online ads

Reddit acquires contextualization company Spiketrap to boost its ads business

Reddit’s acquisition spree is continuing this morning with news that the company is bringing the audience contextualization company Spiketrap’s technology in-house. Deal terms were not dis

Truecaller forays into live audio with its new Open Doors app

If you thought of the age of companies launching real-time audio chat apps was over, think again. Swedish caller identification service Truecaller is today launching a new app in the space called Open

Kremlin critic Navalny calls for Google and Meta to turn their adtech into an anti-war weapon

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny has called on tech giants Google and Meta/Facebook to help circumvent Putin’s grip on the media and get information out to ordinary Russians about what&#8217

UK expands Online Safety Bill to cover scam ads and eyes wider reforms

The UK government has again announced an extension to the scope of the draft Online Safety Bill — this time bringing scam ads into scope following pressure from campaigners. In parallel, it has

Europe offers tepid set of political ads transparency rules

It’s been almost a year since the EU’s executive announced it would propose rules for political ads transparency in response to concern about online microtargeting and big data techniques

Google ads to get more transparent by offering access to advertiser’s recent history

Google today announced a change to its online ads, which will now display new disclosures that allow web searchers to see not just who the advertiser is and why the ad was served to you, but also what

US privacy, consumer, competition and civil rights groups urge ban on ‘surveillance advertising’

Ahead of another big tech versus Congress “grab your popcorn” grilling session, scheduled for March 25 — when U.S. lawmakers will once again question the CEOs of Facebook, Google and

Digital marketing firms file UK competition complaint against Google’s Privacy Sandbox

Google’s push to phase out third party tracking cookies — aka its ‘Privacy Sandbox’ initiative — is facing a competition challenge in Europe. A coalition of digital marke

Oracle’s BlueKai tracks you across the web. That data spilled online

Have you ever wondered why online ads appear for things that you were just thinking about? There’s no big conspiracy. Ad tech can be creepily accurate. Tech giant Oracle is one of a few companie

Facebook data misuse and voter manipulation back in the frame with latest Cambridge Analytica leaks

More details are emerging about the scale and scope of disgraced data company Cambridge Analytica’s activities in elections around the world — via a cache of internal documents that’

Gift Guide: Essential security and privacy gifts to help protect your friends and family

Welcome to TechCrunch’s 2019 Holiday Gift Guide! Need help with gift ideas? We’re here to help! We’ll be rolling out gift guides from now through the end of December. You can find ou

Sex tech companies and advocates protest unfair ad standards outside Facebook’s NY HQ

A group of sex tech startup founders, employees and supporters gathered outside of Facebook’s NY office in Manhattan to protest its advertising policies with respect to what it classifies as sex

How to go to market in middle America

There comes a time for many startup companies where they either realize they need to do a nationwide roll-out, or they need to actively target buyers in the middle of the country...

Protecting the integrity of US elections will require a massive regulatory overhaul, academics say

Ahead of the 2020 elections, former Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos and his colleagues at Stanford University have unveiled a sweeping new plan to secure U.S. electoral infrastructure and

Google fined €1.49BN in Europe for antitrust violations in search ad brokering

The European Commission has just announced another antitrust fine for Google. The latest fine — €1.49BN (~$1.7BN) — relates to its search ad brokering business, which involves Google sel

How a small French privacy ruling could remake adtech for good

A ruling in late October against a little-known French adtech firm that popped up on the national data watchdog’s website earlier this month is causing ripples of excitement to run through priva

Audit Facebook and overhaul competition law, say MEPs responding to breach scandals

After holding a series of hearings in the wake of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data misuse scandal this summer, and attending a meeting with Mark Zuckerberg himself in May, the European Union parl

There’s an access code for Visible in its online ad

Sometimes it pays to click on the ads. Verizon’s poorly kept startup secret, Visible, the new app-based phone service that provides all-in voice, data and text for $40 does have an access code f

Can data science save social media?

The unfettered internet is too often used for malicious purposes and is frequently woefully inaccurate. Social media -- especially Facebook -- has failed miserably at protecting user privacy and block

Google took down 1.7 billion dodgy ads in 2016, over twice as many as in 2015

Google has been under the gun when it comes to the power of its massive ad network — the biggest on the internet — being used for nefarious purposes, but the search giant is intent on usin
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