Insights

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has officially brought a case against Meta to trial in an attempt to stop Meta’s acquisition of Within, a virtual reality (VR) fitness company. The trial marks the first high-profile legal test of the FTC’s efforts under Chair Lina Khan to broaden the scope of antitrust law to attempt to slow the growing power of Big Tech companies…

Amid a record-breaking elective backlog in England, NHS England has opted to flex its newly-granted financial powers by proposing a partial return to the Payment by Results system for acute care. But does this seemingly technical rewiring of the NHS’s financial flow have actual political and business salience? The answer is yes, and here is why. 

This year, Global Counsel's flagship policy conference is exploring the Politics of Food. Events throughout the month of January will offer a chance to debate and discuss the technological, regulatory and geopolitical challenges testing food systems around the world in 2023.

This week on Top in Tech, Conan D'Arcy is joined by Michelle Ryang to hear about what she saw at last week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. What does the biggest show in tech tell us about the new trends emerging in 2023 and how are US companies reacting to newfound regulatory scrutiny?

The world economy enters the new year on shaky ground. The post-pandemic rebound is losing steam. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the geopolitical fallout is being felt across the globe. Inflation, rising interest rates and the strong US dollar are impacting countries in every region of the world. Major advanced economies are set to slow – or even contract - in 2023,…

The rapid evolution of social media has transformed the advertising industry, offering new channels for brands to market their goods and services to consumers, and increasing sophistication in segmenting target audiences. However, this has also generated new regulatory challenges and enforcement issues for the sector. One prominent example of this has been how brands and…

This week on Top in Tech, Conan D'Arcy speaks to Guy Parker, Chief Executive of the Advertising Standards Authority, the UK regulator of advertising in media. They discuss recent questions around advertising in the technology sector, Parker's long career regulating the sector, and the policy questions raised by new advertising technology. 

2022 has popularised a new German word in international politics: Zeitenwende, an “epochal tectonic shift”, emanating from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Europe’s increased awareness of economic exposure to authoritarian regimes has coincided with the emergence of new, China-critical voices in European capitals, such as the Greens in Germany, which have…

As the world’s largest grain-importing region in the world, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has felt acutely the impact of the Ukraine conflict’s disruption to global food production and exports. The MENA is an agro-ecologically diverse region, ranging from the Gulf, where there are no permanent rivers or lakes and minimal rainfall, to Egypt and Iraq, where river…

Associate Director Jens Presthus is joined by Senior Practice Director Thomas Gratowski to discuss China's remarkable reversals regarding covid policy.

The ‘metaverse’ term was coined thirty years ago, and until recently was part science fiction, part speculation. But with Facebook’s rebranding as Meta last year, an increasing consumer acceptance of virtual interactions post-Covid, and a steady uptick of interest from new sectors (ranging from retail to public services), the metaverse suddenly seems very real. Against…

This week saw the third meeting of the Trade and Technology Council (TTC) take place in the United States. What was discussed by the negotiators, and how significant is what was announced? 

Beata Stepantchenko, Giulia Pasquali, and Varsha Shankar explore new proposals in the US, EU, and UK that seek to combat forced labour and the associated implications for business.

This week, over 15,000 delegates, including environment ministers from around the world and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be attending the Conference on Biological Diversity (CBD) or ‘COP15’ which is being hosted in Montreal. Building on the momentum of COP27 (the climate COP) which saw progress towards agreements to halt especially deforestation, COP15 is…

Reversing the environmental damage and imbalances that have become accepted as structural features of our economic system requires transformational, not marginal, solutions.

Despite years of lobbying for awareness and action, recognition of the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is still lagging compared to its urgency. For example, a recent survey across 27 European countries showed that public awareness stood at just 30%. With 700,000 deaths every year attributed to AMR and expected to rise to 10 million by 2050, what practical…

Welcome back to the Global Month Ahead, our monthly podcast looking at the stories that will define the month to come.