Mediagazer: TikTok restricts Creative Center, meant to help advertisers track hashtags, after critics used the tool to scrutinize content on the Israel-Hamas war and more (Sapna Maheshwari/New York Times)

11:55 AM ET, January 9, 2024

Top News:

Kashish Tandon / Reuters:

India's Zee Entertainment remains committed to its $10B Sony India merger, calling media reports of the deal falling through “baseless and factually incorrect” — India's Zee Entertainment (ZEE.NS) on Tuesday said it was committed to its merger with Sony's (6758.T) local arm …

Discussion: Financial Times, Anto Antony on LinkedIn, Bloomberg and Advanced Television

Bloomberg:

Sources: Zee misses a deadline to pay $200M to Disney's India unit for cricket TV rights, citing a cash crunch; Zee agreed to pay $1.4B+ in August 2022 — - Payment was part of a $1.4 billion cricket rights purchase — Network is saving cash ahead of likely collapse of its merger

Discussion: Anto Antony on LinkedIn

Julie Jargon / Wall Street Journal:

Meta plans to start automatically restricting teen Instagram and Facebook accounts from harmful content, including posts about self-harm, in the coming weeks — Efforts to curb harmful material and reduce unwanted interactions with teen social-media accounts come as states sue parent company Meta

Discussion: Meta, CNN, TechCrunch, The Verge, The Hill, 9to5Mac and NPR, more at Techmeme »

Thomas Germain / Gizmodo:

X suspends several podcasters and journalists, including The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein and Texas Observer's Steven Monacelli, with little to no explanation — Elon Musk's “free speech” social media platform banned a number of accounts recently critical of Israel.

Discussion: TechCrunch, VICE, @tvscarlkinsella, @elizabethbrossa, @themaxburns, @thelincoln, @markamesexiled, @whstancil, @skippyosint, @marionumber4, @erininthemorn, @32mbit.bsky.social, @brendelbored.bsky.social, @texasobserver.org, @esqueer_ and @stevanzetti.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »

Etan Vlessing / Hollywood Reporter:

Imax says its 2023 box office was $1.06B, near 2019's $1.1B record and up 24.4% YoY, with $393.2M in North America, its highest grossing year ever in the region — Christopher Nolan's ‘Oppenheimer’ and Taylor Swift's concert film helped drive the rebound in ticket sales coming out of the pandemic.

Discussion: Variety, ScreenRant and IMAX Corporation

Steven J. Horowitz / Variety:
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour becomes the highest-grossing concert film of all time, earning $261.6M+ globally, surpassing Michael Jackson's This Is It from 2009

Discussion: Rolling Stone UK, Forbes, Rolling Stone, Billboard, ScreenRant, Digital Music News and The Hollywood Reporter

Casey Newton / Platformer:

Substack plans to remove some Nazi publications, but its new policy interpretation won't include proactively removing neo-Nazi and far-right extremism content — Substack is removing some publications that express support for Nazis, the company said today.

Discussion: The Verge, @jbenton, @brianstelter, Engadget, @jasonkoebler@threads.net, @brian.fishman.5@threads.net, @fraying@xoxo.zone, @LyleDAL@universeodon.com, @neurovagrant@masto.deoan.org, @crumbler@threads.net, @ernie@writing.exchange, @thisismissem@hachyderm.io and Rolling Stone, more at Techmeme »

Nic Newman / Reuters Institute:

Survey of 314 news leaders from 56 countries: just 47% say they are confident about journalism's 2024 prospects; 63% worry about declining social media traffic — The disruptive power of artificial intelligence (AI) will sweep through the information space this year at a time of intense political …

Discussion: BuzzMachine, @nicnewman, @charliebeckett, @risj_oxford, Press Gazette, HoldtheFrontPage and Fast Company

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Fox Corp. debuts Verify, a blockchain protocol developed with Polygon Labs for media companies to register content and grant usage rights to AI companies — Fox Corp., one of the largest media companies in the U.S., has publicly debuted a new blockchain platform called Verify …

Discussion: Variety, TechCrunch, CoinDesk, TVNewsCheck and @bgrueskin

Mia Sato / The Verge:

How the internet reshaped itself around Google's search algorithms, including via SEO tricks, and the company's role in many websites now using similar designs — How the internet reshaped itself around Google's search algorithms — and into a world where websites look the same. — Animations by Richard Parry

Discussion: @miarsato, @ct_bergstrom@fediscience.org, @scott@typetura.social, @katienotopoulos@threads.net and @reckless1280@threads.net, more at Techmeme »

Jody Godoy / Reuters:

Netflix defeats a shareholder lawsuit claiming the company hid the impact of account sharing; NFLX fell ~50% from January to April 2022 after growth warnings — Netflix (NFLX.O) has defeated a lawsuit filed by shareholders in a federal court in California that accused the streaming entertainment company …

Discussion: Broadband TV News and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Amazon announces Matter Casting, an Apple AirPlay-like feature to send video from different platforms to Amazon devices, initially supporting Echo Show devices — Amazon.com Inc. introduced a new feature that mimics Apple Inc.'s AirPlay while working across different platforms …

Discussion: The Streamable, The Desk, The Verge, Thurrott and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »

Julia Kollewe / The Guardian:

Memo: Channel 4 Chair Ian Cheshire says the government-approved appointments of four white directors to the broadcaster's board lag behind its diversity targets — Chair says government-approved appointments lag behind broadcaster's diversity targets — A row has broken out over the lack …

Discussion: Mediaite, Deadline, The Express & Star, Daily Mail, Telegraph, @roziebreen and @jake_kanter

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More News:

Press Gazette:
An analysis of 23 leading paywalled publishers: the price of a digital news subscription rose by 20% on average in the UK in 2023; Bloomberg's grew by 50%

Discussion: @baekdal, Media Voices and Press Gazette

Steve Pond / The Wrap:
Out of 321 Oscar-qualifying films of 2023, just 265 are eligible for Best Picture, as the Academy starts enforcing its Representation and Inclusion Standards

Discussion: @davidpoland, @expert_oscar, Gizmodo, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and IndieWire

The Guardian:
Some Israeli journalists say Israeli media's uniformly patriotic vision of reality that omits the plight of Palestinians leaves viewers dangerously disconnected

Discussion: Al Jazeera, Stephan Bianchi on LinkedIn, @glynmoody@mastodon.social and Politico

Katie Campione / Deadline:
Nielsen: the 81st Golden Globes had 9.4M live and same-day viewers, up 50% from 2023's show, making it the most-watched Golden Globes since 2020

Discussion: CBS News, Billboard, Variety, New York Times, TVNewsCheck, Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg, Reuters, TVLine and Media Play News

Jon Lafayette / Next TV:
Roxi, a voice-activated video music service backed by Simon Cowell and others, plans to expand from UK to the US in Q1 on most streaming devices and smart TVs

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter, Music Ally, Billboard and Advanced Television

Earlier Picks:

Mia Sato / The Verge:
YouTube updates its cyberbullying policy to ban AI-generated content that “realistically simulates” deceased children or victims of crimes or deadly events

Discussion: McAfee, @easygenie, @ivanofhk, MediaNama, @iedamarcondes.com and TechCrunch

OpenAI:
OpenAI responds to The New York Times' lawsuit: training is fair use and there is an opt-out, “regurgitation” is a rare bug, and NYT “manipulated” its models

Discussion: Press Gazette, Newser, The Guardian, The Hill, CMU, MediaNama, New York Times, Music Ally, Jason Wong on LinkedIn, @andrewyng, @tomwarren, @isaiahporitz, @jeremymbarr, @verge, @giordanorogers, @minimaxir, @saurabhsachan, @ndiakopoulos, @froomkin, @jamesrbuk, @carnage4life, @quasarfortress, @nomadsvagabonds, @themacrosift, @selmarsmit, @drcolinwplewis, @obscure_jazz, @aimee_maree, @maxkannen, @acidflask, @rohanposts, @sai_prasanna, @nicky_bonez, @gdb, @garymarcus, @jacquesthibs, @techau, @altryne, Fortune, Puck, TechCrunch, The Information, The Register, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social, @reporterzoe@threads.net, Thurrott, @thatadamguy@threads.net, CNBC, Futurism, Financial Times, The Verge, The Hollywood Reporter, @karlauerbach@sfba.social, CNN, @martin@openedtech.social, @fifilamoura@eldritch.cafe, @willoremus@mastodon.social, Stratechery and Breakfast At Ralf's, more at Techmeme »

Sapna Maheshwari / New York Times:
TikTok restricts Creative Center, meant to help advertisers track hashtags, after critics used the tool to scrutinize content on the Israel-Hamas war and more

Discussion: @ncri_io, @mediaevan, @ncri_io and @ncri_io, more at Techmeme »

Nate Raymond / Reuters:
SCOTUS declines to hear a case filed by Twitter in 2014, in which Twitter argued that disclosing data requests in national security probes was protected by 1A

Discussion: MediaPost, The Daily Caller, @nothingsmonstrd.bsky.social, The Verge and The Hill

From Techmeme:

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Source: Google has canceled the development of a second-generation Pixel Tablet, planned for release in 2025, due to concerns that it wouldn't sell very well

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

The Information:
Sources: OpenAI considered making a browser, discussed deals to power AI features on Samsung devices and search on sites and apps from Condé Nast and others

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