Fried Bids, Digital News | 7-13 Apr 2025
This is my personal selection of the most interesting stories published 7-13 Apr 2025. Enjoy!
My Two Cents
Meta keeps making headlines—and not for the right reasons. A wave of recent reports paints the picture of a company that, according to critics and whistleblowers, systematically prioritizes power over principles, profit over people, and control over transparency. From allegations of targeting emotionally vulnerable teens with weight loss ads, to an antitrust trial that could lead to the breakup of Instagram and WhatsApp, to accusations of manipulating AI benchmarks—each story contributes to a growing narrative of a company pushing ethical and regulatory limits. Whether this portrayal is entirely accurate remains to be seen, but the pattern is drawing serious scrutiny.
Google enhanced its Performance Max (PMax) campaigns by introducing features aimed at improving customer lifecycle management and creative flexibility. Advertisers can now set retention goals targeting lapsed customers, enabling strategic bidding to re-engage high-value former clients. Additionally, new customer acquisition modes provide a dedicated reporting column to monitor acquisition costs more precisely. To diversify ad creatives, PMax now automatically sources images from landing pages and employs smart cropping to generate multiple image versions, expanding ad inventory access. Future updates are expected to include uncropping and animation features, further enhancing creative options. These updates aim to address advertiser concerns regarding control, reporting, and creative assets while maintaining PMax's AI-driven efficiency.
Google has officially implemented a feature that adds clickable links within AI Overviews, directing users to its own search results pages. Rolled out in April 2025 after a month of testing, this update helps users explore related topics without typing new queries. When the system deems it useful, specific terms in AI-generated responses are underlined and linked to new search result pages, aiming to enhance the browsing experience. While external links to third-party sites remain, the shift may reduce referral traffic to publishers. This change is currently live in the U.S. in English on both desktop and mobile devices.
Google has announced it will bring Google Discover to the desktop version of its homepage, expanding its reach beyond mobile devices. The news was confirmed during the Search Central Live event held in Madrid on April 9, 2025. This move follows years of testing and aims to enhance content discovery directly from the desktop Google.com interface. By offering personalized news and topic suggestions on a wider surface, Google seeks to shift user engagement patterns and influence publishers’ real-time and content strategies. The feature has already been spotted in limited U.S. tests and will soon be rolled out more broadly.
Instagram, led by Adam Mosseri, has begun enhancing its search functionality to better compete with TikTok, particularly in how Gen Z users search for content. Announced on April 8, 2025, the initiative follows Meta’s decision to expand the small team responsible for Instagram Search, aiming to shift from account-based searches to content-based discovery. Improvements will include better indexing of videos, more relevant recommendations based on comment discussions, and enhanced content resurfacing for creators. This move responds to younger users' growing reliance on platforms like TikTok for search, reflecting a broader trend that challenges traditional engines like Google Search and Maps.
Sarah Wynn-Williams, former Director of Global Public Policy at Facebook, testified before U.S. senators on April 9, 2025, accusing Meta of targeting advertisements at teens based on their emotional state. She revealed that Meta monitored 13- to 17-year-olds for signs of sadness or insecurity, such as deleting selfies, and shared this data with advertisers to push beauty or weight loss products when teens felt most vulnerable. Wynn-Williams criticized Meta's leadership for prioritizing profit over ethics, claiming executives were aware of the harm but still marketed teens as a “valuable segment.” Meta denied the allegations, calling them false and disconnected from reality.
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Meta has expanded its Teen Account protections from Instagram to Facebook and Messenger, starting April 8, 2025, across the U.S., UK, Canada, and Australia. These protections include private account settings, limits on messaging strangers, restrictions on viewing sensitive content, and tools like sleep mode and screen time reminders. Teens under 16 need parental approval to modify these settings. Additionally, Instagram will soon block users under 16 from livestreaming or turning off the nudity filter in DMs. These changes aim to enhance child safety online amid ongoing EU investigations and a U.S. lawsuit alleging Meta facilitates inappropriate interactions with minors.
On April 14, 2025, Meta will face the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in a major antitrust trial that could force the company to divest Instagram and WhatsApp. The FTC argues Meta illegally monopolized the social networking market by acquiring potential rivals to neutralize competition. Meta contends it fostered innovation and still faces intense competition from platforms like TikTok and YouTube. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, former COO Sheryl Sandberg, and other executives are expected to testify. The case, originally filed under the Trump administration and revised under Biden, now unfolds amid bipartisan scrutiny of Big Tech’s power and digital market dominance.
In March 2025, ChatGPT became the most downloaded app globally (excluding games), surpassing Instagram and TikTok with 46 million installs—a 28% increase from February. OpenAI’s app gained traction due to viral upgrades, including a major boost to image-generation capabilities and relaxed content moderation. These changes allowed users to create trending content like Studio Ghibli-style memes. Despite competition from AI apps like Claude and Grok, ChatGPT’s brand recognition and cultural presence helped drive its popularity. Appfigures reported a 148% year-over-year growth for Q1. Other top apps in March included Facebook, WhatsApp, CapCut, Telegram, Snapchat, Threads, and Temu, totaling 339 million downloads.
Meta has been accused of gaming AI benchmarks by submitting a specially optimized version of its new Llama 4 model, named Maverick, to the LMArena leaderboard. Released over the weekend of April 6–7, 2025, Maverick quickly ranked second behind Gemini 2.5 Pro. However, AI researchers discovered the version tested wasn’t the publicly available one but an “experimental chat” variant fine-tuned for conversational performance. Though not explicitly against LMArena’s rules, the tactic raised concerns about benchmark integrity and transparency. Meta defended the move, citing experimentation, while critics warned it misleads developers and diminishes real-world relevance of leaderboard scores.
Marin Software has announced plans to shut down after 19 years in operation, pending shareholder approval of a formal dissolution and liquidation plan. Once a leading platform for cross-channel ad management, the San Francisco-based company struggled with declining revenue, customer churn, and a shrinking market cap—dropping below $10 million by late 2024. In Q3 2024, it cut its workforce by 26% to reduce costs. If approved, the company will wind down operations, delist from Nasdaq, settle liabilities, sell assets, and return proceeds to shareholders. CEO Christopher Lien thanked stakeholders for their long-standing support as the company begins the closure process.
IAB Europe and Kantar released a study surveying 10,500 internet users across 12 European countries, revealing strong consumer awareness of the value exchange behind free digital services funded by personalised ads. While 80% find online ads potentially useful and prefer fewer, more relevant ones, many are frustrated by poor targeting and cumbersome consent experiences. Consumers valued €212 monthly in free services and 60% supported a “pay or consent” model when informed of the trade-offs. The study urges policymakers to protect access to ad-funded services, improve consent interfaces, and focus on effective enforcement rather than new regulation.
Thanks for sharing, Andrea