Tech breakup worries, Snap’s charm offense, and lessons of AT&T’s DirecTV deal

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Elizabeth Warren’s proposal to break up Facebook, Google, and Amazon got a cold reception at SXSW, where it came up repeatedly on panels. The creators of Instagram, one of the biggest tech acquisitions of recent years, slammed it as not “nuanced" enough.

Even BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti, who’s grown increasingly critical of the platforms, said the solution wasn’t necessarily to break up the platforms but for them to work together with media companies.

Elsewhere, even sharp critics of the platforms are expressing doubt about how realistic it is to break up these companies, which just goes to show how entrenched they’ve become in the advertising and media landscape, for better or worse. To one longtime ad exec, a breakup could cause “unmitigated chaos.”

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Here are other good stories we’ve been reporting:

‘Our value proposition goes beyond the Amazons and Nikes of the world’: Snap is going on the charm offensive with a splashy presence at SXSW
Reporting from SXSW, Tanya Dua found Snap is trying to shed its secretive image at the festival as it tries to make its case to advertisers as a complement or alternative to Facebook and Google.

Brands are taking their marketing in-house and causing turmoil with agencies. Here’s why Reebok is bucking the trend.
Reebok’s VP of marketing makes the case for using external agencies, saying they help ensure its message is unified across the globe, even as campaigns are localized by market.

Facebook is giving advertisers more data on how it grades ads — but buyers say it’s a step behind Google
Facebook is trying to provide information that’s more actionable to businesses that want to know their ads are driving business results. One ad agency exec said it’s an improvement, but that Google’s ad score is still a better reflection of user intention.

‘End us now’: DirecTV employees fear its death as AT&T gets ready to build off its giant WarnerMedia deal
As AT&T closes its $85 billion Time Warner acquisition and prepares to launch a streaming service from WarnerMedia, employees from AT&T’s previous DirecTV deal are wondering what that might mean for them. Abby Jackson probed DirecTV’s struggles, which take on fresh relevance as AT&T looks to build off of its newest acquisition.

Facebook’s shift to ephemeral messaging raises big questions for its advertising business and could trigger a move into one-to-one marketing
The move creates big unknowns for Facebook’s gigantic ad business, most of which is now contained in public feeds and content, and for its advertisers that rely on the platform to reach its 2 billion users, observers said.

Feel free to send tips or thoughts to me at lmoses@businessinsider.com.

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Google is overhauling how it sells programmatic advertising, and some marketers are concerned it means that the tech giant could steal more ad share

‘Captain Marvel’ editor describes what makes Marvel Studios a unique place to work, and the funny way she got the job

Car-bomb fears and stolen prototypes: Inside Facebook’s efforts to protect its 80,000 workers around the globe

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