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Google strikes a deal with Reddit, reportedly for $60M/year, giving Google access to the Reddit Data API to surface more Reddit content and train AI models — Google today announced an “expanded partnership” with Reddit that sees it get access to the forum website's data for training and other product uses.
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Wall Street Journal, WinBuzzer, The Wrap, Reuters, The Verge, MobileSyrup, Benzinga, The Decoder, Quartz, One Man & His Blog, @rustybrick, @glenngabe, @mmitchell_ai, Emil Protalinski on LinkedIn, KnowYourMobile, TechStartups, @crumbler@threads.net, @cherthedev, MSPoweruser, CoinXposure, Reddit Upvoted, The Keyword, New York Post, @annatonger, @reuters, @chirag_mehta, Gizmodo, David Callahan on LinkedIn, @reuters, @toddlombardo, Search Engine Land, The Verge, @mrjnowlin, @carnage4life@mas.to, @basedtorba, @brij, The Information, r/news, r/privacy, r/singularity and r/google, more at Techmeme »


Tim Burke is charged with 14 crimes related to alleged computer hacks at Fox News, including six counts of accessing a protected computer without authorization — Burke, a nationally recognized media consultant, is scheduled to appear in federal court Thursday in Tampa.


Analysis: at 2023's end, 48% of the top news websites in the US, the UK, and eight others had blocked OpenAI's crawler and 24% had blocked Google's AI crawler — In this factsheet we describe the proportion of top news websites in ten countries that block AI (artificial intelligence) crawlers.


Sources: Amazon paid $120M for exclusive rights to show a 2025 NFL playoff game on Prime Video; NBCU paid $110M for a January 2024 NFL playoff game on Peacock — Out of the Big Four tech giants, Amazon is the most ambitious about invading live sports. The giant streamer is opening …
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Mediaite, The Streamable, Deadspin, The Desk and Awful Announcing, more at Techmeme »


Substack says 3M+ customers subscribe to paid newsletters on its platform, up from 2M in February 2023, and credits its recommendations feature for the growth — - The company said it plans to expand the recommendations feature, which helps writers promote other newsletters in its network …


Google plans to integrate Gemini into its Performance Max ad placement tool, helping brands generate longer headlines, after adding Gemini to Google Workspace — Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google said on Thursday it will integrate its Gemini artificial intelligence models into an existing product for advertisers …
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MediaPost, CNN, MobileSyrup, Quartz, Variety, AdExchanger, MSPoweruser, 9to5Google, Gizmodo, The Daily Beast, The Keyword, New York Post, Search Engine Land and The Verge, more at Techmeme »


A look at German tabloid Bild, whose paid tier, Bildplus, has 707K digital subscribers and has grown subscribers by buying rights to boxing matches not on TV — Bundles and sports livestreams help, but journalism drives most subscriptions for Bild. — The head of the digital subscriptions strategy …
Discussion:
Charlotte Tobitt on LinkedIn


Amazon says there are “no changes” coming to Freevee, following reports that the company plans to shutter its FAST service in the coming weeks — The statement comes after AdWeek reported that the free, ad-supported streamer was shutting down — Amazon is pushing back against reports …
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Broadband TV News, Fast Company, Media Play News, MediaPost, The Streamable, The A.V. Club, Variety, UPROXX and Cord Cutters News
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Sources: Amazon plans to shut its FAST service Freevee in the coming weeks, as part of a broader effort to focus its ad and product efforts on Prime Video
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The Sun, @seriestalks, @jackgen0vese, @imperfecttl, @webbarr, @takeshikitano3, CarterMatt, Dan Rayburn on LinkedIn, The Desk, 9to5Google, Deadline, UPROXX, TechHive, The Streamable, Geoff Clark on LinkedIn, Metro.co.uk, The Information, TVLine, @markstenberg3@threads.net, Media Play News, Consequence and Appleosophy

[Thread] Engadget announces layoffs and a restructuring that separates news and features from reviews and buying advice; EIC Dana Wollman is leaving — Memo that went out to staffers at Engadget announcing layoffs today [image]
Discussion:
Talking Biz News, @jason, @joannastern, @danawollman, @danawollman, @danawollman, @terrenceobrien, @maxwelltani and @maxwelltani


In a Danish court, prosecutors allege a man fraudulently made ~£502K in royalties from music streamers and breached copyright law — Aarhus court hears he may have profited from artificially generated playbacks, in case thought to be first of its kind
Discussion:
The Kyiv Independent, CMU, Digital Music News and Music Ally


Instagram debuts its marketplace tool to connect brands and creators for partnerships or ads in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Japan, India, and Brazil — Instagram said today that it is expanding its marketplace tool to connect brands with creators for paid partnerships or ads in eight new countries.
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@lindseygamble_, @metanewsroom, Rachel Redman on LinkedIn, B&T, Music Ally and Meta, more at Techmeme »


BuzzFeed sells Complex, acquired for $300M in 2021, to livestream shopping platform Ntwrk for $108.6M; BuzzFeed plans to lay off 16% of its workforce — - The Wall Street Journal reported that BuzzFeed is also looking to possibly sell its social media food brand Tasty.
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Poynter, The Guardian, Variety, @iramadisonthree, @natjarv, Newser, @benmullin, @jaycodon, @milkman__dead, @runciedan, @almighty_red, The Hollywood Reporter, @nicholasadeleon, @sarafischer, CNN, The Desk, New York Post, Deadline, Adweek, New York Times, @jalefkowit@octodon.social, The Information, Business Wire, The Wrap and Bloomberg


Meta says “we understand Meta will not be required to pay for news content that publishers voluntarily post to our platforms” in Indonesia under a new law — Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META.O) on Thursday said it believes that a new Indonesia law does not require …
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Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »