You’ve Gouda Be Kidding Me
Google just can’t seem to win with its Gemini ads.
The company’s upcoming Super Bowl ad campaign features a number of real small businesses across the country and how they reportedly use Gemini in Google Workspace to create website copy.
But according to The Verge, a seemingly AI-generated description of gouda cheese had already been on the Wisconsin Cheese Mart site since at least 2020, long before Gemini even existed.
To make matters worse, this is the second version of the ad; the first incorrectly stated that Gouda accounts for “50 to 60 percent of the world’s cheese consumption.” This false fact appears in some places online but has no basis in reality, a la the myth about people eating spiders in their sleep.
Most Super Bowl watchers likely won’t be fact-checking the campaign themselves, so odds are it won’t face the same immediate backlash as the “Dear Sydney” ad, which depicted a father outsourcing the writing of his kid’s Olympic fan letter to Gemini.
Still, if Google can’t trust its own generative AI tool to produce something usable for the year’s biggest TV ad placement, why should the rest of us?
Block By Blox
What’s the deal with Roblox’s nascent ad business?
Not much.
“I wanted to ask [a question] on advertising,” said JP Morgan analyst Cory Carpenter during the company’s earnings report last week. “You didn’t touch on it much in your prepared remarks when you talked about 2025 initiatives, so hoping you could just frame your plans for the ad business this year and … quantifying the ad contribution you’re expecting?”
“We shared that when we feel advertising is big enough, we’ll break it out,” responded CEO David Baszucki. Roblox has sponsored homescreen tiles, shoppable ad and streaming ads, while user-initiated video ads are coming “possibly,” he added.
On the other hand, as Digiday reports, Roblox did pay out its in-game developers and content creators a total of $280 million in Q4 2024. YouTube might crush it on the creator advertising rev-share, but creators on Roblox tend to monetize its attention more directly through getting a cut of sales or sponsored engagements, rather than a YouTube-style ad network.
Backdoor Shenanigans
UK security officials have ordered Apple to provide them with backdoor access to any content users have uploaded to the cloud, The Washington Post reports.
The order, issued last month, applies to users around the world and includes access to encrypted data stored in cloud servers.
The UK government’s demands threaten to undermine Apple’s carefully cultivated reputation for data security, as well as the Advanced Data Protection features it introduced in 2022.
But Apple is more likely to stop offering encrypted data storage in the UK rather than comply with the order, according to sources familiar with the matter. In the past, Apple has refused requests by government agencies for backdoor access to user devices.
The order draws its authority from the UK Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, which criminalizes even disclosing the existence of such a demand by the government.
Apple was first notified of the pending order back in March. At the time, Apple told Parliament that it saw “no reason” why the UK government should be able to override access to data encryption for users worldwide.
Apple can appeal the demand to a secret technical panel, but it would not be able to delay imposition of the order during the appeals process.
But Wait! There’s More
Snap pursues SMBs with its latest AI-powered tool. [Digiday]
Phishing tests, the bane of work life, are getting meaner. [WSJ]
The FCC has opened an investigation into an Audacy-owned San Francisco radio station for reporting on local ICE raids. [KQED]
Trump appears to have flip-flopped again – this time by delaying the end of the de minimis tariff exemption. [Reuters]
Steve Wynn – the Las Vegas casino mogul who was forced to resign after press coverage of his alleged sexual misconduct with employees – is petitioning the Supreme Court to strike down a key press protection from New York Times v. Sullivan. [TNR]
This year’s Super Bowl ads avoid hot-button social issues and political stances that could draw the ire of the Trump administration. [WSJ]
You’re Hired
Lumen hires Ben Dimond as its new commercial director. [release]
