Alden Global Capital

AdTech Shifts: Regulations, Acquisitions, and Platform Changes

Today's AdTech briefing highlights a wave of regulatory and industry shifts. The piece notes acquisitions at Omnicom, ongoing enforcement of the UK's Online Safety Act to curb illegal and harmful online content, and an EU-related enforcement action against Google for alleged violations. Platform changes include Reddit enabling users to block specific advertisers for a year, while Roku faces customer complaints over ads. In the legal arena, Apple's encrypted data case with the UK government proceeds behind closed doors. The piece also mentions Alden Newspapers criticizing OpenAI and Google over AI copyright rules, and reports that Adform is considering a sale, signaling renewed momentum in the M&A landscape.

OpenAI Faces Copyright Lawsuit from Eight Major Newspapers

This edition of The Stack covers OpenAI and Microsoft facing a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by eight major US newspapers owned by Alden Global Capital, including the New York Daily News and Chicago Tribune. The suit mirrors the New York Times’ complaint against the same defendants and is being represented by a law firm involved in the Times case. In MadTech news, Amazon Ads grew 24% from 2022 to 2023, rising from $38B to $47B, with growth attributed to sponsored ads by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, reported strong Q1 revenues of $80.5B, led by Search at $46.16B, YouTube at $8.1B, and Cloud at $9.6B, with Services revenues growing just under 25% year over year. The digest also highlights new ExchangeWire coverage on AI bias, sustainability messaging, and other ad tech developments.

Twitch Unveils Short Videos; OpenAI, Microsoft Face Lawsuit

Today’s tech news digest highlights three developments: Twitch has introduced a Short-Form Video Discovery Feed as a new tab in its mobile app, letting users skim clips from longer streams; Twitch notes the feature will not share ad revenue with streamers since those ads don’t appear directly in their videos, and the service counts about 170 million monthly US users. In legal news, OpenAI and Microsoft face a new copyright infringement lawsuit from eight major US newspapers owned by Alden Global Capital, including the New York Daily News and Chicago Tribune; the case may be consolidated with the New York Times’ prior complaint if tied to the same district judge. Separately, WeTransfer is rolling out direct file sales with integrated Stripe payments, enabling creators to monetize files globally with only standard Stripe processing fees and no added costs. OpenAI recently announced a content licensing partnership with the Financial Times.