| Hey there, it's Jillian in Brussels. Europe is taking a different approach from the US toward TikTok. But first... Today's must-reads: • Instagram will cut or relocate its London employees
• Apple's CEO met Narendra Modi to commit to invest in India
• IBM was sued for allegedly profiting from a spinoff Malte Gallee reached 1 million likes on TikTok on Feb. 28. Three hours later, the European Parliament told him to delete the app. The EU lawmaker was caught up in a wave of bans designed to stop European officials from using the video-sharing app on government devices. It caught everyone by surprise — even some of the politicians who'd just met with TikTok's chief executive officer a month earlier. Although the bans signal a more defensive stance in Europe, the bloc is unlikely to follow the US down a path of all-out aggression. Europe is taking a pragmatic approach to the Chinese company that stands in contrast to the US — and what another EU lawmaker, Karen Melchior, described as "theatrical." TikTok CEO Shou Chew is set to speak at the TED conference on Thursday, his first public appearance since testifying to a Congressional panel in Washington last month. Europe won't register among the biggest challenges he'll be asked to address. European lawmakers worry about TikTok's data collection, but they are equally concerned about the same thing from US tech companies. Gallee argued that Facebook and Google have worrisome data harvesting practices, too. "I don't understand why the fingers are only pointing at TikTok," he said. The EU will likely treat TikTok with the same level of scrutiny as it does the company's American rivals. Next week, the European Commission is expected to designate TikTok as a "very large online platform." This will force the parent company, ByteDance Ltd., to conform to the strictest EU content moderation rules in the Digital Services Act — same as Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. Like its American counterparts, TikTok has said it's working to comply with the rules. Brussels would only take a step as extreme as a ban if it found TikTok repeatedly breaking moderation rules. That's very unlikely to happen anytime in the near future. In the meantime, we could see more data protection probes. Regulators are also unlikely to make TikTok a target of competition rules, as the Digital Markets Act was written with US tech giants in mind. One thing that could cause this all to change is Vladimir Putin. Late last month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen laid out the bloc's strategy for China in a well-watched speech. She made it clear that "how China continues to interact with Putin's war will be a determining factor for EU-China relations going forward." If relations worsen, then TikTok's Chinese ties could become a far bigger problem in Europe. International conflicts aside, some European politicians are — at least for now — treating TikTok as a useful tool to reach young constituents. Gallee said he plans to campaign for next year's European elections on TikTok. He'll just use his personal phone. —Jillian Deutsch Google's hurried plan to stick AI in practically everything is leading to ethical lapses, employees said. The company made compromises on misinformation and other policies in a bid to catch up with ChatGPT. San Jose plans to build a robocar network instead of an airport shuttle, exploring a novel approach to rapid transit. Watch: Bloomberg Technology interviewed the CEO behind the project. Snap introduced a product called Mirror to for trying on clothes virtually in stores. Meanwhile, the social media company attracted 3 million paying users to its AI-enhanced service. AI tools shocked voice actors by replicating their speech and tones without their awareness. Atlassian's Jira and Confluence will use OpenAI's generative AI models to strengthen its workplace collaboration. Tesla slashed the price of its top-selling vehicle by 29% in just three months. Copia became the latest Africa-focused startup to roll back expansion. | 
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