This week, digital platforms face mounting pressure as regulators tighten online safety rules for minors, while the ad market shows steady growth. In today’s MadTech Daily, we cover Google joining the EU’s AI Code of Practice and AI boosting engagement on Meta platforms. We also look at Barb beginning to track YouTube TV viewing, and TikTok debuting a positive-only version of its app in the EU.

Temu is facing heat from the EU for allegedly breaching the Digital Services Act. In preliminary findings, regulators claim the platform failed to prevent the sale of illegal or unsafe products including baby toys and small electronics posing a “high risk” to consumers. 

The UK has officially begun enforcing its Online Safety Act, requiring major tech platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, and X to implement robust age verification tools. These platforms must now ensure users under 18 are blocked from accessing harmful or adult content, or risk fines of up to £18m or 10% of global revenue. The pressure is now on to balance privacy, user experience, and regulatory compliance.

Australia is taking even firmer action to shield children from social media exposure. YouTubewas  added to Australia’s social media ban for under-16s, joining Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and X. 

As regulators crack down on digital harms, the advertising sector shows signs of continued growth driven, in part, by digital media’s expanding reach. UK ad spend rose 8% year-on-year to £10.6bn in Q1 2025, outperforming forecasts, according to AA/WARC. Growth was fuelled by strong performance in search, particularly retail media, which saw a 12.3% surge. 

One agency building on that momentum is Havas, which is doubling down on growth in key global markets. Havas reported a solid first-half showing, with €1,346m (£1,015m) in net revenue and 2.3% organic growth year-on-year. The group also expanded into Singapore, reinforcing its presence in Southeast Asia and tapping into one of the region’s fastest-growing ad markets.