THAT'S A WRAP #17
Happy Friday! Whether you’re working a full day today or not, it’s still a “summer Friday.” No one can take that away! So let’s celebrate with a quick roundup of the week’s news-related news.?
GOOGLE ACCUSED OF SHADY DEALINGS IN VIDEO ADS
Companies paying a premium to Google Video Partners to place ads on third-party sites using AdSense may have been bamboozled, according to research conducted by Adalytics, a company that provides ad spending analysis for brands. Their research indicates that while Google promises certain standards in terms of placement, site quality, and sound, 80% of the time, these ads are, in fact, placed in small, muted videos auto-playing on the margins of the viewport.?
Those affected include Johnson & Johnson, American Express, Samsung, and The Wall Street Journal. Several partners have already asked for refunds. According to a blog post by Adalytics, “this misalignment may have cost media buyers up to billions of digital ad dollars.”?
The timing for Google is not ideal, as it is already under fire in the US, UK, and Europe for its ad tech’s monopolistic structuring. Google denied the accuracy of the report, stating that it failed to show the measures that it takes to ensure brand safety.
ONLINE NEWS ACT PASSED IN CANADA
Canadians consuming news-related content via Facebook, Instagram, or the Google News Universe will have to look elsewhere as Meta and Alphabet vow to block news on their platforms in response to legislation passed in Ottawa this week. The plan, which is modeled after a law passed in Australia in 2021, would require Big Tech to enter into licensing agreements with publishers in order to ensure fair dealings in the digital news market.
Meta’s position is that the amount of revenue that news brings in does not merit this type of negotiation, and it would just as soon not. The President of Global Affairs at Alphabet published a blog post yesterday stating: “...we have made the difficult decision that when the law takes effect we will be removing links to Canadian news from our Search, News, and Discover products and will no longer be able to operate Google News Showcase in Canada.”
Will it all be worth it? Some have argued that in the case of Australia, the legislation there had the effect of further concentrating influence among the large media groups with more negotiating power. However, this does not appear to be a possibility in Canada, where Meta and Alphabet are refusing to play ball. Unless they’re bluffing.?
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MINI-WRAP: SOCIAL MEDIA ROUNDUP
We can’t seem to stop talking about the Giants this week (as in Tech, not San Francisco). There’s a lot happening on r/socialmedia this week. Let’s see:?
Publishers in the US and UK are doubling down on Instagram, where they have seen large increases in their followings over the past two years, Press Gazette reported this week. Bloomberg increases its follower base by 64%, and the Daily Wire and NY Post were not far behind. BBC has the largest following in absolute numbers with 7.4m, almost as many as the 2nd and 3rd place winners, CNN (4.2m) and NYT (3.9m), combined.?
The showdown between Reddit and its volunteer moderators continues to escalate—and it’s taken a surprising turn. Reddit upped the ante by removing striking moderators from their subreddits, arguing that they were not “active” and, therefore, non-compliant. In response, the remaining protesting moderators decided to become very active by voting in very strange and specific rules, such as only allowing content related to comedian John Oliver.?
Twitter/Mastodon?
Some hoped that the “fediverse” could become a utopia with the best things about social media and none of the morally compromising ones. Last fall saw a large increase in users leaving Twitter for Mastodon fueled by this optimism. However, the experiment has largely failed due to the platform’s unwillingness to make it user-friendly for non-technical users, according to this recent blog post by a former Mastodon user.
…and that’s a wrap!