In today’s digest, Apple defends its WebKit crackdown on ad tech identity resolution and signals more to come, YouTube tests AI answers at the top of search results, and Meta removes contract language over scraping business websites for AI training

Apple defends WebKit crackdown

Apple has defended new restrictions in its WebKit browser engine, reports Business Insider. Apple argued that blocking cookies alone is no longer enough in a “post-cookie era”, and that people who share an email address to sign in or join a newsletter do not expect it to feed hidden tracking. The company is using broad domain-level blocking so providers cannot sidestep the rules by changing how they send data.

Earlier this month, Apple blocked domains run by several providers of alternative identifiers, including The Trade Desk, LiveRamp, ID5, Permutive and Audigent. The first rollout also stopped The Trade Desk from serving ads on Apple browsers, a problem Apple fixed within days. Advertisers are bracing for smaller reachable audiences, higher prices and weaker control over frequency and measurement as more users move to iOS 27.

YouTube rests AI answers in Search results

YouTube has begun trialling AI-generated responses on regular search queries, extending its Ask YouTube chatbot beyond the standalone tool where it has lived so far. Ask YouTube, which lets users pose conversational questions and receive expanded overviews plus related video suggestions, became available to all US users last week.

A select group of signed-in desktop users in the US searching in English may now see an Ask YouTube response above the usual list of videos. YouTube says it will appear when a structured overview can add context, such as for open-ended, how-to or skill-based questions. Users can click “Show more” to read the full answer and ask follow-ups, or scroll past it to the standard video results.

Meta removes contract language on scraping business websites

Meta has removed wording from its commercial terms that appeared to let it use content from business accounts’ domains, web pages and URLs to develop and train its products. The clause drew concern over web scraping and AI training, with legal experts saying it could be read as giving Meta permission to scrape the sites of any publisher that holds a Meta business account.

Meta said the consolidated crawling terms applied only to its ads and business products, and that it made the edit to clarify this. It added that the new language does not change how it uses web crawlers.