Today’s Cache | Amazon fails to suspend EU ad clause; Apple defeats consumer crypto-payment case; U.S. offers $10 million bounty for info on ‘Blackcat’ hackers

(This article is part of Today’s Cache, The Hindu’s newsletter on emerging themes at the intersection of technology, innovation and policy. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here.)

Amazon fails to suspend EU ad clause

Amazon has lost a court case to suspend a requirement around online advertising under the EU tech rules after Europe’s top court backed EU regulators, on Wednesday. The verdict stated that EU’s interests were more important than the U.S. online retailer’s material interests. Amazon was picked up under the Digital Services Act (DSA) formed last year, as a very large online platform that would be subjected to strict rules to tackle illegal and harmful content on its platform. 

The company then challenged a DSA requirement to make publicly available a repository containing detailed information on its online advertising and also asked for an interim measure until the court rules on the case. A lower tribunal court then agreed in September for an interim measure to suspend the contested obligation prompting the EU to turn to Europe’s top court. Amazon released a statement saying they were “very disappointed” with the decision and said they weren’t a “Very Large Platform” under the DSA and would not like to be treated as such. 

Apple defeats consumer crypto-payment case

A federal court in San Francisco has dismissed a consumer lawsuit against Apple for pushing fees in platforms like Venmo and Cash App by denying payment apps from implementing cryptocurrency transactions. The judge has given the plaintiffs 21 days to amend their complaint, calling the proposed class action “speculative” and saying it “suffers from several fatal problems.” 

The lawsuit filed in November last year accused Apple of imposing restrictions on cryptocurrency technology in its App Store, hurting competition for peer-to-peer payments and increasing fees for cash and credit card transactions at PayPal’s Venmo and Block’s Cash App. It alleged Apple has excluded at least two Bitcoin wallet apps. Apple has denied these allegations. Meanwhile, Apple is fighting other antitrust lawsuits, like the one from the U.S. Justice Department and a group of states that have accused the company of unlawfully monopolising the smartphone market. 

U.S. offers $10 million bounty for info on ‘Blackcat’ hackers

The U.S. State Department on Wednesday offered up to $10 million for information on the “Blackcat” ransomware gang that attacked UnitedHealth Group’s tech unit and tangled insurance payments across America. UnitedHealth said last week that it was starting to clear a medical claims backlog of more than $14 billion as it brought online services back after the cyberattack, causing wide-ranging disruptions in late February this year. 

Change Healthcare, the tech unit of UnitedHealth, has a critical role in processing payments from insurance companies to practitioners, and the outage has left patients and doctors out of pocket in some cases. This has taken a harsh toll on community health centers that serve more than 30 million poor and uninsured patients. Earlier this month hackers said that UnitedHealth ended up paying $22 million ransom in a bid to recover systems but it’s still not known if Blackcat kept their end of the bargain.