REI pulls AI-generated bike ad after Meta turns it into a two-handlebar monstrosity
AI-generated ads are getting harder to spot, unless they add handlebars to both ends of a bike
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Polymarket paid influencers to fake winning bets, built dummy websites to pull it off
A WSJ investigation found 10 creators posted 1,100+ videos of fake wagers totaling $1.9 million
EA launches new platform to put even more ads inside games
They "enhance" the player experience, apparently
The end of uBlock Origin in Chrome is now weeks away, not months
Ad-Verse: Google announced the transition from Manifest V2 browser add-ons a few years ago, but kept a few well-known "secrets" available to support legacy extensions. Now, Chromium developers have explained that MV2-based extensions are completely going away in just a few weeks.
Windows 11 will soon have an option for removing web results from local search queries
Microsoft appears to answer users' complaints
Motorola Razr phones are secretly hijacking Amazon launches with affiliate redirects
Network logs reveal Motorola's Smart Feed app silently rerouting through third-party ad-tech domains
Clicking "reject cookies" might not actually do anything
Google, Microsoft, and Meta largely ignore cookie opt-outs, independent audit says
Bottom line: Those annoying cookie-consent banners that have flooded the internet over the past several years are supposed to give users the option to block most tracking cookies from advertisers. However, a recent California audit claims that the largest ad tech companies usually send cookies anyway, having decided that simply paying potential billions in fines is more profitable.
GitHub pulls Copilot "feature" after it added advertising to more than 11,000 pull requests
Controversy highlights the risks of AI altering user content
Judge dismisses Elon Musk's X lawsuit over "advertiser boycott"
The ruling says brands pulling ads over safety concerns doesn't qualify as illegal collusion
Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts for smart features
Account not required for basic TV functionality
AI startups are filling San Francisco with cryptic billboards aimed at insiders
Instead of mass appeal, companies are embracing niche messaging that only engineers fully understand
Hisense TVs caught showing non-skippable ads when changing inputs or channels
Reports suggest a hidden global rollout despite the company claiming a "limited test"
YouTube expands unskippable 30-second ads to TVs after $40 billion revenue year
Connected TVs become YouTube's next major ad battleground
Samsung updates TV software to clarify how it tracks what you watch
Texas lawsuit may force wider transparency across LG, Sony, TCL, and Hisense TVs as well
Viral ad shows aged Musk, Altman, and Bezos using jobless humans to power AI
Humans powering the technology that took their jobs
Perplexity walks away from ads to differentiate from OpenAI and Google
Executives say user confidence outweighs short-term earnings from sponsored content
At $70 million, AI.com is now the most expensive domain name ever sold
Beats previous record by $20 million, another $8 million spent on Super Bowl ad, website went down
AI may be ready for the mainstream, the economics aren't
Momentum, money, and adoption are rising, but AI's business foundations are still shaky
A 1988 VHS privacy law could block how advertisers get your data
The Supreme Court will decide if sharing email credentials for targeted ads violates video rental protections
TikTok quietly expands location tracking and ad targeting for US users
TikTok reshapes US data rules after spinout
Free Xbox Cloud Gaming with ads could arrive in the coming weeks
Microsoft is seemingly shifting toward a hardware agnostic model
ChatGPT is getting ads soon, starting with free users
OpenAI needs money, and ads were always the obvious next step
More ads are coming to App Store search results, but Apple promises they will be "relevant"
Apple is "expanding opportunities" for advertisers
Meta knowingly took in billions from scam ads on Facebook and Instagram, says Reuters
Another day, another Meta controversy
In a nutshell: Meta has faced several controversies over the years, including the misuse of private data for political profiling, failing to stop the spread of fake news and hate speech, and ignoring the impact of Facebook and Instagram on the mental well-being of young people. A new report now claims the company has also knowingly accepted fraudulent and scam ads originating in China.
Watch the AI-generated Christmas ad McDonald's pulled after massive backlash
When will companies learn? Never, probably