Poland Urges Brussels to Probe TikTok Over AI-Generated Content

The TikTok logo is pictured outside the company's US head office in Culver City, California, US, September 15, 2020. (Reuters)
The TikTok logo is pictured outside the company's US head office in Culver City, California, US, September 15, 2020. (Reuters)
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Poland Urges Brussels to Probe TikTok Over AI-Generated Content

The TikTok logo is pictured outside the company's US head office in Culver City, California, US, September 15, 2020. (Reuters)
The TikTok logo is pictured outside the company's US head office in Culver City, California, US, September 15, 2020. (Reuters)

Poland has asked the European Commission to investigate TikTok after the social media platform hosted AI-generated content including calls for Poland to withdraw from the EU, it said on Tuesday, adding that the content was almost certainly Russian disinformation.

"The disclosed content poses a threat to public order, information security, and the integrity of democratic processes in Poland and across the European Union," Deputy Digitalization Minister Dariusz Standerski said in a letter sent to the Commission.

"The nature of ‌the narratives, ‌the manner in which they ‌are distributed, ⁠and the ‌use of synthetic audiovisual materials indicate that the platform is failing to comply with the obligations imposed on it as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP)," he added.

A Polish government spokesperson said on Tuesday the content was undoubtedly Russian disinformation as the recordings contained Russian syntax.

TikTok, representatives ⁠of the Commission and of the Russian embassy in Warsaw did not ‌immediately respond to Reuters' requests for ‍comment.

EU countries are taking ‍measures to head off any foreign state attempts to ‍influence elections and local politics after warning of Russian-sponsored espionage and sabotage. Russia has repeatedly denied interfering in foreign elections.

Last year, the Commission opened formal proceedings against social media firm TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance, over its suspected failure to limit election interference, notably in ⁠the Romanian presidential vote in November 2024.

Poland called on the Commission to initiate proceedings in connection with suspected breaches of the bloc's sweeping Digital Services Act, which regulates how the world's biggest social media companies operate in Europe.

Under the Act, large internet platforms like X, Facebook, TikTok and others must moderate and remove harmful content like hate speech, racism or xenophobia. If they do not, the Commission can impose fines of up to 6% ‌of their worldwide annual turnover.



Google Says 'Multiple' Cloud Services Suffer Network Failures in Europe

FILE PHOTO: A person takes a photo of the Google Cloud logo, during the 2025 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, March 4, 2025. REUTERS/Albert Gea/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A person takes a photo of the Google Cloud logo, during the 2025 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, March 4, 2025. REUTERS/Albert Gea/File Photo
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Google Says 'Multiple' Cloud Services Suffer Network Failures in Europe

FILE PHOTO: A person takes a photo of the Google Cloud logo, during the 2025 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, March 4, 2025. REUTERS/Albert Gea/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A person takes a photo of the Google Cloud logo, during the 2025 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, March 4, 2025. REUTERS/Albert Gea/File Photo

Multiple Google Cloud services were experiencing serious network disruptions at its European data center based in London on Tuesday, according to the US technology giant's service health website.

British digital bank Revolut said it is facing disruption to multiple services, which a source close to the matter attributed to the Google Cloud outage.

"Multiple Google Cloud services are experiencing elevated errors and intermittent network failures in europe-west2 region," Google said in a service update referring to its London data center.

Internet service tracker Downdetector indicated that hundreds of reports had been made of problems affecting UK lenders Lloyds bank and HSBC, as well as property website Rightmove and postal service Royal Mail.

Google said the incident began at 06:08 GMT on Tuesday, AFP reported.

A Revolut spokesperson said the bank was "working to fix the issue since it was identified" and offered its apologies "to anyone affected and for any inconvenience caused.”

"We can confirm that all our customers' money and data are safe," they added in a statement.

Google on its website said its "engineering team continues to investigate the issue" but gave no reason for the disruption caused.


Amazon to Invest Over €16 Billion in Germany Next Year

(FILES) The logo of US online retail giant Amazon is seen on the facade of a redistribution center in Horn-Bad Meinberg, western Germany, on December 9, 2024. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP)
(FILES) The logo of US online retail giant Amazon is seen on the facade of a redistribution center in Horn-Bad Meinberg, western Germany, on December 9, 2024. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP)
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Amazon to Invest Over €16 Billion in Germany Next Year

(FILES) The logo of US online retail giant Amazon is seen on the facade of a redistribution center in Horn-Bad Meinberg, western Germany, on December 9, 2024. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP)
(FILES) The logo of US online retail giant Amazon is seen on the facade of a redistribution center in Horn-Bad Meinberg, western Germany, on December 9, 2024. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP)

Amazon plans to invest more than €16 billion (about $18 billion) in Germany in 2027, the company said on Tuesday, to expand its cloud computing, AI, satellite internet and media businesses.

The investment is the e-commerce giant's latest move to grow its European operations as it races to expand cloud infrastructure ⁠across the region ⁠amid surging demand for AI services and growing competition among technology firms.

The package, announced at the Invest in Germany Summit in Berlin, adds to more ⁠than €100 billion Amazon says it has invested in the country since 2010.

The latest investment includes €4.8 billion to expand Amazon Web Services' Frankfurt cloud region and AI infrastructure.

It also includes new logistics projects expected to create more than 3,000 jobs, development of the Amazon Leo ⁠satellite broadband ⁠network, and new Prime Video productions.

Amazon also plans to open a second robotics and AI research lab in Berlin.

Tuesday's commitment follows a €10 billion investment announced in June 2024 to expand its cloud infrastructure and logistics network in Germany, including €8.8 billion for AWS data centers.


Micron Workers in Taiwan to Strike in Push for Bigger Profit Share

The newly opened Micron Advanced Assembly and Test Taiwan 2 (AATT2) facility in Taichung, Taiwan, October 15, 2026. REUTERS/Ann Wang
The newly opened Micron Advanced Assembly and Test Taiwan 2 (AATT2) facility in Taichung, Taiwan, October 15, 2026. REUTERS/Ann Wang
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Micron Workers in Taiwan to Strike in Push for Bigger Profit Share

The newly opened Micron Advanced Assembly and Test Taiwan 2 (AATT2) facility in Taichung, Taiwan, October 15, 2026. REUTERS/Ann Wang
The newly opened Micron Advanced Assembly and Test Taiwan 2 (AATT2) facility in Taichung, Taiwan, October 15, 2026. REUTERS/Ann Wang

Workers at a Micron Technology plant in Taiwan plan to strike on Thursday as they aim to pressure the US chip firm into proposing a "concrete profit-sharing plan," a labor union representing the employees said.

Huge global appetite for chips used in AI data centers has sent revenues soaring for firms that design, produce and assemble them but as their earnings skyrocket, workers are demanding a bigger cut of profits.

Monday's announcement came as Micron held talks over remuneration with two unions representing 12,000 of the 15,000 workers at its Taoyuan and Taichung plants.

The union representing hundreds of workers in Taoyuan said Thursday's strike would coincide with mediation talks with the company. It did not specify how long the strike could last.

"The strike aims to strengthen the union's position in mediation and urge Micron to put forward a concrete profit-sharing plan," the union said in a statement.

"We call on all Micron Taiwan Union members to stand together, fight together, and negotiate collectively," AFP quoted the union as saying.

"Through our actions, we will make our dissatisfaction with the current system heard and demonstrate our determination to establish a fair profit-sharing system."

In a statement, Micron said the company was "committed to constructive engagement with the Taoyuan and Taichung Unions to reach a solution that works for all parties."

The workers have the legal right to strike and stage picket lines after voting earlier this month in favor of action, the union said previously.

The unions are seeking a one-off bonus of 83 months' salary as well as a permanent system that allocates 15 percent of the company's operating profits to worker bonuses, distributed quarterly rather than annually.

Micron, which makes around 50-60 percent of its chips in Taiwan, said last month it would give the equivalent of up to 68 months of pay to staff but the one-off payment was rejected by workers.