Monthly Brandtech Blend – October 2022

The UK is seeking to replace the GDPR with its own data protection system

During an address to the Conservative party’s annual conference last week,  culture secretary Michelle Donelan stated that the GDPR, a component of EU privacy law, will be replaced by a British data protection system. In Donelan’s words, the new system will make it easier for businesses to operate by removing all the unnecessary red tape the GDPR entails, and consequently will unlock economic growth.

How exactly the government plans to elucidate data protection rules under this new data reform plan has not yet been clearly defined.

One key concern for UK businesses will be whether this new approach will put at risk the adequacy status with the EU – enabling personal data to flow freely from the EU to the U.K. – Or will there be room for deregulatory manoeuver if the idea is to maintain EU adequacy?

Watch this space!

Read more about this latest news in The Drum and TechCrunch

The Dark Side of Metaverse: the Darkverse

While Metaverse is usually seen as a great business opportunity, the cybersecurity firm Trend Micro has just published a report warning of the potential danger of cybercriminals using the technology for their own purposes. A ‘Darkverse’ environment could emerge inside the Metaverse, creating an ideal space for criminal activity. As this space would be accessed by users in a specific physical location using valid authentication tokens, law enforcement agencies would not be able to access it. 

So, in what ways could these potential cybercriminals misuse the Darkverse platform? Well, first of all they could target NFTs (non-fungible tokens). Then they could use the space for money-laundering. They could also create manipulative narratives such as fake news, for social engineering for instance.  Basically, it would be the space to go for conducting illegal activities as privacy as we know it would not exist there. Not surprisingly, the message given by Udo Schneider of Trend Micro is ” The IT security industry must intervene now” in order to avoid a “new Wild West” developing in our digital world. 

Find out more about this topic in cso and proactive investors

Meta adds new ad formats on Instagram in an attempt to reverse the decline in revenue

Following a very troublesome year for Meta, with a colossal loss in value, the tech giant announced it will be adding two new ad slots on Instagram. Advertisers will be able to place ads on profile feeds and the Explore tab.

Will this move help Meta gain extra revenue or are advertisers becoming extra cautious in terms of promoting their brands next to user-generated content?

Meta seems to be endlessly testing new possibilities, from beta testing a new AR advertising offering, to a multi-advertiser ads format. With all these changes to the platform, does Meta risk damaging user experience or will it see an increase in its ad spend?

Discover more in The Drum and TechCrunch

Elon Musk’s Twitter U-turn

Did you really think Elon Musk wouldn’t make an appearance this week?

On Tuesday 4 October, we learned of Musk’s Twitter U-turn, just weeks before a courtroom showdown was due to take place with Twitter after his decision to walk away from the $44 billion Twitter takeover. He has even offered to close the deal at the original price of $54.20 a share. With this news, Twitter’s stock price immediately shot up! Late that day, Musk tweeted that owning Twitter would be “an accelerant” for his project “X, the everything app”.

Whether “X” ever materializes or not, we can count on Musk remaining in the news. 

Read more in The Guardian and TechCrunch