That Support Widget On Your Site Could Cost You Millions

Your Site’s Chatbot Could Cost You Big

Does your brand's website have a chatbot? It's a common feature that countless e-commerce sites rely on for marketing, sales, and customer service.

But that chatbot could end up costing you millions. 

Foot Locker has been hit by a $25 million lawsuit over allegations of violating consumer privacy through its chat feature. The lawsuit claims the company is illegally wiretapping customers because it records their chat conversations, archives them, and shares the information with third parties.

Foot Locker's lawsuit isn't the only one. Similar suits were filed against Crocs and Adidas last year. Which means more lawsuits like this could be on the way.

⚖️ How To Avoid Legal Issues

What can you do to prevent being targeted?

A report from The Marketing Insider yesterday suggests that brands or service providers offering an online chatbot feature should consult with their legal counsel to determine if they need to take any precautions. 

Extra steps you could take include the usual:

• Creating a detailed policy that is consistent with current privacy laws and regulations

• Regularly updating your privacy policy to remain relevant

• Ensuring customers are aware of how their personal information is being used

New Facebook Reels Features

Facebook Reels are getting some updates today, including 90-second videos. Up until now, Facebook Reels were limited to 60 seconds. 

The company is also rolling out more creative tools, including:

• Ready-made Reels from Memories 

• A new 'Grooves' feature that automatically syncs your video to the beat of a song

• Templates – which let you create Reels with trending templates. This feature was rolled out on Instagram last year. 

Images: Meta 

Meta Axes “Paid Partnership” Label

In other Meta news — and this one's a bit of a surprise — branded content ads will no longer contain "Paid Partnership" disclosure text.

Meta says it is redesigning the branded content ad format on Instagram to remove that language from the ad format. 

To be clear, this update is an ad format change only; no changes have been made to set-up, or permissions, or Meta’s Branded Content Policies — and organic branded content posts will still use the “paid partnership” label. 

I should note that updates like this aren’t usually posted publicly by Meta and they can be hard to track down; we often learn about them from Andrew Foxwell’s fantastic Slack community, which we’ve been a member of since its start. You can check it out via our affiliate link, which is at b.link/founders.

Google ‘Incognito’ Users Lose Appeal 

Score 1 for Google.

Consumers suing Google over its data collection practices have lost their early appeal to pursue at least $5 billion in damages as a class action.

The group sued Google in 2020, claiming that the company collected data on users despite them using Chrome's "Incognito" mode. That mode claims to leave fewer traces of data and tracking when browsing the web.

Reuters reported yesterday that a U.S. court has rejected an appeal request for a previous ruling denying the class-action status. Class-action status would have let them pursue claims against Google as a group, instead of filing individual claims. The class would have included tens of millions of Google Chrome browser users.

But it's not over. The plaintiffs can still revive their money damages claims during a final judgment. 

The trial is scheduled for November — and it will be by jury.

Home Depot + Roblox Collab

Home Depot is starting them young. 

The home improvement retailer made its debut in the metaverse yesterday with a new experience for kids on Roblox. 

The virtual experience is based on the company's IRL Kids Workshops. But in Roblox, Virtual Kids Workshops challenge the youth of the nation to collect virtual materials to build projects. 

🔨 How It Works

1. Players visit the new metaverse storefront in an area of the game called Redcliff City. 

2. They are offered a variety of projects to build. 

3. They can go on a scavenger hunt, collecting materials from virtual aisles to assemble their project. 

4. When they're done, the gamers can leave the virtual store with their project and use it throughout the Redcliff City virtual world.

Home Depot will also be running a campaign throughout its real-life workshops in which unique codes will be given out to use in the game during the first Saturday of each month starting this weekend.

Images: The Home Depot 

New Audience Segmentation Options on LinkedIn

LinkedIn recently made some changes to its Company Engagement Report.

The report is available within the Matched Audience feature of Campaign Manager, and displays how many people from each company are engaging with your content. 

What's new? A Company Segmentation option. This lets marketers filter the report to create company list segments, which can then be used in ad campaigns.

Quoting LinkedIn:

You can also download the report to analyze LinkedIn engagement data on your own. As Social Media Today points out, the additional capabilities may not be a key factor for all brands, but they could help you gain a better understanding of how people are reacting to your updates.

The TikTok Filters Causing ‘Psychological Warfare’

Two new filters are freaking out Tiktokers, and it might be at the hands of our robot overlords. 

Gizmodo reported today that the filters, known as 'Bold Glamour' and 'Teenage Look', are potentially using AI to completely alter your face.

But filters that alter faces and apply mascara have been around for years, so what makes these two so different?

An augmented reality consultant quoted in the piece explained that this filter is likely using machine learning technologies:

These two filters allegedly use "generative adversarial networks" to seamlessly cover your face. This is why Bold Glamour's modifications seem to move with your face, and why the filter barely distorts when you cover your face with your hand

I tried the Bold Look filter, and I don't hate it. But it did completely change my face, rather convincingly compared to just a regular makeup filter. The filter gave me incredibly realistic lip injections, removed my buccal fat, and a brow lift. 

Image: TikTok / Gizmodo