In today’s edition of Big Tech Behaving Badly, new filings in a multi-state anti-trust lawsuit show Google gamed its ad auctions to underpay publishers and overcharge advertisers. The dispute seems less about what they did than whether it was illegal.
Or maybe you’re just worried about the collapse of civilization in general. Our friends at Edelman will scratch that itch with news that trust levels in major institutions are lower than ever. “Government and media feed cycle of division and disinformation for votes and clicks,” says Edelman, leaving “NGOs and business pressured to take on societal problems beyond their abilities.” Have a great day!
On to cheerier topics. Mobile ad platform LoopMe sold a majority stake to growth investor Mayfair Equity Partners for $120 million. LoopMe uses AI to optimize media campaign delivery in real time across mobile, connected TV, digital audio, digital out-of-home, and other fun channels.
In a follow-up to their January report, the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority raised the number of concerns they have with Privacy Sandbox to 79. Among other issues, they adopted the privacy concerns raised by another U.K. regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office. Google’s recent decision to shift third-party cookie deprecation to next year might mean they saw this coming.