Mediagazer: A 2023 bipartisan Senate bill almost identical to a 2022 bill would force companies with $20B+ in annual digital ad revenue to sell part of their business (Alyssa Boyle/AdExchanger)

7:00 PM ET, March 31, 2023

Top News:

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Email: The White House will not pay for Twitter Blue for its staff; the White House and top officials' accounts like POTUS will likely maintain gray checkmarks — The White House will not pay to have its staff's official Twitter profiles continue to be verified, according to guidance issued to staffers via an email obtained by Axios.

BuzzFeed News:

The NYT, LAT, and WaPo won't buy Twitter Blue; NYT, LAT, BuzzFeed, and Politico won't reimburse reporters for Blue, but Semafor and other small outlets plan to — BuzzFeed isn't ponying up, but for other outlets, paying might make sense. — Pranav Dixit

Discussion: @oliverdarcy, @sarafischer, CNN, @maxwelltani, Forbes, @oliverdarcy, @jessespector, @rmac18, @roslyntalusan, @bdherzinger, @thekidskoob, @ryangrim, @claire_goforth, @thomaschattwill, @timfullerton, @skooks, @paleofuture, @boydhilton, @davidclinchnews, @williamshatner, @stevelackmeyer, @ndrew_lawrence, @stevanzetti, @dancow, Vox, @moorehn, @andrewmarchand, The Comeback, @brooklynmarie, @jbenton, @mattnavarra, @roslyntalusan, @katebevan, @studentactivism, @bobmoorenews, @johniadarola, @mikeisaac, @spj_tweets, @tinu, @helenkennedy, The Information, @kt_so_it_goes, @cfidd, Techdirt, @pkafka, @charles_gaba, @dellcam, @alex_panetta, @scottnover, @benjysarlin, @hansmahncke, @wfkars, @chrismessina, @kimmasters, @bruce_arthur, @scottnover, @scalzi, @ewong, @jacobrubashkin, @oliverdarcy, @nicosgonzalez, @andybcampbell, @joshtpm, @themaxburns, @moorehn, @adrianweckler, @wtfis2bdone, @pkafka, @ryanhanrahan, @lxeagle17, Boing Boing, The Wrap, @hammancheez@c.im, Awful Announcing and New York Times, more at Techmeme »

Alyssa Lukpat / Wall Street Journal:

Top editors at 38 outlets globally sign a letter condemning the detention of The Wall Street Journal's Evan Gershkovich and calling for his immediate release — The editors condemned Mr. Gershkovich's detention in a letter to the Russian ambassador to the U.S.

Bloomberg:

Russia's Federal Security Service detains Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on suspicion of “espionage in the interests of the American government” — Russia's Federal Security Service said it detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in Yekaterinburg …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Human Rights Watch, Wall Street Journal, CBS News, The Desk, New York Post, @polinaivanovva, @faytuks, @benjaminhallfnc, @rebeccaballhaus, @eliothiggins, Talking Biz News, @sulliview, @repmcgovern, @congressmanraja, @nytimes, @francescaebel, @dylanbyers, @govmurphy, @billbrowder, @pressfreedom, @dylanbyers, @presssec, @christopherjm, @dwnews, @pressfreedom, @maxseddon, @pressfreedom, @michaeldweiss, @sarahrainsford, @annanemtsova, @shustry, @asluhn, @maxseddon, @lindakinstler, @jazzedloon, @georebekah, @jimsciutto, @jfberke, @kevinrothrock, @r__politik, @neilphauer, @kevinrothrock, @neilphauer, @felix_light, @leonidragozin, @neilphauer, @lolgop, @brendancarrfcc, @freedomofpress, @timobrien, @tpcarney, @rohded, @newsguild, @mgongadze, @clancyreports, @natashabertrand, @jeffsonnenfeld, @followtheh, @billpascrell, @akurmanaev, @mattmcbradley, @oliverdarcy, @domenpresern, @kaitlancollins, @billbrowder, @domenpresern, @moorehn, Financial Times, Washington Post, The Guardian and Reuters

Tom Hals / Reuters:

The judge in the $1.6B Fox-Dominion case denies Fox's summary judgment motions and partially grants Dominion's motions ahead of the trial scheduled for April 17 — A jury will decide whether Fox Corp (FOXA.O) defamed Dominion Voting Systems with false vote-rigging claims aired by Fox News …

Safi Bugel / The Guardian:

Gal-Dem, an outlet for women and non-binary POC, shuts down after eight years, citing the difficulty of sustaining growth via brand partnerships and memberships — After eight years of operation, staff statement blames financial challenge of running independent media outlet

New York Times:

After months of keeping some distance, Fox News hosts back Donald Trump, denouncing his indictment as “politically motivated persecution” and a cause for unrest — Despite recent criticism, the network's star personalities joined other leading conservatives in denouncing …

Alyssa Boyle / AdExchanger:

A 2023 bipartisan Senate bill almost identical to a 2022 bill would force companies with $20B+ in annual digital ad revenue to sell part of their business — Say hello to the US government's latest attempt to force antitrust regulations on the digital advertising industry. — It might sound familiar.

Discussion: Engadget, AdExchanger, @senmikelee, @swodinsky, Mike Lee US Senator for Utah, Reuters, Marketing Brew, @jason_kint, @digiphile, @berinszoka, @jason_kint, Digiday, @jason_kint, @dcnorg and NetChoice

Perry Michael Simon / AllAccess.com:

Senators Klobuchar and Kennedy reintroduce the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act to let outlets jointly negotiate distribution terms with Big Tech — What do you think? Add your comment below. — Sens. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN) and JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA) have reintroduced …

Discussion: Inside Radio, MediaPost, @ben@werd.social, Techdirt, Public Knowledge and News/Media Alliance

Jeremy Fuster / The Wrap:

UCLA's Hollywood Diversity Report finds that among 2022's top 100 original streaming films, 64% had casts with at least 30% POC vs. 57% for theatrical films — The share of women and people of color in key positions on theatrical releases slide back to 2019 levels in latest annual report

Discussion: @jamesthetang, @indiewire, @dranachristina, @beingjanine and @thewrap

Luke Winkie / Slate:

Interviews with writers who publish daily Wordle hints, published by Digital Trends, Mashable, NME, and others since they reliably generate substantial traffic — Sam Hill, an editor at the technology website Digital Trends, has penned 647 articles about Wordle.

Discussion: @jbenton, @luke_winkie, @iethics and Mashable

Twitter:

Twitter launches its Verified Organizations program, which lets companies get a verified checkmark for $1,000/month and their affiliate accounts for $50/month — Verified Organizations is a new way for organizations and their affiliates to distinguish themselves on Twitter.

Discussion: Variety, @elonmusk, @blackamazon, @ethicalsid, Mashable and Techdirt, more at Techmeme »

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Mike Hume / Washington Post:
The Washington Post vows to continue covering gaming after its gaming vertical Launcher, which debuted on October 15, 2019, officially closes on March 31, 2023

Discussion: @diegoarguello66, @teddyamen, @launcherwp, @mikehumepost, @genepark, @rcmacleod, @rcmacleod, @walldo, @rcmacleod, @mikehumepost and @mikehumepost

Jeffrey Rousseau / GamesIndustry.biz:
Roblox plans to hide advertisements from users 13 and younger, after nonprofit Truth in Advertising filed an FTC complaint in April 2022 against the company

more at Techmeme »

Alan Jones / AOL:
BBC journalists in England plan to stage a 24-hour strike on May 5 to coincide with the reporting of local election results, after a first walkout on March 15

Discussion: The Guardian, HoldtheFrontPage and RadioToday

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Sources: crypto outlet The Block laid off roughly one-third of its staff, including interim CEO Bobby Moran, and promoted head of research Larry Cermak to CEO

Discussion: @timccopeland, @raph_bloch, @kylesgibson and @pressgazette

BBC:
The BBC asks ex-ITN CEO John Hardie to lead an independent review of its social media guidelines for freelance, non-news presenters after the Gary Lineker furor

Discussion: Reuters, Yahoo News, @lucympowell, The Irish News, Sky News, Deadline and Variety

Ben Cohen / Wall Street Journal:
Apple's classical music app fixes the genre's main problem of search and discovery using metadata from Amsterdam-based Primephonic, which Apple acquired in 2021

Discussion: Billboard, GQ, Numlock News, @omnirarab, @textfiles, @thatericalper, @chris_cohen_, @cadwego, @donnelly_b, @textfiles and @whet, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Jeremy Fuster / The Wrap:
Hollywood producers and unions say COVID-19 safety protocols end on May 12, after the Biden administration is set to lift national pandemic emergency measures

Discussion: Deadline, @lidsville and Deadline

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Netflix restructures to make fewer but better movies and plans to combine its small and midsize film units; executives Lisa Nishimura and Ian Bricke are leaving

Discussion: Engadget, @lucas_shaw, Variety, TechCrunch, The Hollywood Reporter, @bqprime, @masasoncap, @stanphylcap, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @variety_pats, @jenny8lee, @susanlitv, Fox Business, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
YouTube adds Shorts data to its Total Reach metric for artists and says fan-created Shorts increased the average artist's unique viewers by 80%+ in January 2023

Discussion: YouTube Official Blog, Complete Music Update, @nealmohan, Communicate Online, @mattnavarra, Billboard and Forbes

Rebekah Valentine / IGN:
ESA cancels E3 2023, after Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, and Ubisoft announced they would not attend the event originally scheduled for June 13 to June 16

Faisal Mahmud / Al Jazeera:
Bangladeshi police arrest Prothom Alo correspondent Shamsuzzaman Shams under the Digital Security Act after he wrote about rising food prices in the country

Discussion: @mg2411, @maarafat71, @bjimbd, @profhuq, @nomhossain and @masalabai

From Techmeme:

Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Cisco details a hacking campaign that penetrated multiple governments' networks using two zero-day flaws in its VPN and firewall Adaptive Security Appliances

Cheng Ting-Fang / Nikkei Asia:
TSMC unveils a new chip manufacturing technology called A16, and says the company plans to start producing its ultra-advanced 1.6nm chips by 2026

Ben Glickman / Wall Street Journal:
IBM agrees to buy HashiCorp, which helps companies manage cloud infrastructure, in a deal valuing HashiCorp at $6.4B and expected to close by the end of 2024

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