Publicis to Acquire LiveRamp in $2.2 B Deal Linking Two Censorship-Focused Firms

Publicis Groupe disclosed a $2.2 billion agreement to acquire LiveRamp, an ad-technology provider that previously advocated using ad-blocking as an anti-racism measure. Anneka Gupta, LiveRamp’s former head of products, wrote a Forbes column in December 2020 praising the use of ad servers to block content deemed racist and urging companies to embed diversity, inclusion and belonging (DIB) into product design. Publicis, which led the 2018 seed round for NewsGuard—a blacklist service that offers advertisers a whitelist of vetted news sites—has long been involved in brand-safety projects, including the HealthGuard browser plug-in and the VaxFacts campaign.

NewsGuard’s methodology has drawn criticism for its opaque ratings and political bias. The LiveRamp acquisition reunites two entities that have faced regulatory attention, notably an FTC consent decree that barred Publicis and other agencies from colluding on ad-exclusion lists. Observers expect the merger to attract further scrutiny over the combined firm’s influence on online censorship and advertising practices.