The Week In Ad Tech Headlines (July 2nd - July 6th)

Instagram Testing Open-Ended Questions in Stories Instagram is testing open-ended questions within Stories to make the content more interactive. Currently, the app only lets users post polls with multiple-choice answer. European Advertisers Have Limited Ability To Verify YouTube Ads If European-focused advertisers want to know the reach and audience of their campaigns, they have few choices. Google now allows only two American companies to perform third-party reach measurement on YouTube: comScore and Nielsen. California just passed one of the toughest data privacy laws in the country California lawmakers passed one of the toughest data privacy laws in the United States today, as they faced pressure from an even stronger ballot measure in the state. The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 is set to dramatically change how businesses handle data in the most populous state. Companies that store large amounts of personal information — including major players like Google and Facebook — will be required to disclose the types of data they collect, as well as allow consumers to opt out of having their data sold. The bill, which passed both chambers unanimously, was signed later in the day by Gov. Jerry Brown. Less Polished Video Works Better on Instagram Stories After crunching data, the Guardian found that professionally edited videos were simply not worth the effort. Less labor-intensive posts, such as static graphics or quick video explainers on news topics, have proved more popular. Facebook’s Political Rule Blocks Ads for Bush’s Beans, Singers Named Clinton Facebook’s automated system for flagging political ads has a major flaw: it takes down and blocks the content which includes words such as “Bush” and “Clinton,” which may be used in non-political context. Google Tests Pinterest-like Layout for Image Search Google confirmed that it's testing a new Image Search on desktop with vertical results that look like Pinterest.