February 2026
Content, Media and Technology
European Parliament Policy Department publishes in-depth analysis on copyright and AI
In December 2025, the European Parliament Policy Department for Justice, Civil Liberties and Institutional Affairs published an in-depth analysis, requested by the JURI Committee, on how EU copyright policy should respond to AI training and the need to sustain the future flow of high-quality creative works.
The analysis compares four policy options, namely a copyright exception, an exception with opt-out, a licensing market based on opt-in, and statutory licensing, using empirical evidence and a welfare model focused on consumer surplus, creator incentives, and administrative and transaction costs.
It reports that statutory licensing with a regulated royalty set by an independent authority is generally welfare-superior under most calibrations, because it preserves broad access to the stock of works while funding creation to offset data obsolescence, and it notes that end users largely bear royalty incidence.
It reports that opt-out exceptions can shrink training data without funding new works, and that opt-in licensing markets can fail due to clearance costs, fragmented coverage, and biased datasets, and it highlights the importance of lean administration, competition enforcement in AI markets, and limited research carve-outs linked to downstream commercial funding mechanisms.
Find out more about our predictions for Copyright in 2026 from Dr Gregor Schmid and Louise Popple here.
ASA publishes research on influencer ad labelling
On 12 February 2026, the ASA published research on how UK users identify advertising in influencer content on TikTok and Instagram.
The research found influencer advertising is often confused with ordinary posts, partly because platform algorithms surface content from unfamiliar creators and there are no clear ad breaks.
Around eight in ten people said they want paid influencer content to be clearly labelled upfront, but only around half could confidently identify influencer ads, and more than a quarter did not recognise them.
The ASA stated that existing rules already require clear ad labelling and that improving compliance will inform its future guidance, training and enforcement focus.
Find out more about influencer advertising from Simon Jupp here.
European Commission finds Apple Ads and Apple Maps should not be designated under the DMA
On 5 February 2026, the European Commission found that Apple’s Apple Ads and Apple Maps should not be designated as core platform services under the Digital Markets Act.
The decision followed Apple’s notification of these services on 27 November 2025 and Apple’s submissions that the services did not qualify as important gateways between business users and end users.
After reviewing Apple’s arguments, the Commission concluded that Apple did not qualify as a gatekeeper in relation to Apple Ads and Apple Maps because neither service constituted an important gateway for business users to reach end users.
The Commission referred to Apple Maps having a relatively low overall usage rate in the EU and Apple Ads having very limited scale in the EU online advertising sector.
The Commission stated it would continue to monitor market developments and that the decision did not affect Apple’s prior gatekeeper designations in September 2023 and April 2024 for other core platform services, and it would publish a non-confidential version of the decision on its DMA website.
Find out more about the effects of the DMA from Debbie Heywood here.
