Good morning,
Thanks for your time.
So, indeed... it was a busy Wednesday afternoon listening to a video stream of a streamed conversation between Big Tech CEOs and lawmakers.
We have a full rundown of some key takeaways, especially as it pertains to the ad-tech space that you can take a look at here. It was notable to see these men be held accountable/acknowledge/sit there as legislators made, at times, somewhat decent points, about the reach those companies have in the digital advertising ecosystem.
Alphabet’s CEO Sundar Pichai, as an example, was asked to respond to the company’s integration of DoubleClick, an ad network, and how Google used personally identifiable information to grow its reach. As we noted, Pichai punted and said he "wasn't familiar" with the "specific issue."
Does this look like a company that has built an ad stack without a familiarity of this specific issue? Or any other, for that matter, in the digital advertising space? Questions now left for the antitrust investigations that are reportedly on the horizon.
“In all these ecosystems, we are balancing between users, advertisers and publishers,” Pichai said Wednesday. “We deeply care about the privacy in particular of our users so when we serve these ecosystems, we have to take that into account.”
If you participate in the digital ad business, would love to hear your thoughts on what the CEOs had to say today. Especially if you're a media executive. Send 'em my way: sara.jerde@adweek.com
In other news:
Need a break? Determine your spirit animal. If the media/tech desk had one, it'd likely be a chipmunk.
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