Margrethe Vestager

It’s been tough going for enterprise SaaS companies since 2021. Plus, the EU’s top antitrust watchdog is pulling back from the regulatory beat.

Two of the EU’s biggest Big Tech antagonists are set to resign; a GAM breakup could usher in post-ad-server programmatic; and how Google kept Prebid separate from the IAB Tech Lab.

In today’s newsletter: Performance Max has many imitators, but Google’s still ahead of the pack; France’s competition authority fines Google for using news content to train its Bard AI model without their knowledge of consent; and Apollo Global Management offers to acquire Paramount Global for $11 billion.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. For Reels? Meta is struggling to convince advertisers that Reels can be a valuable marketing channel, The Information reports. Since Reels is more of a branding play, it doesn’t fit neatly within the broader Facebook and Instagram flywheel, which primarily centers on direct […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Split Decision The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, charged Google’s digital ad business with antitrust violations on Wednesday, CNBC reports. After a nearly two-year investigation, the commission found that Google’s end-to-end ad platform violates EU antitrust law. It pointed […]

The European Commission just left Meta a lump of coal in its stocking. On Monday, European regulators charged Meta with antitrust violations for “distorting competition in the markets for online classified ads,” including through unfair access to advertising data pulled from its competitors. Specifically, the commission issued what’s known as a “statement of objections,” which […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Privacy Sword, More Like The urgency is real to replace the EU-US Privacy Shield, the data-sharing accord brought down by the 2020 Schrems II decision.  EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said a replacement is “high priority.” Lobbyists from San Francisco and Seattle are all […]

Another shoe has dropped. On Tuesday, the European Commission, which is the main executive body of the EU, opened a formal investigation into whether Google unfairly advantages its own ad tech services. The Commission, which was rumored late last week to be on the verge of launching an official probe, will focus on display advertising, […]

The European Commission verified in writing on Friday that Google’s use of data to fuel its ad tech business is a focus of its ongoing antitrust investigation. And here’s the kicker: “Google’s proposals to deprecate third-party cookies are within the scope.” As Brussels-based journalist Alexander Fanta highlighted on Twitter, this could mean by extension that […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Automating Influence Influencer marketing is going programmatic. As marketers work with more micro-influencers, social accounts with smaller followings but specific interests, they need technology to scale. Scores of influencer platforms that promise to do just that have popped up in recent years, as marketers […]