Plus, the European Union looks to slash red tape to compete against the U.S. and China. And, Google will put warnings on U.K. businesses using fake online reviews. Julie Chang hosts.
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[00:00:31] Here's your TNB Tech Minute for Friday, January 24th. I'm Julie Chang for The Wall Street Journal. Meta will spend between $60 to $65 billion this year. That's a capital expenditure jump of as much as roughly 70% over 2024. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the increase will be driven by investments in artificial intelligence and a massive new data center.
[00:00:54] The company hasn't released its 2024 capital expenditure number yet, but analysts expect it will come in around $38 billion, which is a 40% jump from 2023. The European Union is pushing for regulatory reform in an effort to compete with the US and China. According to a draft document, the European Commission is expected next week to call on officials to simplify the bloc's business regulations and to speed up bureaucracy.
[00:01:20] The move comes as the new Trump administration promised lower taxes and regulations for companies that make their goods in the US and tariffs for those that don't. Meanwhile, the head of the European Central Bank said Europe could try to poach foreign workers disenchanted by their home countries, comments widely interpreted as referencing the US. And Google has offered to put warning alerts on the profiles of UK businesses that boost their ratings with fake reviews and ban their posters from leaving reviews in the future.
[00:01:49] That's according to the UK Competition and Markets Authority. Google will report on its progress to the UK competition watchdog over a three-year period. The move ends the CMA's investigation into Google's online reviews. The CMA started investigating Google and Amazon in 2021 over concerns that the company's oversight of online reviews breached consumer protection law. The regulator said it's still probing Amazon. For a deeper dive into what's happening in tech, check out Monday's Tech News Briefing podcast.