This is something the company had previously said “subverted user choice” and was “wrong,” but apparently Google’s desire to give online advertisers a gift of unconsented data changed that.
TikTok is being sued by the parents of four British children ages 12-14 who they believe died after doing a blackout challenge. The intent is to force the firm to release their children’s data to better understand what happened, but TikTok says they aren’t entitled to that data without a court order and implied it may have been deleted.
Meta has moved to provide more support for ad placement controls and thus brand safety (presumably because there are many places you don’t want your brand to show up on Facebook). In particular, it has expanded its third-party “blocklist” program; brands can now work with IAS, DoubleVerify and Zefr to create blocklists across Meta’s platforms. Meta is also conducting limited tests with a tool to turn off comments on ads.
Preliminary findings by the European Commission state that Apple and Google are in violation of the EU’s Digital Markets Act. Among the findings, Google Search is accused of prioritizing Google’s own products and services in results; Apple is instructed to improve interoperability between iOS and third-party devices. The companies now have an opportunity to respond.