Affiliate Roundup: Stagwell Acquires Freestar, Apple Targets Web Tracking, AI-Generated Sites Raise Ad Quality Concerns, & More

This week in FMTC’s Affiliate Roundup: Stagwell acquired publisher monetization network Freestar, expanding its advertising reach. Apple announced new restrictions on cross-site tracking, potentially disrupting ad technology. DecryptAds uncovered 2,100+ AI-generated recipe sites monetized through programmatic ads.

---

• Stagwell acquired publisher monetization network Freestar, gaining access to technology and relationships spanning more than 1,000 publishers to strengthen its advertising and AI capabilities.

• New research from Feedvisor and PartnerCentric shows that AI helps shoppers discover products, but reviews and price comparisons still drive purchase decisions.

• Forbes joined Google’s paid News AI pilot to gain insights into content performance as declining search referrals push publishers to explore new revenue strategies.

• Partnerize CEO Matt Gilbert argues that affiliate marketing needs new standards to verify and compensate AI-driven influence, even when purchases happen without clicks.

• A New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $25 billion over consumer privacy violations linked partly to the Cambridge Analytica scandal; Meta plans to appeal.

• Apple outlined new WebKit restrictions targeting cross-site identity resolution and tracking, potentially disrupting advertising technologies that rely on persistent user identification.

• DecryptAds uncovered more than 2,100 AI-generated recipe sites monetized through programmatic advertising, raising concerns about deceptive content, ad quality, and publisher vetting.