regulation

WASHINGTON—Federal regulators are investigating Elon Musk’s late disclosure last month of his sizable stake in Twitter Inc., TWTR -2.48% according to people familiar with the matter, a lag that allowed him to buy more stock without alerting other shareholders to his ownership.The Securities and Exchange Commission is probing Mr. Musk’s tardy submission of a public form that investors must file when they buy more than 5% of a company’s…

Countries are taking more steps to compel social-media platforms to shield users from material they deem harmful through standards that could affect Twitter Inc. TWTR -0.31% as Elon Musk prepares to buy the company.Regulators from Australia to the European Union, India, Canada and the U.K. have recently introduced or are considering new rules for policing online content. They include a coming EU requirement for major platforms to conduct…

Cerebral Inc., the online mental-health company, said on Saturday it has been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors as part of an investigation into possible violations of the Controlled Substances Act. Cerebral, one of a group of telehealth startups that have sprung up to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, said the grand jury subpoena was received on Wednesday from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York. Cerebral said the subpoena was issued to Cerebral…

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on Wednesday that lays the groundwork for bolstering and regulating the cryptocurrency industry in the state (via CNBC). As outlined in the executive order, Newsom’s goal is “to create a transparent and consistent business environment for companies operating in blockchain,” that balances “the benefits and risks to consumers.” The executive order calls upon the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) to collaborate with the…

HONG KONG—Chinese tech companies are quietly pulling back from doing business in Russia under pressure from U.S. sanctions and suppliers, despite calls by Beijing for companies to resist overseas coercion.Several major companies are curtailing shipments in Russia, where Chinese tech firms dominate the market for many products, without making any public announcements, according to interviews with people familiar with the matter. They include PC giant Lenovo Group Ltd. and smartphone and gadget maker Xiaomi Corp., the…

WASHINGTON— Nvidia Corp. NVDA -0.90% has agreed to pay $5.5 million to settle a regulatory investigation that found it didn’t adequately reveal the impact of cryptomining on its sales of powerful chips designed for computer gaming. The Securities and Exchange Commission said Nvidia’s sales of its graphics processing units, or GPUs, were materially boosted in its 2018 fiscal year by consumers who bought them to mine new units of…

WASHINGTON—The Securities and Exchange Commission will boost the size of its special unit devoted to investigating cryptocurrency frauds and other misconduct, a move that follows the agency’s aggressive push to get the unregulated industry to come under federal supervision. The SEC said it plans to add 20 investigators and litigators to its Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, which was created in September 2017 when regulators noticed a surge of new digital coins sold to the public. The…

SINGAPORE—China is preparing to hit pause on its monthslong campaign against technology companies, according to people familiar with the matter, as officials seek to arrest a rapid deterioration in the country’s economic outlook.China’s top internet regulator is set to meet next week with the country’s embattled tech giants to discuss the regulatory campaign, according to the people, who described the meeting as a sign that officials acknowledge the toll the regulations have had on the private sector at a time when…

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a proposal to make Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) messages free for all mobile customers in the country. USSD messages are used by many operators and banking services, often on feature phones that do not have access to the internet. The proposal seeks to bring the cost of USSD messages from a maximum of 50 paise down to zero. The regulator cited low call and SMS prices as a reason for proposing the removal of charges for mobile customers.In a…

A policy advocacy group has sought a regulatory framework for skill-based online gaming to protect children and weed out unscrupulous offshore players.Chase India has released a paper highlighting the need for "unified" framework for the online skill-based games ecosystem."A clear and sound national regulatory framework for skill-based online gaming will protect children, consumers, ensure the growth of the 'sunrise' sector while keeping at bay illegal actors operating from overseas in the space," the group said in the…