‘Top in tech’ is a new monthly episode from the GC tech policy team. Each month, the team will lift the lid on the latest in Europe’s ‘techlash’, identifying where the debate is heading in London and Brussels, the politics behind it, and what this might mean for the apps and online services we use every day.

Conan D’Arcy Senior Practice Lead for TMT is joined by Senior Associate Megan Stagman who leads much of our UK tech policy analysis, looking mostly at the Online Safety Bill, and Senior Associate Max von Thun, Senior Associate, speaking from Brussels, who specialises in competition and transatlantic tech policy.

This month, they focus on:

1. Frances Haugen appeared in Parliament this week – What did she say? How was she received? And how will her interventions and the leaked documents that she has brought with her mean for the legislative process?
2. Facebook is re-branding. What is the ‘metaverse’? How might this impact political approaches towards them?
3. The EU-US Trade and Technology Council had its first meeting – what have we learnt and do we expect much to emerge from it?

You can subscribe to the Global Counsel Podcast on Apple and Spotify, where you can also leave us a rating and a review. We release new episodes every Thursday.