The Ledger #9: Contempt, DMA Fines and a Sandbox U-Turn

Four items from a busy fortnight for anyone buying media into US and EU markets.

Privacy Sandbox reversal

Google confirmed it won't deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome and won't ship the consent prompt it had planned alongside that change, which shrinks the practical scope of the Privacy Sandbox programme. What it means for buyers: any Privacy Sandbox alternative your measurement team built specifically against a deprecation deadline no longer has that deadline. Keep the parts that were good measurement practice regardless; shelve the rest.

DMA's first fines

The European Commission fined Apple in the region of EUR 500 million over anti-steering restrictions, and Meta roughly EUR 200 million over its pay-or-consent advertising model. These are the first fines under the Digital Markets Act, and both companies plan to appeal. What it means for buyers: EU-specific platform terms are now more likely to move again before the appeals resolve, so treat any budget line built on today's EU terms as provisional.

Epic v Apple contempt ruling

A US court held Apple in contempt. It ruled that Apple may not charge commission on external purchase links on iOS or restrict how those links appear, and it referred the matter for possible further contempt proceedings. What it means for buyers: a basic, compliant web checkout is now worth shipping quickly in the US market, ahead of a fully polished build, since every day without one is another day of commission going to Apple.

Meta's Advantage+ earnings commentary

Meta's first-quarter earnings call flagged gaming as a strong vertical for Advantage+ app campaigns (its automated targeting-and-placement structure), though the company gave no gaming-specific figures. What it means for buyers: as more manual levers move inside Meta's automated systems, the UA manager's job concentrates into creative volume and budget pacing, plus independent measurement, rather than manual targeting decisions.

Three platform rulings and one earnings call in the space of ten days is an unusually dense fortnight even by this year's standard. None of the four items above changes a live campaign setting today. All four, though, narrow the list of assumptions worth carrying unchallenged into planning for the coming quarter.