Deals & Moves

The DSA starts to apply to all online platforms in the EU. The EU's rulebook for online platforms. It requires ad labels, limits ads aimed at minors or based on sensitive data, and mandates public ad repositories.

Designated gatekeepers must comply with all DMA obligations. The EU law that sets do’s and don’ts for “gatekeeper” platforms, including limits on using personal data for ads and price transparency for ad buyers.

Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act takes effect. A patchwork of comprehensive state privacy laws that give residents rights over their data, often including an opt-out of targeted advertising.

CPRA amendments take effect. California's privacy law. It lets residents opt out of the sale or sharing of their data, including sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising.

CCPA takes effect. California's privacy law. It lets residents opt out of the sale or sharing of their data, including sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising.

Directive 2009/136/EC amends the ePrivacy Directive, including its cookie-consent rule (Article 5(3)). The EU directive on privacy in electronic communications. Its Article 5(3) is why sites ask consent before storing or reading cookies on a user's device.

GDPR starts to apply across the EU. The EU's data-protection law. It governs how personal data — including the cookie IDs and device IDs ad tech runs on — may be collected and used.

Scope3 rebranded as Apostra, shifting from sustainability measurement to an agentic advertising platform built on the Ad Context Protocol (AdCP).

Prebid.org’s August 2025 update let publishers use different transaction IDs for the same impression; The Trade Desk objected that the change broke compatibility with OpenRTB and later launched OpenAds.

Netflix declined to raise its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming business, clearing the way for Paramount Skydance’s revised bid.

Microsoft stopped supporting media buying through its Invest DSP (formerly the Xandr DSP) from February 28, 2026, after announcing the shutdown in May 2025.

Facebook agreed on February 19, 2014 to acquire WhatsApp in a deal valued at about $19 billion, completing it in October 2014.

The European Commission fined Apple €500 million and Meta €200 million for breaching the Digital Markets Act, the first fines under the law.

Disney’s acquisition of most of 21st Century Fox, announced in December 2017, became effective on March 20, 2019, in a deal valued at about $71 billion.

The Belgian Market Court ruled in the long-running case over IAB Europe’s Transparency & Consent Framework, rejecting the data protection authority’s view that IAB Europe is a joint controller with TCF participants.

Amazon announced in May 2021 and completed on March 17, 2022 its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM, adding thousands of films and TV shows to Prime Video.

Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google would not have to divest Chrome or Android but could no longer include search in exclusive contracts and must share some search data with rivals.

In the remedies phase of the ad tech case, Judge Brinkema declined to order Google to divest its AdX exchange, imposing other remedies instead.

Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that Google illegally monopolized the markets for publisher ad servers and ad exchanges for open-web display advertising, a landmark win for the Justice Department and 17 states.

TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC was established on January 22, 2026 to oversee TikTok’s US operations, in compliance with a September 2025 executive order under the law requiring divestiture of TikTok’s US business.

Skydance Media and Paramount Global completed their roughly $8.4 billion merger on August 7, 2025, forming Paramount Skydance.

Google announced it would retire most Privacy Sandbox technologies, including Topics and Protected Audience on Chrome and Android, citing low adoption and ecosystem feedback.

Google said it would not roll out a standalone choice prompt for third-party cookies in Chrome and would keep supporting them, ending its plan to phase them out.

Facebook agreed on April 9, 2012 to acquire the photo-sharing app Instagram for about $1 billion in cash and stock, its largest acquisition at the time.