FTC presses Walmart and Delta on prices

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FTC probes how Walmart and Delta set your prices LINK

• The U.S. Federal Trade Commission ordered Walmart, Delta, and other companies yesterday to hand over detailed information on how they use personal data and loyalty programs when setting the prices customers pay for products and services.
• The orders also went to United, JetBlue, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart and Target, and cover whether ride-sharing and delivery firms set driver pay using personal data like phone usage or a worker's history of accepting rides.
• Delta, JetBlue, Walmart and Target all denied using personal data to set individual prices, while the FTC said it could compel compliance in federal court and has extended the comment period on a personalized-pricing disclosure policy until November 21.

Amazon stocks rival goods to fend off AI agents LINK

• Amazon is growing its Shop Direct program, which lists products from brands that don't sell on its site, to keep shoppers on Amazon instead of turning to outside personal AI shopping agents.
• Since March, Amazon has raised the number of Shop Direct links by 2.5 times, to 250 million, giving these listings more prominent placement, adding new brands, and showing more product details on its own site.
• Shop Direct launched in February 2025 and started with 100 million products from 400,000 merchants; Amazon says the listings now appear in hundreds of millions of searches each month.

Reddit's new For You feed opens fresh reach for you LINK

• Reddit is rolling out two homepage feeds worldwide over the next few weeks, led by a new 'For You' feed that recommends communities and conversations based on a user's interests alongside the familiar Following feed.
• The Following feed shows posts only from subreddits a person has joined, while For You suggests subreddits based on what someone recently viewed rather than platform-wide popularity, with Reddit remembering which feed was last open.
• Reddit calls this the first step toward more flexible discovery and plans to test extra controls, including options to hide posts and say what one wants to see less of, after dropping the old r/all feed earlier this year.

Google is adding multiturn ads to AI Mode in the U.S. LINK

• Google is bringing multiturn ads to AI Mode in the U.S., letting sponsored results appear in responses to follow-up questions as people go back and forth in conversations with the search tool.
• The ads show up within or beside AI-generated answers whenever a search or conversation has commercial relevance, and each one carries a clear "Sponsored" label, with Google promising to keep testing new formats.
• Google also said click-through rates are already similar between sponsored and organic product list items inside AI Mode, which first launched ads in May 2025 and is now expanding them to several more countries.

You can now build apps inside Google Search LINK

• Google has opened its Connected Apps Platform in preview, letting developers build apps that work directly inside Google Search and the Gemini app.
• Developers connect through a cloud-hosted MCP server or Android MCP using the AppFunctions APIs, then register, test, and submit through the Google Connected Console, choosing whether their app goes live in Search, Gemini, or both.
• More than 50 Connected Apps already span productivity, event ticketing, and health and fitness, though searchers will only see an app if they add it to their personalized Google Search settings themselves.

Strategies & Tactics

> How Stable Are AI Citations? 10 Things We Learned Tracking 37,500 Citations: AI citations are highly volatile, with half vanishing within a day, yet most return within three, so brands should track trends rather than react to single drops.

> ChatGPT Ads vs. Google Search ads: 5 differences to consider in your strategy: ChatGPT ads reach undecided shoppers early by matching to conversation context, so use them for guides and comparisons while keeping Google Search ads for ready-to-buy clicks.

> 6 mistakes to avoid with AI-powered performance marketing: Define the business outcome and measure true incremental growth yourself, because AI optimizes whatever metric it's given even when that metric misleads.

> How to Teach Content Strategy to Stakeholders Who Don’t Speak Marketing: Explain content strategy to non-marketers by framing it in the cost, risk, or speed terms they already measure and handing over concrete checklists.

> Getting YouTube Views Is Changing: What Marketers Need to Know: YouTube now counts fleeting autoplay glimpses as views, so track engaged views and clear opening on-screen titles that win viewers' interest instead.

> When Do B2B Buyers Reply to Cold Email? What the 2026 Data Shows: Reply data shows business buyers reply fastest when emailed by role, executives in early afternoon Eastern time, and interested prospects answer within a day.

Other news you might like

• Meta says Andromeda lifted Facebook conversions 2.4% since 2025 LINK

• ADEX: AI Involved in 52% of Detected Ad Fraud Schemes – Shopping Agents Could be Next LINK

• AdRoll: display ad prices for new shoppers drop 45% before holidays LINK

• Disney plans TikTok Shop holiday experience with over 20 brands LINK

• StackAdapt lets advertisers retarget ChatGPT ad viewers on CTV and display LINK

• Google Business Profiles Finally Adds Third-Party Ordering Controls LINK

Trending tools

CREEM 2.0: a payments platform for AI builders that handles checkout, tax, payouts, affiliates, and usage billing so you can charge customers globally without juggling separate tools. LINK

Spira Maxima: turns scripts, photos, or recordings into finished social videos with presenters, motion graphics, B-roll, captions, and music, ready to publish. LINK

Naoma AI Demo Agent V2: an AI sales agent that runs interactive product demos, answers prospect questions, qualifies leads, books meetings, and syncs sessions to your CRM. LINK

iFixAi: audits AI agents through 250 inspections across 69 misalignment categories, flagging failures and giving engineers evidence to investigate and fix issues LINK

meta-mcp-server: provides over 200 tools to manage Meta business platforms including Facebook Pages, Instagram, Threads, Ads Manager, Commerce, and Insights. LINK

social-sdk: a typed TypeScript SDK for integrating social platforms, offering capability checks, explicit outcomes, and deterministic testing for reliable development. LINK

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