GoKawiil
Tech News
A recent report highlights that nearly half of U.S. adults have deleted social media apps due to stress, and many others are posting less or feeling overwhelmed. Meanwhile, Meta's advertising expenses continue to climb, prompting businesses to reconsider their marketing strategies. Experts suggest focusing on high-quality content and exploring offline channels to reach consumers more effectively.
Researchers tracking political advertising found that roughly $80 million has already been spent on AI-generated ads for the 2026 U.S. midterm campaigns, appearing across television and social media. Many of these ads, ranging from hyperrealistic deepfakes to subtler AI enhancements, do not disclose that AI was used in their creation.
OpenAI says it will begin testing a new ad format in the US this month that displays images of sponsored products when users generate images in ChatGPT. The company first introduced text-based sponsored links to ChatGPT in February, and says the new visual ads will stay separate from generated content and won't appear for Plus, Pro, or Enterprise subscribers.
Apple has launched SmartphoneAISettlement.com, letting eligible customers file claims for the $250 million settlement over allegedly misleading Apple Intelligence marketing. Buyers of iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, and various iPhone 16 models purchased between June 10, 2024 and March 29, 2025 can apply for payouts of $25 to $95 per device before the claims window closes on Dec. 21, 2026.
Discord unveiled Ads Manager, a self-service platform letting advertisers forecast, bid on and monitor campaigns from one dashboard, though open access won't arrive until early 2027. The company also rebranded its in-game reward video ads as Video Quests Reserve, a reservation-based format aimed at delivering premium, high-impact brand placements with trackable impressions and clicks.
According to a New York Times report cited by EFF, DraftKings trains a machine learning model on customer betting histories to identify gamblers likely to keep losing money. The company then sends these identified users targeted promotions designed to draw them back onto the platform to place more bets.
Security firm Netskope reported a malicious Google Ads campaign that displayed fake security alerts telling Windows and Mac users their computers were locked, urging them to call fraudulent tech-support numbers. The ads appeared on legitimate sites like maps, weather and real estate pages, and used full-screen takeovers, hidden cursors and blocked keyboard shortcuts to simulate a system failure. Netskope says it observed clicks from users at 619 customer organizations between August 31 and September 14, mostly in the US, Japan and Australia, across more than 250 ad campaign IDs and 284 publisher sites.
McDonald's is starting a new advertising arm that will sell targeted ads across its drive-thru screens, app and other customer touchpoints, drawing on data collected from its customers. The initiative turns the fast-food chain into a media platform akin to retailers that have built ad networks from shopper data.
An investigation by YouTube channel Gamers Nexus found that LG smart TVs continuously gather user data—including search terms, audio recordings, payment details and screenshots—and send it to LG's ad division, Alfonso Inc. (LG AdSolutions). The company reports roughly 49 million LG smart TVs active in the US and 216 million worldwide, and the tracking reportedly includes Wi-Fi-based location data accurate to within about 10 meters.
Restaurants are increasingly using AI image generators to create advertising visuals for menu items, but the results are drawing criticism online for looking unnatural or unappealing. Examples cited include distorted renderings of dishes like chicken wings that bear little resemblance to real food.
Microsoft has published a patent application titled "Contextually Aware Management of Interactive Software Application Access," describing a system that uses signals from a game engine to insert ads at natural pause points like boss fights, loading screens, or cutscene transitions. The system would display a video or static ad and reset a timer before searching for the next opportunity to interrupt gameplay. Microsoft has not confirmed whether or when this system will be implemented in actual games.
Researchers from the University of Bristol and Oxford used the Isambard-AI supercomputer to analyse all 172.6 hours of live play across the tournament's 104 matches, finding over 93,000 visible brand appearances for unhealthy food, alcohol, gambling and speculative products. Food and drink brands made up 70% of these appearances, with soft drinks, fast food, sports drinks and crisps brands dominating exposure, which the team estimates generated 267 billion impressions in the UK alone.