The Brief – Friday 27 March – X antitrust lawsuit dismissed, US-Israel war with Iran risks advertising spend and HBO Max launches in UK & Ireland

⚖️ A US judge has dismissed X’s antitrust lawsuit which accused the World Federation of Advertisers and brands including Mars, CVS Health and Colgate-Palmolive of illegally boycotting Elon Musk’s social media company. The judge ruled X failed to show it had suffered any harm under federal antitrust laws. (Reuters)

🛢️ The Gulf energy crisis stemming from the US-Israel war with Iran could place nearly $100bn in global advertising spend growth at risk over the next two years, according to an analysis by Warc. (Marketing Dive)

📺 HBO Max has launched in the UK and Ireland. Apart from its content slate, which includes The Pitt and the forthcoming Harry Potter series, the streaming service is also now the home of TNT Sports in the UK. (Warner Bros Discovery)

🤖 The European Union has voted to delay implementation of key parts of its AI Act, the bloc’s flagship legislation for regulating the use of artificial intelligence, until December 2027. The measures were originally been set to take effect this August. The bloc has also backed proposals to ban AI nudification apps. (The Verge)

📝 Wikipedia’s volunteer editors have overwhelmingly voted to prohibit the use of AI to create or edit articles. It follows months of debate and earlier attempts to restrict the use of large-language models on the platform. (404 Media)

🎵Spotify is testing a new feature that would let artists review releases before they go live. The effort is aimed at combatting AI-generated fakes. (The Verge)

🗞️ According to the latest Ipsos figures, page views for regional news websites fell by 31% year on year in February, following a 25% drop in January. (HoldtheFrontPage)

🎗️ Industry charity Nabs revealed the winners of its Fast Forward pitching training programme. Team Clear Collective won with a response to a brief by the Ella Roberta Foundation, a charity that campaigns for clean air. Members of the winning team included Amarah Khan (DDB Remedy LTD), Alice Williamson (Sky), Mit Depala (Reach PLC), Tarun Murali (Havas), Ellie Le Comber (Talon OOH), Avneet Kitaure (Hearts & Science), and Sarah Smith (PHD). (Nabs)