Google (GOOG, GOOGL) says it’s updating its political ads policy, adding new limits on how its users can be targeted.
The company says it’s “limiting election ads audience targeting to the following general categories: age, gender, and general location (postal code level).”
It says it’s never allowed “granular microtargeting” of political ads; “In many countries, the targeting of political advertising is regulated and we comply with those laws.” But it has offered basic political targeting to verified advertisers, such as serving ads based on public voter records and “general political affiliations (left-leaning, right-leaning, and independent).”
Under the new policy, political advertisers “can, of course, continue to do contextual targeting, such as serving ads to people reading or watching a story about, say, the economy.”
The changes will roll out gradually, hitting the UK within a week (ahead of the general election) and the rest of the world starting Jan. 6.
It says “regardless of the cost or impact to spending,” it believes the changes will promote confidence in digital political advertising and trust in electoral processes.
That’s not happening in a vacuum; Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) has recently moved to ban political advertising while Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) has defended its stance on political ads. Earlier this month it was reported that Google was considering changes to its approach.
PayPal to acquire Honey for ~$4B
PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL) agrees to acquire Honey Science, a technology platform for shopping and rewards, for ~$4B.
Hone, with ~17M monthly active users, is best known for helping consumers find savings as they shop online.
Honey was profitable on a net income basis in 2018, and the acquisition is expected to add to PayPal’s non-GAAP EPS in 2021.
Following the acquisition, Honey will retain its headquarters and brand in Los Angeles, California. Its co-founders, George Ruan and Ryan Hudson, will continue to lead the Honey team as part of PayPal’s global consumer product and technology organization, reporting to Senior Vice President John Kunze.
PayPal rises 0.1% in after-hours trading.
Conference call at 5:00 PM ET.
Sonos acquires Snips AI voice platform
Sonos (NASDAQ:SONO) acquires Snips SAS, an AI voice platform for connected devices that provides private-by-design voice technology, for ~$37.5M.
Price is subject to adjustments and holdbacks.
Snips, made up of more than 50 engineering, machine learning, and product development professionals, has built a platform and tools for creating tailored voice experiences.
América Móvil commits to Brazil investment
América Móvil (NYSE:AMX) will invest heavily in Brazil due to its importance to Latin American development, its chairman says.
After meeting with President Jair Bolsonaro, Carlos Slim Domit says the company will invest 30B reais (about $7.15B) in the country over the next three years, Bloomberg reports.
That’s targeted at increasing infrastructure capabilities and developing new communications services such as clouds, according to the report.
On the question of whether he’d partner with Huawei or rivals Nokia (NOK -1.9%) or Ericsson (ERIC -0.9%), Slim says he has a “good relationship” with everyone.
Newtek Business acquires majority stake in POS on Cloud software
POS on Cloud was founded in 2012 to develop a secure, affordable, easy-to-use cloud-based point of sale system for restaurant, retail, assisted living, parks and golf course businesses.
