Data Privacy

Every state in the United States, plus Washington, DC, has an attorney general tasked with regulating, investigating and enforcing against noncompliant marketing practices. They’re known colloquially as “baby FTCs” – but don’t be fooled. They’ve got teeth. “Think of state attorneys general as the top cops in their respective state; they’ve got active consumer protection agendas […]

Twitter is planning to eliminate third-party customer data sources from its ad-buying system, a shift that’s strikingly similar to the action Facebook took following Cambridge Analytica. Advertisers will still be able to use third-party data, they’ll just have to buy it themselves and Twitter reserves the right to approve the data sources. Twitter told The […]

In May, during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee about the impact of data privacy and competition policy on the digital ad ecosystem, former AppNexus CEO Brian O’Kelley told lawmakers that Google and Facebook deserve to be broken up. “Let’s apply some common sense to the regulatory process just by acknowledging that consumers pay […]

It’s a cliche to say that data is fuel but, in GasBuddy’s case, that’s literally true. The GasBuddy app, which helps drivers crowdsource information about cheap fuel prices, has access to opted-in location data from more than 15 million monthly active users. Users are more than willing to share their data, because they’re receiving a utility […]

Real-time bidding (RTB) is a flashpoint in the debate over the future of programmatic advertising. But whether the practice of using personal data in a real-time ad auction is lurching toward its deathbed in Europe, thanks to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), or whether companies will just need to update how they collect consent […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Spoiled For Choice Vestager strikes again. Starting next year, Google will show a new “choice screen” to Android smartphone owners in Europe that prompts them to choose a default search service from a set of four companies – initially Google, Yahoo, Qwant, a French […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Without Peer Sizmek offloaded its contextual advertising company Peer39 to private equity firm O3 Industries for $18 million, Business Insider’s Lauren Johnson reports. O3 reportedly beat out other bidders including The Trade Desk and Zefr. So what’s the future of Peer39? Mario Diez, whose […]

“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Gary Kibel, a partner in the digital media, technology and privacy practice group at Davis & Gilbert. If the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) were a private business, it would be having […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Pulling The Plug Companies that use a plug-in to display Facebook’s ‘like’ button on their websites are jointly liable for any customer data transferred through the widget under GDPR, the EU’s top court ruled on Monday. The court was looking at the case of […]

Facebook is getting poked by both the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, but that doesn’t mean it’s facing two separate antitrust probes in the United States. “It would be unprecedented, not to mention duplicative, for the DOJ and the FTC to be investigating the same company for essentially the same conduct,” said […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Not Quite Settled  The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a prominent public research interest group, filed a complaint against the FTC’s $5 billion settlement with Facebook, arguing the deal is an unjustified victory for Facebook that fails to protect consumer privacy. The group is […]

A weekly comic strip from AdExchanger that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem…

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here WhoTube? As Google prepares to report second quarter earnings Thursday, investors and analysts are fed up with the company’s secrecy around YouTube. The streaming hub, which generates an estimated $16 billion to $25 billion in annual revenue, would be a Fortune 500 business on […]

Facebook’s stock dipped slightly on Wednesday morning after the Federal Trade Commission formally announced its $5 billion dollar fine over privacy violations. But by the time Facebook reported its second quarter earnings after the bell, the stock had recovered and then some. Facebook is up 3.2% after beating expectations and raking in the ad revenue. […]

It’s a big day for the big blue app. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) formally announced Wednesday it will fine Facebook $5 billion over Cambridge Analytica-related privacy violations and install oversight procedures to prioritize privacy and ensure enforcement at the company. In addition, a more than $100 million fine is expected from the Securities and Exchange […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Asking About Acxiom IPG outperformed its peers in Q2 with organic revenue growth of 3% to $2.1 billion. While the group will continue to face headwinds from client losses through the rest of the year, it was able to offset losses in the […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. No Mo’ CMO Silvia Lagnado, McDonald’s global CMO since 2015, will leave the company in October, Ad Age reports. McDonald’s plans to scrap the global CMO role in favor of two marketing SVPs: Bob Rupczynski will oversee marketing tech and Colin Mitchell will focus […]

“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Kelly Anderson, vice president of data protection and privacy at Ericsson Emodo. Just as 5G is coming into view on the horizon, there’s a trainload of new privacy regulations and […]

“Brand Aware” explores the data-driven digital ad ecosystem from the marketer’s point of view. Today’s column is written by Emily Ketchen, head of Americas marketing at HP. Despite criticism that it is just a marketing gimmick, brand transparency is more relevant and meaningful than ever. It is becoming fundamental to how companies engage with customers. By […]

“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Rachel Gantz, SVP, commercial, at Comscore. Time’s up. #MeToo. Equal pay. This is the world many of us proudly live in. Gender identity and norms have become more fluid and […]

Firefox is starting to block third-party tracking by default, which will throw a wrench into the business model of any company that relies on cookies. But that doesn’t mean Firefox doesn’t care about how this change affects the bottom line – especially its own. Beyond the normal usability testing done before rolling out a new […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Illegitimate Interest? European regulators are circling real-time bidding companies, claiming the online ad framework violates GDPR by passing sensitive information through bid requests without explicit consent. Regulators in the United Kingdom and Ireland are investigating RTB, and Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain and Poland have […]

After more than a year on ice, Facebook is bringing back reach estimates in Custom Audiences. Facebook suspended the metric, which advertisers would use to preview reach estimates for lists uploaded to Custom Audiences, in March 2018 when academic researchers from Northeastern University discovered a vulnerability. The exploit could have allowed someone to infer attributes […]

Ashlen Cherry, Epsilon’s chief privacy officer, would bet on federal privacy legislation happening – just not before the end of the year. “This can be a bipartisan issue, and there’s an appetite for it on the hill,” said Cherry, who joined Epsilon last October after almost a decade as the global privacy program manager at […]

France’s data protection regulator is going public with its action plan – and targeted online advertising is to be a “priority topic.” The Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (CNIL) shared its 2019-2020 agenda in response to appeals from the public, privacy advocates and online marketing professionals looking for guidance on how to comply […]

Privacy protection isn’t a tick-the-box exercise, and so policymakers need to think outside the box. At the Federal Trade Commission’s annual PrivacyCon event in Washington, DC, on Thursday, the agency invited nearly 20 privacy researchers and academics from around the world to dig into the nitty gritty on consumer privacy, data collection, security and the […]

A weekly comic strip from AdExchanger that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem…

Last year, Mark Zuckerberg went on a Cambridge Analytica apology tour. This year, he’s got a new theme: DC, bring on your regs. In the absence of regulation, “we’re going to do the best we can,” the Facebook CEO said Wednesday during a fireside chat at the annual Aspen Ideas Festival. But private companies, he […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Watch And Learn Facebook really wants those TV ad dollars – but it’s going to take more than simply showing up at the upfronts. The first thing Facebook needs to do is prove that its video service, Watch, is a hit with audiences. Facebook […]

Forrester’s 2019 DMP Wave focused on how data-management platforms plan to make their products more privacy-safe in an environment with increased pressure from privacy regulation as well as Apple ITP and Firefox ETP. Because of the amount of change going on in the DMP landscape, the analyst firm gave particular weight to a company’s vision. […]