A European regulator has ruled that Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, illegally forced users to accept personalized ads.  Meta is appealing the ruling, which ordered the social media giant to pay $414 million in fines and to allow customers to opt out of so-called behavioral ads.

Brussels, January 6 (RHC)-- A European regulator has ruled that Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, illegally forced users to accept personalized ads.  Meta is appealing the ruling, which ordered the social media giant to pay $414 million in fines and to allow customers to opt out of so-called behavioral ads.

Meanwhile, Twitter announced it will once again allow political advertisements, after former CEO Jack Dorsey banned all political ads on Twitter worldwide in 2019.  This comes as Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, struggles to retain advertisers, and after Twitter recently relaxed its COVID-19 misinformation policy and restored the accounts of thousands of banned users.

In related news, Amazon’s CEO has announced plans to cut more than 18,000 jobs.  They’re the largest layoffs in Amazon’s history, representing some 6% of the retail giant’s 300,000 workers. 

Meanwhile, Salesforce announced plans to lay off 10% of its workforce.  U.S. tech companies cut more than 150,000 jobs in 2022.