"It's been a big week in ad tech; tech giants faced regulators, media firms scaled up, while AI hit new speeds. In today's Madtech Daily, we cover Google facing a USD$425m privacy payout and a USD$381m fine in France over consumer failures, Europe backing a US-EU data deal as well as Amazon finalising its Axio acquisition. Google avoids a major breakup as a US court rejects the DOJ's bid to split off Chrome and Android, calling the proposal an overreach."
"Meanwhile, Disney finds itself paying the price for kids' privacy lapses. The company will pay USD$10m (£7.4m) to settle an FTC lawsuit over children's privacy violations. The case centred on Disney's failure to mark certain YouTube videos as "made for kids", allowing targeted ads in breach of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. While Disney faces regulatory pressure, media consolidation is accelerating."
"On the other side of the globe, China is tightening controls on AI content. Platforms such as WeChat and Douyin now require all AI-generated material to be clearly labelled, a move designed to combat misinformation and ensure transparency. Meanwhile, Microsoft is making a major play in AI innovation, launching its first in-house models. The debut includes MAI-Voice-1, a speech system capable of generating one minute of audio in less than a second on a single GPU."
Major tech and media companies faced regulatory and legal actions across multiple jurisdictions. Google must pay a USD$425m privacy payout and was fined USD$381m in France for consumer failures, while a US court rejected DOJ plans to break up Chrome and Android. Disney will pay USD$10m to settle an FTC lawsuit over improperly labelled YouTube content that allowed targeted ads. Empower Media acquired Ocean Media, forming a $1.5bn-billing agency. China now requires explicit labelling of AI-generated content. Microsoft launched in-house AI models including MAI-Voice-1. Australia will ban under-16s from social sign-ups and may fine noncompliant platforms.
Read at Exchangewire
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