Your commercial news round-up: Universal, Ofcom, Apple and Meta, trade deal

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Universal has announced plans to build a new theme park in the UK and Ofcom has finalised new regulations to improve children’s safety online. Meanwhile, the EU has issued fines to both Apple and Meta, and Chancellor Rachel Reeves continues to work towards a trade deal with the US. Read on to discover more!

• Universal has bought a former brickworks in Bedford, which it plans to transform into a 476-acre attraction park. The site is set to bring in 8.5 million annual visitors by 2031. President of new ventures at Universal Destinations & Experiences, Page Thompson, said that the UK theme park will be its main attraction in Europe and will draw in around 30% of visitors from outside the UK. The Bedford site was selected due to its flat terrain, the government's support for the East West Rail project and the expansion plans for Luton Airport. The construction of the park is expected to create 20,000 jobs and Universal has estimated that 80% of those jobs will come from Bedford, central Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes. Thompson added: "We'll work with all of the local colleges, universities and schools to try to make sure that we can help develop the skills that we need to attract those people.”
   
• Ofcom has finalised its new rules to protect children online, which companies must follow or face fines. The regulations include more than 40 practical measures, such as changing the algorithms that recommend harmful content to young people and introducing more comprehensive age checks by 25 July 2025. Ofcom CEO Dame Melanie Dawes said that age checks are an important first step as “unless you know where children are, you can't give them a different experience to adults”. Other measures include giving children the option to decline invites to group chats, making terms of service easy for children to understand, and requiring all platforms to have a "named person accountable for children's safety” and a senior body to review measures annually. The guidelines also require tech firms to create more streamlined reporting and complaints systems, meaning that platforms must take faster action to assess and remove harmful content. Children's charity the NSPCC said the codes are a “pivotal moment for children's safety online” but also called for further steps, especially when it comes to encrypted messaging apps.
   
• The European Union (EU) has issued fines to Apple and Meta under the Digital Markets Act, which intends to curb the power of big tech. Apple’s £428 million fine relates to its App Store as the EU stated that it must offer alternative app marketplaces to users and app developers. Meanwhile, Meta has been fined £171 million over its “consent or pay” model, which requires users to choose between paying a subscription or allowing the app to combine data it collects on Facebook and Instagram. The EU stated that this model doesn’t allow users to freely consent to how their data is used. The two companies have reacted angrily, with Meta accusing the EU of "attempting to handicap successful American businesses" and Apple stating that it’s been "unfairly targeted" and forced to "give away [its] technology for free". EU commissioner Henna Virkkunen said: "We have a duty to protect the rights of citizens and innovative businesses in Europe.” While the fines are smaller than those issued by the EU in the past, such as the £2 billion fine Google faced in September, they still risk angering US President Donald Trump. However, EU spokesperson Arianna Podesta stated that the fines were a separate issue to the recent tariffs Trump has placed on the EU. Podesta explained: "This is about enforcement, it's not about trade negotiations.”
   
• Chancellor Rachel Reeves is currently working on a trade deal with the US and has signalled that the UK could lower tariffs on US car imports. Reeves said she wants "to see tariff and non-tariff barriers reduced between the UK and the US". Currently, the UK faces taxes of 25% for cars, steel and aluminium, and 10% on other British exports. On Wednesday 23 April, US business groups and unions were consulted on a potential deal with the UK, which involved lowering UK tariffs on US cars to 2.5% from their current 10%. Reeves explained that this would be an option to secure a wider trade deal. Previously, there have been discussions about the UK lowering food standards to reach a deal. However, Reeves has emphasised that the UK has been "really clear" with the US and that "we're not going to be reducing agricultural standards in the UK". She stated that UK negotiators are working “flat out” to obtain an agreement that’s in the country’s national interest, but also noted that the UK is "not going to rush into a deal".

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