Each day, New Digital Age gathers the most interesting digital marketing industry news from around the web…
ANTITRUST
Financial Times – FT Reporters, 23rd July 2026
Donald Trump taps Big Tech critic as chief of DoJ antitrust division
Donald Trump has tapped a longtime critic of the technology sector to lead US competition enforcement as head of the Department of Justice.
CNBC – Lillian Rizzo, 23rd July 2026
EU antitrust regulators clear Paramount-WBD merger as it faces challenge by U.S. states
Paramount Skydance won approval from European regulators for its proposed acquisition of WBD, a major milestone for the $110 billion deal.
SOCIAL MEDIA
BBC – Lily Jamali & Kali Hays, 23rd July 2026
Teenager drops social media addiction lawsuit against Meta
A Florida teenager who sued Meta claiming that he was addicted to and harmed by his use of platforms, such as Instagram, has dropped his case.
BBC – Emilia Belli, 23rd July 2026
Andy Burnham’s plan to collaborate with social media creators
Andy Burnham is a past master at using social media to create a political brand – and it seems he has no plans to let up now that he is prime minister.
AdAge – Brian Bonilla, 23rd July 2026
Conscious Minds takes social storytelling to new heights for brands like Nike and Starbucks
The ad industry spent the better part of the last decade debating how big a seat social media deserves at the table. Conscious Minds kicked the table over and rebuilt it.
AI
Press Gazette – Charlotte Tobitt, 22nd July 2026
Who’s suing AI and who’s signing: News Corp sues Brave, Microsoft signs Australian Copilot deal
News Corp is suing the privacy-focused browser Brave, accusing it of scraping and selling its copyrighted content to AI companies. Microsoft has signed its first deal for news content in the Asia Pacific region with Australia’s Nine Entertainment. More than 30 US local newspapers who own a combined 400 titles have sued OpenAI and Microsoft over the unauthorised scraping and use of their content in ChatGPT and Copilot.
Business Insider – Lara O’Reilly, 22nd July 2026
So far, OpenAI’s nascent ad business has been a platform for advertisers looking to reach ChatGPT users. Now, there’s evidence that OpenAI might want to jump into a new side of the market — helping publishers and other companies sell their own ad space to marketers, CMO Insider can exclusively report.
Digiday – Krystal Scanlon, 23rd July 2026
Lifestyle brand Stanley uses AI behind the scenes — but execs claim it won’t touch ad creative
Stanley 1913, the lifestyle brand, openly embraces AI behind the scenes, but is drawing a line amid the AI hype when it comes to what consumers see.
MarketingTech – Muhammad Zulhusni, 22nd July 2026
ChatGPT ads test a new model for conversational advertising
OpenAI is expanding advertising across ChatGPT, but marketers using the platform say its campaign tools remain limited compared with those available from Google and Meta.
RETAIL MEDIA
Decision Marketing, 22nd July 2026
Advertisers offered greater control over retail media ads
Brand owners are being offered the chance to create easier storytelling on retail media sites and boost campaign measurement, while regaining control over offsite AI search and agentic shopping tools.
YOUTUBE
Variety – Todd Spangler 23rd July 2026
YouTube Ad Sales Keep Growing at Healthy Clip, Rising 13% to $11 Billion in Q2
Video giant YouTube, one of the world’s biggest entertainment businesses, continues to turn in double-digit increases in ad revenue.
