FTI Consulting News Bytes – 09 June 2023
Welcome to FTI Consulting News Bytes – a roundup of top tech stories of the week from FTI Consulting’s TMT (Telecom, Media & Technology) team in London.
It’s been a busy week in the media world! As Holly Willoughby took to This Morning’s sofa to address the Schofield saga, Prince Harry entered the witness box in his lawsuit against the Mirror News Group. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi’s move to Inter Miami has proved a big win for Apple TV Plus. In tech news, this week saw UK leaders weigh in on the AI regulation debate ahead of next week’s vote in Brussels on the EU AI Act. The US-UK digital trade deal hit a wall, with leadership focusing on an economic alliance to further strengthen their special relationship. Lastly, some of Britain’s biggest businesses have been held to ransom by a prolific cyber gang named Clop.
This week’s news
Duke of Sussex vs. Daily Mirror publisher
Prince Harry has been giving evidence at London’s High Court this week as he and more than 100 others are suing Mirror Group Newspapers. Those involved say the media group carried out phone-hacking on an ‘industrial scale’. As the first royal to appear in the witness box since the 1980s, the Duke of Sussex alleges about 140 articles published between 1996-2010 contained information gathered using unlawful methods, the BBC reports. A sample of 33 stories are being considered by the civil court.
The Messi effect 
After much anticipation, football icon Lionel Messi signed a deal with Inter Miami in MLS, soon after leading Argentina to victory at last year’s World Cup. In a sign of the GOAT’s commercial power, Inter Miami’s following on Instagram has increased by around 600% to 6.5m in the days since the signing. The Verge writes that the move is “a big win for Apple”, which has MLS streaming rights for the next decade. This instantly makes an MLS Season Pass subscription, available through Apple TV Plus, much more appealing. The media outlet is also due to air a four-part docu-series on Messi, with the football player understood to be receiving a share of the Apple / MLS broadcast partnership.
UK calls for better AI regulation
Ahead of next week’s vote on the EU AI Act – the world’s first AI laws by a major regulator, the UK has weighed in on AI regulation. On Monday, the Labour party called for the UK to bar tech developers from working on advanced AI tools unless they have a licence to do so. Labour’s digital spokesperson, Lucy Powell told The Guardian “ministers should introduce much stricter rules around companies training their AI products on vast datasets”. More broadly, the UK government has been moving to update its approach to regulation in the fast-moving world of AI. On Thursday, Rishi Sunak announced Britain will host the first global AI regulation summit in autumn, reports the Financial Times, amid hopes the UK can exert leadership in setting AI guardrails.
US-UK digital trade deal slumps
The US-UK tech sectors’ hopes have been dashed following Rishi Sunak’s visit to the White House. According to the Financial Times, the hesitation around a digital trade deal stems from Washington, as President Biden faces criticism within his party for not restricting Big Tech’s influence on tech policy. US-UK tech groups were hoping for a deal to help boost digital transactions after the States’ leadership set out a roadmap of trade deals which included harnessing the benefits of digital trade in April 2022. Instead, The Times reports the Biden-Sunak talks focused on an economic alliance and developing the technology of the future. One core discussion area of the joint plan is to ensure the West retained a lead in in emerging technologies such as AI, 5G and 6G, quantum semiconductors and engineering biology.
The great British hack
A group of cyber criminals named Clop, which appear to be linked to Russia, claimed credit for a sweeping hack that impacted some of Britain’s biggest businesses including the BBC, British Airways, Boots and more. The Telegraph reports the attack may have resulted in as many as 100,000 workers having their data such as bank account details, addresses and national security numbers stolen. The hackers allegedly gained access through a payroll provider called Zellis used by affected the companies and exploited a backdoor in the software.
Top Tweets of the Week
- BBC Newsbeat: Blizzard says #DiabloIV has the most inclusive character editor it’s ever made. Did it stick the landing?
- Parmy Olson, Bloomberg’s Tech Columnist: Apple deliberately avoiding terms like AI, metaverse and avatar in its headset announcement shows it wants to lead this space *on its own terms.* Buzzwords can also alienate mainstream consumers so this seems smart.
- Patrick McGee, FT’s San Francisco Correspondent: If you have tried the Apple headset out and been disappointed, let’s talk please. I just tested it and was WOWED. To an embarrassing degree I was excited and I didn’t want to put it away.
Number of the Week
$3499 – The amount that Apple’s new Vision Pro AR headset, launched this week, will set you back.
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