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Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., speaks during the virtual Meta Connect event in New York, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022.

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Over the weekend, Alex Gorlick experienced what he called the worst Facebook glitch he’s seen in the decade he’s worked in digital advertising.

Gorlick, the CEO of marketing agency Intensify, checked in on one of his client’s accounts on Sunday, and noticed that it had spent 90% of its daily Facebook ad budget by 9 a.m. That meant it had only 10% left for the remaining 15 hours of the day.

He then found that the problem was widespread, spanning his entire customer base. Gorlick said that all those advertisers had essentially just wasted most of their money for the day, spending roughly triple the amount they normally would to acquire a customer.

“The results were horrendous,” Gorlick told CNBC. “It’s the biggest malfunction I’ve ever seen on Facebook ads.”

For brands that are already lowering ad costs to manage through a sluggish economy and a mobile ad market that no longer allows for targeting based on user data, Facebook’s miscue is more than just an unfortunate blip. In low-margin industries, where every dollar counts, it can turn a profitable weekend into a big loser, while also raising further questions about the reliability of Facebook’s ad systems.

A spokesperson for Facebook parent Meta acknowledged there was an ad glitch but declined to provide details or an explanation as to why it happened.

“A technical issue that has now been resolved caused ad delivery issues for some advertisers,” the spokesperson said.

How Facebook ad auctions work

In a typical Facebook online ad auction, a company can allocate a certain amount of money to run ads on the social media service over the course of a day to maximize how many eyeballs see the promotion. It appears that on Sunday the Facebook ad system bundled many more ads than normal into the morning hours, resulting in a highly inefficient day.

Data analytics and marketing firm Varos provided data showing that, of the more than 3,000 ecommerce and direct-to-consumer companies that use its technology, the software bug caused a majority of them to experience a rise in cost per thousand impressions, or what those in the industry call CPMs.

About 36% of companies were “very significantly impacted” by the bug, meaning their CPMs at least doubled, Varos said. Varos CEO Yarden Shaked said another third of companies experienced “significant increases but not like bonkers.”

Shaked said the glitch resulted in a “bidding war for nothing.” He compared it to Costco selling a random toaster that suddenly garnered so much demand that the price spiked way beyond market value.

“Everyone came in in the middle of the night for some reason and started a bidding war over that old toaster,” Shaked said. “You know, it’s completely ridiculous.”

Data about the glitch provided by the advertising technology firm Proxima on 108 companies also revealed that these firms spent their “entire day’s budget in the first few hours of the day,” the company said.

Companies that implemented cost caps, or limits on their advertising campaigns, were not impacted by the glitch, Proxima noted. When companies turned off their ad campaigns because of the bug, some bigger brands took advantage and were able to run successful Facebook ad campaigns throughout the day because of a lack of competition.

Additionally, the Facebook ad bug impacted companies running ads tied to Earth Day.

“The fact that it was Earth Day on Saturday, April 22nd meant that brands running sales for Earth Day were the most impacted like organic, eco-friendly brands focused on Earth Day as a key selling period,” the company said.

Barry Hott, a performance marketing consultant, said that at the time of the bug, the situation for companies running Facebook ads seemed “pretty massive, very painful.”

In retrospect, however, Hott believes the overall impact of the ad error might be “pretty small,” considering in the grand scheme of things, companies occasionally deal with big Meta ad errors that impact their campaigns.

Hott noted that Facebook experienced a major ad glitch a day before Black Friday in 2020 as well as another similar bug earlier that summer.

Refunds?

The main issue for advertisers will be whether they get refunds from Meta because of the glitch, industry experts said.

The Meta spokesperson said the company is “conducting a detailed analysis that assesses opportunities for refunds.”

“We have more information on the refunds process here,” the spokesperson added in a statement.

Because of the glitch, “a bunch of advertisers and business owners had a really s—y day,” Hott said, adding that they will have a “crappy week” as they wonder if they will get refunds and if they do, will it be the full amount they believe they should be owed or chump change.

He recommends that if advertisers have access to a Meta customer support representative — a part of Meta that has been hit by layoffs — they need to ask frequently about refunds, or risk being ignored. Because retailers often make business decisions like how many products they should order or sell based on their online advertisements, the software glitch could also impact other areas in a company’s business than just merely an increase to their CPMs.

“Basically, no one at the company is going to care about this problem if nobody’s saying anything about it, so they kind of count on advertisers to forget about this in a week or two weeks,” Hott said. “I tell everyone— I’ve had to do this myself — when these issues happen, you know, make a big stink about it.”

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Shaq, Sam Altman-backed college startup Campus taps former Meta AI head as CTO

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Shaq, Sam Altman-backed college startup Campus taps former Meta AI head as CTO

Sam Altman, chief executive officer of OpenAI Inc., during a media tour of the Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025.

Kyle Grillot | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Campus, a college startup backed by Sam Altman, has hired Meta‘s former AI Vice President Jerome Pesenti as its technology head, the company announced Friday.

As part of the deal, Campus will buy Pesenti’s artificial intelligence learning platform Sizzle AI for an undisclosed amount and integrate its personalized AI-generated educational content already used by 1.7 million people.

The acquisition advances the company’s “roadmap” by two to three years and helps the platform cater learning toward individual student needs, said Tade Oyerinde, Campus founder and chancellor.

“This is a game changer,” he told CNBC.

Campus was founded to disrupt the community college system by “maximizing access to world-class education,” according to its website. It offers accredited associate degrees taught by adjunct professors from the likes of Stanford, Princeton and New York University.

The platform has over 3,000 enrolled students, charges $7,320 per academic year and accepts Pell Grants, according to its website. It also provides attendees with a laptop, mobile Wi-Fi pack, personal success coach and 24/7 tutoring access. Professors make upwards of $8,000 per course.

Campus has raised over $100 million from the likes of Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, General Catalyst, NBA star Shaquille O’Neal, venture capitalist and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale and Figma CEO Dylan Field.

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Singapore police probe Nvidia customer Megaspeed over alleged China export violations

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Singapore police probe Nvidia customer Megaspeed over alleged China export violations

Singapore authorities are investigating artificial intelligence computing firm Megaspeed, a customer of American AI chipmaker Nvidia, for allegedly helping Chinese companies evade curbs on U.S. chip exports.

“The Singapore Police Force confirms that investigations are ongoing into Megaspeed for suspected breaches of our domestic laws,” the police told CNBC in an email.

The probe comes as the New York Times reported Thursday that the U.S. Commerce Department was also investigating whether Megaspeed skirted American export controls, citing anonymous officials and other people familiar with the matter.

The twin investigations into Megaspeed could raise questions about Nvidia’s ability to track its chip exports effectively and to comply with U.S. restrictions on the sale of its most advanced AI chips to China. 

According to an Nvidia spokesperson, the company had engaged the U.S. government on the matter and performed its own inquiry, without identifying “any reason to believe products have been diverted.” 

 “NVIDIA visited multiple Megaspeed sites yet again earlier this week and confirmed what we previously observed—Megaspeed is running a small commercial cloud, like many other companies throughout the world, as allowed by U.S. export control rules,” they said in a statement shared with CNBC Friday. 

Megaspeed didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the U.S. Commerce Department. 

The Times reported that Megaspeed, which spun off from a Chinese gaming company in 2023, bought nearly $2 billion worth of Nvidia’s most advanced products through its subsidiary in Malaysia.

Export loophole concerns 

The case surrounding Megaspeed highlights broader concerns about the effectiveness of U.S. export restrictions on advanced technologies, such as Nvidia’s AI processors. 

The U.S. government has, for years, restricted sales of advanced AI chips to China, citing concerns they could strengthen Beijing’s military and give it an edge in broader AI development, among others. 

But experts and lawmakers in Washington have long warned about loopholes in Washington’s export controls, while reports indicate that a massive black market for smuggled Nvidia chips has also emerged. 

The House Select Committee on China in April questioned Nvidia’s shipment of chips to China and Southeast Asia after reports that Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek used the company’s chips to train a groundbreaking AI model.

Just a few months prior, Singapore had launched a separate probe into the alleged smuggling of restricted Nvidia chips, which were declared bound for Malaysia but may have been diverted elsewhere, including China.

In response to such cases and mounting U.S. pressure, Malaysia announced in July that it would begin requiring permits for all exports and transfers of Nvidia chips.

Outsourcing to Southeast Asia?

Chinese companies have also exploited a legal gray area by tapping into computing power from data centers in Southeast Asia equipped with restricted Nvidia chips, according to recent reports.

For example, Megaspeed was using its Nvidia chips for data centers in Malaysia and Indonesia, which appeared to be remotely serving customers in China, according to the Times.

Nvidia didn’t directly address this claim, but said in its statement that the Trump administration’s recent AI Action plan “rightfully encourages businesses worldwide to embrace U.S. standards and U.S. leadership, benefiting national and economic security.”

Malaysia checking with data center companies if chips have 'gone to the right parties': Minister

The Trump administration has recently signaled interest in ensuring Nvidia maintains its global market dominance — even in China — though its AI Action plan also called for strengthening enforcement of export controls globally.

Lawmakers in Washington have also proposed bills that could see Nvidia required to outfit its chips with tracking systems.

Such proposals have received pushback from Beijing, which froze imports of Nvidia’s chips after the Trump administration said it would roll back restrictions on some of the firm’s chips made specifically for China.

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Qualcomm shares fall after China opens antitrust probe into the U.S. chip giant

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Qualcomm shares fall after China opens antitrust probe into the U.S. chip giant

Microchip and Qualcomm logo displayed on a phone screen are seen in this multiple exposure illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on April 10, 2023.

Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Qualcomm shares fell on Friday after Chinese regulators said it would investigate the American tech giant’s acquisition of chip firm Autotalks, ramping up tensions between the U.S. and China ahead of key meetings between the country’s leaders this month.

Shares were last around 3% lower in premarket trading.

China’s State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR) said that Qualcomm is suspected of violating the country’s anti-monopoly law in regards to its acquisition of Israeli firm Autotalks. The acquisition officially closed in June, just over two years after it was first announced.

In a short statement, the SAMR said it would initiate an investigation into Qualcomm.

Qualcomm was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC. The company sells its smartphone chips to some of the biggest players in China such as Xiaomi.

U.S. tech companies have recently been in the crosshairs of Chinese regulators ramping up tensions between Beijing and Washington ahead of key talks.

In September, the SAMR alleged that Nvidia had violated the country’s anti-monopoly law in relation to its acquisition of Mellanox and some agreements made during the acquisition. Meanwhile, Beijing has reportedly been discouraging local firms from buying Nvidia chips.

This week, China also tightened export controls on rare earths and related technologies. Rare earths are critical to high-tech industries, including automobiles, defense and semiconductors.

U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are expected to meet in person on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum during the last week of October in Gyeongju, South Korea.

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