Mediagazer: Renewed calls from telecom giants to tax companies like Netflix in the US and the EU over costs for traffic usage is set to reignite the net neutrality wars (Karl Bode/Techdirt)

4:05 PM ET, October 30, 2022

Top News:

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

Among tech companies, Twitter has been the biggest defender of online free speech, globally; fired head of legal and policy Vijaya Gadde drove much of that work — Last night, Elon Musk closed his on-again, off-again, on-again deal to buy Twitter, and his very first order of business was to fire a bunch of top executives.

Washington Post:

Elon Musk takes over Twitter and fires several top executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and legal policy, trust, and safety head Vijaya Gadde — Musk's $44 billion deal to acquire the social media company closed on Thursday night. — SAN FRANCISCO — Elon Musk became …

Discussion: The Information, Platformer, The Verge, New York Times, @elonmusk, Forbes, @nedsegal, @jackalltogether, Reuters, Variety, CNN, @whey_standard, New York Times, @thierrybreton, CNBC, The Week, Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At, Axios, Techdirt, The Daily Beast, Vanity Fair, ProductCafé …, The Planet, The Guardian, Insider, The Daily Wire, @mattzeitlin, Bloomberg, Rolling Stone, CNET, MIT Technology Review, The Hill, Killer NewsTv, @olganyc1211, Wall Street Journal, @lukewearechange, @nigel_farage, @mikegalsworthy, @tedcruz, @taylorlorenz, @mmasnick, @ariehkovler, Slate, Fortune, Media Matters for America, Reason, The Post Millennial, New York Magazine, The A.V. Club, The Rooster, @_lokeshsharma, Adweek, @dellcam, @mattzeitlin, @megbasham, @geoffreyvs, @penamerica, @goldman, @jason_kint, @kaalateetham, @quinncy, @tinch, @megan, @danprimack, @karaswisher, @carnage4life, @nickbilton, @film_girl, Jezebel, @mzhemingway, @wajahatali, @greg_price11, @ericrweinstein, @jeffjarvis, @donwinslow, Protocol, TechCrunch, The Addition, The Wrap, Observer, Wired, The Hollywood Reporter, Complete Music Update, @clarajeffery, ZDNet, Gizmodo, The Shortcut, MacRumors, Broadband TV News, Associated Press, Politico, Pirate Wires, Variety, AppleInsider, Agence France-Presse, BuzzFeed News, CNET, CNN, The Hollywood Reporter, TechCrunch and Boing Boing, more at Techmeme »

CNBC:

General Motors suspends its paid advertising on Twitter as the car company evaluates the “direction of the platform under their new ownership” — - General Motors is suspending its advertising on Twitter following Elon Musk's takeover of the social media platform.

Alex Heath / The Verge:

CNBC and Bloomberg ran headlines saying Elon Musk cut Twitter staff, based on two people with boxes outside the company's office; one used a meme as his name — In videos circulating on Twitter Friday morning, two men carrying boxes are seen standing near the entrance to Twitter's San Francisco building …

Eli Pariser / Wired:
Elon Musk's ad-dependent Twitter isn't the global town square democracies need; we need an overlapping ecosystem of smaller publicly owned digital social spaces

Discussion: @elipariser, @nxthompson, @planetaryinc, @baekdal, @deeptidoshi, @chrisstoecker, @progressntwrk, @asbruckman, @esgarchitect, @josephmenn, @wearenew_public, The Information and The Daily Wire

Jonathan M. Katz / The Racket:

Erik Wemple's reassessment of The New York Times firing James Bennet over the Tom Cotton op-ed is part of an effort to rewrite the 2020 civil rights protests — Sometimes, history changes unexpectedly toward the good. And then, powerful people with something to lose try to change it back.

Discussion: @katzonearth, @jessesingal, @sivavaid, @sivavaid, @dcwoodruff and @jayrosen_nyu

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

A reassessment of The New York Times' apology and James Bennet's firing after Sen. Tom Cotton's op-ed: Bennet was right and Publisher A.G. Sulzberger was wrong — Controversy over an op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) consumed the New York Times in June 2020 and claimed the job of then-editorial page editor James Bennet.

Discussion: INDIGNITY, @caitlinpacific, @hadleyfreeman, @moorehn, @mathewi, @kenichiserino, @mattyglesias, @joenbc, @davidfrum, @nancyromm, Singal-Minded, @anncoulter, @razibkhan, @anncoulter, @__seab, @davidharsanyi, @bariweiss, @froomkin, @fka_tabs, @repbrendanboyle, @garylegum, @jeffjarvis, @jennifersey, Media Nation, @isaac_schorr, @mtracey, @sullydish, @matthewfoldi, @joeconchatv, @jonathanchait, @jeffreyasachs, @marcbodnick, @jeffreyasachs, @lukeoneil47, @sethamandel, @levinejonathan, @sethamandel, @mattwelch, @jbarro, @toley88, @coreypein, @coreypein, @coreypein, @coreypein, @nickgillespie, @__seab, @heerjeet, @easterbrookg, @sivavaid, @thomaschattwill, @conor64, @tomscocca, @tomscocca, @tomscocca, @tomscocca, @nprinskeep, @jtlol, @davidfolkenflik, @nycsouthpaw, @semaforben, @sethamandel, @bariweiss, @rubensteinadam, @kcjohnson9 and Mediaite

ProPublica:

Analysis reveals how Google's ad business funnels revenue to prolific purveyors of health, election, and climate disinfo in Europe, Latin America, and Africa — Google is funneling revenue to some of the web's most prolific purveyors of false information in Europe, Latin America and Africa, a ProPublica investigation has found.

Discussion: ProPublica, @profcarroll and @craigsilverman, more at Techmeme »

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

A US federal district court judge orders Starbucks union organizers in western New York to give Starbucks their messages to journalists; the union has appealed — A federal judge has ordered the organization behind a unionization drive at Starbucks stores in western New York to turn …

Discussion: @mattdpearce, @zackkanter, @tori_bedford, @thekimkavin, @mel_buer, nyguild.org, @joshuahol, @davidkaib, @msainat1, @jordanzakarin, @jamieson, @ricsanchez, Progress Report and @greenhousenyt

Karl Bode / Techdirt:

Renewed calls from telecom giants to tax companies like Netflix in the US and the EU over costs for traffic usage is set to reignite the net neutrality wars — from the please-pay-me-billions-of-dollars-for- no-sensible-reason dept — Telecom lobbyists have been working overtime in both the US and EU …

Discussion: @elinecmc, @carolinegreer, @karlbode, @karlbode, @karlbode, @karlbode and CNBC

Attila Mong / Committee to Protect Journalists:

In Greece, unsolved journalist murders, threats such as arson attacks, and wiretapping of reporters' phones are worsening a climate of fear and self-censorship — In Greece, two unsolved journalist killings over the last 12 years as well as threats of violence and physical attacks …

Discussion: @criticalvas and @pressfreedom

Kurt Schlosser / GeekWire:

Report: Amazon laid off ~150 people, or 50% of its workforce, at Amp, an app that lets DJs host live “radio shows”, take calls, and play Amazon Music tracks — In-depth Amazon coverage from the tech giant's hometown, including e-commerce, AWS, Amazon Prime, Alexa, logistics, devices, and more.

Discussion: @tomaxwell and Insider

The Indian Express:

The Wire files a complaint against its researcher Devesh Kumar with Delhi Police, a day after police charged its journalists for forgery and other infractions — The complaint has been filed against Devesh Kumar who is allegedly involved in the fabrication of documents and forgery in connection …

Discussion: @zoeschiffer

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Pew Research Center:
Survey: 50% of US 18-29-year-olds say they have some or a lot of trust in information from social media, versus 56% who say the same about national news outlets

Discussion: @michaelbolden, @serwewx, @gottfriedjeff and The Hill

Liz Robbins / Poynter:
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Financial Times:
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Discussion: @alexeheath, @financialtimes and Crain's New York Business

Pjotr Sauer / The Guardian:
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Discussion: Politico, Grid News, Washington Post and Insider

Bloomberg:
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Discussion: @film_girl, @jonnyrmcfarlane and @lucas_shaw, more at Techmeme »

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Over 500 authors, publishers, and others in the US literary community sign an open letter to Penguin Random House protesting Amy Coney Barrett's $2M book deal

Discussion: @senwhitehouse, @thefireorg, @nmamatas, @samthielman, @katzonearth, @nicoperrino, @nicoperrino, @samthielman, @joshbbornstein, @nicoperrino, @josephoneillx, @heckelfonic, @penamerica, @xor, Fox News, The Post Millennial, The Wrap and Mediaite

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Discussion: Simon Owens's Media Newsletter

Kaya Yurieff / The Information:
Twitter confirms the company shut down its Ticketed Spaces test indefinitely before Elon Musk's takeover

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
In an email to staff, Chris Licht said CNN will stop buying documentary films and original TV series, and instead explore creating a long-form content studio

Discussion: Variety, Mediaite, Puck, @jamesjonesfilm, @maxkennerly, @fawfulfan, @isobelyeung, @thor_benson, @jbflint, @scottfeinberg, @will_doran, @elwasson, The A.V. Club, The Wrap, IndieWire and The Hollywood Reporter

Ashley King / Digital Music News:
Music streaming service LiveOne and its subsidiary Slacker say a ruling ordering them to pay SoundExchange nearly $10M in royalties could bankrupt the company

From Techmeme:

Raffaele Huang / Wall Street Journal:
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Ryan Morrison / Tom's Guide:
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Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
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