What you need to know in advertising today

Facebook’s recent decision to clamp down on how brands can and can’t use third party data for ad targeting is causing a boom in legal work at agencies.

As Facebook continues to wind down Partner Categories — an ad product which allowed big brands to access third-party data like household income and loyalty programs from companies like Oracle and Acxiom to deliver ads —agencies are shifting gears.

Advertisers now have the option to tap into a Facebook program dubbed Custom Audiences, which still lets them work with third parties data companies but removes Facebook’s involvement in helping advertisers craft audiences.

In other words, when it comes to data, Facebook is dumping any and all consumer protection responsibilities onto marketers.

To read more about how brands are poring over legal documents to make sure they don’t screw up on Facebook, click here.

In other news:

The CEO of the company that makes ‘Fortnite’ spent days attacking Google for scoring ‘cheap PR points’ by exposing a flaw in the game’s security. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said revealing the flaw so quickly did nothing but give hackers a chance to exploit it.

Facebook banned Myanmar’s top army official for ‘serious human rights abuses’ as it tries to atone for its role in spreading misinformation in the country. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is among the 20 Burmese individuals and organisations now barred from Facebook.

Tinder’s cofounder Sean Rad has said he had ‘no choice’ but to sell his stock in the dating app maker a month before he left the company. According to The Verge, Rad was fired from Tinder’s parent firm and would have lost the chance to exercise his options within 30 days.

Microsoft introduced an ambitious subscription plan that makes the Xbox the best deal in gaming. The “Xbox All Access” plan starts at $22 a month for US players, giving subscribers an Xbox One console, two years of Xbox Live Gold service, and two years of Xbox Game Pass.

BuzzFeed News is adding a donate button to the bottom of its news pages, encouraging readers to support its newsroom, the Wall Street Journal reports. The move could also lead to a wider membership offering further down the the line, with access to more perks.

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