Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
The world of digital ads is reeling after a bombshell report that found Google’s video advertising system may be defrauding customers 80% of the time, violating the promises the company makes to advertisers about where and how those ads are shown. Some advertisers are demanding refunds, which, theoretically, would cost Google millions if not billions…
PORTLAND, Ore.—Mark Rogers has made a list of things he misses about Portland—its vegan restaurants, Powell’s bookstore, public transit—and the things he doesn’t—having his things stolen, stepping in human excrement, extreme politics. The 44-year-old artist moved across the country to Fort Wayne, Ind., last year. “I don’t want to talk trash about my home city…
Some people who sought jobs at billionaire Bill Gates’s private office described going through an extensive screening process that included being questioned by a security firm about their sexual histories, past drug use and other parts of their private lives that might indicate they were vulnerable to blackmail. Some female job candidates were asked whether…
The European Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation on Tuesday into whether Google has abused its market position by favoring its own online display advertising technology. Why it matters: The probe will target parts of Google’s massive $147 billion annual ads business that have never been investigated formally by regulators, including ways its advertising practices…
The European Union hit Google with a formal antitrust complaint Wednesday, two years after regulators first opened an investigation into whether Google abused its market dominance to favor its own ad tech. Why it matters: The complaint puts even more pressure on Google parent Alphabet to possibly divest parts of its lucrative ad business. In…
Google violated its promised standards when placing video ads on other websites, according to new research that raises questions about the transparency of the tech giant’s online-ad business. Google’s YouTube runs ads on its own site and app. But the company also brokers the placement of video ads on other sites across the web through…
As marketers from around the world spend the week in the south of France, the country’s privacy watchdog just sent a strong signal that it’s not taking a laissez-faire approach to digital advertising. On Thursday, the National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) said it’s issued a €40 million fine against Paris-based ad tech giant…
Advertising industry figures are demanding significant refunds from YouTube following new research that suggests millions of adverts on the video platform are hidden away from users in ways that breach the Google-owned group’s policies. Adalytics, a digital ads analysis group, has conducted research into YouTube’s “TrueView” system, through which the platform’s more than 2bn users…
The news-rating group NewsGuard has found dozens of news websites generated by AI chatbots proliferating online, according to a report published Monday, raising questions about how the technology may supercharge established fraud techniques. The 49 websites, which were independently reviewed by Bloomberg, run the gamut. Some are dressed up as breaking news sites with generic-sounding names…
How Shady Companies Guess Your Religion, Sexual Orientation, and Mental Health And sell that data to the highest bidder. Photo illustration by Natalie Matthews-Ramo/Slate. Photo by ISerg/Getty Images Plus. Millions of Americans were using telehealth company and prescription drug provider GoodRx—yet probably didn’t know that it was sharing their prescription medications and health conditions with…