A judge has granted preliminary approval to Meta Platforms' proposed $37.5 million settlement of a lawsuit alleging that the company violated a prior privacy policy by collecting users' IP addresses, which reveal general information about people's locations.

If granted final approval by U.S. District Court Judge James Donato in the Northern District of California, the settlement will allow some people who used Facebook between January 30, 2015 and April 18, 2018 to submit monetary claims.

Specifically, the deal allows claims by Facebook users during that time who turned off location services on Android or Apple mobile devices, but whose location was inferred based on their IP addresses.

Counsel estimated that around 70 million people would be eligible to submit claims.

The amount of money, if any, that Facebook users could receive depends on how many people file claims.

If one million people file claims and the settlement fund totals $25 million after costs and fees, each user would each receive $25, according to a proposed notice for class members.

If the judge determines that distributing money to individual users isn't “economically or administratively feasible,” the settlement funds would be distributed to schools and advocacy organizations, including the ACLU, National Consumer Law Center, Center for Democracy & Technology.

Donato rejected an earlier settlement proposal that didn't include potential distributions to outside organizations, in part because a settlement fund of $37.5 million might not be enough to reasonably compensate 70 million users.

The legal proceedings date to 2018, when Facebook users including Brendan Lundy and Myriah Watkins alleged that the company collected their IP addresses, which provided estimated locations, then deployed “enhanced tracking methodologies” to more precisely pinpoint geolocation.

Lundy and Watkins raised several claims, including that the company allegedly violated a privacy policy in effect between 2015 and April of 2018. That policy said Facebook wouldn't collect location data without users' consent.

In April of 2018, Facebook revised its policy to disclose that it collects IP addresses, which can offer broad information about users' locations.

Siding against Google, a federal judge on Friday refused to dismiss the Department of Justice's lawsuit claiming that the company used anticompetitive tactics to monopolize digital display advertising.

The decision, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, means Google must continue to defend itself from the claims, but doesn't mean the company will ultimately lose the lawsuit. Brinkema hasn't yet issued a written opinion spelling out her reasoning.

The ruling comes in a complaint dating to January, when the federal government and eight states alleged that Google had "corrupted legitimate competition" in the ad tech industry.

Among other claims, the officials alleged that Google monopolized the U.S. publisher ad server market, monopolized the U.S. advertiser ad network market, and monopolized (or attempted to monopolize) the U.S. ad exchange market.

The complaint included allegations that Google dominates the market for online display ads due to several acquisitions, including its 2008 purchase of DoubleClick, and its 2010 acquisitions of Invite Media, and AdMeld.

Google urged Brinkema to dismiss the claims at an early stage of the proceedings, arguing that the government's definitions of the various markets wrongly excluded competitors.

For instance, Google argued, the complaint's definition of the “ad network” market didn't include social media ads or mobile ads.

A Google representative said Friday that the lawsuit "ignores the reality of today’s dynamic digital advertising space," adding that the company competes against "hundreds" of others, such as Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok.

"This lawsuit would slow innovation, raise advertising fees, and make it harder for thousands of small businesses and publishers to grow. This case is wrong on the facts and the law, and we'll now set the record straight in court,” Dan Taylor, vice president of global ads said through a Google spokesperson.

The allegations in the matter before Brinkema are similar to those of a separate antitrust lawsuit brought by a Texas-led coalition of state attorneys general. That matter also focuses on Google's role in online display advertising.

U.S. District Court Judge Kevin Castel in New York, who presides over the Texas-led lawsuit, recently allowed the states to proceed with claims that Google attempted to monopolize markets connected to display ads, and that Google used its market power in the ad-exchange market to force publishers to use its ad server. Castel dismissed other claims in that lawsuit, including ones based on  allegations that the company collaborated with Facebook to undermine header bidding.

The Department of Justice alleged in a separate complaint, brought in 2020, that Google monopolizes the market for search. That matter is pending in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

Despite losing 241,000 video customers and a slowdown in subscriber growth, Charter Communications stock spiked 6% on Friday to $363.60 on the news of an increase in residential revenue.

Quarterly revenues were up 3.4% to $13.7 billion overall, with residential growth rising 2.5% to $10.8 billion.

Broadband revenue climbed nearly 5% to $5.7 billion, with video revenue down 2.1% to $4.2 billion -- the latter driven by a mix of lower-priced video packages.

Video subscribers dropped 5.5% in the period to 14.3 million, while broadband customers were virtually flat -- up a scant 0.6% to 28.5 million.

One key area for Charter is mobile service sales -- rising a sharp 28% to $497 million.

In addition, the company's “Other” revenue -- which include mobile-device sales -- were sharply higher: 34% to $683 million.

There was also 2.4% growth in commercial revenue.

Advertising revenue for Charter suffered -- down 7.2% to $355 million -- due to comparisons to the year-ago period, with its higher political advertising revenue. Taking out political revenue, Charter's advertising still declined 2.1% year-over-year.

Charter noted that it did have higher “advanced advertising revenue.”

On the heels of its earnings report Thursday, Amazon Ads has developed more advanced machine-learning models and optimized campaign-control systems to enhance bidding and pacing decisions for the Amazon DSP.

Neal Richter, director of Amazon DSP Technology, believes that “every percentage point of improvement counts to advertisers, and these new upgrades have helped increase engagement and return on ad spend.”

These models better predict the likelihood of a bid request converting, enabling algorithmic changes that improve pacing-to-goal while optimizing for performance.

The models are trained to better predict the likelihood of a bid request converting and enable algorithmic changes that improve pacing-to-goal while optimizing for performance.

Early tests show that the enhanced models generate 12.6% increase in click-through rates, 34.1% increase in return on ad spend, 24.7% decrease in cost per click, and between 20% to 30% incremental addressability on inventory that was previously unaddressable.

Modeling available signals to reach desired audiences is critical, and is especially important as the advertising industry moves away from third-party cookies.

The new machine-learning models analyze a range of signals to help advertisers predict and reach highly relevant audience segments with optimal cost-efficiency.

Amazon on Thursday reported sales of $127.4 billion for Q1 2023 -- up 9% compared with the year-ago quarter.

Revenue at the company's advertising services division contributed $9.51 billion -- up from $7.87 billion from a year ago.

By the end of 2023, Amazon’s worldwide ecommerce sales are forecast to grow nearly 9% to $685.39 billion, giving it 11.6% share of the global ecommerce market.

Amazon's U.S. advertising business is estimated to grow more than 17% this year to reach $33.96 billion, giving the company a 12.9% share of the U.S. digital ad market.

This year, 51% of Amazon's worldwide ad business will come from mobile, the first time it has crossed the halfway mark, according to Insider Intelligence.

Programmatic omnichannel media platform Teads has expanded its connected TV (CTV) reach beyond the U.S., into Canada, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain and the UK. 

Brands can now buy across TV, mobile and desktop through the platform to gain access to more than 20 billion monthly unique ad inventory opportunities, according to the company. 

The CTV offering, which includes access to creative optimization, has also integrated Comscore.

Global advertising platform MGID has integrated Google Web Stories, formerly known as AMP Stories, into its platform, and claims it is the first firm to do so. 

The integration will allow mobile-focused publishers using MGID to deliver advertisements in stories viewable in Google Search, Discover and Images, the company says. 

Story Ads, which allows publishers to launch full-screen, single-page ads, is supported by supported by Google Ad Manager and Google DV360 (Beta). It guides users to access a web page, an AMP page or an App with one tap, MGID states.  

“In an age where quality of content and experience are becoming even more crucial for engaging with audiences, this is the perfect opportunity to diversify our offering,” says Sergii Denysenko, CEO of MGID.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee on Thursday signed what may be the country's broadest privacy law -- the My Health My Data Act, which prohibits app developers, website operators and others from collecting, processing or sharing a broad range of information about consumers' health without their explicit consent.

The law also prohibits companies from using geotargeting techniques to send ads to anyone within 2,000 feet of facilities providing health-care services in Washington state. Additionally, the law bars companies from using location-tracking technology within 2,000 feet of a health care center in order to identify consumers, or to collect health data.

The statute's expansive definition of health data includes not only medical conditions and prescription information, but also “social” or “behavioral” interventions, reproductive or sexual health information, biometric data and genetic data, among other data.

Another provision allows consumers to sue over violations.

The law marks one of the first post-Dobbs attempts to protect the privacy of people seeking abortions and gender-affirming care.

“The right of choice is an issue of freedom,” Inslee stated Thursday when he signed five health related bills, including My Health My Data. “Health care must remain the providence of individual Washingtonians. These laws will keep the tentacles of oppressive and overreaching states out of Washington.”

Supporters, including the ACLU of Washington, called the act “a critical step towards defending and expanding access to abortion and gender affirming care in Washington state.”

At the same time, the law restricts the collection or transfer of health data unrelated to abortion, reproductive health care or gender affirming care.

Mike Hintze, former chief privacy counsel for Microsoft, has written that the ban on geotargeted ads could apply to numerous businesses.

“A grocery store that offers nutrition tips could be providing 'health care services' and that store’s loyalty club app that offers coupons when entering the store could, therefore, be seen as violating this prohibition,” he wrote earlier this month.

The policy organization Chamber of Progress, which is funded by the tech industry, unsuccessfully urged Inslee to veto the bill -- partly due to its broad definition of health data.

That group argued in a letter sent last week that “health data” should “specifically refer to physical or health data, condition or diagnosis generated by the consumer,” but should also be not so broad to include socio-economic data, or so narrow that it excludes menstruation data.

The organization also objected to a provision that allows consumers to sue violators.

The ad-industry self-regulatory group Network Advertising Initiative said Thursday that it shares the goals of the statute, adding that the new law partly aligns with the group's existing code and guidance regarding sensitive data.

The organization recently advised “location solutions providers” -- meaning companies that amass and analyze precise location data -- to refrain from collecting, using or sharing information that could reveal consumers' visits to abortion clinics, homeless shelters, jails or a host of other “sensitive” locales.

The Network Advertising Initiative considers some health data “sensitive” -- including inferences about medical conditions like cancer or sexually transmitted diseases -- but doesn't consider conditions like colds, treatable with over-the-counter products, to be sensitive.

The new Washington law appears to apply to all health data, including the type of information the Network Advertising Initiative doesn't deem sensitive.

CEO Leigh Freund stated Thursday that where the law imposes new requirements, the group “will work with its members, their partners, and all stakeholders to promote best practices for digital advertising businesses to comply.”

David LeDuc, vice president for public policy at the group, tells MediaPost he anticipates that some location analytics companies may simply stop offering services in Washington.

“I think location companies will drastically reconsider what they do in the state of Washington,” he says, adding that those businesses “may just decide that it's wiser to just not operate in the state of Washington.”

Consumers age 55 and older still prefer email as ta brand messaging channel. But that is not the case with people in the 25-54 cohort, according to The 2023 Mobile Consumer Trends Report, a study from Vibes, conducted by Industry Dive’s studioID.  

In the younger group, 32% now say SMS is their preferred communication medium, versus 26% who like email.

In fact, 54% of those so-called younger consumers are now using their phones — or planning to — for redeeming store-branded offers and coupons.

One factor is that shoppers in that age set are also more likely to be using mobile wallet for storing coupons and loyalty cards, and they feel it is more convenient than having to find coupons in their email inboxes, the study explains: 71% of all respondents are likely to use personalized  mobile wallet offers/coupons.

In general, 70% of consumers have received text messages and mobile app push notifications from a brand on their phones. 

Not all of them like it: People opt out of these forms of mobile messaging, just as they do email. Almost 60% sign off because they receive too many SMS communications or push notifications from a brand.  

Other reasons they cite are: 

• Information not relevant to me — 33% 
• I no longer care about this brand or company — 31%
• The coupons or incentives are not good enough — 27%
• The messages are not timely — 19% 

But, again, it depends on age: Consumers over 40 complain of too many message updates, while 28% of those under 40 say there are too few.  

In general, 35% of smartphone users say the frequency isn’t important as long as the messages are relevant.  

Among those who like a certain frequency, they prefer: 

Once a day — 46% 

Once a week — 16% 

Once every other day — 11% 

In general, ,51% of consumers have received push notifications from a brand’s mobile app—even when the app is closed. The remaining 49% have never received a push notification, or at least have not enabled them.

But a fifth of smartphone users are willing to share the following information about themselves:

• Zip code — 54% 
• Name — 44%
• Mobile phone number — 43% 
• Response to a survey — 42%

Shoppers plan to are plan to use their  smartphone for these uses they haven’t tried before:

• Purchasing a product at a store: using Apple Pay, Google Pay or some other form of instant pay — 16%
• Receiving a text message that will result in a purchase online or in-store — 16% 
• Receiving reward points for purchases — 15% 
• Accessing digital loyalty cards in their mobile wallet — 14% 
• Downloading an app — 12% 
• Showing a boarding pass at the airport — 11% 
• Receiving codes to confirm identity when logging into an account — 10%

In-store is more popular — 42% say they would buy that way to avoid shipping costs. And 52% say convenience influences purchase. 

StudioID surveyed 1,001 consumers with smartphones in November and December 2022. 

Siding with Meta Platforms, a federal appellate panel on Thursday refused to revive an antitrust lawsuit brought by a New York-led coalition of 48 attorneys general who sought to force the company to divest Instagram and WhatsApp.

"The States’ lawsuit is not only odd, but old," D.C. Circuit Court Judge Raymond Rudolph wrote in an opinion joined by Circuit Judges Karen Henderson and Robert Wilkins. The decision upheld U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg's ruling dismissing the lawsuit as time-barred.

Rudolph said the case was “odd” because it “concerns an industry that ... has had rapid growth and innovation with no end in sight.”

He added that the attorneys' general waited too long after the acquisitions to bring suit.

The attorneys generals' lawsuit -- like a pending antitrust case brought by the Federal Trade Commission -- centers on Facebook's acquisition of Instagram (acquired for $1 billion in 2012) and WhatsApp (bought for $19 billion in 2014).

Meta argued to Boasberg that the states' lawsuit should be barred due to “laches” -- meaning that the attorneys general waited too long after the acquisitions to sue.

Boasberg agreed, and dismissed the matter in 2021. The attorneys general then asked the D.C. Circuit to revive the case.

That court rejected the states' argument, writing that they “unduly delayed in bringing suit.”

“The States were on notice of Facebook’s two major acquisitions. Both were publicized,” Rudolph wrote, adding that the Federal Trade Commission conducted a lengthy investigation of the Instagram purchase before it closed.