"The darker consequence is that this will entrench Meta’s market domination. Exclusive knowledge of which ad works best across millions of campaigns gives it a unique advantage over rivals like Alphabet Inc.’s Google, TikTok and traditional agencies. And while the obvious first users will be small businesses, there’s no reason why larger ones might not want to reduce their ad-agency spending for Meta’s tools if they’re cheap and effective.
Of course, measuring “effectiveness” means trusting Meta’s metrics, per Zuckerberg’s you-don’t-need-any-measurement just “the results that we spit out.” That is a little bit like trusting a casino that deals the cards and runs the tables to tell you how well you’re doing. It’s a convenient closed loop for Meta. With no independent verification, the company could optimize ads to boost user engagement and benefit its platform rather than for advertiser success, and brands would struggle to know if that’s the case or not."

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-06-03/mark-zuckerberg-s-ai-slop-is-coming-to-ads

#AI #GenerativeAI #Meta #Facebook #Instagram #SocialMedia #AdTech #AISlop #AdTargeting

"I don’t doubt that Google has been thinking about this stuff for a while and that there are people at the company who deem it strategically irrelevant or at least of secondary importance to winning the AI race — the fate of the web might not sound terribly important when your bosses are talking nonstop about cashing out its accumulated data and expertise for AGI. I also don’t want to be precious about the web as it actually exists in 2025, nor do I suggest that websites working with or near companies like Meta and Google should have expected anything but temporary, incidental alignment with their businesses.
(...)
But I also don’t want to assume Google knows exactly how this stuff will play out for Google, much less what it will actually mean for millions of websites, and their visitors, if Google stops sending as many people beyond its results pages. Google’s push into productizing generative AI is substantially fear-driven, faith-based, and informed by the actions of competitors that are far less invested in and dependent on the vast collection of behaviors — websites full of content authentic and inauthentic, volunteer and commercial, social and antisocial, archival and up-to-date — that make up what’s left of the web and have far less to lose. Maybe, in a few years, a fresh economy will grow around the new behaviors produced by searchlike AI tools; perhaps companies like OpenAI and Google will sign a bunch more licensing deals; conceivably, this style of search automation simply collapses the marketplace supported by search, leveraging training based on years of scraped data to do more with less. In any case, the signals from Google — despite its unconvincing suggestions to the contrary — are clear: It’ll do anything to win the AI race. If that means burying the web, then so be it."

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/google-ai-mode-search-results-bury-the-web.html?utm_campaign=nym&utm_medium=s1&utm_source=twitter

#Google #AI #GenerativeAI #AISearch #OpenWeb #AdTech #AdTargeting #OpenAI #News #Media

"Let’s not forget that the industry building AI Assistants has already made billions of dollars honing the targeted advertising business model. They built their empires by drawing our attention, collecting our data, inferring our interests, and selling access to us.

AI Assistants supercharge this problem. First because they access and process incredibly intimate information, and second because the computing power they require to handle certain tasks is likely too immense for a personal device. This means that very personal data, including data about other people that exists on your phone, might leave your device to be processed on their servers. This opens the door to reuse and misuse. If you want your Assistant to work seemlessly for you across all your devices, then it’s also likely companies will solve that issue by offering cloud-enabled synchronisation, or more likely, cloud processing.

Once data has left your device, it’s incredibly hard to get companies to be clear about where it ends up and what it will be used for. The companies may use your data to train their systems, and could allow their staff and ‘trusted service providers’ to access your data for reasons like to improve model performance. It’s unlikely what you had all of this in mind when you asked your Assistant a simple question.

This is why it’s so important that we demand that our data be processed on our devices as much as possible, and used only for limited and specific purposes we are aware of, and have consented to. Companies must be provide clear and continuous information about where queries are processed (locally or in the cloud) and what data has been shared for that to happen, and what will happen to that data next."

https://privacyinternational.org/news-analysis/5591/are-ai-assistants-built-us-or-exploit-us-and-other-questions-ai-industry

#AI #GenerativeAI #LLMs #Chatbots #AIAssistants #Privacy #AdTech #DataProtection #AdTargeting

"As early as 2017, Wynn-Williams writes, Facebook was exploring ways to expand its ad targeting abilities to thirteen-to-seventeen-year-olds across Facebook and Instagram — a decidedly vulnerable group, often in the throes of adolescent image and social crises.

Though Facebook's ad algorithms are notoriously opaque, in 2017 The Australian alleged that the company had crafted a pitch deck for advertisers bragging that it could exploit "moments of psychological vulnerability" in its users by targeting terms like "worthless," "insecure," "stressed," "defeated," "anxious," "stupid," "useless," and "like a failure."

The social media company likewise tracked when adolescent girls deleted selfies, "so it can serve a beauty ad to them at that moment," according to Wynn-Williams. Other examples of Facebook's ad lechery are said to include the targeting of young mothers based on their emotional state, as well as emotional indexes mapped to racial groups, like a "Hispanic and African American Feeling Fantastic Over-index."

"To me, this type of surveillance and monetization of young teens’ sense of worthlessness feels like a concrete step toward the dystopian future Facebook’s critics had long warned of," Wynn-Williams reflects."

https://futurism.com/facebook-beauty-targeted-ads

#SocialMedia #Facebook #Meta #Australia #AdTech #SurveillanceCapitalism #AdTargeting #Privacy #DataProtection

Engadget: Perplexity is building a browser in part to collect customer data for targeted ads. “AI company Perplexity announced in February that it was building its own browser called Comet. In a recent interview with the TBPN podcast, CEO Aravind Srinivas gave some insight as to why the business appeared to be branching out from its artificial intelligence focus: It’s to collect user data and […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/04/27/engadget-perplexity-is-building-a-browser-in-part-to-collect-customer-data-for-targeted-ads/

Another day, another attempt by Microsoft to extract as much revenue as possible from Office users:

"Microsoft has quietly launched a new version of Microsoft Office for Windows that can be used to edit documents for free, no Microsoft 365 subscription or Office license key required. This free version of Office is based on the full desktop apps, but has most features locked behind the Microsoft 365 subscription.

First spotted by Beebom, the free version of Office for Windows includes ads that are permanently on screen when within a document in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Additionally, this new free version of Office also only allows you to save files to OneDrive, meaning no support for editing local files.

To access the free version of Office, just skip the prompt to sign-in when you first run an Office app. From there, you will be given the choice to continue to use Office for free in exchange for ads and limited features. In this mode, you can open, view, and even edit documents, just like you can with the web version of Office."

https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/office-365/microsoft-quietly-launches-free-ad-supported-version-of-office-apps-for-windows-with-limited-functionality

#Microsoft #AdTech #Advertising #Surveillance #AdTargeting #AdTracking #MSOffice

"A global spy tool exposed the locations of billions of people to anyone willing to pay. A Catholic group bought location data about gay dating app users in an effort to out gay priests. A location data broker sold lists of people who attended political protests.

What do these privacy violations have in common? They share a source of data that’s shockingly pervasive and unregulated: the technology powering nearly every ad you see online.

Each time you see a targeted ad, your personal information is exposed to thousands of advertisers and data brokers through a process called “real-time bidding” (RTB). This process does more than deliver ads—it fuels government surveillance, poses national security risks, and gives data brokers easy access to your online activity. RTB might be the most privacy-invasive surveillance system that you’ve never heard of."

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/01/online-behavioral-ads-fuel-surveillance-industry-heres-how

#Privacy #Surveillance #CyberSecurity #AdTargeting #DataProtection #DataBrokers #DataBrokerage #RTB

Amazon DSP enhances display ad targeting with fold position controls: Amazon DSP launches new targeting features for display and native inventory, expanding advertiser control over ad placements. https://ppc.land/amazon-dsp-enhances-display-ad-targeting-with-fold-position-controls/ #AmazonDSP #DigitalMarketing #AdTargeting #DisplayAds #NativeAdvertising

Reddit clarifies subreddit ad targeting: Reddit explains subreddit ad targeting reaches engaged users across the platform, not just within specific communities. https://ppc.land/reddit-clarifies-subreddit-ad-targeting/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #Reddit #AdTargeting #Marketing #DigitalMarketing #SocialMediaMarketing

YouTube expands First Position ad targeting to all content in DV360: Google broadens availability of First Position ads on YouTube, allowing advertisers to reach target audiences across all content types. https://ppc.land/youtube-expands-first-position-ad-targeting-to-all-content-in-dv360/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #YouTubeMarketing #DigitalAdvertising #PPC #DV360 #AdTargeting

Google expands Privacy Sandbox: 90-day interest groups, deals, and click data: Google extends Privacy Sandbox interest group lifetime to 90 days, adds deal support and click data for improved ad targeting. https://ppc.land/google-expands-privacy-sandbox-90-day-interest-groups-deals-and-click-data/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #PrivacySandbox #GoogleAds #AdTargeting #DigitalMarketing #OnlinePrivacy

Yahoo expands identity solutions to CTV and publishers, boosting ad targeting: Yahoo enhances digital advertising capabilities with Identity Solutions for CTV and expanded publisher availability via major SSPs. https://ppc.land/yahoo-expands-identity-solutions-to-ctv-and-publishers-boosting-ad-targeting/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #Yahoo #DigitalAdvertising #CTV #AdTargeting #IdentitySolutions

"A leading political data company is selling a voter database that identifies Americans based on their support for right-wing militias, the QAnon conspiracy theory and the January 6 insurrection — a new twist in campaign technology that some experts think could carry national security risks.

The company, L2 Data, collects a wide net of information about voter preferences on issues such as defense, spending and the economy. But unlike other data companies, L2 also measures or estimates voters’ support for the most divisive and potentially threatening threads of the extreme right.

L2 says it developed its dataset by surveying some voters and then extrapolating the probable views of a wider group with similar preferences and behavior from voter records and consumer habits.

Those predictions are part of a larger dataset that included a broad range of views held by both the right and left, on issues such as climate change, race and civil liberties.

The firm sells that broad set of information to a range of politicians and parties: Rep. Rob Menendez (D-N.J.), Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), and PACs for both Democrats and Republicans have bought its data, according to FEC filings."

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/30/data-voters-political-violence-00186132

#USA #Politics #Elections #PresidentialElection2024 #FarRight #DataBrokers #AdTech #AdTargeting

#EU #Pinterest #SocialMedia #AdTech #AdTargeting #DataProtection "Today, noyb filed a complaint against the social media platform Pinterest. Most users probably know it as a visual mood board and use it to find ideas and inspiration. Advertisers, on the other hand, use the platform to push their products on consumers. Unsurprisingly, Pinterest’s business model is also based on personalised advertising and the associated user tracking. The problem: Despite a CJEU ruling prohibiting this practice, the platform uses people’s personal data without asking for their consent. Pinterest falsely claims to have a “legitimate interest” and enables tracking by default. Most other websites have abandoned this legally flawed argument years ago."

https://noyb.eu/en/heres-idea-pinterest-ask-users-their-consent-tracking-them

#EU #CJEU #Meta #Facebook #DataProtection #AdTech #AdTargeting: "In today's ruling in C-446/21 (Schrems v. Meta), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has fully backed a lawsuit brought against Meta, over its Facebook service. The Court decided on two questions: First, massively limiting the use of personal data for online advertisements. Secondly, limiting the use of publicly available personal data to the originally intended purposes for publication."

https://noyb.eu/en/cjeu-meta-must-minimise-use-personal-data-ads

»#Meta faces #dataretentionlimits on its #EU #adbusiness after top court ruling: #socialnetworks, such as Facebook, cannot keep using people’s information for #adtargeting #indefinitely.« https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/04/meta-faces-data-retention-limits-on-its-eu-ad-business-after-top-court-ruling/?eicker.news #tech #media

👉(...)Media giant Cox Media Group (CMG) says it can target adverts based on what potential customers said out loud near device microphones, and explicitly points to Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Bing as CMG partners, according to a CMG presentation obtained by 404 Media.(...)🤯

https://www.404media.co/heres-the-pitch-deck-for-active-listening-ad-targeting/

#adtargeting #listening #smartphone #privacynightmare #gafam

#Surveillance #Privacy #ActiveListening #AdTech #AdTargeting: "Media giant Cox Media Group (CMG) says it can target adverts based on what potential customers said out loud near device microphones, and explicitly points to Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Bing as CMG partners, according to a CMG presentation obtained by 404 Media.

The slide deck provides more information, and raises more questions, about CMG’s advertised capability which it calls Active Listening. In December, 404 Media first reported on Active Listening’s existence using pitches from CMG’s website before the company deleted that information. The presentation, which the company has sent to at least one company it was courting to buy its Active Listening services, shows how CMG was marketing the product to companies who may want to target potential customers based on data allegedly sourced from device microphones. Google has kicked CMG from its advertising Partners Program after 404 Media asked Google for comment on the slide deck.

“The power of voice (and our devices’ microphones),” the slide deck starts. “Smart devices capture real-time intent data by listening to our conversations. Advertisers can pair this voice-data with behavioral data to target in-market consumers. We use AI to collect this data from 470+ sources to improve campaign deployment, targeting and performance.”" https://www.404media.co/heres-the-pitch-deck-for-active-listening-ad-targeting/

#EmbraceTheUnknown

How #Advertising Rivals #Google & #FaceBook Teamed Up To Use A #Euphemism In Team Pitches To Target #Unknown Minors ( a supposedly banned #Demographic ) In Secret #AdTargeting Pact

https://on.ft.com/3SRfCr4 via #FinancialTimes #SocialMedia #Zuggerfugger

#SocialMedia #Google #Meta #Instagram #YouTube #Marketing #AdTargeting: "Google and Meta made a secret deal to target advertisements for Instagram to teenagers on YouTube, skirting the search company’s own rules for how minors are treated online.

According to documents seen by the Financial Times and people familiar with the matter, Google worked on a marketing project for Meta that was designed to target 13- to 17-year-old YouTube users with adverts that promoted its rival’s photo and video app.

The Instagram campaign deliberately targeted a group of users labelled as “unknown” in its advertising system, which Google knew skewed towards under-18s, these people said. Meanwhile, documents seen by the FT suggest steps were taken to ensure the true intent of the campaign was disguised.

The project disregarded Google’s rules that prohibit personalising and targeting ads to under-18s, including serving ads based on demographics. It also has policies against the circumvention of its own guidelines, or “proxy targeting”."

https://www.ft.com/content/b3bb80f4-4e01-4ce6-8358-f4f8638790f8