Google will pay to carry stories from Canadian news outlets under an agreement announced yesterday.  Details are sparse but the process for compliance with government’s C-18 law has been simplified to meet some Google objections.  Meta, the only other firm required to make payments under the law, has not changed its decision to block reliable news.

Shopping on social media has had mixed success but this report from The Influencer Marketing Factory finds it’s making steady progress.  Nearly half (43.4%) of consumers surveyed had bought at least one product through a social app in the past year.  Still, many more would rather buy on an ecommerce platform (62%) than through social (22%), with trust in the social apps standing as the most important obstacle.

CX management platform Sprinklr is introducing “digital twins.” Not your average chatbot, a Sprinklr digital twin is more like an AI-powered employee, able to plan actions, create workflows and make decisions, but at speed and at scale. They are said to be more easily trained than chatbots and can operate within brand policies and guardrails.