UK regulators halt Google's cookie apocalypse, putting advertising's future on ice

Plus, OpenAI revenue approaches $2 billion, the nervous 33-year-old doing AI's big publisher deals, subscriptions soar for a few, and more

Welcome to a new week and Scotch and Watch Monday. I love scotch and take just one block of ice with it. Ice is a theme today.

But before we get to that, a warm welcome to new subscribers from Australia’s AAP, America’s NPR, Yahoo and Texas Tribune, Germany’s Deutsche Welle, 24Sata in Croatia, Norway’s largest news publisher Amedia, Canada’s Media CMI, and the global ad network media.net.

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Let’s get to it…

Google’s cookie plans hit a roadblock

You’ve no doubt heard about the cookie apocalypse, where billions of code snippets used to stalk you around the internet to help advertisers are being deleted.

Now, Google’s plans to kill cookies have hit a roadblock, with Britain’s competition regulators ordering them to freeze work until they answer privacy concerns.

The UK fears that Google’s replacement for cookies, called Privacy Sandbox, will increase its monopoly and further hurt publishers and advertising rivals.

It’s complicated, so here’s a step-…