Top News:
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google shutters FLoC, its controversial ad tech for replacing third-party cookies, and proposes Topics, which categorizes the sites users visit into 300+ topics — FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts), Google's controversial project for replacing cookies for interest-based advertising …
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Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
Fox News' Peter Doocy says Biden called him to “clear the air” about an hour after the president was caught on a hot mic calling Doocy “a stupid son of a bitch” — The president later called Peter Doocy and “cleared the air,” Mr. Doocy said.
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Andy Greene / Rolling Stone:
Neil Young posts and then deletes a letter to his manager and a Warner exec demanding they remove his music from Spotify over Joe Rogan's vaccine misinformation — Neil Young posted a since-deleted letter to his management team and record label demanding that they remove his music from Spotify.
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Viola Zhou / VICE:
Fight Club gets an alternate ending in its China release on Tencent Video wherein the police thwart Tyler Durden's anarchist plan — Someone tried very hard to please Chinese movie censors. — VZ — Fight Club is getting an entirely different ending in a new online release in China …
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Sara Fischer / Axios:
Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee send letter to NBC's execs asking whether China or IOC have attempted to influence NBC's Olympics coverage — Republican leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have sent a letter to NBC Universal executives voicing concerns about …
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Wall Street Journal:
Visa and other major advertisers are skipping the Olympics ad blitz, caught between the US' stance on Uighurs and China's ability to punish brands — Visa, P&G and Coca-Cola are keeping a relatively low profile as Washington highlights human rights in Xinjiang
Discussion:
@stuwoo, @vranicawsj, MSMI Intelligencer and New York Post
Daniel Frankel / Next TV:
Cable operators are quietly dropping Newsmax; Atlantic Broadband, Cincinnati Bell, Hargray Communications, and Blue Ridge Communications say it's just business — Conservative channel's carriage issues emerge as rival OAN faces pay TV oblivion — While the focus has been on its conservative …
Discussion:
The Streamable and @dannyfrankel
Alex Webb / Bloomberg:
PitchBook: VCs invested $1.4B in US and European publishing startups in 2021, more than twice the investment of any previous year — Spiffy online news outlets are hot again. Every month seems to welcome a new publication built on an established journalist's existing audience.
Discussion:
@acoyne
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Substack plans to launch an embedded video player in beta next week that will let creators upload or record a video directly onto a Substack post — Substack plans to launch a native video player next week in an effort to lure new creators to the platform, a spokesperson confirmed to Axios.
Discussion:
@ckrewson, On Substack, @sarafischer, @simonowens and @protocol
Cáit Caden / Irish Examiner:
Stripe partners with Spotify to help podcasters accept payments in dozens of currencies in more than 30 countries — — Stripe has partnered with Spotify to help podcasters use the platform to accept payments in dozens of currencies in more than 30 countries.
Anna Nicolaou / Financial Times:
HarbourView Equity, the group backed by $1B from Apollo to invest in music rights and other media assets, buys Luis Fonsi's catalog, its first major acquisition — Deal with HarbourView comes as Wall Street chases returns from music copyrights — Private equity giant Apollo Global Management …
Discussion:
@annaknicolaou and Music Business Worldwide
Politico:
Grid, a news startup founded by Mark Bauman and headed by Laura McGann, maintains ties through its five-member board to a company that lobbies for UAE clients — The website Grid has several ties to the United Arab Emirates. — The National Mall is pictured. Getty | Getty Images
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