Google’s ChatGPT conundrum: Generative AI is becoming a headache for the tech giant that wants to take the ethical high road while also staying competitive in a fast-moving market.

Facing signal loss and challenging macroeconomic conditions, advertisers are pumping the brakes on social network ad spending. But social video is shining through the gloom.

Elon Musk’s reign over Twitter stirs chaos and user losses in Asia-Pacific. The region is propping up Facebook user growth that is flagging in most of the world. And TikTok is looming large among marketers as its popularity skyrockets.

Thousands of Googlers get pink slips: As scavenging continues to rise among other industries, terminated workers shouldn’t be jobless for long. Meanwhile, Google is laser-focused on a revenue-driven AI strategy.

Instagram’s new Quiet mode offers an olive branch to parents and regulators as the Biden administration vows to go after Big Tech for “put[ting] our children at risk.” All social platforms can sense a new era of accountability, and they’re making active moves to stay on regulators’ good side.

Commercial generative AI poses risk for companies: Kenyan workers paid under $2 per hour to help build ChatGPT are among many human contributors behind generative AI who aren’t given sufficient compensation.

Content creation is changing as platforms share ad revenues with creators and all content becomes monetizable. “That’s going to send a wave of quick-hit, low-value content across social media as creators scramble to get more content out,” said our analyst Jasmine Enberg. Enberg predicts smaller creators will shift strategies as they try to earn more from their content.

Though Meta’s sheer size makes it a platform that advertisers can’t afford to ignore, the titan of advertising’s throne has never sat on shakier ground.

This week, Meta announced its Variance Reduction System, which it says will equitably distribute ads via census data and machine learning. The new tech was created in partnership with the US Department of Justice (DOJ), representing the first instance of direct court oversight for Meta’s ad targeting and delivery, according to a DOJ statement.

IRI woos shopper marketers: Its new platform should give advertisers greater visibility into retailer and SKU-level results.

TikTok deal with IMDb enables discovery feature: Users can link to TV and movie content in their videos.

A jarring deceleration in ad spending growth has shaken the advertising industry in many parts of the world. However, this softness is not universal, and it is likely to be short-lived.

Meta’s latest EU fine is more than a minor shakeup: The ruling, which Meta will appeal, could markedly limit its ability to target advertisements.

Our analysts have already shared what they think will be the biggest trends of 2023, but we’re not done with the crystal ball just yet. From patchwork TV measurement to Meta cashing in on its messaging apps, our team revealed some thoughts on what’s to come in the year ahead.

Can a new service help Shopify attract more enterprise retailers? Commerce Components by Shopify allows large retailers to integrate Shopify’s tools and services into their online platforms.

One year on, we review what we got right, what we sort of called, and what we got horribly wrong.

European regulators intensified their investigations into Big Tech’s anticompetitive practices: Apple, Google, Meta, and Amazon parried with regulators throughout the year as various countries put tech giants in their crosshairs.

We look back at the year’s most disruptive Big Tech payment stories and how the Big Four have expanded in the space.

Meta trapped in the middle of its past and future: One year after its bold pivot to the metaverse, Meta is wrestling with poor VR user adoption while desperately trying to resuscitate legacy apps in a flagging ad-revenue reality.

Q4 was another turbulent quarter for social media: Support for a US ban on TikTok grew; Elon Musk announced he would step down from Twitter once he finds a replacement; and Meta suffered its first-ever major round of layoffs. But there were still bright spots for marketers.