AD Tech Watch #12: ChatGPT Ads Reach Nigeria, Urgent PHP Fix, Chrome HTTP Warnings

AD Tech Watch is our short, selected roundup of the AI, search and software news that matters to businesses in Nigeria, explained in plain English. In this issue: ChatGPT Ads now officially run in Nigeria, PHP has released urgent fixes for two critical flaws that put WordPress and other PHP websites at risk, Chrome now asks visitors for permission before opening any website without HTTPS, and Google Ads has a beta tool that turns an English Search campaign into French and other languages.

Issue #12 · 23 October 2026 · By AD Technologies Limited, an AI technology company in Lagos

1. ChatGPT Ads Now Officially Run in Nigeria

What happened: On 21 October 2026, OpenAI announced that ChatGPT Ads are expanding to 26 more countries, and Nigeria is named on the list, alongside South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Serbia, Cambodia and 14 countries in Latin America. OpenAI says ChatGPT Ads now cover 89 countries and that more than 100,000 advertisers have run campaigns since ads launched just over eight months ago. Advertisers in the new countries can buy ads through technology partners or set up campaigns themselves in Ads Manager. Ads appear only to people on ChatGPT’s Free and Go plans; Plus, Pro and Enterprise stay ad-free. OpenAI says advertisers do not see users’ conversations, ads are clearly labelled and kept separate from answers, and advertising does not influence what ChatGPT says. OpenAI’s announcement does not give minimum budgets, prices or whether you can pay in naira.

What this means for Nigerian businesses: Until now, Nigerian businesses could not be sure they could advertise on ChatGPT. Now they can, and early advertisers in a new market often face less competition. Start small: one campaign, a modest daily budget and a landing page that clearly states what you sell, where you deliver and your prices in naira. Remember the change we covered in AD Tech Watch #11: from late October, ChatGPT Ads switch on automatic rewrites and translations of your ads by default, so check that setting when you open your account. Paid ads and being recommended for free in ChatGPT’s answers are separate things; the second is what our GEO work in Nigeria is about.

Sources: OpenAI, Search Engine Roundtable.

2. Urgent PHP Security Fix: Ask Your Host to Update Your WordPress Website Now

What happened: On 21 October 2026, the PHP project released PHP 8.5.12, 8.4.27, 8.3.36 and 8.2.35 to fix two critical vulnerabilities (CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619, both rated 9.2 on CVSS v4.0) that can let an attacker run code on a web server without logging in. PHP’s advisory says all PHP installations serving web requests are at risk, including PHP-FPM, Apache with mod_php, php-cgi, FrankenPHP and LiteSpeed, with the highest risk on mod_php. It says “updating is the only safe choice”, and that PHP 8.1 and older no longer get updates from the PHP project. PHP 8.2 reaches end of life on 31 December 2026. Search Engine Roundtable, which calls the issue “PHP2Shell”, reported that some European government, school and hospital websites were taken offline as a precaution. Google’s John Mueller advised site owners who take a site down while patching to return an HTTP 503 status rather than letting pages time out or show 404 or 500 errors.

What this means for Nigerian businesses: WordPress runs on PHP, so if your website is built on WordPress, this affects you. Most businesses on shared or managed hosting cannot update PHP themselves, so contact your hosting company today and ask two questions: has the server been updated to one of the fixed versions, and is your site on PHP 8.2 or newer? If you are on PHP 8.1 or older, ask to move to a supported version, test your site after the switch and keep a backup. If you need to take the site offline while it is fixed, ask your developer to show a 503 maintenance page so Google treats the downtime as temporary. If you would rather have this handled, our WordPress team can help.

Sources: PHP.net, Search Engine Roundtable.

3. Chrome Now Asks Permission Before Opening Websites Without HTTPS

What happened: Google said on 21 October 2026 that Chrome now asks users for permission before making an insecure HTTP connection, for all users by default on desktop and mobile. Google first switched this on earlier in the year for people using Safe Browsing’s Enhanced Protection mode. Chrome asks the first time someone visits an HTTP site; after they approve, it does not ask again unless they stay away from that site for at least two weeks. Google explains that the old “Not Secure” label only warned people after their data had already been exposed, and says “100% of web traffic should be HTTPS”. Separately, on 20 October Google announced new Chrome protections against scams for Enhanced Protection users, including a “suspicious site” warning and server-side Gemini scam detection.

What this means for Nigerian businesses: If your website, booking page or online shop still loads on http:// instead of https://, Chrome visitors now see a warning screen before your page opens, and many will turn back. Type your web address with http:// at the start and check that it switches to https:// with a padlock. If it does not, ask your host to install an SSL certificate and redirect all pages to HTTPS. Many hosts offer free certificates from Let’s Encrypt, often with a single setting. Also check older links, such as payment pages, subdomains and links printed on flyers or in WhatsApp catalogues.

Sources: Google Blog, Google Blog (scam protections).

4. Google Ads Can Now Turn an English Search Campaign Into French and Other Languages

What happened: Search Engine Roundtable reported on 22 October that a translation tool is rolling out inside Google Ads, found under Tools, according to a LinkedIn post by Jyll Saskin Gales. It appears to be Google’s AI campaign localization tool for Search campaigns, which is in beta. Google’s help page says it creates a new, separate campaign and leaves the original unchanged. It translates headlines, descriptions, sitelinks, callouts and keywords, removes text from images and adds the translated messages as extra text assets, and can translate landing pages with a JavaScript snippet or let you swap in your own translated URLs. The source campaign must be in English (US). Target languages are Dutch, French, French (Canada), German, Italian, Polish, two kinds of Portuguese and two kinds of Spanish, with more promised by the end of 2026. Budgets and bids are copied exactly, with no currency conversion. Google’s help page does not mention country restrictions, so whether every Nigerian account has access is not confirmed.

What this means for Nigerian businesses: Nigeria is surrounded by French-speaking markets, including Benin, Togo, Niger, Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire. If you export, ship across borders or sell software or services in the region, this tool could give you a French version of your best Search campaign in minutes. Treat the result as a first draft: ask a fluent French speaker to check the ads and landing page, set the new campaign’s budget yourself, and target only the countries you can actually serve. Keep your original English campaign running separately so you can compare results.

Sources: Search Engine Roundtable, Google Ads Help.

Also This Week: Reps Summon MTN, Airtel and Glo CEOs Over Poor Network Quality

The House of Representatives’ ad hoc committee on telecom service quality has directed the chief executives of MTN, Airtel, Globacom, MAFAB Communications and other providers to appear before it on 28 October 2026 at the National Assembly and to submit relevant documents by that date, Nairametrics reported on 22 October. The committee warned that CEOs who fail to appear could face arrest and told the NCC to make sure they comply. If poor network is costing your business calls, payments or orders, keep a simple log of outages with dates and locations; it makes complaints to your provider, and escalation to the NCC, much stronger. Sources: Nairametrics.

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