A look at how companies try to reach potential customers.
Advertising
Senate Judiciary Committee GOP members split over antitrust remedies for big tech
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about data privacy and competition policy, GOP senators signaled they are divided over whether to pursue antitrust enforcement against the country's largest tech companies.
How President Trump Is Outspending Every 2020 Democrat on Facebook
President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has spent far more than any single Democratic presidential candidate on Facebook advertising, reprising a strategy that was central to his 2016 victory. Since entering the race late in April, former Vice President Joe Biden has pumped more than $1 million into Facebook ads, outspending President Trump’s campaign for three of the past four weeks. Much of President Trump’s spending on Facebook advertising in recent weeks has gone toward ads that have been seen by older Americans, particularly women 55 and older.
Sen Hawley Introduces Do Not Track Act
Sen Josh Hawley (R-MO) announced he will introduce the Do Not Track Act to give control over personal data back to users. The legislation:
Social Media Pollution, a Huge Problem in the Last Election, Could Be Worse in 2020
Thanks to savvy lobbying by tech companies, online election campaign speech remains almost entirely unregulated. The platforms won exemptions from many campaign finance provisions by arguing that the rules would stifle their growth. They don’t have the legal requirements for ad disclaimers and disclosures — like keeping public logs of political sponsors — that television does. That’s how the Internet Research Agency, a home for troll accounts in St. Petersburg, Russia, could spend money on Facebook pages that worked for Hillary Clinton’s defeat without having to reveal its identity.
Witnesses
- Professor Avi Goldfarb
Ellison Professor of Marketing
Rotman School of ManagementUniversity of Toronto
Toronto, Canada
- Dr. Fiona M. Scott Morton, Ph.D.
Theodore Nierenberg Professor Of Economics
Yale School of Management
New Haven , CT
- Mr. Brian O'Kelley
Founder And Former CEO
AppNexus Inc.
New York , NY
- Dr. Johnny Ryan, Ph.D.
Chief Policy & Industry Relations Officer
Brave
San Francisco , CA
Sens Klobuchar, Graham, and Warner Reintroduce Honest Ads Act
Sens Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Mark Warner (D-VA) reintroduced the Honest Ads Act to help prevent foreign interference in future elections and improve the transparency of online political advertisements. Sen Graham carries on the bipartisan legacy of the bill from the late Sen John McCain (R-AZ). The Honest Ads Act ensures that political ads sold online are covered by the same rules as ads sold on TV, radio, and satellite. The Act:
The Department of Justice will hold a public workshop on May 2 and 3, 2019 to explore industry dynamics in media advertising and the implications for antitrust enforcement and policy, including merger enforcement. The workshop will cover the different types of television and online advertising, and it will highlight, among other developments in the industry, the role of online and mobile advertising networks.
Code of practice against disinformation: Commission welcomes the commitment of online platforms ahead of the European elections
The European Commission published the latest reports by Facebook, Google and Twitter covering the progress made in March 2019 to fight disinformation. The three online platforms are signatories to the Code of Practice against disinformation and have committed to report monthly on their actions ahead of the European Parliament elections in May 2019.
Trump's 2020 plan: Target seniors on Facebook
The Trump campaign is spending nearly half (44%) of its Facebook ad budget to target users who are over 65 years old, as opposed to Democratic candidates who are only spending 27% of their budget on that demographic. Other data points pulled from the Facebook ad archive show that the President is using most of those ads targeted towards older people to talk about immigration. Trump is using nativist language around immigrants in 54% of his ads, according to Bully Pulpit Interactive.
If we want to be modern, working on a machine-readable format for the public file should come next
We have more work do if want to truly modernize the public file system that is the subject of our decision April 12. These filings include things like station authorizations, contour maps, ownership reports, equal employment opportunity filings, reports on children’s television programming, materials related to investigations and complaints, and joint sales agreements.