Mediagazer: What to expect as oral arguments begin Friday in Mozilla's lawsuit to stop FCC's repeal of net neutrality rules (Colin Lecher/The Verge)

Vice to lay off 10% of staff, or ~250 people, across the company as part of restructuring effort; weekly “Vice” show on HBO also ending — The cuts, which will impact around 250 people, are part of new CEO Nancy Dubuc's strategic plan to tighten spending and achieve profitability.

Daniel Funke / Poynter:

Snopes pulls out of Facebook partnership, says Facebook's closed, manual fact-checking entry system is too labor intensive and fails to benefit the whole web — Snopes is no longer debunking misinformation in partnership with Facebook. In a statement published Friday …

Discussion: Snopes.com, Adweek, Mediaite, Bloomberg, The Guardian, Fortune, Engadget, The Verge, @sarahfrier, Boing Boing, Snopes.com, CNBC, @dpfunke, Mashable, @bendwalsh, @tarletong and @tmclaughlin3, more at Techmeme »

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

In interview with Trump, NYT journalists and publisher try explaining the global effect of “fake news” claims but his focus shifted to his personal grievances — President Trump takes credit for popularizing the term “fake news.” — But the consequences? Not his concern.

Discussion: New York Times, New York Times, Washington Post, @riegerreport, CNBC, @craigunger, @jimrutenberg, @frankbruni, Mediaite, @scottbix, @marybschneider, @brianstelter, @maxboot, Contemptor, @jdawsey1 and The Daily Beast

Chuck Strouse / Miami New Times:

Memo: McClatchy is offering a voluntary early retirement program to about 450 employees, says it will be a one-time opportunity — This morning, Craig Forman, CEO of McClatchy Company, emailed all staff to say about 10 percent of the newspaper chain's employees would be offered voluntary buyouts.

Discussion: @lindseywasson, @hannahallam, @cliomiso, @parkermolloy, @sulliview, @stevejanoski, @jeffdomingues, @romenesko and @charlesapple

Colin Lecher / The Verge:

What to expect as oral arguments begin Friday in Mozilla's lawsuit to stop FCC's repeal of net neutrality rules — The FCC will make its case against the rules — Oral arguments will begin tomorrow for one of the most important cases in internet law history.

Discussion: Gizmodo, Free Press, Common Dreams, Ars Technica, NPR, Gizmodo, 9to5Mac and Washington Post, more at Techmeme »

Taylor Soper / GeekWire:

Amazon's “other” revenue, which is mostly composed of its advertising services, hit $3.4B in Q4, up 95% YoY and reaching $10.1B for all of 2018 — Amazon's advertising business is showing no signs of letting up. — Amazon reports record profits of $3B, crushes Wall Street expectations for holiday quarter

Discussion: Amazon.com, Inc. - IR, On my Om, RAIN News, Marketing Land, Light Reading, @xpangler, San Francisco Chronicle and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

The Pentagon hasn't done an on-camera press briefing since May; formerly daily State Department briefings averaged six per month in last three months of 2018 — With President Trump sending more troops to the southern border, pulling some out of Syria and causing uncertainty among allies in NATO …

Peter Kafka / Recode:

Spotify in advanced talks to acquire podcast producer Gimlet, which would be its first purchase of an original content maker; Gimlet was valued at ~$70M in 2017 — Spotify wants to break out of the music streaming business. Gimlet, the company behind shows like Crimetown and Reply All, can help.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reporter and @evoterra

Ken Doctor / Nieman Lab:

For M&A possibilities among legacy newspaper companies and even digital startups, the next recession looms large and everything is on the table — In an industry where expense reduction is the prime strategy, much more consolidation is likely on the way. Little regulation prevents it, and the financials all favor it.

Discussion: @darrendcarroll, @newsbyschmidt and @timhanlon

Hannah Murphy / Financial Times:

Facebook says it was able to uncover the Iranian network thanks to information from Twitter and that the two have been sharing notes sooner than previously — Facebook and Twitter have removed thousands of fake accounts originating from Iran, some dating back as far as 2010, after collaborating to combat disinformation.

Discussion: Engadget

Discussion: Slate, New York Times, Twitter, Adweek, @donara_barojan, @donie, @wiczipedia, @justinhendrix, Al Jazeera, CNN, @josh_emerson, Blog Network, @yoyoel, @policy, @wiczipedia, @dcherring, Twitter, Recode, Reuters, The Week and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

Bloomberg:

Sources: Sinclair and the MLB, among others, bid for Fox's regional sports networks minus the YES network, with offers much lower than the anticipated $20B — - Bids value assets at well below the $22 billion estimated — Latest round attracts offers from Sinclair, Apollo and MLB

Discussion: Awful Announcing

Amy Gesenhues / Marketing Land:

MediaRadar: YouTube 2018 ad revenue rose 11% YoY, as media and entertainment companies brought in 30%+ of ad revenue and Geico and Samsung accounted for 11.5% — YouTube ad revenues increased 11 percent year-over-year in 2018, according to MediaRadar. — YouTube saw a 51 percent ad renewal …

Daniel Sanchez / Digital Music News:

A ranking of music streaming services by royalty payouts: Napster leads the way with $.019/stream, and YouTube trails with $.00069/stream — Late last month, Digital Music News updated its list of what streaming music services pay. — Thanks to information from third-party websites and actual artists …

Discussion: @euforcreators