Keep your finger on the legal world's pulse

A U.S. federal judge has dismissed Elon Musk’s X’s lawsuit alleging that major advertisers and industry groups, including the World Federation of Advertisers, the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, Unilever, Mars, Shell, and Lego, coordinated a boycott of the platform, ruling that the company failed to demonstrate harm under antitrust law. The court found that advertisers acted independently in response to changes in content moderation following Musk’s takeover, which had led to concerns over harmful content and declining ad spending.

 

The Hill

Bloomberg

Courthouse News Service

Reuters

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have introduced legislation to ban the federal government from obtaining or operating unmanned Chinese robots. The American Security Robotics Act seeks to bar government use of “unmanned ground vehicle systems” - including humanoid robots and remote surveillance vehicles - made by foreign adversaries such as China. “The Chinese Communist Party has shown that they are willing to lie and cheat to get ahead at the expense of the American people and our national security,” Schumer said, adding: “They are running their standard playbook - this time in robotics - trying to flood the U.S. market with their technology, which presents real security risks and threats to Americans’ privacy and American research and industry.”

 

The Hill

Reuters

U.S. News & World Report

A U.S. judge ​has temporarily blocked the Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic. U.S. District Judge Rita Lin sided with the AI company in an order finding that directives from President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth that all government agencies immediately stop using Anthropic tools could not be enforced for the time being. Lin wrote in her order that the government was attempting to "cripple Anthropic" and "chill public debate" because of the company's concerns over how its technology was being used by the Department of Defense. "This appears to be classic First Amendment retaliation," the judge observed.

 

Fortune

Politico

Reuters

BBC News

Donald Trump has praised U.S. attorney-general Pam Bondi and Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, for launching the DOJ's criminal investigation into Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell.

 

Financial Times

The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against United Parks & Resorts, the parent company of SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, claiming that a ban on seated wheeled walkers, or rollators, violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. The lawsuit seeks a jury trial in Orlando to assess whether the company discriminated against individuals with disabilities. The DOJ's complaint highlights incidents where visitors, including veterans with mobility disabilities, were denied entry with their rollators. United Parks & Resorts contends that the policy was implemented for safety reasons, stating: “The policy at issue was implemented to address repeated safety incidents involving misuse of rollators with seats.” The company also claims to provide alternative options for guests at no cost.

 

Bloomberg Law

U.S. News

Elon Musk’s defense attorney Alex Spiro has accused a San Francisco federal jury of “mocking” the billionaire by including “$4.20” among the figures pertaining to damages in a class-action suit that accused the billionaire of misleading Twitter investors. In a letter to U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, Spiro argued the verdict was “corrupted” by bias and denied his client a fair trial. The number 420 is associated with marijuana culture, Reuters explains. Musk has often ⁠mentioned 420 in interviews and tweets, and used it in business activities. Spiro said the jury's "numerical joke" was "no doubt intentional," but Frank Bottini and Mark Molumphy, two of the investors' lawyers, in a joint statement ‌called ⁠Spiro's letter meritless.

 

New York Post

Bloomberg

Reuters

Food safety and animal welfare nonprofit Food Animal Concerns Trust has filed a lawsuit against Panera Bread, alleging the company misled consumers by continuing to market its meat as responsibly sourced while quietly loosening its standards to cut costs. The case claims Panera abandoned commitments on antibiotic-free and humane sourcing practices, including supplier standards for animal welfare, despite promoting itself as a leader in these areas. Panera has denied wrongdoing, stating that its animal welfare policies are clearly outlined, as scrutiny grows ahead of its previously planned IPO.

 

Reuters

The gender pay gap in the U.S. has widened. Women working full-time, year-round, now earn 81 cents for every dollar men earn, according to the most recent data from the Census Bureau. That's down from 83 cents a year ago, and 84 cents the year prior. It's the first consecutive widening of the wage gap since the 1960s, observes Deborah Vagins, director of the Equal Pay Today. "We are reversing decades of hard won progress," Vagins says. The national coalition organizes nine annual observances, including yesterday's Equal Pay Day, and also Black Women's Equal Pay Day (July 21), Moms' Equal Pay Day (August 6), and Latina Equal Pay Day (October 8).

 

NPR

United Airlines and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA have reached a tentative labor deal that will include their first raises since the pandemic. United said the agreement will include immediate raises and top pay of $100 an hour at the end of the contract, as well as pay for flight attendants during boarding and “a signing bonus for every flight attendant worth a total of $740 million.”

 

CNBC

Reuters

The House Ways and Means Committee has unanimously approved the IRS Whistleblower Program Improvement Act (H.R. 7959), advancing legislation aimed at reducing delays and strengthening protections for whistleblowers who help uncover tax fraud. The bill would require the IRS to pay interest on delayed awards -currently taking an average of 11 years - introduce a new standard allowing courts to reassess award decisions, and enhance confidentiality protections, building on a program that has already recovered more than $7.5bn, with whistleblowers entitled to 15%–30% of collected sanctions.

 

Bloomberg Tax

Whistleblower Network News

A Dutch court has ordered Elon ‌Musk's xAI and chatbot Grok to stop generating non-consensual nude pictures and child sexual abuse material. The company is ordered to pay damages of €100,000 ($115,000) per day for each day it fails to comply, up to a maximum of €10m. The Amsterdam judge said the generation and distribution of sexualized footage is banned “when the functionality to undress people partially or fully is being used without these people giving their explicit consent.” The judge also prohibited the generation of footage “that, according to Dutch law, qualifies as child sexual abuse material.” Reuters says the preliminary injunction could set a precedent in Europe; it is ​one of the first times a judge has averred on xAI's responsibility for making tools ​that can be used to easily create sexualized images. The case was brought by ​Offlimits, a Dutch nonprofit group that combats online sexual abuse.

 

Bloomberg

Euractiv

Politico

Reuters

The European Union’s foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas has said Russian intelligence is helping Iran target Americans and U.S. allies. “We see that Russia is helping Iran with intelligence to target Americans, to kill Americans,” Kallas told reporters before a gathering of Group of Seven foreign ministers outside Paris. “Russia is also supporting Iran now with the drones so that they can attack neighboring countries and also U.S. military bases.” Kallas called on the U.S. to boost support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia. “It’s very clear to us where the lines are,” she said in an interview with Bloomberg. “Russia is not on the side of America and that’s very clear.”

 

Bloomberg