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    Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess giving up managing VW brand

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1380 Views
    In this file photo dated Monday, Sept. 9, 2019, CEO of Volkswagen Herbert Diess introduces the new VW ID.3 at the IAA Auto Show in Frankfurt, Germany. The German automaker Volkswagen said Monday June 8, 2020, that CEO Herbert Diess is giving up managing the company’s core VW brand in order to concentrate more on the group as a whole. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, FILE)
    BERLIN (AP) --

    Volkswagen's CEO is giving up managing the company's core VW brand in order to concentrate more on the group as a whole, the German automaker said Monday.

    Herbert Diess, whose image had been tarnished in the fallout from the company's diesel-emissions scandal, will be replaced as head of the VW brand by Ralf Brandstaetter, who has been serving as the brand's chief operating officer, the company said in a statement.

    The change will give Diess, who has been pushing the company ahead with a shift toward zero-emission vehicles and a new, more environmentally friendly image, more time to focus on the overall brand, which includes Audi, Porsche and Skoda, the company said.

    "The goal is a stronger focus on the respective tasks from the top of the group and brand in the ongoing transformation phase of the automobile industry," VW said. 

    Diess and Board Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch had been charged by German prosecutors with securities-law violations for allegedly failing to tell investors in time about the company's looming diesel scandal in 2015. The charges were dropped last month in return for a 9 million-euro ($10 million) payment, with no admission of guilty from the two. 

    Volkswagen was caught using software to evade U.S. emissions requirements for diesel cars. The scandal cost the company 31 billion euros ($34 billion) in fines and settlements.

    Diess took over as head of the VW brand in 2015, coming from BMW, and worked his way up to CEO of the group in 2018. 

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    Tags:Herbert DiessVolkswagen



    EU accuses TikTok of “addictive design” that harms children, seeks changes to protect users

    Friday, February 6, 2026
    The icon for the TikTok video sharing app is seen on a smartphone in Marple Township, Pa., Feb. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

    The European Union on Friday accused TikTok of breaching the bloc's digital rules with "addictive design" features that lead to compulsive use by children, in preliminary charges that strike at the heart of the popular video sharing app's operating model.

    EU regulators said their two-year investigation found that TikTok hasn't done enough to assess how features such as autoplay and infinite scroll could harm the physical and mental health of users, including minors and "vulnerable adults."

    The European Commission said it believes TikTok should change the "basic design" of its service. The commission is the EU's executive arm and enforcer of the 27-nation bloc's Digital Services Act, a sweeping rulebook that requires social media companies to clean up their platforms and protect users, under threat of hefty fines.

    TikTok denied the accusations.

    "The Commission's preliminary findings present a categorically false and entirely meritless depiction of our platform, and we will take whatever steps are necessary to challenge these findings through every means available to us," the company said in a statement.

    TikTok's features including infinite scrolling, autoplay, push notifications, and highly personalized recommender systems "lead to the compulsive use of the app, especially for our kids, and this poses major risks to their mental health and wellbeing," Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said at a press briefing in Brussels.

    "The measures that TikTok has in place are simply not enough," he said.

    The company now has a chance to defend itself and reply to the commission's findings. Regnier said "if they don't do this properly," Brussels could issue a so-called non-compliance decision and possible fine worth up to 6% of... Read More

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