AI Google buys Intersect for $4.75B to solve AI's power crisis Alphabet acquires Intersect for $4.75 billion in cash to accelerate data center energy capacity. Deal includes multiple gigawatts of projects under construction.
AI Google delays Gemini's complete takeover of Assistant until 2026 Google pushes Gemini's full replacement of Assistant into 2026 after announcing 2025 completion. The transition affects millions of mobile users and smart devices.
AI Google quietly expands AI Overview ads to 11 countries without fanfare Google expanded AI Overview ads to Australia, Canada, India and 8 more countries on December 19, targeting English speakers with text and shopping ads.
Search Google quietly kills Q&A for an AI button most won't use Google replaces Business Profile Q&A with AI-powered Ask feature, completing a systematic dismantling of customer interaction tools that began with chat removal in 2024.
AI IAS Agent promises instant campaign insights without the AI black box Integral Ad Science launches AI assistant with explainable recommendations for brand safety and campaign optimization, rolling out free in Q1 2026.
Retail Credit cards now dominate as shoppers plan record holiday spending TransUnion Q4 2025 study shows 42% of Americans will rely on credit cards for holiday purchases, up from 38% last year, as 58% plan to spend over $250 despite inflation.
AI Brands can now track and influence what AI says about them impact.com partners with Evertune to integrate AI Brand Monitoring into performance marketing platform, enabling brands to measure and optimize visibility across ChatGPT, Gemini, and other large language models.
AI Gemini now serves local results from Google Maps in visual format Google's Gemini AI assistant integrates Maps data with photos and ratings directly in conversational interfaces starting December 13, 2025.
Data Your dating app activity is TikTok's business now Privacy advocates filed two GDPR complaints against TikTok on December 9, exposing systematic tracking across mobile apps including Grindr, incomplete data access responses, and potential violations involving sexual orientation data worth up to €530 million in fines.
AI ChatGPT holds two-thirds market share as Gemini and Grok gain ground ChatGPT maintains commanding lead in U.S. AI chatbot traffic with 66% share while Google Gemini climbs rankings and X's Grok enters top 10 despite declining visits.
AI AI washing exposed: how empty promises destroy marketing credibility AI washing research reveals systematic exaggeration of artificial intelligence capabilities creating consumer mistrust cycles that threaten brand credibility across marketing.
AI Australian watchdog sounds alarm on AI risks marketers need to know ACCC releases comprehensive AI industry snapshot on December 17, warning of consumer risks from agentic systems, fake reviews, and privacy-degrading practices across platforms.
Display How digital advertising quietly undermines the news industry IAB Europe's December 2025 report reveals digital advertising's social impact remains fragmented and unmeasured, threatening media plurality and journalism funding.
AI Recipe bloggers warn: Google's AI recipes risk ruining holiday meals NBC News investigation reveals AI-generated recipes produce hazardous results as Google displays untested content using stolen photos from publishers.
Data Honey targeted minors in advertising while leaking business codes Investigation reveals Honey collected data from children despite policy claims, while systematically leaking private discount codes from small businesses without consent.
Retail China mandates new rules targeting platform pricing and behavioral tracking compliance China releases comprehensive pricing regulations for internet platforms requiring PIPL compliance for behavioral pricing by April 2026.
AI Google sues scraper while being the internet's biggest scraper itself Google filed a December 19 lawsuit against SerpApi for scraping search results, yet the company scrapes billions of web pages for AI training without compensation.
Retail John Lewis tops AI's Christmas shopping recommendations as ChatGPT reshapes retail John Lewis achieved the highest visibility in ChatGPT's shopping recommendations this Christmas, outranking over 1,000 retailers as artificial intelligence transforms how consumers discover products.
Data Deezer's marketing partner hit with €1 million in processor violations France's data protection authority fined Israeli marketing platform Optimove €1 million on December 11, 2025, for systematic GDPR violations affecting 9.8 million French users in a breach exposing Deezer customer data.
Video YouTube's TV interface gets its first major makeover in years YouTube redesigns television playback interface with repositioned controls, new description button, and improved subscriber experience across TV screens.
Search Google clarifies JavaScript rendering for error pages in December documentation update Google updates JavaScript SEO documentation on December 18, 2025, explaining how Googlebot processes non-200 HTTP status codes and canonical URLs.
Data AI crawlers now consume 4.2% of web traffic as internet grows 19% in 2025 Cloudflare's 2025 analysis reveals AI bots originated 4.2% of HTML requests while global internet traffic expanded 19%, with post-quantum encryption reaching 52% adoption.
Social TikTok data shows beauty brands operate at 50% of optimal spending levels TikTok partnered with NIQ for a two-year marketing mix modeling study revealing Romanian beauty brands dramatically underinvest in the platform while achieving superior ROI efficiency.
Retail Amazon quietly shifts Brand Store ratings to prioritize sales over time spent Amazon replaced Brand Store quality ratings with sales-based scoring on December 12, 2025, abandoning engagement metrics for revenue attribution.
Video Amazon DSP adds content exclusion categories for brand suitability control Amazon DSP introduces content exclusion categories enabling advertisers to block specific topics across Twitch and third-party inventory through unified controls.
