Today’s links To save the news, shatter ad-tech: Structural separation will help the news claim their fair share. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2003, 2008, 2013, 2018, 2022 Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading To save the news, shatter ad-tech (permalink) Big Tech steals from news, but what it steals isn’t content. Talking about the news isn’t theft, and neither is linking to it, or excerpting it. But stealing money? That’s definitely theft. Big Tech steals money from the news media. 51% of every ad-dollar is claimed by a tech intermediary, a middleman that squats on a chokepoint between advertisers and publishers. Two companies – Google and Meta – dominate this sector, and both of these companies are “full-stack” – which is cutesy techspeak for “vertical monopoly.” Here’s what that means: when an advertiser wants to place an ad, it contracts with the “demand-side platform” (DSP) to seek out a chance to put an ad in front of a user based on nonconsensually gathered surveillance data about a potential customer. The DSP contacts an ad-exchange – a marketplace where advertisers bid against each other to cram their ads into the eyeballs of a user based on surveillance data matches. The ad-exchange receives a constant stream of chances to place ads. This stream is generated by the “supply-side platform” (SSP), a service that represents publishers who want to sell ads. Meta/Facebook and Google both the “full stack” of ads: they represent…Pluralistic: To save the news, shatter ad-tech (25 May 2023)