In today’s Digest, we cover Novacap acquiring IAS for USD$1.9bn, Microsoft plotting an AI marketplace for publishers, and LinkedIn training AI on member profiles. We also discuss Canada saying TikTok fails on child data protection. 

Novacap to Acquire IAS for USD$1.9bn

Novacap, a leading North American private equity firm, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire global media measurement and optimisation platform Integral Ad Science (IAS) in an all-cash deal valued at approximately USD$1.9bn (£1.41bn). Novacap will purchase all outstanding shares of IAS under the terms of the agreement for USD$10.30 (£7.67) per share in cash. 

Lisa Utzschneider, CEO of IAS, commented that through the acquisition, their company will gain access to new resources to achieve their strategic goals, as they aim to be the global benchmark for trust and transparency in digital media quality. 

Microsoft makes moves to compensate publishers for their content used by AI, while LinkedIn plans to use user data to train its AI models 

Microsoft is preparing to launch a Publisher Content Marketplace (PCM), a pilot program that would let publishers sell their content to AI products starting with Copilot, according to executives briefed on the plan. If successful, it would make Microsoft the first major tech company to build a two-sided AI marketplace for publishers.

The initiative aims to create a sustainable business model for media companies in the AI era, with Microsoft working alongside partners to develop tools, policies, and pricing structures. 

The company also plans to expand the demand side by bringing in other AI products over time.

Meanwhile, 3rd November 2025 will see LinkedIn begin using member profiles, posts, resumes and public activity to train its AI models, a change that will apply by default unless users actively opt out. The move affects users in the UK, EU, EEA, Switzerland, Canada and Hong Kong, with data gathered before an opt-out still retained in LinkedIn’s training systems.

Many users are frustrated with the change, the main concern being that the feature will be enabled by default, requiring them to actively opt out.

LinkedIn confirmed that data from under-18s will be excluded from training. Users can opt out via the ‘data for generative AI improvement’ setting, but the change will only apply to data collected after opting out, with information gathered beforehand remaining within the training environment.

Canada says TikTok fails on child data protection

Canadian privacy watchdogs have found TikTok’s efforts to block under-13s and safeguard children’s data to be inadequate, concluding the app collected sensitive information from “a large number” of minors and used it for targeted ads and content. According to Canadian regulators, hundreds of thousands of children under 13 use TikTok each year, despite the platform’s age restrictions.

Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne said the platform’s practices could have “harmful impacts, particularly on youth” as the data was used to target ads and content. While TikTok disputes some of the findings, it said it welcomed the probe and that officials had accepted several of its proposals to improve safeguards.