UK Ad Industry Emissions Rose 8.9% from June to December; X under European Commission Investigation; Google to Pay $700m in Antitrust Settlement

by Aimee Newell Tarín on 20th Dec 2023 in News

On today’s ExchangeWire digest: UK ad industry emissions rose 8.9% from June to December; X under European Commission investigation; Google to pay $700m in antitrust settlement…

By now, most of us are aware that carbon emissions are an industry problem. Are we progressing with tackling the issue? Not quite, according to new research into the state of sustainable advertising. Scope3 monitored the grams of CO2e per thousand impressions (gCO2PM), across three stages of the advertising supply chain: ad selection, media distribution, and creative distribution. Although half of the countries monitored saw their gCO2PM decrease by an average of 9.3% since June, nearly every country saw a spike in emissions between October and December – likely due to a surge in advertising during the holiday season. The UK’s ad industry emissions rose significantly from June to December, increasing by 8.9%.

Over at X, the turbulence continues. The platform is officially under the European Commission's investigation for allegedly breaking EU law on disinformation, illegal content, and transparency. Under the Digital Services Act (DSA) which came into force four months ago, a company can be fined 6% of its global income or be banned from operating across the EU if it’s found to have breached the law. Thierry Breton, the EU commissioner in charge of enforcing the DSA announced that they had opened formal infringement proceedings against X.

It’s not smooth sailing for Google either at the moment, as the tech giant prepares to pay USD $700m (£549m) in an antitrust settlement which accused it of quashing competition to its Play Store on Android services. Google will have to make changes to the way the Android system works in the US, such as allowing developers to implement an alternative billing method for in-app purchases. Additionally, Google will make it easier to download apps on Android devices from sources other than its Play Store.