In this episode of The MadTech Podcast, Brian Yamada, chief innovation officer at VML, joins ExchangeWire CEO Rachel Smith and Grainne Reid, head of marketing, to discuss Meta's child safety settlement, California vs. Paramount, and OpenAI's ad business.

The first story this week is Meta's $18bn settlement over claims that its social media platforms harmed children. The conversation explores if we will finally start to see a change in online safety standards, and how this might affect things from a product and user perspective. The second covers California's lawsuit to block Paramount Skydance's acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, and how much leverage the state holds in this case.

Finally, OpenAI's ad business has hit $1bn in annualised revenue run rate. What does ChatGPT Ads' success mean for advertisers and consumers, and does this justify OpenAI's $852bn valuation?

Meta agrees to $18bn child safety settlement

Meta has agreed to an $18bn settlement to resolve claims that Facebook and Instagram harmed children. The payment – Meta’s largest over child safety litigation to date – will be distributed in annual installments to 48 states, the District of Columbia, and three US territories over a 10-year period.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said, “This is a major moment to clean up an industry that has been hurting our kids.” Meta will also implement changes aimed at better protecting kids online, which the states had demanded, including default daily time limits and night-time blocks.

California cancels talks with Paramount over Warner Bros deal

California cancelled a meeting with Paramount to begin preliminary settlement talks over the state's lawsuit aimed at blocking Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery. Attorney General Rob Bonta ⁠accused Paramount of leaking details of a meeting held on Friday and acting in bad faith, a ​claim Paramount has denied. 

Paramount faces a mountain of fees and costs to keep the deal ​together if the lawsuit continues to a trial scheduled for March. Bonta and his partner states ​have so far won key rulings, giving them leverage if settlement talks continue.

OpenAI’s ad business hits $1 billion annualised revenue run rate

OpenAI announced Monday that its advertising business has hit $1 billion in annualised revenue run rate, which it says reflects its “diversified business model.” The AI company is getting ready for what is expected to be a massive IPO, and is under pressure to justify its $852 billion valuation to investors. 

Ads within the chatbot appear for the majority of OpenAI’s 1 billion weekly active users. Since its US pilot in February, ChatGPT Ads have become available in more than 40 countries, with OpenAI now rolling out self-service access across several markets.