Meta closing in on Google's ad crown

PLUS: Roblox builds a walled garden for kids

Good morning, tech enthusiasts. For the first time in internet history, Google may no longer be the most powerful player in digital advertising.

Meta is projected to surpass Google’s global net digital ad revenue in 2026, fueled by AI-optimized ad tools and the relentless monetization of Reels. But as the throne changes hands, the real winner isn’t advertisers or users — it’s the algorithm.

In today’s tech rundown:

  • Meta on track to dethrone Google in digital ads

  • Roblox builds a wall between kids and everyone else

  • France is ditching Microsoft for Linux

  • Huawei jumps ahead in the wide foldable race

  • Quick hits on other tech news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

META

Image source: Ideogram / The Rundown

The Rundown: Meta is finally on track to knock Google off the top of the digital‑ads pyramid, with a new forecast showing that Facebook and Instagram’s parent is poised to become the world’s biggest online ad seller as soon as this year.

The details:

  • Meta’s global net ad revenue is set to hit $243.5B in 2026, edging past Google’s $239.5B and ending its 14‑year run as the digital ad revenue king.

  • Meta’s ad revenue growth is projected to accelerate to 24.1% in 2026, up from 22.1% in 2025, while Google’s growth is expected to remain flat at 11.9%.

  • The shift is powered by Meta’s AI‑driven Advantage+ ad tools, and by surging demand for short‑form video ads inside Instagram Reels.

  • Amazon is projected to rank third with $82.07B in 2026 ad revenue, and the Big Three are expected to control 62.3% of global digital ad spending.

Why it matters: Meta unseating Google would be the first real power shift in online ads since the iPhone era, showing that social feeds, Reels, and messaging now matter more to ad budgets than classic search. It also means even more of the internet’s money and influence will run through Meta just as AI‑optimized ads become the default.

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ROBLOX

Image source: Roblox

The Rundown: Roblox is overhauling its approach to child safety with two new age-gated account types launching in June, its most structural response yet to lawsuits accusing the platform of exposing kids to predators and explicit content.

The details:

  • Roblox is introducing Roblox Kids accounts for ages 5–8 and Roblox Select for ages 9–15, launching globally in early June.

  • Kids’ accounts are locked to games rated Minimal or Mild, with chat disabled by default; a child under 9 needs parental approval to message another user.

  • Select accounts unlock Moderate-rated content and permit chat with age-matched users and parent-approved “trusted friends.”

  • Before any game can reach a kid’s account, its developer must pass a 3-step vetting process, including an evaluation period in which older users play first.

Why it matters: With 150M daily users — most of them minors — Roblox is as much a social platform as it is for gaming. Whether its age-check tech can actually enforce those walls, or whether determined bad actors find the same workarounds they always have, is the question regulators are now watching in real time.

MICROSOFT/LINUX

Image source: Ideogram / The Rundown

The Rundown: France just told Microsoft its time is up, ordering its own digital agency to replace Windows in favor of Linux as the first step in a plan to claw back control of the country’s data and infrastructure from U.S. tech giants.

The details:

  • France’s digital ministry DINUM will be the first to migrate government workstations off Windows to Linux, with other ministries set to follow.

  • Paris is framing the shift as “regaining control of our digital destiny,” tying desktop OS choice to national security, data control, and geopolitical leverage.

  • Each ministry has been asked to deliver a plan to slash outside-European dependencies across desktops, cloud, AI platforms, and databases.

  • The move builds on earlier steps like dumping Microsoft Teams and Zoom for homegrown Visio across 2.5M public servants.

Why it matters: France is turning desktop IT into a sovereignty move, using a mass migration from Windows to Linux to test whether a major Western government can really pull back its dependence on U.S. operating systems, cloud ecosystems, and productivity suites without disrupting its own bureaucracy in the process.

HUAWEI

Image source: Huawei

The Rundown: Huawei just unveiled its upcoming Pura X Max, a book-style foldable with a passport-like form factor that opens into an ultra-wide mini tablet — beating Apple and Samsung to the punch and launching in China on April 20.

The details:

  • The original Pura X launched last year as a quirky wide-fold phone, and the X Max scales that idea into something closer to a compact tablet when open.

  • Official specs are still sparse, but Huawei has confirmed a triple rear camera array and configurations ranging from 12GB/256GB up to 16GB/1TB RAM.

  • Huawei has been on a U.S. trade restriction list since 2019 amid national security concerns, so this phone is unlikely to arrive in the U.S.

  • Samsung’s Galaxy Z Wide Fold is expected to land July 22, with Apple’s own wide foldable — rumored to start above $2K — set to follow in September.

Why it matters: In a segment dominated by tall and narrow foldable designs, Huawei is among Pixel Fold and Oppo to set the next form factor, and it’s doing it ahead of both Samsung and Apple. Huawei can’t compete in the U.S., but if the wide-first format lands in China, it hands rivals a template they’re already scrambling to design.

QUICK HITS

X is slashing creator payouts for accounts that post clickbait or rapidly recycled news, while saying it will redirect rewards toward more original content.

Slate Auto, an Amazon-linked EV startup, raised a new $650M Series C round to launch the production of its ultra-low-cost electric pickup truck by late 2026.

A 20-year-old Texas man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s San Francisco home.

Wegovy-maker Novo Nordisk is partnering with OpenAI to deploy advanced AI across its business to speed drug discovery and streamline operations.

Over 70 rights groups are pressuring Meta to drop its planned “Name Tag” facial recognition for smart glasses, warning it would erode privacy and aid abusers.

Scientists partially silenced the extra chromosome 21 in lab cells using a CRISPR-based XIST gene method, hinting at a possible future treatment for Down syndrome.

German shipbuilder Meyer Werft just unveiled “Project Vision,” a newly revealed concept for what could become the world’s first large, fully battery‑electric cruise ship.

Scientists created a new toothpaste that prevents gum disease by selectively blocking harmful bacteria while leaving the mouth’s beneficial microbes intact.

Toronto’s Kepler Communications deployed the largest in‑orbit compute cluster to date — about 40 Nvidia Orin GPUs across 10 laser‑linked satellites.

AMC will release the premiere episode of its new series “The Audacity” as 21 three-minute clips on TikTok, with the full episode also airing on AMC and AMC+.

COMMUNITY

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Rowan, Joey, Zach, Shubham, and Jennifer — The Rundown’s editorial team

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