Top News:
Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Reddit on Russian propaganda: hundreds of accounts removed, few Russian ads were seen and are now disallowed, @TEN_GOP tweets amplified by “thousands” on Reddit — Reddit didn't find any Russian ads about the 2016 election, but there was plenty of non-ad content being shared.
Michael J. de la Merced / New York Times:
Google is selling US restaurant review guide Zagat, which it bought for $151M in 2011, to restaurant review company The Infatuation for an undisclosed sum — When Google agreed to buy Zagat for $151 million nearly seven years ago, the technology giant intended to bring the restaurant review empire into the digital age.
Discussion:
The Infatuation, @nytimesbusiness, @bmorrissey, @lainehiggins17, @besvinick, @schmooey, Forbes, Fortune, Eater, Search Engine Land, TechCrunch, Eater, Engadget and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Peter Kafka / Recode:
ESPN names Jimmy Pitaro as new president of ESPN and co-chair of Disney Media Networks; he's currently head of Disney consumer products and interactive — He's the man many people thought Bob Iger would pick to run the sports giant. — Disney is poised to make an internal hire to run ESPN …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Cox Media's conservative site Rare, which was heavily reliant on Facebook traffic with 2.3M fans, is closing at the end of this month after launching in 2013 — Rare.us, the viral content site launched by Cox Media in 2013 to take on the ever-evolving digital landscape from a right of center lens …
Discussion:
@ewerickson, @pfeifferdc, @kevinwglass and @joeperticone
Sydney Ember / New York Times:
Profile of Phillip Picardi, chief content officer of Teen Vogue since January, who has launched a digital LGBT community platform for Condé Nast, called Them — Is Phillip Picardi, a former intern who now heads up Teen Vogue, the future of Condé Nast? Anna Wintour seems to think so.
Discussion:
Fashionista
Yahoo! Finance:
Indonesia blocks Tumblr for ignoring order to remove pornographic content, says 360 accounts contained porn, will make it accessible when Tumblr complies — Indonesia has blocked online blogging service Tumblr over pornographic content, the government said Tuesday, in Jakarta's latest crackdown on obscenity.
Jay Solomon / Columbia Journalism Review:
Journalist Jay Solomon lost his job as a foreign correspondent with the Wall Street Journal after being targeted by hackers who were likely state sponsored — How hacked emails and a yacht in Monaco ended my career — Off the coast of Monaco in the summers of 2014 and 2015 …
Discussion:
@nxthompson and @jpodhoretz, more at Techmeme »
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Early estimates from Nielsen suggest ratings for Sunday's 90th Academy Awards dropped significantly since last year's show — Live viewership of the 90th annual Academy Awards ceremony was down significantly from the 2017 telecast, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings for ABC's nearly four-hour telecast.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Deadline, Hollywood Reporter, Breitbart, Mediaite, @areyoutherezod, @thr, Forbes, Ad Age, The Daily Caller, Fortune, The A.V. Club, @poniewozik, Broadcasting & Cable, VideoNuze Analysis, The New York Observer, Vanity Fair, Mediaite, Business Insider, Rolling Stone, TVNewser, TVWeek.com and FierceCable
Joey Rhyu / Facebook Media:
Facebook has been testing a breaking news label for articles, is expanding that beta to 50 more publishers in Latin America, North America, Europe, Australia — Earlier this year we made a commitment to show more high quality news on Facebook. People tell us they want to see informative news …
Discussion:
Social Media Today, @pkafka, Adweek, Engadget, Fast Company, TechCrunch, @nberke, @johncolucci, Search Engine Journal, @charlesarthur, @abtran, @alexhern, @jessebrown and @moorehn, more at Techmeme »
Alex Nichols / The Outline:
A look at the tweets of those making money from private accounts with Premo: John Schindler appears to earn $17K/month and Eric Garland $3K/month — I know, because I read them. — Facebook and Twitter have both pledged never to charge users a monthly fee for their basic services …
Discussion:
@ninjaeconomics, @joshuatopolsky, @20committee, The Daily Caller, @mazmhussain and @lowenaffchen
Michael Potuck / 9to5Mac:
Netflix update lets parents set custom PINs for individual movies or shows and displays maturity level ratings at the moment of hitting play — Netflix today announced that it is updating its parental controls to create more detailed protection for young viewers.
Discussion:
Netflix Media Center, TechCrunch, MacRumors, The Verge, VentureBeat and Mashable, more at Techmeme »
Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:
MoviePass CEO says its app tracks user locations before and after movies, which is not information currently disclosed in privacy policy — Everyone knew the MoviePass deal is too good to be true — and as is so often the case these days, it turns out you're not the customer, you're the product.
Discussion:
Gizmodo, Engadget, The Verge, MacRumors, New York Magazine, 9to5Mac and Quartz, more at Techmeme »