms block AI from using its copyrighted melodies and lyrics to generate new music.
- Universal was behind a mass online takedown of an AI-generated song called "Heart on My Sleeve" that featured deepfaked voices of artists Drake and The Weeknd.
- The company issued copyright claims forcing YouTube and other providers to remove the song.
- Other music artists have embraced AI. Composer Holly Herndon released a cover of Dolly Parton's "Jolene" that was created using Holly+, the musical artist's AI "twin."
BBC
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 |  | Beth is a writer and editor at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily technology news. She has written the Inside AI newsletter since 2019. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. |   | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is the author of "Things You Can Do," an illustrated book about climate action. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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