In today’s Digest, we discuss the Murdochs being tipped for the TikTok deal, ad giants shifting their climate stance, Google’s ad tech monopoly trial kicking off, and Amazon facing a jury over Prime sign-ups.

Murdochs tipped for TikTok deal

Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan could be part of the pending TikTok deal, after Trump suggested on Fox News Sunday that the pair are probably going to be involved. The US president also named Oracle’s Larry Ellison and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell as likely participants.

While Trump did not clarify whether he meant personal or corporate investments, Deadline later reported that Fox Corp is in talks to join the investor group backing TikTok’s US spinoff from ByteDance. 

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt added that an agreement has been reached, though not yet signed, that would place TikTok’s US operations under majority American ownership, with Americans holding six of seven board seats and control of the app’s algorithm.

Ad giants shift climate stance

The world’s biggest ad agencies are softening their stance on climate change as they juggle the rise of AI and the need to protect business with high-emitting clients. Omnicom, Interpublic (IPG), Publicis, Dentsu, WPP and Havas, the industry’s “Big Six”, are central to shaping how fossil fuel giants are seen by policymakers and consumers. 

Interpublic, for example, has revised its policies and produced campaigns for Saudi Aramco, ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy, according to the Financial Times. Meanwhile, Ad Net Zero has watered down its messaging, quietly removing references on its website to tackling the climate “emergency” and to “better growth for people, planet and profit”. According to Ad Net Zero, its “language has evolved to reflect the opportunity for greater engagement from the widest possible number of organisations”

The move mirrors a broader corporate trend and other US firms re-embracing fossil fuel clients in the wake of Trump’s administration.

Google’s ad tech monopoly trial kicks off; Amazon faces jury over Prime sign-up

Google’s ad tech monopoly trial kicked off on Monday, following Judge Leonie Brinkema’s April ruling that the tech giant has monopolised the sector. She will decide the remedies to impose on Google once this week’s trial has concluded. Google has requested that she take the same approach as the judge which dealt with the company’s search case, which produced an outcome many were disappointed by.    

Meanwhile, a jury in Seattle will soon decide whether Amazon illegally misled millions of customers into paying for Prime, as the company faces a month-long trial brought by the US Federal Trade Commission, starting Monday. The case accuses Amazon of using dark patterns to push sign-ups, making cancellations difficult, and delaying changes that would have reduced its revenues.

It marks the first major trial against Amazon in recent years and comes amid a wave of Big Tech cases initiated by the US government.