Australia moves forward with publisher-friendly legislation: Despite pushback from tech giants, the country is forging ahead with a new law that would mandate the companies to pay publishers for news content appearing on their platforms.
eMarketer analyst Blake Droesch, principal analyst Jeremy Goldman, and forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Peter Vahle discuss whether the Super Bowl delivered, what's fueling Spotify, how the podcast and social media worlds are blurring together, if reducing politics in the News Feed can help Facebook, why the shopping mall might make a comeback, what is the most relaxing song ever (statistically), and more.
Microsoft wants a bigger slice of the digital market and is willing to call out peers to get it: Microsoft wants to see the US mirror Australia in new legislation that would force companies like Google and Facebook to share revenues with publishers, and argued for media's role in democracy to bring its point home.
States press on with tech regulation: The Maryland General Assembly is holding out for its Senate to override the state’s previous veto of a bill to tax digital advertising and streaming, making Maryland another state taking steps to regulate tech.
eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Nicole Perrin discusses whether major marketers will pull spending on social platforms because of brand safety and ethical concerns, what to make of Facebook's new advertiser “topic exclusion controls” test, and the types of content consumers prefer brands avoid the most. She then talks about tech companies introducing rules that favor their own business models, Facebook's relationship with political content, and whether Google is waving goodbye to Australia.
Social media memes have been around for over a decade, but the last twelve months have solidified their position as a staple of digital communication. While the topics themselves are no laughing matter, lighthearted humor about shared struggles has become a coping mechanism—or simply a much-needed distraction—for many.
Facebook and Amazon led US corporate lobbying spend in 2020. That will likely continue as regulatory reform and antitrust enforcement looms large in the new administration.
Facebook's Oversight Board will review Trump's deplatforming. This will be a critical first test of the self-regulatory solution to the platform’s content moderation challenges.
Kantar estimates that the slots will average $5.6 million a pop this year, reflecting the NFL’s unique ability to continue pulling in viewers and marketers.
Google is staring down yet another antitrust investigation, this time by UK regulators concerned about the elimination of cookies in Chrome.
This was a big year for antitrust, which saw four suits filed against Google and Facebook—with more likely to come. We recap the year with a timeline and discuss what 2021 could bring.