Top News:
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
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, The Guardian, Washington Post, Marketing Week, CNET, @jennycohn1, The Verge, The Hill, The Guardian and Financial Times, more at Techmeme »
Taylor Lorenz / The Atlantic:
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, @karaswisher, @dangillmor, @recode, @caro_milanesi, @karaswisher, @klasfeldreports, @waltmossberg, @voxdotcom, @blackamazon, @kurtwagner8, CNET, BBC, Twitter, @digiphile, @karaswisher, The Next Web, Fortune, 9to5Mac and The Verge
South China Morning Post:
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:
@robert_spalding, CNN, The Edge Markets, shanghaiist, Cult of Mac, BBC, Tech in Asia, New York Times, The Guardian, China Media Project and Fortune, more at Techmeme »
James Wagner / New York Times:
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
Wall Street Journal:
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
Jason Koebler / Motherboard:
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 »
Rita Liao / TechCrunch:
Alibaba acquires 8% stake in Nasdaq-listed Chinese anime streaming site Bilibili; Tencent paid $320M for its 12.3% stake in Bilibili in October — Ecommerce giant Alibaba is continuing its push into the world of youth culture after it scooped up an 8 percent stake in anime streaming and game publishing company Bilibili.
Discussion:
Variety, more at Techmeme »
Amal Ahmed / Columbia Journalism Review:
How ISPU, a think tank focusing on religious minorities, uses poll data and reports to help journalists challenge stereotypical portrayals of Muslim Americans — Muslim Americans are more likely to marry outside their faith tradition than Protestants. A third of the members …
Discussion:
@amalykinz
Michael S. Rosenwald / 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
Poynter:
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, @janebsinger, @mantzarlis and Nieman Lab
Anna Altman / Columbia Journalism Review:
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
Daniel Funke / Poynter:
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 …