Meta Says its Removed 540k Teen Accounts in Australia

Meta’s also looking to implement a new form of age checking to meet the new AUS laws.

Source:
Social Media Today – Latest News

X Launches Antitrust Lawsuit Against Music Industry

Elon’s not keen to pay for music licensing…

Source:
Social Media Today – Latest News

Meta’s Cutting 10% of Staff in its Reality Labs Division

The cuts look set to impact the development of the metaverse.

Source:
Social Media Today – Latest News

Daily Search Forum Recap: January 12, 2026

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google introduced Agentic Commerce Protocol (UCP) that lets you integrate with Google AI experiences to checkout directly there. Google also announced Direct Offers, a new AI Mode ad experience to show coupons to searchers. Google also announced Merchant Center Business Agents…

Source:
Search Engine Roundtable

News publishers expect search traffic to drop 43% by 2029: Report

AI answers are taking clicks from publishers. Media companies warn that Google Overviews and chat experiences are speeding up traffic loss.

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Search Engine Land

"A full software engineering teammate": OpenAI product lead on getting the most out of Codex | Alexander Embiricos

Listen now | 🎙️ The power user’s guide to Codex: Parallelizing workflows, planning techniques, advanced context engineering tips, automating code reviews, more

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Lenny’s Newsletter

How Many People Own Smartphones? (2025-2029)

A list of curated stats on smartphone usage, including total number of smartphones, country-by-country breakdown, and more.

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Unknown Source

Music Streaming Services Stats (2026)

The latest data and statistics related to music streaming services including popular platforms, number of subscribers, and user habits.

Source:
Unknown Source

What will happen to TikTok as US ban approaches? A look at trending alternative RedNote

TikTok’s US ban scare sent RedNote searches up 99x. With TikTok ‘saved,’ can the Chinese app keep its US and global momentum?

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Unknown Source

This week on How I AI: OpenAI product lead on getting the most out of Codex

Your weekly listens from How I AI, part of the Lenny’s Podcast Network

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Lenny’s Newsletter

Not all MMM tools are equal: Meridian, Robyn, Orbit, and Prophet explained

These open-source MMM tools solve different measurement problems, from budget optimization to forecasting and preprocessing.

Source:
Search Engine Land

Apple is finally upgrading Siri, and Google Gemini will power it

A multi-year Apple–Google deal places Gemini at the core of Apple Intelligence and paves the way for a new Siri.

Source:
Search Engine Land

Google Introduces Agentic Commerce Protocol & Direct Offers Ads In AI Mode

In a rare Sunday launch, Google announced new AI Mode ads named Direct Offers. Google also announced branded AI agents and a new open standard for agentic commerce it calls Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP).

Source:
Search Engine Roundtable

Google Integrates Core Search Signals Into AI Overviews & AI Mode

Google’s Robby Stein reiterated that Google’s AI experience, such as AI Mode and AI Overviews, integrates Google’s core search signals. This helps Google provide more useful and helpful responses to users in the AI experiences. But it doesn’t always get it right, as many of you know.

Source:
Search Engine Roundtable

Why copywriting is the new superpower in 2026

AI didn’t kill copywriting. It killed low-grade informational SEO. Persuasion, positioning, and clarity now matter more than traffic volume.

Source:
Search Engine Land

Meta Announces Nuclear Energy Projects to Support AI Development

Meta’s going nuclear as it looks to build out energy infrastructure to power its AI projects.

Source:
Social Media Today – Latest News

Meta Appoints Former Trump Staffer as VP

Meta continues to appoint Trump-aligned Republicans to senior leadership roles.

Source:
Social Media Today – Latest News

Google Announces AI-Powered Updates for Retailers

Google’s announced a range of new AI tools for retailers at the 2026 NRF conference.

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Social Media Today – Latest News

Pinterest Says That Gen Z Users are Finding Themselves in Pins

Pinterest says it offers an alternative to angst-inducing algorithms.

Source:
Social Media Today – Latest News

Google Merchant Center Business Agent

Google announced new Business Agents, branded AI Agents, a "new way for shoppers to chat with brands, right on Search," Google said. "It’s like a virtual sales associate that can answer product questions in a brand’s voice, enabling retailers to connect with consumers during critical shopping moments and help drive sales," Google added.

Source:
Search Engine Roundtable

TikTok Adds Channel Sales Experts to Marketing Partners Program

Some new options for TikTok campaign assistance.

Source:
Social Media Today – Latest News

Google expands Shopping promotion rules ahead of 2026

Google’s 2026 Shopping policy updates give advertisers more flexibility to promote subscriptions, modern offers, and localized payment incentives.

Source:
Search Engine Land

Google opens Olympic live sports inventory to biddable CTV buys

Advertisers can now buy premium live sports inventory programmatically, combining massive reach with better frequency control and cross-device measurement.

Source:
Search Engine Land

3 PPC myths you can’t afford to carry into 2026

AI targeting, creative scale, and MMM promised efficiency but often delivered waste. Here’s how to reset PPC priorities for 2026.

Source:
Search Engine Land

Google Ads Brand Linking Experiment Feature

Google Ads seems to be slowly rolling out a new Google Ads experimental feature in the Google Ads Lab section named Brand Linking. Brand linking lets you "Link customers to brands," it reads.

Source:
Search Engine Roundtable

Google Ads Performance Max A/B Testing Assets (Beta)

Google Ads has a new experiment feature for Performance Max campaigns that lets you A/B-test assets. This allows you to compare the performance of 2 different sets of assets within the same asset group to find out which creative combination works best for your Performance Max campaign.

Source:
Search Engine Roundtable

Content Marketing Manager ~ Clear Ballot Group ~ Remote (USA)

Job Description Our nation’s elections are being challenged like never before. As the first newcomer in the industry in the last 30 years, Clear Ballot rises to the challenge with a simple goal: Let’s create technology that empowers our customers to improve democracy. Elections are the cornerstone of our democracy, with the right to vote […]

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In-house SEO jobs – SEOjobs.com

Full Remote AEO Lead ~ Dofollow.com ~ Remote (WW)

Location: Fully Remote (Europe, US, Latin America, or South Africa timezones preferred)  Employment Type: Full-time  Team Size: 18 people across 13 countries About Us Dofollow.com is a fully remote B2B link building and SEO agency on a mission to make our clients the number one answer to their customer’s questions – on traditional search and […]

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Expert Level SEO Jobs – SEOjobs.com

Technical Content Marketing Specialist ~ TPC Wire and Cable ~ In-office (USA) ~ Macedonia, OH, United States

Description: The Content Marketing Specialist is an individual contributor role that develops and executes technically accurate content that strengthens brand awareness, customer engagement, and growth across key industrial markets. The role blends strategic marketing and technical writing to produce white papers, application stories, editorial articles, and event-driven content. It works closely with product, sales, engineering, […]

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In-house SEO jobs – SEOjobs.com

Digital Marketing Specialist (SEO and Local Web Management) ~ Contigo Technology LLC ~ $80,000 – $100,000 ~ In-office (USA) ~ Austin, TX, United States

Job Summary As a Digital Marketing Specialist, you will develop and execute localized digital marketing strategies to boost visibility and engagement in five specific Texas cities. This role demands strong SEO expertise tailored to local and regional search, extensive hands-on experience with WordPress, and the ability to manage and optimize websites for location-specific performance. Key […]

Source:
In-house SEO jobs – SEOjobs.com