Reuters: Google paying more than 300 EU publishers for news, more to come. “Alphabet unit Google has signed deals to pay more than 300 publishers in Germany, France and four other EU countries for their news and will roll out a tool to make it easier for others to sign up too, the company told Reuters.”
TechCrunch: Meta faces years of tougher antitrust oversight in Germany. “Facebook’s rebranded parent, Meta, has become the next tech giant to be confirmed as subject to a special competition abuse control regime in Germany, following a 2021 update to its digital competition rules that are focused on large digital companies which are considered to be of ‘paramount significance for competition across markets’, as the law puts it. The designation, which stands for five years, empowers the regulator, the Federal Cartel Office (FCO), to take faster action to respond to competition concerns linked to Meta’s operations by imposing operational conditions intended to correct antitrust abuses.”
Daily Beast: Anti-Vax Crew Had Plot to Spark Civil War Over COVID Restrictions, Prosecutors Say. “Police are searching for a fifth suspect after four people were arrested for what’s described as an elaborate plot to cripple Germany and spark a civil war over COVID restrictions. The alleged scheme is said to have included a plan to kidnap Health Minister Karl Lauterbach and sabotage utility facilities to cause a nationwide power outage.”
The PIE: Germany: DAAD launches platform for Ukrainians. “The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has launched an online platform aiming to help 100,000 Ukrainian students and researchers continue their studies or academic careers in Germany.”
Deutsche Welle: The network protecting Ukraine’s cultural heritage. “In March, Claudia Roth, the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, launched the Network for the Protection of Cultural Property in Ukraine together with the German Foreign Office. The aim is to better protect cultural treasures, gather information and coordinate aid measures. Much of the work will be done from Germany, with ICOM [International Council of Museums] Germany serving as the central contact point.”
Reuters: German consumer group files legal complaint against Google over cookie banners. “A German consumer office has submitted a legal complaint against Google over its use of cookie banners, which the office argues are designed in a way that violates data protection rules.”
Bleeping Computer: Germany takes down Hydra, world’s largest darknet market. “The servers of Hydra Market, the most prominent Russian darknet platform for selling drugs and money laundering, have been seized by the German police. The police were also able to seize 543 bitcoins from the profits of Hydra, which are currently worth a little over $25 million.”
Deutsche Welle: German man got COVID jab 87 times — report. “The man reportedly went to eastern German jab centers and got vaccinated up to three times a day. Authorities believe it was all as part of a scheme to sell vaccination passes to anti-vaxxers.”
ABC News: German lawmakers vote to abolish most pandemic restrictions. “German lawmakers voted Friday to abolish most of the country’s coronavirus pandemic restrictions despite a surge in infections, with almost 300,000 new daily cases reported.”
Deutsche Welle: COVID digest: Germany’s situation ‘critical,’ Lauterbach says. “Despite planning to further relax COVID-19 rules, Germany logged a record high number of coronavirus infections in 24 hours on Thursday, and a figure almost as high, 252,836 cases, on Friday.”
Associated Press: German air traffic rebounded last year but still far to go. “Nearly 74 million passengers last year took off from or landed at the 23 largest commercial airports in Germany, which has Europe’s biggest economy, the Federal Statistical Office said. That was about 27% more than in 2020, when the pandemic hit and travel came to a near-standstill, but close to 68% fewer than in 2019, when a record of nearly 227 million passengers used German airports.”
New York Times: Jehovah’s Witnesses Sue German Museum for Archive of Nazi-Era Abuses. “The Jehovah’s Witnesses, a pacifist religious group, are pursuing legal action against the German government to claim a family archive that documents the Nazis’ persecution of the Christian denomination. The archive comprises 31 files of documents relating to the Kusserow family, whose members were arrested, imprisoned and murdered by the Nazi regime because of their faith.”
LEDs Magazine: Munich schools wheel out 7500 mobile UV-C units to combat coronavirus. “In Munich, Signify is providing approximately 7500 of its Philips UVCA200 wheeled air disinfection units across the school system. The first 50 went to a school called Elementary school at Helmholtzstraße in September, which is spreading them around 12 rooms. Delivery of the others has been continuing and “will wrap up shortly,” the spokesperson told LEDs. Signify declined to state how much it charged Munich for the products.”
Reuters: Watchdog says Google offers to exclude Showcase from general searches in Germany. “Google has offered to remove Google News Showcase content from general search results in Germany in a bid to end a competition inquiry, the country’s Federal Cartel Office said on Wednesday.”
Washington Post: German police used a tracing app to scout crime witnesses. Some fear that’s fuel for covid conspiracists.. “Authorities in Germany are under fire for tracking down witnesses to a potential crime by using data from a mobile phone app that was intended to help identify close contacts of people infected with the coronavirus.”
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