In today's digest, we cover WPP's court filing against Richard Foster's whistleblower claims; Meta's decision to strip advertisers of the ability to exclude ad placements, and preliminary talks between Paramount and California officials over its $110bn Warner Bros Discovery acquisition.

WPP Hits Back at Foster Whistleblower Suit

WPP has moved to seal parts of Richard Foster's amended wrongful-termination complaint, telling the New York State Supreme Court in a filing dated 20th August that the suit amounts to a "naked attempt to leverage an exorbitant payout," and insisting that "plaintiff is not and never has been a whistleblower."

Foster is seeking $100m in damages, and his allegations are also being cited in a related securities class action brought by investors who bought WPP ADRs between March 2024 and October 2025.

WPP wants the court to seal all references to the Sony investigation and to conversations between Foster and general counsel Nicola McCormick, arguing the material is protected by attorney-client privilege.

Meta Strips Advertisers of Placement Exclusion Controls

Meta is removing advertisers' ability to exclude specific placements, platforms, devices, or operating systems from individual ad sets, telling users in-platform that "excluding placements, platforms, devices and operating systems will no longer be available for your ad sets." Once the change rolls out, marketers will no longer be able to opt out of formats such as Facebook search results or Reels in-stream ads, or restrict delivery to a single device type. Meta has not confirmed an exact rollout date, though notifications are already appearing in some advertisers' accounts.

The move is the latest step in Meta's multi-year push toward fully automated campaign management, in which the company wants its AI systems, rather than advertisers, to decide where ads run based on performance data.

Paramount, California Hold Preliminary Warner Bros Deal Talks

Paramount and California state officials are set to hold preliminary talks, expected as soon as Monday, aimed at resolving the state's lawsuit challenging Paramount's $110bn acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, the New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Reuters said it had not independently verified the report, and Paramount had not responded to a request for comment.

California, alongside eleven other states including New York, Arizona, and Minnesota, sued to block the deal on competition grounds, arguing it would lessen competition in film distribution and cable television, harm theatres and pay-TV distributors, raise prices for consumers, and hit worker pay. The talks, said to involve senior executives and lawyers from both sides, and understood to have been in the works for around a week, were initiated by Paramount, though sources caution there is "no assurance" they will lead to meaningful settlement negotiations.