Brian Billow–a former creative director at DDB Chicago where he worked on such accounts as Anheuser-Busch, McDonald’s, OfficeMax and Wrigley’s–has come aboard the directorial roster of bicoastal/international Hungry Man. Prior to DDB, he was a creative at McCann Erickson, New York, contributing to spots for the MasterCard “Priceless” campaign, Budget Rental Cars, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, Rolling Rock and Xbox. Among Billow’s directing credits are commercials for McDonald’s, Wrigley’s and Vermont Lottery. His filmography also includes the short titled Bodega, which he both wrote and directed. The short, which has generated considerable buzz on the film festival circuit, tells the story of an extremely creative guy whose vocation is robbing convenience stores….New York-based Sound Lounge Music & Sound Design has hired Marcus Smith as executive producer. He most recently was co-founder and executive producer for New York music house Siblings where he worked on commercials for such clients as JCPenney and Nikon. Smith also produced the original music for this year’s Academy Award-winning and Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award-nominated documentary Taxi to the Dark Side directed by Alex Gibney (who recently entered into a deal for TV commercial representation via Beverly Hills-headquartered Saville Productions)…..New York-based multiplatform production company Transistor Studios has brought Jacob Bondre on board as its lead interactive developer. He has served in senior creative and development capacities at various shops, including Whatever Solutions and Media Inc., Blast Radius, OgilvyOne and Ogilvy Interactive….
Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Meta
The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.
The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.
The high court dismissed the company's appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.
Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump 's first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.
Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. "The plaintiff's claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court," Stone said in an emailed statement.
Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.
Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia.... Read More