Top News:
Taylor Lorenz / The Atlantic:
Instagram, which has largely escaped scrutiny, is teeming with conspiracy theories, misinformation, and extremist memes, linked by its recommendation algorithm — When Alex, now a high-school senior, saw an Instagram account he followed post about something called QAnon back in 2017 …
Discussion:
@taylorlorenz, @jameshamblin, @elizabethethorp, @qhrizpolley and @cwarzel, more at Techmeme »
Peter Kafka / Recode:
Sources: Apple's new TV service to be unveiled Monday will be a storefront for other streaming services, where Apple will set and offer its own bundles — Apple's TV plans, explained. (Spoiler: Apple isn't taking on Netflix yet.) — After years of circling the TV business …
Discussion:
9to5Mac, @pkafka, @pkafka, @pkafka, @pkafka, Bloomberg, Editor & Publisher and Talking Biz News, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Sources: WSJ plans to join the new paid tier of Apple News to be announced on Monday, expected to cost $10/month; NYT and The Washington Post have opted out — SAN FRANCISCO — The Wall Street Journal plans to join a new paid subscription news service run by Apple, according to two people familiar …
Discussion:
Gizmodo, Fortune, CNBC, The Verge, @nytimesbusiness, @caro_milanesi, @mdudas, @mikeisaac, @zidanism, Engadget, MacRumors, 9to5Mac and MAC blog, more at Techmeme »
James Vincent / The Verge:
Four European Wikipedia sites are blocking access and directing users to contact their EU representatives on March 21 to protest the copyright directive — Sites including Reddit, Twitch, and PornHub are also encouraging users in the EU to contact local politicians
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Former Recode EIC Dan Frommer launches The New Consumer, covering e-commerce and direct-to-consumer brands with a twice-a-week newsletter, for $200/year — Dan Frommer has worked at some of the best-known publications in tech and business journalism — he was editor in chief of Recode …
Discussion:
Talking Biz News, The New Consumer, @fromedome and @fromedome
Facebook:
The NZ shooting video was harder to block on Facebook than official terrorist propaganda videos because the latter aren't rebroadcast or reshared widely — We continue to keep the people, families and communities affected by the tragedy in New Zealand in our hearts.
Paige Leskin / Business Insider:
YouTube shut down Fantastic Adventures, a channel with 800K subscribers, as creator gets arrested for allegedly mistreating her kids who performed in the shows — - YouTube creator Machelle Hackney, behind the popular channel “Fantastic Adventures,” has been arrested in connection …
Discussion:
The Wrap, NBC News, BuzzFeed News, Washington Post, @broderick, @brionykidd, @ambiej, The A.V. Club and The Daily Caller
Emily Bell / Columbia Journalism Review:
After the events in New Zealand, journalists and tech companies should once again reflect on their roles in how extremist material enters the public square — Journalism has a panopticon problem. Just like the watchman in the center of Jeremy Bentham's theoretical circular prison …
Discussion:
@jbenton and @columbiajourn
Laura M. Holson / New York Times:
After Rep. Devin Nunes sued Twitter and the @DevinCow account claiming defamation, the parody account gained 465K+ followers, surpassing his own follower count — Consider this: A parody account pretending to be an imaginary cow owned by Representative Devin Nunes, the California Republican …
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
With no spammy notifications, bots and troll mentions, email newsletters are becoming a more attractive medium than news feeds for writers — SAN FRANCISCO — My favorite new social network doesn't incessantly spam me with notifications. When I post, I'm not bombarded with @mentions from bots and trolls.
Discussion:
@millie, @alexisohanian, @nikillinit and Boing Boing
Sarah Feldberg / Columbia Journalism Review:
A lawsuit in California about the employment misclassification of delivery truck drivers prompts some companies to stop working with freelance reporters — Carrie Bell likes being her own boss. A full-time freelancer for nearly 18 years, she covers entertainment and travel for outlets like Yahoo and PopSugar.
Discussion:
@malenawatrous, @rachaelmyrow, @paperalphabet, @candjattorneys, @wordchem and @bu_law
Spencer Soper / Bloomberg:
Sources: Amazon is beta testing video ads on its shopping app on iOS with plans for a similar product for Android later in 2019 — - Online retailer pushing video ad space in its smartphone apps — Product-related video content can keep shoppers from defecting
Discussion:
@rasmus_kleis, more at Techmeme »
Caroline Haskins / Motherboard:
Interviews detail the ongoing battle on YouTube between children-focused channels making animated videos and those featuring humans — Animated videos dominate the kids YouTube space. Humans are fighting against YouTube's algorithm to try and compete. — Last month, news feeds were saturated with distressing headlines about Momo.
Michelle Castillo / Cheddar:
Sources: Netflix is upping its “marketing partnership” efforts, which include licensing characters and doing product placements in its shows — The streaming giant is staffing up its marketing partnerships teams to license characters and place more brands in shows.
Discussion:
@jonesonthenba