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Digital briefing, October 17: AI ad variety on Meta, Meta's site-crawling agreement

Meta overhauls ad and data rules, OpenAI's ChatGPT takes control of your browser, and Google makes a new move in shopping.

  1. Advertising

    Meta says AI-generated ad variety boosts performance #

    Meta for Business shared the results of a study involving seven brands that used the Nest AI Creative platform in the UK during Q1 2026. The brands diversified across image, video, vertical video, and carousel formats, shifting heavily toward vertical (9:16) video production. As a result, their ad variety scores came in above both the agency average and the industry average.

    What it means for your business: Producing vertical video from scratch for Reels and Stories can outperform simply cropping the same image into different sizes. Creating a small but varied set of ad formats is a workable strategy for small businesses too.

    Source: Meta for Business — Creative diversification at scale: how Nest builds for the way Meta technologies work now

  2. AI

    Meta's new agreement, effective October 30, lets it crawl your site to train its AI #

    Meta's updated Commercial Terms, taking effect October 30, require anyone who uses Meta products for business purposes—including Page, Business Suite, and Ads Manager—even non-advertisers, to allow their websites to be crawled so the content can be used to train AI. Nieman Lab first reported this on October 15, and three lawyers said the wording could also justify crawling news sites. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said on October 16 that this was incorrect and that the change was only about collecting product information.

    What it means for your business: Any business using a Facebook Page or Business Suite is automatically considered to have accepted these terms; the only way to opt out is to stop using Meta's business products. It's worth reviewing your robots.txt settings as a precaution.

    Source: PPC Land — Meta's new terms let it crawl business websites to train AI from Oct 30 · Search Engine Journal — Meta’s New Terms Expand Crawling Rights Beyond Advertisers via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

  3. E-commerce

    Google's Universal Cart goes live in the US on Search and Gemini, while Meta opens product scanning on October 28 #

    Starting October 15, Google rolled out Universal Cart in the US across Search (including AI Mode) and the Gemini app. The cart holds items from different stores, tracks prices and stock, and checkout is completed via Google Pay or the Universal Commerce Protocol, redirecting to the merchant's site. It hasn't reached YouTube or Gmail yet. Meta, meanwhile, emailed advertisers to say it will turn on in-app product scanning for existing Facebook and Instagram ads on October 28.

    What it means for your business: Both platforms are keeping more of the shopping journey on their own pages. Meta's change lands 30 days before Black Friday with only 14 days' notice, so advertisers should know they can disable the feature in advance.

    Source: PPC Land — Google's Universal Cart reaches US shoppers as Meta flips browsing on

  4. AI

    ChatGPT's Chrome extension can now control tabs and fill out forms #

    On October 15, 2026, OpenAI updated ChatGPT's Chrome extension to read open tabs and, in Work mode, take actions on them—sending messages, filling out forms, downloading files, and more. According to Webrazzi, ChatGPT asks for user confirmation by default before taking action on a new site. The feature is available on all ChatGPT plans, and the extension has reached 7 million users according to Chrome Web Store data.

    What it means for your business: A website, sign-up form, or pricing page might now be read and filled out by an AI assistant instead of a human. Making forms and pages clear and designed for automated use is becoming increasingly important.

    Source: Webrazzi — OpenAI, ChatGPT'ye Chrome sekmelerini kontrol etme özelliği ekledi · PPC Land — ChatGPT gains control of Chrome tabs to fill forms and send messages

  5. Advertising

    Google now requires a business name and logo on YouTube ads #

    In an announcement dated October 12, 2026, Google introduced a requirement for business name and logo on all YouTube ads purchased through Display & Video 360; this information was previously pulled automatically from the YouTube channel the ad was uploaded to. The logo must be square, at least 128x128 pixels, and the business name must be no more than 25 characters. A rejected logo or name disables the entire ad.

    What it means for your business: Businesses running ads through an agency or a shared channel may now find their ads rejected if the brand name or logo is missing. Teams producing ads in bulk should pre-define these fields to avoid disruptions.

    Source: PPC Land — Google's DV360 now requires a business name and logo on YouTube ads