Entertainment Technology Briefing: February 2025
Welcome to our round-up of our top selection of legal updates and technology news relevant to the media and entertainment industry in January.
If you are looking for advice in relation to any of the issues mentioned, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Legal updates
TikTok stops working as US ban comes into force (BBC) … followed by: Delay to TikTok ban gets Trump sign-off (BBC)
Ofcom launches digital safety toolkit for online services (Ofcom)
Online safety laws unsatisfactory, minister says (BBC)
CMA secures important changes from Google to tackle fake reviews (CMA)
Microsoft stifling competition in cloud services market, finds UK regulator (FT)
Facebook and Instagram get rid of fact checkers (BBC)
AI
PM plans to 'unleash AI' across UK to boost growth (BBC)
Government crackdown on explicit deepfakes (MoJ)
Can AI-generated content be copyrighted? Here’s what a new report from the US Copyright Office says… (Music Business Worldwide)
OpenAI says it has evidence China’s DeepSeek used its model to train competitor (FT)
MusicTech
UK music streaming subscription revenues jumped 7.8% YoY in 2024 to $2.58bn – boosted by Spotify price rise (Music Business Worldwide)
Web3
High Court holds that bitcoin not contained on lost hard drive (Howells v Newport City Council [2025] EWHC 22 (Ch))
Data
New amendment to Data (Use and Access) Bill to deal with deepfakes proposed (Gov.uk)
ICO updates its online tracking strategy (ICO)
ICO issues updated guidance on storage and access technologies, including cookies (ICO)
New ICO guidance on consent or pay models (ICO)
Consumer groups red card Meta’s latest pay-or-consent policy (BEUC, The European Consumer Organisation)
