Money expert Martin Lewis is suing Facebook in the UK for allowing the use of his face and name on fake ads. Lewis, who founded MoneySavingExpert.com, said that Facebook continuously used him in false advertisements, then refused to stop when he complained and allowed people to be lured into costly scams through ads. Lewis, who said he doesn’t participate in advertisements further explained his frustration in a blog post. Some of the ads are part of cryptocurrency scams, which link by way of fake news promising Bitcoin-related opportunities. - TECHCRUNCH

A new study concludes that many alcohol advertisers are ditching Twitter. Forty-two percent of the leading 100 major spirits and liquor accounts on Twitter have not been active on the site in the past month, 32 percent have not been active in the past three months and about 21 percent have not posted in a year or more, according to the study by the drink-specialty marketing agency, YesMore. Some brands have switched to other platforms while others have abandoned social-media advertising altogether. Others have just vanished, according to the study, which speculated that advertisers are becoming overwhelmed with where to advertise. - DIGIDAY

Twitter has banned the Kaspersky Lab from advertising based on its alleged association with Russian intelligence.  The social platform said the Moscow-based security company has a business model that conflicts with Twitter’s. Twitter also noted a warning from Homeland Security about the company and its CEO Eugene Kaspersky, who denied the claim and said Twitter was shooting itself in the foot and “catering to geo-political noise.” - DIGITAL TRENDS

An external audit mandated by the Federal Trade Commission in 2017 approved Facebook’s privacy policies and auditors knew of the Cambridge Analytica data breach, it’s been discovered. The Electronic Privacy Information Center found the information after a Freedom of Information Act request. An audit copy stated that Facebook’s privacy controls were operating effectively, spanning the time between Feb. 12, 2015, and Feb. 11, 2017. Additionally, PricewaterhouseCoopers, on behalf of Facebook, told the FTC that privacy compliance at Facebook was acceptable. Now, legislators are seeking better oversight. - ENGADGET

Twitter’s new progressive web app has added Live Tiles support for profiles. The Windows 10 update allows for pinning profiles to the start menu and in turn, they’re turned into Live Tiles. Once pinned, the feature will start automatically, allowing users to go straight to a profile in the Twitter progressive web app. The app, released a month ago to certain users, is essentially a web wrapper compared to the older version. - NEOWIN

Facebook has automatically enrolled some users in Europe into a facial-recognition test. The users have reported that they’ve been lumped into a test pool of people. Previously, Facebook reported that European users would be able to opt-in to its facial-recognition features next month. A similar attempt was nixed in 2012 following regulatory pressure after Facebook began to automatically tag people when photos were uploaded. Facebook is not offering the opt-in to those being tested, but instead, they must search through the settings to say no. - TECHCRUNCH

Some old accounts on Match.com were recently reactivated, causing privacy concerns about users’ data. A spokesperson said that the glitch occurred with a limited number of old accounts and passwords were able to be reset soon after. A privacy policy for the company says that it can keep some information about users even after they close their accounts. Now, Match says it plans to update its privacy policy to be in tune with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. - THE VERGE

Procter and Gamble, which steered clear of advertising on Google’s YouTube for about a year, has returned to the platform but is exercising caution. P&G left YouTube in March 2017 based on concern over extremist and inappropriate videos. The company also explained that too much digital-ad spending was a waste. Now, P&G brands such as Tide and Crest have gotten the go-ahead to advertise on YouTube again. This time, P&G will advertise solely on videos it approves. - BLOOMBERG

Google is working on a new texting standard to replace SMS and take on iMessage. Chat, its name for Rich Communication Services (RCS) will be activated in Android Messages. RCS is a carrier-based service, meaning all Android phones' Chat services will work with each other. But some experts raised concerns about security; unlike SMS, it's not end-to-end encrypted. — GUARDIAN

Due to a terms-of-service change on Facebook, 1.5 billion members will not be protected under strict new privacy protections coming to Europe. The change involves which users will be regulated through its European headquarters in Ireland. That means that Facebook users outside the European Union will be governed by Facebook Inc. in the United States instead of Facebook Ireland. It also means that the social-media platform can avoid applying the forthcoming General Data Protection Regulation to countries outside the EU. This will affect more than 70 percent of the platform’s 2 billion members. - BBC

The number of Reddit users has increased in the past several months and now, the platform has as many active users as Twitter. Average monthly active users on Reddit went up from 250 million in November last year to 330 million as of this month. It’s a more than 30 percent increase in less than six months. Reddit is also the sixth most-visited website in the world, according to a recent global website ranking from Alexa. The average user spends 15 minutes and 47 seconds on Reddit.com each day, compared to just over 11 minutes for visitors to Facebook and 6 minutes and 23 seconds on Twitter.com. The figures represent websites and exclude mobile apps. - TNW

Facebook is investigating a security research report that shows its user data can be obtained by third-party JavaScript trackers embedded on websites using the “log-in with Facebook” feature. It allows a user’s data to be gathered, but it’s unclear what the trackers do with the data. However, many of their parent companies, such as Tealium, AudienceStream, Lytics and ProPS, sell publisher monetization services related to collected user data. – TECHCRUNCH

Brands are starting to notice that Snapchat is making a bigger play for direct-response budgets.  The change is part of a wider move on Snapchat’s part to affect media plans. The platform has also been utilizing its certified partner program, which is based on media spend and involves agencies being given virtual gold, silver or bronze badges. High spenders will get more support from Snapchat’s creative and development teams. Despite the noticeable change, Snapchat hasn’t commented. - DIGIDAY

Digital-media networks have made their way to YouTube TV, with two new channels from startup Cheddar. In early April, word had it that YouTube TV would gain new channels from different digital-media publishers including Cheddar, which focuses on financial and general news as well as Tastemade and The Young Turks Network. This new change is said to help differentiate YouTube TV from its rivals, although Cheddar’s live streams are still available on other forums. - TECHCRUNCH

Facebook will introduce new privacy controls for its 2 billion users as part of compliance with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. Facebook will ask every user, regardless of where they live, to review their privacy choices. That will include how the information they add to their profiles can be used and how Facebook uses their data to target ads. The new controls will roll out to European users first, starting this week, and will expand to all users globally afterward, Facebook said in a blog post. GDPR regulations go into effect May 25. – THE VERGE

LocalBlox, a Bellevue, Washington-based data firm, was able to build 48 million personal profiles using data from web sites and social networks. The company’s technology automatically crawls the web for publicly accessible data sources like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Zillow. Earlier this year, though, the little-known company left a massive store of profile data on a public but unlisted Amazon S3 storage bucket. Chris Vickery, a well-known ethical data breach hunter, found the data and alerted the company, which has since secured it from public view. The bucket, labeled "lbdumps," contained a file that led to another single file more than 1.2 terabytes in size. - ZDNET

Twitter’s stock closed up 11 percent Tuesday. The jump happened the same day that Morgan Stanley raised its rating on Twitter shares, predicting better ad sales growth this year. "Constructive advertiser conversations, improving user growth and positive revisions make [Twitter shares] a more compelling risk/reward," analyst Brian Nowak wrote in a note to clients Tuesday. "Recent advertiser conversations continue to be incrementally positive about Twitter's ad business." He said Twitter improved its ad tools for companies to better target users. He also noted that Twitter has reduced ad prices, spurring more demand. - CNBC

Pinterest has redesigned business profile pages to show monthly viewer counts. The counter will show businesses the number of people that have viewed their pins during the last 30 days.The counter will be under the business name on its official page, helping people that visit the page get a glimpse of how far their influence extends on the site. Pinterest also added new customization tools for business owners, including a dynamic cover image and the ability to choose a specific board to highlight or display recent activity. – MARKETING LAND

Thirty-four global technology companies announced their participation in a joint pledge Tuesday not to assist any government in offensive cyber attacks. The companies, including Microsoft, Dell, HP and Facebook, are part of the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, which seeks to protect customers from attacks motivated by geopolitical or criminal reasons. They agree that cyberspace is now a battlefield. Numerous cyber attacks last year prompted the joint pledge. - REUTERS

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki announced Tuesday that YouTube will kick off a pilot program with a small group of its users. The move will serve to address creators’ concerns about demonetization and largely unwelcomed changes to the company’s partners program, she noted in a blog post. She noted the many concerns from users but said those same changes have strengthened advertisers’ confidence. The pilot program will answer to complaints about YouTube’s upload algorithm, which users say has been wrongfully demonetizing ad-friendly videos. – THE VERGE