The EU has completed passage of its Digital Services Act with final approval by the European Council. The act targets unfair practices by big tech vendors. Contrast that to the big U.S. antitrust bill that’s stalled in the U.S. Senate. (Thanks, Chuck Schumer.) Don’t confuse it with a much smaller bill approved by the House last week.
Carsome, Malaysia’s first tech unicorn, has been making the rounds in the last 24 hours over the possibility of a workforce reduction across all its operations in the region. The Southeast Asia’s largest integrated car e-commerce platform eventually confirmed the rumors and indicated that they are indeed going through a “optimization of workforce”, while its executive team forgoes their salaries for the remainder of 2022.
The online advertising industry is rife with fraud, perhaps because it’s dominated by big tech and perhaps despite it. Either way, ads.txt is one of the more effective measures at limiting the problem. But this study by Sellers.Guide found errors in tens of thousands of ads.txt files, although the report doesn’t indicate what fraction of the total that represents.
CDP and marketing cloud vendor Zeta Global announced an agreement to purchase LiveIntent, which helps companies do email-based advertising. The deal will let Zeta expand its identity graph, enter the publisher monetization business, and accelerate its mobile and retail media products. Zeta will pay $77.5 million in cash and $172.5 million in common stock, with potential for additional payments based on performance.