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.
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.
The saga continues with TikTok now available for download again in Google Play and the Apple App store in the U.S. Attorney-General Pam Bondi has provided Google and Apple with assurances that they will not face future penalties for making the app available. Oracle had continued (as cloud provider) to support the app for users who had already downloaded it to their devices.
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.