Thrive Plus

Silicon Valley Embraces Industrial Policy and AI Shift

At the Hill & Valley Forum and across recent headlines, prominent Silicon Valley figures signaled a shift from small‑government orthodoxy toward support for industrial policy—endorsing onshoring, military tech spending, and building AI data centers to compete with China. Jamie Dimon publicly urged use of industrial policy. The newsletter also covers OpenAI’s pivot away from consumer projects (notably killing its Sora AI video app after a contentious Disney warrant deal), a federal judge blocking a government “supply chain risk” designation of Anthropic, major venture and defense funding (Shield AI raising $2 billion; Kleiner Perkins raising $3.5 billion), and new political activity including Sen. Bernie Sanders filing an AI data‑center moratorium bill. The piece highlights tensions between tech, Hollywood, investors, and policymakers as AI commercialization, regulation, and public opinion converge.

2020 Was All About Digital Identity – And Expect The Same In 2021

The article reviews how 2020 became a watershed year for digital identity in online advertising, driven by Google's move to end third-party cookies and Apple's opt-in requirement for the IDFA. It notes industry unpreparedness but signals progress toward identity solutions in 2021, including The Trade Desk's Unified ID 2.0 project, an open-source email-based identifier built on IAB Tech Lab's Project Rearc, with partners such as LiveRamp, PubMatic, Criteo, and The Washington Post. Ongoing discussions around Chrome's Privacy Sandbox at the W3C Improving Web Advertising Business Group are described as slow, with regulatory and antitrust considerations cited. Analysts anticipate more partnerships and testing in 2021 as traditional signals remain and publishers seek incentives to participate, while skepticism persists about Google's willingness to terminate cookies on schedule.

Knock-Knock: How Companies Are Trying To Weasel Their Way Onto Publishers’ Ads.txt Files

Publishers are being targeted by unsolicited emails from agencies attempting to join their Ads.txt files, with threats of adverse effects if not added. Thrive+ is highlighted as sending messages to publishers including The New York Times, Wenner Media, Intermarkets, and LittleThings, claiming to have purchased substantial inventory and to work with about 100 publishers directly; one publisher, Dingit.tv, had already added an Ads.txt entry. The outreach includes requests to list Thrive+ as a direct seller, which would imply ownership of inventory and contradict the Ads.txt specification. The article notes concerns about social engineering as a vulnerability in Ads.txt, citing Google’s Pooja Kapoor. Updates indicate SpotX terminated its relationship with Thrive+ after the practices were disclosed. Adoption of Ads.txt remains uneven, with 44% of Alexa top 10,000 having implemented Ads.txt, while some publishers see risk from such deceptive follow-ups.