The news that moves growth.
A daily digest of what's happening in search, social, AI and advertising — curated headlines linking to the original sources, refreshed every morning.
Curated from the sources we actually read.
Last updated: 18 October 2026, 04:30 IST
Search & Digital Marketing
Yes, You Can Change AI’s Opinion. Here’s How.
AnswerShare reports more recommendations in a client test after publishing sourced brand context. Here is how its machine-layer works & what it cannot fix.
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Trust As A Conversion Lever: How To Test Credibility In A Regulated Industry
Test whether honest expectations and money-back guarantees build trust in health marketing, then judge results beyond the first conversion.
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Amazon Blocked Meta’s Muse, And Robots.txt Had Nothing To Say
Any website can write Amazon's block-page sentence into its own terms. Spotting an agent that looks like a shopper is the hard part.
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TikTok adds certification tiers for agency partners
The platform will offer Agency Partner or Premier Agency Partner badges to assure marketers that partnership requirements have been met.
Read on our siteInstagram updates its educational safety program
The School Partnerships program offers educators a way to report potential safety issues directly.
Read on our siteMeta adds contributor badges to Forum chat app
The company is trying to convert Facebook Groups into a more interactive Q&A format, while also adding topic labels to help with discovery.
Read on our siteMeta adds contributor badges to Forums chat app
The company is trying to convert Facebook Groups into a more interactive Q&A format, while also adding topic labels to help with discovery.
Read on our sitePinterest offers post-holiday marketing tips
In the week between Christmas and New Year’s, marketing experts should shift from gifting to self-care, according to the platform.
Read on our siteMeta launches Muse AI for SMBs
The company’s agentic artificial intelligence tools can help small businesses improve workflows and work with connector partner apps.
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Mobile ad giants AppLovin and Unity locked in legal dispute over data collection
Two of the biggest names in mobile advertising have further entrenched their rivalry in court filings this week, with AppLovin suing Unity. AppLovin has asked the…
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Threads expands live chat engagement options
The app added live reactions and a raise hand feature, and will soon launch web-based live chats.
Read on our siteAI & Automation
The internet is convinced Elon Musk’s xAI trolled OpenAI’s ‘Dots’ launch
Before OpenAI launched its new AI agent, Dots, on Tuesday, Elon Musk's xAI had already acquired the domain name "dot.com," which now redirects to the Grok chatbot…
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OpenAI’s latest features take direct aim at the app store model
OpenAI is building out the pieces of an alternative to the traditional app store model, turning ChatGPT into a place where software can be discovered and used by people…
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OpenAI reportedly in talks to raise $30B round at $1.4T valuation
The new round is anticipated to be the company's last before its delayed 2027 public debut.
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OpenAI repotedly in talks to raise $30B round at $1.4T valuation
The new round is anticipated to be the company's last before its delayed 2027 public debut.
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Here’s why OpenAI is absent from Nvidia’s industry-wide effort to end rogue AI agents
OpenAI isn't a public supporter of Nvidia's Open Agent Safety Platform, but it is privately working with Nvidia, TechCrunch has learned.
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OpenAI takes on Microsoft with the launch of what feels a whole lot like ChatGPT’s own office suite
OpenAI's newly announced suite of office features puts it into more direct competition with more traditional software companies.
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AI-powered app maker Wabi pivots to a messaging experience
Wabi is repositioning its prompt-based app builder as a personal AI agent that can create interfaces on demand, combining chat, apps, and ongoing tasks.
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OpenAI launches Dots, its bubbly agentic avatar
Dots are meant to operate independent of any specific hardware or interface, pursuing user-defined goals continuously in the background with minimal oversight.
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OpenAI launches GPT-6.1 Sol, says it nearly matches GPT-6 Astra and costs less
OpenAI says GPT-6.1 Sol delivers significant improvements over GPT-6 Sol across complex professional tasks, including code writing and debugging, document understanding,…
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OpenAI gives Codex reusable cloud environments that work across devices
OpenAI is expanding Codex with reusable cloud development environments, a revamped CLI with voice controls, new code review tools, and a security-focused product for…
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OpenAI expands ChatGPT’s plug-ins with app-like interfaces and automations
OpenAI is expanding ChatGPT plug-ins with dedicated sidebar homes, interactive panels, file viewers, improved discovery, and support for automations.
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Can a chatbot fix the government maze? The White House is about to find out
America.gov is intended to simplify the process of navigating government bureaucracy, but large language models are imperfect and remain prone to hallucinations, which…
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Instinct founder said more than 50% of transactions on the platform are travel-related
Instinct founder said the platform is growing 10% day by day, with transaction volume increasing at a similar rate.
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