Week 45: Meta buys Android by default, Google adds call data

Meta’s Marketing API v27 turns device targeting into a starting point: new Sales ad sets that target an operating system or device may now spend on other devices unless you set device to 0, and every API version follows around February 2027. Google spent the week on plumbing. Its Data Manager API takes call conversions and, for the first time, names the rows it dropped from an upload that reported success.

Published this week

• Google’s AI training opt-out will also cut Gemini’s links: the shared robots.txt opt-out counts as a Google-Extended block, and that also blocks grounding clicks.
• MMM vs last-click attribution: 104 weeks against one click: three MMM libraries’ data requirements against GA4’s last click.
• Server-side tags drop consent unless your code sends it: six conversion APIs, and Microsoft reads a missing consent value as granted.
• Conversion modeling has a floor, and only Google publishes it: the traffic each platform needs before it models lost conversions.
• IAB’s ECAPI rules let clean rooms take unhashed emails: the hash stops being the privacy floor where access controls hold.
• Meta API v27 lets your iOS ad sets buy Android by default: per-device ad-set results stop meaning per-device delivery.
• Browsers strip your click IDs and leave your UTMs: Firefox Strict and Brave remove Google’s, Meta’s and Microsoft’s IDs, and keep LinkedIn’s, Reddit’s and Pinterest’s.

Releases and changes

Meta

4 November. Graph API and Marketing API v27.0. New eligible Sales ad sets that target specific devices or operating systems have “Reach more people across other mobile devices” on unless device is 0, and all versions follow about 90 days later. A device-split report now shows where Meta chose to deliver, not where you told it to. Meta for Developers

Same release. total_video_consumption_rate stops returning data on every Graph API version from early November. Any Page video dashboard built on it loses that column. Meta for Developers

Google Ads and Data Manager API

4 November. Call conversions in the Data Manager API. A new call_info field carries the call start time, with the caller as a hashed phone number. Offline call imports can now move off the Google Ads API to the same endpoint as other conversions. Google Ads developer blog

4 November. Row-level diagnostics. Each error and warning count now carries record_indices, the positions of the failed records in your request. A green upload could always hide dropped rows; now you can find them, for example every row rejected as CLICK_NOT_FOUND. Google Ads developer blog

4 November. lead_id accepted, not yet attributed. The Data Manager API takes the lead form ID, but Google says attribution on lead_id and match_id isn’t available yet. An event that carries only those identifiers will not attribute, so keep sending a click ID or hashed user data with it. Google Ads developer blog

4 November. Multi-party approval changes, from the week of 7 December. Access invitations wait for approval before they exist, a new stale-request error arrives in v26.2, and one call can resolve 100 reviews. Tools that read resource_name straight after inviting a user need a change before 7 December. Google Ads developer blog

Google Search

30 October. Shared AI training opt-out. Google plans to read the shared robots.txt training opt-out as a Google-Extended block when Google-Extended is not named. Since Google-Extended also controls grounding in Gemini Apps, the training opt-out also removes those clicks. Google Search Central

Microsoft

4 November. Clarity Agent Activity, Conversational Analytics and Brand Agents. Clarity will show which AI agents visit a site, what they do there and where they hit friction. Agent visits get their own report, next to the human sessions you already measure. Microsoft Advertising blog

Reddit

3 November. Ads in search results, in test. Reddit is testing ad placements on search results pages with select advertisers, matched partly on the query. Nothing yet on how search placements will be reported, so watch for a placement breakdown before you budget for it. Reddit

IAB Tech Lab

3 November. ECAPI clean-room guidelines final, v1.1 open for comment. The guidance lets participants send unhashed identifiers where the environment enforces access controls. If you send conversions to a clean room, the spec you build against has just changed. IAB Tech Lab

What to do

1. Set device to 0 on Meta ad sets where the device is the point, such as an iOS-only app-to-web funnel, and note the v27 date on any device-split report.
2. Read record_indices after every Data Manager upload, and resend the failed rows with their error fixed. Keep a click ID or hashed user data on every event that carries a lead_id.
3. Check the code that invites users through the Google Ads API before the week of 7 December.

A missing device or lead ID is one way a conversion loses its match. The other is the click ID that never reached your server. Which browsers strip which click IDs?