Today's digest looks at TikTok and Reddit coming under the scrutiny of the UK's Information Commissioner's Office, trouble in the creative development process, and new updates from Google.

TikTok and Reddit Under Privacy Scrutiny 

TikTok and Reddit are two of the latest social media platforms to be scrutinised over their algorithms. UK watchdog the Information Commissioners Office has announced the launch of investigations into the practices of both platforms, as well as image sharing platform Imgur, with the objective of assessing how they protect the privacy of child users and their data. Specifically, the watchdog will be looking into how TikTok uses 13 to 17-year-olds' personal information to make recommendations to them, and how Reddit and Imgur assess the age of their child UK users. 

Less than a Quarter of Agencies Happy with the Creative Approval Process 

Only 30% of agencies and 27% of marketers agree they are well-trained in evaluating ideas, according to research produced in partnership with the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and the World Federation of Advertisers. The same number of agencies and around half of marketers agree that clients/they provide clear and constructive feedback. Interestingly, the creative development process appears to be getting slower: it now typically takes five rounds of creative development to get to a signed-off idea, up from three rounds in 2007.

Only 23% of agencies and 56% of marketers agree the current approval process works well: they describe it as being inconsistent, slow, subjective, and painful. What’s more, only 43% of agencies and 62% of marketers agree that the right people sign off on creative ideas. The research represents the opinions of over one thousand agency, marketer and in-house respondents, spanning 54 countries, with representation from both B2C and B2B sectors.

Google Introduces Display Ads Updates

Google has announced a range of updates to Display Ads to help advertisers expand and diversify their campaigns across Google Display Network. Some of the changes include increasing inventory across a range of platforms and categories such as sports, social, and gaming. A new selection of third-party connected TV inventory will be available across key categories including FOX News and MLB. Now, Display ads can be bought in both standalone Display and Performance Max campaigns. Google Display inventory will also be added to Demand Gen campaigns.