“Charm offensive” isn’t in the playbook at Meta, which has announced it will block access to Canadian news sites if the country passes its proposed Online News Act in current form. The law would require Meta to pay news organizations when someone posts a link to their materials. A similar threat failed spectacularly in Australia last year but that isn’t deterring Meta from trying again.
Momentive, which owns SurveyMonkey, is being acquired by a consortium of private investors led by Symphony Technology Group. Rumors began flying about this deal in October.
TikTok has to allay regulator concerns or face multiple shutdowns and bans. This week, 1) a whistleblower told The Washington Post TikTok’s $1.5 billion “Project Texas” plan to protect US user data could still allow China to access company data, 2) Denmark's Centre for Cyber Security’s concerns prompted a public broadcast company to alert journalists to avoid installing TikTok on work phones because of security risks, and 3) TikTok has had to go all-in courting EU regulators to address concerns over its data-harnessing practices in light of the upcoming Digital Services Act (DSA).
Procrastinators of the world can throw a party whenever they get around to it: Google has once more pushed back complete third-party cookie deprecation. The new target is “early next year.” Reasons for the delay include concerns expressed by U.K. data regulator Information Commissioner’s Office, an ongoing inquiry by the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority, and widespread discontent in the advertising ecosystem.