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Hundreds of employees criticize Facebook's political ad policies
Over the past month, Facebook has come under criticism for allowing politicians to run false or misleading ads. Now, employees are speaking out. More than 250 Facebook employees wrote a letter addressed to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and top Facebook officials calling Facebook's political ad policies "a threat to what FB stands for."
Christine Fisher10.28.2019
Facebook takes down fake political ad meant to test its fact checking
Facebook's stance on truth in political ads has been put to the test. The social media giant has removed a 'stunt' ad from a Political Action Committee, the Really Online Lefty League, that falsely claimed Republican Senator Lindsey Graham supported the Green New Deal proposed by some Democrats. A company spokesman told Reuters that the ad was eligible for a fact-checking review since it came from a political action group rather than a politician.
Jon Fingas10.27.2019
Spotify will alert you to new music with sponsored pop-ups
Spotify is testing another way for artists to promote their music, but it's one that might annoy users. Artists and their teams will be able to sponsor the Brand New Music for You pop-ups in the mobile apps to let fans know about music they just released.
Kris Holt10.24.2019
Roku spent $150 million so it can sell more ads
Roku is no longer just a company making TV streaming boxes and dongles. It's become a powerful advertising company, too. By some estimates, it streams more ad-supported hours than any other over-the-top (OTT) platform. Today, it announced plans to double down. It has acquired the Boston-based ad-tech firm Dataxu for $150 million in cash and stocks.
Christine Fisher10.23.2019
Facebook's version of political neutrality isn't neutral
Yesterday, Facebook outlined how it will prevent the 2020 elections from being hacked and influenced in the same way they were in 2016. That includes crackdowns on "coordinated, inauthentic behavior" and securing the accounts of individual politicians and campaigns. But one thing that Facebook still won't do is make sure that the content of political ads on its site is truthful.
Daniel Cooper10.22.2019
Mark Zuckerberg defends free speech on Facebook
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to the stage at Georgetown today to defend freedom of expression. Most recently, Facebook has been criticized for allowing politicians to post misleading ads. But Zuckerberg is calling for more free speech and cautioned against "potentially cracking down too much" on social networks.
Christine Fisher10.17.2019
Google avoids serving repeat ads with machine learning
Like it or not, ads keep the internet running. However, they've become obnoxious and intrusive over the years, leading some to install anti-tracking software on their devices. This makes it difficult for advertisers to show a variety of ads to those users, rather than showing the same ad over and over again. As a privacy-focused workaround, Google -- which dominates the online advertising world -- will use machine learning to manage how frequently an ad is shown to a user when third-party cookies are blocked by users.
Marc DeAngelis10.09.2019
Twitter admits your phone number may have been used for targeting ads
Twitter is only supposed to use phone numbers for two-factor authentication, but it appears to have been unintentionally used for more. The social network has learned that phone numbers and email addresses provided for safety and security (including two-factor authentication) might have "inadvertently" been used for ad purposes. Advertisers on Twitter can customize promos based on uploaded marketing lists, and Twitter may have matched people on those lists based on phone digits and email addresses that were supposed to be off-limits. "This was an error," Twitter said.
Jon Fingas10.08.2019
Facebook’s updated ad policy is letting politicians post misleading ads (updated)
Facebook's updated ad policy is making it easier for politicians to post misleading ads. Nick Clegg, the company's vice president of global affairs and communications (and a former politician) explained the policy last week: "We will not send organic content or ads from politicians to our third-party fact-checking partners for review," he said at the time. "However, when a politician shares previously debunked content including links, videos and photos, we plan to demote that content, display related information from fact-checkers, and reject its inclusion in advertisements."
Igor Bonifacic10.03.2019
Disney+ may not be on Fire TV due to a reported ad dispute
When Disney confirmed all the platforms on which you'll be able to stream Disney+, there was a notable omission: Amazon's Fire TV ecosystem. It seems the companies are tussling over terms for not just Disney+, but apps for the likes of ESPN+ and Disney Channel.
Kris Holt10.03.2019
FTC sues Match for allegedly using deceptive love interest ads
If you've ever been irked by dating service ads claiming that someone was pining for your affection, you're not alone. The FTC has sued Match Group for allegedly using fake love interest email ads to goad customers into paying for Match.com subscriptions until May 2018. "Millions" of the accounts generating the ads had already been labeled as likely frauds, the Commission said, but they were still used to generate "you caught their eye" ads for free users -- you might pay for a subscription only to find the bogus courtier deleted. Match's own studies showed that nearly 500,000 people signed up within a day of receiving one of these ads, according to the FTC.
Jon Fingas09.25.2019
Internet metrics giant settles charges it faked its own numbers
The online ad world (among others) thrives on metrics to gauge how well its campaigns are working, but what happens when the company providing that data is cooking its own books? The industry is grappling with that issue today. Comscore and its former CEO Serge Matta have settled SEC charges they committed fraud to artificially inflate revenue by $50 million and otherwise inflate their metrics between 2014 and 2016. Reportedly, Matta had Comscore join "non-monetary transactions" where it would exchange data without expecting money, but recognized revenue on that data based on an inflated sense of its value -- and lied to both accountants and auditors about it. That, in turn, made it look like Comscore was growing at an unrealistic pace.
Jon Fingas09.24.2019
TiVo says all retail DVR owners will see ads before recorded shows
TiVo isn't wasting much time implementing pre-roll ads before recorded shows. The company told Light Reading in a follow-up statement that these promos will reach "all eligible" retail DVRs within 90 days. This marketing will be a "permanent part of the service," a spokesperson said. TiVo reiterated that you'll have the ability to skip these ads, although an early tester said he had to fast forward to get to the show.
Jon Fingas09.21.2019
TiVo tries running pre-roll ads before your recorded shows
It might soon be that much harder to avoid ads by using a DVR. TiVo appears to be testing 15-second pre-roll ads that play before recorded shows, making it difficult to avoid at least some marketing -- you can fast-forward through the promos, but it's "not that seamless," according to community forum member AndyF. The test ads are low-resolution but appear to come from a number of well-known companies, including Amazon, Keurig and Toyota. It's uncertain how many people are included in the test, although AndyF noticed them on a Bolt DVR using the TiVo Experience 4 interface.
Jon Fingas09.20.2019
Facebook wants to make its ads more interactive
While Facebook will likely never be ad-free, the social network is at least trying to make advertisements more entertaining -- or more annoying, depending on how you see it. The social network is making more interactive ad formats available to advertisers around the world, including video poll ads for the News Feed on mobile. Ever come across poll stickers in Instagram Stories ads? Facebook's is very similar, giving you options to choose from with a video background. E! used it to promote one of its priority TV shows, so you might have already seen one around.
Mariella Moon09.19.2019
YouTube is bringing a big, ugly ad banner to its TV app's home screen (updated)
Your living room YouTube experience is about to become decidedly more cluttered. YouTube is bringing its usual Masthead ad to its TV app's home screen, guaranteeing that you'll see a promo before anything else. While the behavior is similar to what you've seen on mobile and the web, the size... well, just look at it. More than half of the home screen can be occupied by advertising, and you'll have to scroll down just to see the titles for your recommendations.
Jon Fingas09.18.2019
YouTube stops counting ad views in its top music charts
YouTube is boosting the integrity of its music charts. The video giant will no longer count ad views toward rankings on the YouTube Music Charts, instead relying solely on "organic" views like direct links, embeds, searches and the Trending section. This won't affect the achievements for previous videos, but any artist or label hoping to set a 24-hour record will have to do it by attracting viewers, not by spending a mountain of money on ads.
Jon Fingas09.13.2019
Russia accuses Facebook, Google of violating political ad laws
Russia is once again butting heads with internet giants over their political advertising. Communications regulator Roskomnadzor has accused Facebook and Google of allowing political ads during regional elections on September 8th despite being a ban on running ads both during the vote and the day before. Officials reportedly warned the companies on September 6th, but they reportedly popped up across the sites, including on YouTube.
Jon Fingas09.08.2019
Google bans ads for unproven medical treatments
In an attempt to remain trustworthy, Google will no longer allow ads for "unproven or experimental medical techniques." Under the new Healthcare and medicines policy, the company will prohibit advertising for treatments that lack biomedical or scientific basis, including most stem cell therapies and gene therapy. That should cut down on ads for things like young blood transfusions and vampire facials.
Christine Fisher09.06.2019
Facebook once again tightens requirements for US political advertisers
Facebook is bracing itself for the 2020 US election by further toughening its requirements for political ads. The social network now requires more information from advertisers before it approves their disclaimers, including a tax-registered organization ID number, a Federal Election Commission ID number and a government website domain (either .gov or .mil). If they're a local politician or business that wants to run ads for social issues, they'll have to provide verifiable address, contact and website info or else accept that they can't use a registered organization's name in disclaimers.
Jon Fingas08.28.2019