A New Chapter for the Interactive Advertising Bureau

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), a massive trade group that represents companies on all sides of the digital ads ecosystem, is about to get a whole lot more involved in tech policy discussions on Capitol Hill. IAB has tapped Lartease Tiffith, an Amazon public policy executive and former aide to Vice President Kamala Harris, to lead its policy shop. And Tiffith plans to make the group’s presence known. IAB has faced serious disagreements among its roughly 700 members, who include both the big tech platforms — such as Google, Meta and Amazon — as well as smaller publishers and brands that feel exploited by those companies’ control over the digital ads ecosystem. IAB too often advocates on behalf of the biggest tech companies. Tiffith believes it will be his job to find consensus among IAB’s diverse membership. His top priorities include lobbying for federal privacy legislation that preempts state laws and against digital services taxes. “The digital advertising ecosystem is one that our country relies on,” Tiffith said. He added that he is “absolutely” in touch with the vice president and her close aides, and said he intends to advocate particularly on behalf of the small- and medium-sized businesses that benefit from digital ads. “I do think there will be some opportunities to be more vocal about what we do and don’t do,” Tiffith said. “We want to make sure people know where IAB stands.”