Natasha Lomas

Senior Reporter, TechCrunch

Natasha is a senior reporter for TechCrunch, joining September 2012, based in Europe. She joined TC after a stint reviewing smartphones for CNET UK and, prior to that, more than five years covering business technology for silicon.com (now folded into TechRepublic), where she focused on mobile and wireless, telecoms & networking, and IT skills issues. She has also freelanced for organisations including The Guardian and the BBC. Natasha holds a First Class degree in English from Cambridge University, and an MA in journalism from Goldsmiths College, University of London.

Natasha Lomas

Latest from Natasha Lomas

OpenAI is facing another privacy complaint in the European Union. This one, which has been filed by privacy rights nonprofit noyb on behalf of an individual complainant, targets the inability…

ChatGPT’s ‘hallucination’ problem hit with another privacy complaint in EU

Ultra-fast fashion e-commerce giant Shein will be subject to an additional layer of governance rules targeted at very large online platforms (VLOPs) under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA),…

Shein to face EU’s strictest rules for online marketplaces

Meta’s tracking ads business could be facing further legal blows in the European Union: An influential adviser to the bloc’s top court affirmed Thursday that the region’s privacy laws limit…

Meta could face further squeeze on surveillance ads model in EU

TikTok suspended a gamification feature in the European Union following an intervention by the bloc. With attention on TikTok’s growing pile of U.S. legal woes, the announcement went mostly unnoticed…

TikTok pulls feature from Lite app in EU over addiction concerns

The European Union has opened a second formal investigation into TikTok, announcing Monday that it suspects the video sharing platform of breaking the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), an online…

EU opens probe of TikTok Lite, citing concerns about addictive design

The director general of the UK’s National Crime Agency has targeted Meta over its planned expansion of end-to-end encryption to Instagram.

European police chiefs target E2EE in latest demand for ‘lawful access’

Apple has removed the Meta-owned end-to-end encrypted messaging app WhatsApp from its App Store in China following a government order citing national security concerns, the news agency Reuters reported Friday.…

Apple pulls WhatsApp, Threads from China App Store following state order

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has published new guidance that has major implications for adtech giants like Meta and other large platforms. Since November 2023, the owner of Facebook…

Adtech giants like Meta must give EU users real privacy choice, says EDPB

TikTok owner ByteDance is facing fresh questions about its compliance with the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), an online governance and content moderation framework that puts a legal obligation…

ByteDance gets 24 hours to show EU a DSA risk assessment for TikTok Lite

Incoming guidance by an expert steering body on European Union data protection law could have major implications for Meta’s advertising business model. The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has decided…

EU privacy body adopts view on Meta’s controversial ‘consent or pay’ tactic

Apple is opening up web distribution for iOS apps targeting users in the European Union starting Tuesday. Developers who opt in — and who meet Apple’s criteria, including app notarization…

Apple will soon let users in the EU download apps through web sites, not just the App Store

“We feel there are major gaps between the spirit of the EU regulation and these repositories in practice,” the report authors write.

Big Tech’s ad transparency tools are still woeful, Mozilla research report finds

Nearly two dozen rights groups are urging the EDPB to not endorse a strategy used by Meta that they say is intended to bypass the EU’s privacy protections.

Meta’s ‘consent or pay’ tactic must not prevail over privacy, EU rights groups warn

The UK’s competition watchdog, the CMA, has sounded a warning over Big Tech’s grip on the advanced AI market, with CEO Sarah Cardell expressing “real concerns” over how the sector is…

UK’s antitrust enforcer sounds the alarm over Big Tech’s grip on GenAI

Meta said on Thursday that it is testing new features on Instagram intended to help safeguard young people from unwanted nudity or sextortion scams. This includes a feature called “Nudity…

Meta will auto-blur nudity in Instagram DMs in latest teen safety step

After defeating Musk’s attempt to silence it in court, anti-hate research org Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) is back with new research on X.

Elon Musk accused of profiting from tragedy as study finds X rewards hate targeting Israel-Gaza war

A flagship European Union digital market regulation appears to be shaking up competition in the mobile browser market. It’s been a little over a month since the Digital Markets Act…

Alternative browsers report uplift after EU’s DMA choice screen mandate

By adding Standard Notes to its portfolio of apps, Proton will deepen its reach with an engaged community of pro-privacy users.

Proton picks up Standard Notes to deepen its pro-privacy portfolio

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has warned key planks of the bloc’s data protection and privacy regime are under attack from industry lobbyists and could face a critical reception…

As AI accelerates, Europe’s flagship privacy principles are under attack, warns EDPS

A 2019 rule change by the U.S. medical devices regulator aimed at encouraging innovations targeting insomnia and anxiety is bearing fruit: Neurovalens, a Belfast-based startup that for over a decade…

Neurotech startup Neurovalens gets FDA clearance for noninvasive anxiety treatment

Meta has announced changes to its rules on AI-generated content and manipulated media following criticism from its Oversight Board. Starting next month, the company said, it will label a wider…

Meta’s new AI deepfake playbook: More labels, fewer takedowns

The European Union and United States put out a joint statement Friday affirming a desire to increase cooperation over artificial intelligence. The agreement covers AI safety and governance, but also,…

US and EU commit to links aimed at boosting AI safety and risk research

The European Union and the U.S. expect to announce a cooperation on AI at a meeting of the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council (TTC) on Friday, according to a senior…

EU and US set to announce joint working on AI safety, standards & R&D

Featured Article

Your cut-out-and-keep guide to Big Tech talking points in a new age of antitrust

With tech giants facing new laws and enforcements aimed at cutting their empires down to size, a lobbying frenzy replete with wildly binary claims is underway. As the likes of Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok face unprecedented (yes, actually!) scrutiny from lawmakers and law enforcers around the world,…

4:51 am PDT • April 2, 2024
Your cut-out-and-keep guide to Big Tech talking points in a new age of antitrust

On Tuesday, the BBC reported that Uber Eats courier Pa Edrissa Manjang, who is Black, had received a payout from Uber after “racially discriminatory” facial recognition checks prevented him from…

Uber Eats courier’s fight against AI bias shows justice under UK law is hard won

Amazon will have to provide information about the ads running on its platform in a publicly accessible online archive after all, following a decision by the European Union’s highest court…

Amazon will have to publish an ads library in EU after all

Amazon has been fined in Poland for misleading consumers about the conclusion of sales contracts on its online marketplace. The sanction, of close to $8 million (or in local currency:…

Amazon fined in Poland for dark pattern design tricks

The European Union published draft election security guidelines Tuesday aimed at the around two dozen (larger) platforms with more than 45 million+ regional monthly active users who are regulated under…

EU publishes election security guidance for social media giants and others in scope of DSA

Controversial crypto biometrics venture Worldcoin has been almost entirely booted out of Europe after being hit with another temporary ban — this time in Portugal. The order from the country’s…

Worldcoin hit with another ban order in Europe citing risks to kids

Alexandre Boulanger is better known for building self-balancing exoskeletons at Wandercraft. For his next trick, the Paris-based robotics entrepreneur is fronting work on a far lighter kind of wearable: An…

Metyos is building a biowearable to monitor chronic kidney disease