Top News:
Bruna Horvath / NBC News:
Zuckerberg says Meta will restore “free expression” on its platforms, including by replacing its fact-checking program with Community Notes, starting in the US — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the move in a post Tuesday morning. — Meta is scrapping its fact-checking program …
Discussion:
Mark Zuckerberg on Instagram, The Guardian, The Wrap, Fast Company, CNN, CNN, MediaPost, @angieholan, Mediaite, Variety, Fox News, City A.M., New York Times, Gizmodo, The Information, Dexerto, Benzinga, PinkNews, Reclaim The Net, @mikeisaac, @brendancarrfcc, freebeacon.com, Fortune, Newsbusters, @dtrinh, Free Press, @semaforben, Beyond Search, @elonmusk, Twitchy, @brianstelter, @jamessurowiecki, @aidnmclaughlin, @andymstone, @mmasnick.bsky.social, @mmasnick.bsky.social, @econ_marshall, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, @jessicalessin, @jtlonsdale, Oversight Board, @wexler, @rmac.bsky.social, @jeffjarvis.bsky.social, GB News, @mcuban@threads.net, @antoniogm, @antoniogm, @antoniogm, Irish Independent, @eric_seufert, The Daily Caller, @parkermolloy@threads.net, @dsilverman@threads.net, @adrianweckler, CAIR, @mgeist, Althouse, @kylascan, @basedbeffjezos, @oversightboard, @jeffjarvis.bsky.social, @michaelmiraflor, @surabees, @carolecadwalla, @apompliano, @danprimack, @simondowens@threads.net, @martinsfp@threads.net, Engadget, PhoneArena, Breitbart, Townhall, The Hill, WHDH-TV, Daily Mail, Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, The Hollywood Reporter, @yaeleisenstat.bsky.social, NewsBytes, @kevinrothrock.me, @jospang.bsky.social, @outnproud.bsky.social, Louder With Crowder, @noupside.bsky.social, IJR, @adamserwer.bsky.social, @drandrealove.bsky.social, @moonalice.com, @lakewitchhouse.bsky.social, @marietjeschaake.bsky.social, @drewharwell.com, @timobrien.bsky.social, @alistaircoleman.bsky.social, Jon-Stephen Stansel on LinkedIn, Prof. Annabelle Gawer on LinkedIn, NTD, @lorak.bsky.social, CBS News, The Verge, Semafor and Barron's Online, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Brooke Singman / Fox News:
Meta's Joel Kaplan says the Trump administration is “a huge supporter of free expression”, which “gets us back to the values that Mark founded the company on” — Meta's chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan, joins ‘Fox & Friends’ Tuesday morning for exclusive interview
Discussion:
Meta, Ad Age, Mother Jones, New York Times, Washington Examiner, Business Insider, Politico, @brianstelter, Digby's Hullabaloo, The Bulwark, Daily Kos, Axios, ZeroHedge News, RedState, Reuters, Forbes, @mgeist.bsky.social, @davidclinchnews, @andymstone, @brookesingman, @brookesingman, @francisbrennan, @nickjcal.bsky.social, @mschenk.bsky.social, Raw Story, @alfalphamale.bsky.social, @brendannyhan.bsky.social, @brookesingman, @oliverdarcy.bsky.social, WBAL Baltimore News, The Post Millennial, @worklesshard.bsky.social, Just The News, @willricci, Joel Kaplan on LinkedIn, @ebakerwhite.bsky.social, @stemcdermott.bsky.social, @dmeyer.eu, @davidakaye.bsky.social and @alfunk.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Meta will lift restrictions on “topics that are part of mainstream discourse”, like immigration and gender, and focus on “illegal and high-severity violations” — Meta, the parent of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, today announced a major overhaul …
New York Times:
Meta will move trust and safety and content moderation teams from California to Texas, to remove concerns “that biased employees are overly censoring content” — The social networking giant will stop using third-party fact checkers and instead rely on users to add notes to posts.
Discussion:
Press Gazette, Mediaite, NBC News, Deadline, The Wrap, UPI, The Forward, Mock Paper Scissors, Entrepreneur, @luke_metro, El País, Rolling Stone, Business Insider, The Daily Sceptic, @meganiorio.bsky.social, CNBC, @samstein, Power Line, @juddlegum.bsky.social, Associated Press, Le Monde, Financial Times, WHDH-TV, CBS News, @zuck@threads.net, @sfmcguire79, @stokel, @jeffreyatucker, @bethanyshondark, @micsolana, Sophie Nadeau on LinkedIn, @esaagar and WPXI-TV, more at Techmeme »
Michael Flaherty / Axios:
Getty Images Holdings and Shutterstock agree to merge in a deal that creates a $3.7B company; Getty CEO Craig Peters will remain CEO of the combined business — - Shutterstock shareholders get one of the following: $28.84 per share in cash; 13.67 shares of Getty for each Shutterstock share they own; or a mix of cash and stock.
Discussion:
Getty Images Press Site, New York Post, Associated Press, Press Gazette, The Wrap, TechCrunch, City A.M., Entrepreneur, The Hollywood Reporter, Yahoo Finance, News18, Media Play News, MarketWatch, Reuters, Barron's Online, Bloomberg, @writingbymatt, @bwjones.bsky.social, @shutterstock, @matthew_sigel, @bwjones.bsky.social and @gettyimages, more at Techmeme »
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
The Washington Post is laying off roughly 4% of its workforce, affecting fewer than 100 people across its business divisions; its newsroom is not affected — The layoffs will affect employees across The Post's business operations, not its newsroom. — The Washington Post …
Greg Evans / Deadline:
Richard Cohen, who won three Emmy Awards for his work at CBS News and was a former senior producer at CBS and CNN, died on December 24 at 76 — Richard Cohen, a former senior producer on CNN and CBS News who was married for 38 years to Today anchor Meredith Vieira, died of following …
Discussion:
Forbes, TVLine, The Independent, TODAY.com, Us Weekly, The Hollywood Gossip, @theview, Entertainment Weekly, People, New York Post, TMZ.com, Extra, CBS News, RADAR, E! Online, New York Daily News, Page Six, The Mirror US and Just Jared
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Sources: Apple plans to expand Apple News in more countries and considered building locally focused news coverage in the UK; Apple News has 125M monthly users — Tech group now a force in driving revenues for publishers in US, UK, Canada and Australia — Apple is stepping up plans to expand …
Discussion:
Neowin, Benzinga, iPhone in Canada Blog, 9to5Mac, MacRumors and BGR, more at Techmeme »
Will Dunn / Bloomberg:
A look at the surge in popularity for books, podcasts, and newsletters on history, even as numbers show a drop in college students formally studying the topic — Books and podcasts about the past are surging in popularity, making them increasingly profitable. — The snow queen's castle was in pieces.
Discussion:
@jbcraig, @basuashis, @samhaselby and @willdunn.bsky.social
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Inworld AI, Streamlabs, and Nvidia unveil an AI assistant for streamers that can act as a cohost and provide technical support for streams in real time — Inworld AI, Streamlabs, and Nvidia are partnering on a new AI assistant for streamers that can provide technical support for streams in real time and even act as a quippy cohost.
Discussion:
NVIDIA Studio on Instagram, Wccftech, Streamlabs, VentureBeat and Streamlabs on YouTube, more at Techmeme »
Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:
Paramount Global and Comcast renew distribution agreements to deliver Paramount's portfolio, including Paramount+ with Showtime, across Xfinity platforms — Paramount Global and Comcast have renewed a set of comprehensive distribution agreements to continue delivering Par's portfolio of broadcast …
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Avataar debuts Velocity, an AI tool that generates product videos based on a product link, and says HP, Victoria's Secret, Lowe's, and others are using the tool — Generative AI models have reached a baseline capability of producing at least a passable video from a single image or short sentence.