Center for Digital Democracy

This is also too small a settlement by the Trump/Vance FTC, given that Amazon's US overall US revenues in 2024 was $438 billion. #bigtech gets off easy.

FTC Secures Historic $2.5 Billion Settlement Against Amazon The Federal Trade Commission has secured a historic order with Amazon.com, Inc., as well as Senior Vice President Neil Lindsay and Vice President Jamil Ghani, settling allegations that Amazon enrol

This settlement generated in part by the EU/US coalition of digital rights groups (TACD) that made "dark patterns" a major policy issue in US, as well as Lina Khan FTC commission--which understood dark pattern manipulation is at core of commercial surveillance marketing biz model.
bit.ly/46EIw3u

Cold Front at CNN CNN staffers are bracing for the Ellison family’s looming bid for Warner Bros. Discovery—a takeover that could merge the network with CBS News, hand Bari Weiss editorial power, and radically reshape i...

News media consolidation as CBS News likely merges with CNN, reducing independent news gathering, analysis, press freedoms. #democracy
Cold Front at CNN www.status.news/p/cnn-david-...

Netflix Strikes Global Marketing Deal With Beverage Giant AB Inbev (Exclusive) AB Inbev brands will serve as title sponsors on Netflix content around the world, with Netflix IP featured in activations and packaging.

Public health, consumer & data protections & media content integrity raised by this deal. Requires scrutiny worldwide. Netflix Strikes Global Marketing Deal With Beverage Giant AB Inbev www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus... via @thr

The US is about to endorse full force platform commercial surveillance marketing by brokering a TikTok deal that fails to provide privacy, Gen AI, consumer protections, competition, youth safeguards. All the failures in past to regulate social media ignored for a "deal" that rewards BigTech.

Rupert Murdoch, Michael Dell part of U.S. TikTok buyer group, Trump says The White House says a deal should be signed in the coming days.

The pending TikTok deal by Trump Adm has vast implications for the privacy & online consumer protections of Americans, not to mention competition issues (With now News Corp, Paramount/CBS, possibly Warner/CNN, more. Will @AFergusonFTC speak out about the dangers?
www.axios.com/2025/09/21/t...

Study: Chatbots/LLMs pose serious new privacy risks, deepen consumer exploitation. Amazon, Meta & OpenAI leave children especially exposed. AI hype is not worth “the loss of privacy and increased risk of domination of consumers”.
arxiv.org/pdf/2509.05382
@kingjen.bsky.social, @klyman.bsky.social

Meta suppressed research on child safety, employees say The company’s lawyers intervened to shape research that might have shed light on risks in virtual reality, four current and former staffers have told Congress. Meta denies the allegations.

www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

The failure of the courts and regulators in US to rein in the power of Google & the other big tech oligarchs--now further empowered by massive giveaway by gov't over overseeing Gen AI & data tactics--is key reason why we need a new Commercial Surveillance & Competition law.

Google Fined Almost €3 Billion by EU for Abusing Adtech Power Alphabet Inc.’s Google was fined almost €3 billion ($3.5 billion) by the European Union and ordered to stop favoring its own advertising technology services, in a move that risks further inflaming ten...

EU's clarity of vision regarding how US big tech/AI commercial surveillance giants undermined our privacy, competition, human rights, the public health, etc. stands in contrast to the ongoing failures by US to protect public--US now unleashing more digital dangers. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Google unveils new personalization features for retail ads “Loyalty is a foundational feature,” said Jyotika Prasad, the company’s senior director of retail ads.

Growth of personalized pricing via Google's new "loyalty mode" ad feature.
Privacy & consumer protection risks growing.
www.marketingbrew.com/stories/2025...
blog.google/products/ads...

Publicis Groupe Captiv8 is the largest influencer technology marketing platform in the world, covering 95% of influencers with 5000+ followers.  Combined forces of Captiv8 & Influential, anchored in Epsilon’s connect...

Do we have any antitrust regulators working on digital anymore, as well as on privacy. Growth of Gen AI and increasing influencer agency consolidation requires action. Wake up #FTC & @JusticeATR
example: www.publicisgroupe.com/en/news/pres...

Immersive marketing requires regulation, protections, especially. for fast-foods. Time for AI era consumer protection across platforms, inc. for youth. #PublicHealth
finance.yahoo.com/news/step-in...

Will Trump Adm fully endorse commercial surveillance marketing in a US-led TikTok takeover; get 15% of profits from consumer data & marketing tactics? Nvidia/AMD precedent sets stage. Consequences for privacy (inc. minors), consumer protection, competition, antitrust. Sept. 17, deadline coming up

Trump led restructuring of local TV news via FCC--will undermine journalism & communities. Based on faulty premise. Sinclair, Nexstar etc well integrated in today's digital system. ex. bit.ly/3V0d2iN; bit.ly/4myyrvc
see: www.levernews.com/big-broadcas...

Is the FTC led by @AFergusonFTC negotiating with #Meta to potentially pardon its many #privacy violations? U.S. minors (teens) at grave risk if proposed protections axed. Huge big giveaway to #BigTech too. Let's hear the reasons now, if true.

Progress Report: How we're supporting Black communities and promoting diversity and inclusion - Newsroom | TikTok By Vanessa Pappas, TikTok US General Manager, and Kudzi Chikumbu, Director of Creator Community As we shared in a blog post at the start of this month, racism and discrimination have no place on TikTo...

Will TikTok in US still be "committed to specific, concrete actions in our push toward building an inclusive platform reflective of our diverse world" after it gets sold by Trump Adm? Will it support the civil rights community? See list, etc.
newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/progre...

FTC Proposes Blanket Prohibition Preventing Facebook from Monetizing Youth Data The Federal Trade Commission proposed changes to the agency’s 2020 privacy order with Facebook after alleging that the company has failed to fully comply with the order, misled parents about their

Holding Meta accountable for its numerous violations of privacy--and how it treats minors (teens)--is key responsibility for the FTC. But is @AFergusonFTC commission negotiating with BigTech giant to allow it to kill off these much needed safeguards. bit.ly/4liGwn0

Is Trump FTC under @AFergusonFTC doing a back-door deal with Zuckerberg's Meta to let them continue target teens & further erode privacy? Such a deal will erode our privacy, harm teens, make a mockery of #BigTech accountability. Answers needed now. bit.ly/3GVHuYj

I've had disagreements with @CPBmedia over the decades, but it fulfilled important role providing news, analysis, culture, non profit kids content not found elsewhere. What US now has for TV/video is a hyper-commercialized system gathering data & pleasing marketers. cpb.org/pressroom/Co...

That's why we need serious GenAI regulation--on health, finance, privacy, retail, democracy. www.meta.com/superintelli...

We have to thank Mark Zuckerberg for bringing us a warning about the ways GenAI will accelerate commercial surveillance marketing worldwide. His "superintelligence" is code for data-driven marketing on steroids across platforms, channels, experiences. It's Meta's super monetization agenda.

Lift social strategy with creator marketing - Think with Google Google’s Official Digital Marketing Publication. Discover how to lift your social strategy with YouTube creators and influencer marketing.

tailored to resonate with specific audience segments... ads outperformed the YouTube engagement benchmark by 43%...Only YouTube has the breadth and depth across every screen and format for fans to truly immerse themselves in their passions, guided by the creators they trust the most."
bit.ly/3IVb94m

Role of platforms & #influencers pushing soda & unhealthy food brands need to be on global consumer protection, & public health agenda. Google: "Pepsi established deep connections with a diverse customer base through YouTube Creator Ads. The company partnered with six YouTube creators...

Trump FCC led inquiry into Comcast/NBCU TV station relationships requires transparency, accountability & oversight. FCC cannot be relied to ensure the public interest is met. Make all records public; have public debate with media historians, experts.
s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

FCC Launches Probe into Comcast and NBCUniversal Over Treatment of Local NBC Stations | Cord Cutters News Update: A Comcast spokesperson gave this statement to Cord Cutters News: “We have received an inquiry from the FCC and will cooperate with them to answer their questions. We are proud that for many de...

Out of Nixon/Agnew political playbook. What Trump Adm doing via FCC/FTC is to make broadcasters, networks, digital co's fearful about holding it accountable--which is needed more now than in past.
bit.ly/4oepQiY

YouTube most popular first TV destination for children, Ofcom finds One in five young viewers go to platform first when they turn on TV, as older people also watch more of its content

Before @Ofcom urges BBC to work with YouTube, there must be reforms in UK video streaming market. @Ofcom should ask @ICOnews investigate data+ad tactics of UK video stream channels & implement reforms; BBC should not be part of the commercial surveillance streaming complex.
bit.ly/4odoO75

Look at the "cast" here, via AP story: "Pres. Trump is expected to deliver remarks on the initiative Wed. afternoon... The event is expected to involve leaders from more than 60 companies, including major tech companies such as Google and Amazon..."
www.seattlepi.com/business/art...

Trump administration is launching a new private health tracking system with Big Tech's help The Trump administration is pushing for Americans to upload personal health data to new apps run by private tech companies. This initiative aims to make accessing health records easier. Leaders from.....

Trump new plan via @CMSGov will enable further commercial harvesting of your health data & weaken privacy. “This scheme is an open door for the further use and monetization of sensitive and personal health information," said @chesterj1
www.seattlepi.com/business/art...

Mark Cuban on X: "Hey @DavidSacks , my one request is that we make it illegal for AI models to offer advertising. And, we need to really examine referral fees as well. The last thing we need is to have algorithms designed to maximize revenue driving LLM output and interactions. They are" / X Hey @DavidSacks , my one request is that we make it illegal for AI models to offer advertising. And, we need to really examine referral fees as well. The last thing we need is to have algorithms designed to maximize revenue driving LLM output and interactions. They are

Commercial surveillance marketing on steroids is what Gen AI is really about--extending the model that has undermined democracy online & more. Gen AI is being shaped by advertising & marketing--with Amazon, Google, Microsoft, TikTok, Meta in lead & Open AI, others too. x.com/mcuban/statu...