Meta Ditches Fact Checking
In case you missed it, this week Meta announced it will end fact checking and remove restriction on speech, across both Facebook and Instagram.
We’ve been here before. Fact checking was instituted in response to complaints of abusive and deceptive content. (Remember Cambridge Analytica?)
2025 will be a tricky year for brands balancing media presence in today’s walled gardens. Do brands want to run adjacent to incendiary rhetoric? No, not usually, especially if the content is at odds with the brand position. Do brands support free speech? Absolutely. Do brands want to financially support free speech that is at odds with its position? Not typically. Are brands at risk of blowback if they decide not to plant in the walled garden of discontent? Apparently so.
RightSideofRelevance™
Are you checking for your Apple settlement check? “Apple Siri lawsuit settlement” search terms are up 300% in the last five days. That’s because Apple has agreed to pay a $95 million class-action settlement for allowing Siri to violate users’ privacy.
Mobile device owners complained Siri was monitoring their conversations and selling data to advertisers. Two plaintiffs said their mentions of Air Joran sneakers and Olive Garden restaurants triggered ads for those products. And the plaintiffs didn’t say the magic words, “Hey, Siri.”
Like the challenges of balancing social media presence and investments, 2025 will be a year of brands balancing ethical data use. Brands want to serve relevant ads to an interested consumer. But no one wants to be creepy.
CTV/TV Announcements to Note
This week VideoAmp made a smart, competitive move against Nielsen. Leveraging a Paramount/Nielsen standoff, VideoAmp is making its national TV ratings data free for brands and agencies through March 31. Good opportunity to test a new ratings partner.
Comcast’s FreeWheel is launching a self-serve, ad-buying platform for CTV, aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, who don’t normally buy “TV.” The platform is called “Universal Ads.” Comcast says that 50% of advertisers who’ve never used TV feel that their social media investments have peaked return on investment. Additionally, the tool will provide free, automated AI creative production.