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Kara Swisher and Jack Dorsey's #KaraJack chat showed Twitter needs major product fixes to make it easier to follow complex public conversations — Without major fixes to the product, the platform will never be a place for complex discussions. — Earlier this week, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey …
Discussion:
Recode, @jack, Recode, @karaswisher, Twitter, @karaswisher, @dangillmor, @recode, CNET, @caro_milanesi, @karaswisher, @klasfeldreports, @waltmossberg, @voxdotcom, @blackamazon, @kurtwagner8, BBC, @digiphile, @karaswisher, The Next Web, Fortune, 9to5Mac and The Verge


UK parliament's report on fake news and disinformation says “digital gangster” Facebook deliberately broke laws, calls for antitrust, data abuse investigations — A final report by a British parliamentary committee which spent months last year investigating online political disinformation makes …
Discussion:
Press Gazette, Washington Post, The Guardian, The Hill, The Guardian, Financial Times, CNET, The Guardian and The Verge, more at Techmeme »


Xuexi Qiangguo, a propaganda app with Snapchat-like messaging features developed by China's Communist Party, becomes top free app on Apple's App Store in China — The Xuexi Qiangguo app is now most downloaded item on Apple's App Store in China, surpassing popular social media apps such as WeChat and TikTok.
Discussion:
Cult of Mac, shanghaiist, Tech in Asia, @robert_spalding, CNN, The Edge Markets, BBC, New York Times, The Guardian, China Media Project and Fortune, more at Techmeme »


Profile of Sports Reference, a family of sports websites with 11 full-time staff, that its founder says had 1B page views last year — PHILADELPHIA — While writing a sermon in September, Cheryl Pyrch, the pastor of Summit Presbyterian Church, needed an assist.
Discussion:
@byjameswagner, @minorleagueball, @tinasturdevant and @oh_that_crab


Blippi, a YouTube star popular with kids, says he used DMCA takedown notices for years to remove Harlem Shake Poop, an embarrassing 2013 video he starred in — Someone claiming to represent Blippi filed DMCA copyright takedown requests to Google in order to get an embarrassing viral video hidden.
Discussion:
@cshirky, @charlielyne, @tiffanycli, @scout_finch, @arthur_affect and @jason_koebler, more at Techmeme »


An account of the rise and untimely death of Vine and HQ Trivia cofounder Colin Kroll, based on interviews with and documents from friends, police, and others — Self-taught coder Colin Kroll shot to startup fame, allowing him to live life in a fast lane — Colin Kroll, a college dropout …
Discussion:
@daiwaka, @mattrosoff, @_danielsinclair, @poochmcgoo, @antoniogm, Business Insider, @reaganbrad, @mikeisaac, @murraymatt, @apblake, @kerrymflynn, @shalini, @shalini, @shalini and @shalini


Outgoing director of the International Fact-Checking Network reflects on how fact-checking changed since 2015, dealing with platforms like Facebook, and more — So long, fact-checkers … When I started as director of the International Fact-Checking Network in September 2015, there was very little there to direct.
Discussion:
@politifact, @newslitproject, @firstdraftnews, @digiphile, @dpfunke, Nieman Lab, @janebsinger and @mantzarlis


Interview with Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at Media Matters, who has been closely tracking how Fox News coverage influences Trump's tweets since 2017 — “There's a saying in politics that personnel is policy,” Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at Media Matters, said on a recent afternoon.
Discussion:
@mattgertz, @mattgertz, @susannahchen, @mattgertz, @mattgertz, @mattgertz and Washington Post


A history of how many 19th century newspapers blackmailed prominent figures, made newly relevant following the Jeff Bezos-National Enquirer scandal — After buying The Washington Post in 2013, Jeffrey P. Bezos visited the newsroom and answered questions from employees in a town-hall-style meeting.
Thanks:@mikerosenwald


Brazilian fact-checker AosFatos.org describes how it found an estimated 3M visits to fake news sites allegedly connected to its impersonator AosFatos.com — Someone is publishing fake news stories on a website that looks like a fact-checking organization. — On Wednesday, Brazilian fact …


Interview with Conde Nast CRO Pamela Drucker Mann on transition from a publishing company to a full-fledged media company, content partnerships, and more — Bob is out and a new CEO is (eventually) coming... so what exactly is going on at Condé Nast?


In editorial, journalists at Loyola University's newspaper describe how the university communications office has restricted media access to professors and staff — A Phoenix news reporter, on the trail of a story about Loyola's above-average abundance of women in STEM programs …
Discussion:
@johnrobinson, @mikemcdtweets, @crampell and @royalpratt