The EU's DMA is coming for Apple, and X bots are on the loose

Jun 24, 2024

Apple faces scrutiny as the first major target under the EU's Digital Markets Act, raising questions about its App Store practices. Meanwhile, impersonation issues plague the X platform, affecting writers like Rebecca Bellan. Shein's IPO filing heats up the market, while a new startup, Sir Jack A Lot, is making waves in retail trading with its recent funding. Lastly, Feel Therapeutics is shaking up mental health care with innovative tech solutions, showcasing how wearables can enhance treatment.

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INSIGHT

EU's DMA Challenges Apple

Apple faces potential fines for violating the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) by restricting app developers.
The DMA aims to foster competition in digital markets like app stores, search engines, and online advertising.

ANECDOTE

Shein's London IPO

Shein, the fast-fashion retailer, confidentially filed for a London IPO after facing challenges with a US listing.
The IPO is expected to be one of the largest globally this year, following a $66 billion valuation last year.

ANECDOTE

Verified Bot Impersonation

Rebecca Bellan encountered a verified bot impersonating her on X (formerly Twitter).
The bot retweeted TechCrunch articles and had a paid blue checkmark, highlighting X's verification issues.

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In a press release this morning, the European Commission named Apple as the first of tech’s so-called “gatekeepers” to be charged for violating the EU’s Digital Markets Act. Apple is one of six tech giants named by the European Commission as “gatekeepers” last year, alongside Alphabet, Amazon, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft. While we continue to keep our eyes on the EU’s attempts to ensure a competitive marketplace, that’s not all we got into on the Equity podcast this morning. Rebecca Bellan led the show this morning and reported that X still has a Verified bot problem, but this time they came for TechCrunch writers (herself included). The experience had us wondering if X’s competitors will step up, and create platforms with more safety…and fewer bots.

Rebecca also had an IPO update for our listeners this morning as Shein finally filed for its public debut in London, and we closed out our startup coverage with a look at Sir Jack A Lot’s startup for retail traders. The startup, which recently raised a $4.5 million seed round, had us hyped on the retail trading space and its continued growth.

Finally, Haje closed out today’s show with a teardown for Feel Therapeutics. The startup recently raised a $3.5M seed deck to revolutionize mental health care with a science-forward approach that integrates wearable devices, mobile apps, and clinician dashboards. Hit play to hear how they did it!

Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast.

Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

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