Top News:
Financial Times:
Internal 2023 docs: Meta exempted some top advertisers from its usual content moderation process amid concerns that its systems mistakenly penalised top brands — Social media giant's ‘guardrails’ intended to ‘protect high spenders’ amid internal concern its systems over-enforced rules
Discussion:
The Information and Crooks and Liars, more at Techmeme »
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Cristiano Lima-Strong / Washington Post:
Meta's fact-checking overhaul is set to deepen a growing schism between how platforms do content moderation in the US and in stricter regions like Europe — As platform scales back moderation in line with conservative demands in the U.S., it still has to maneuver through stiffer regulations in Europe and elsewhere.
Philip Blenkinsop / Reuters:
EU rejects Zuckerberg's claim that “Europe has an ever increasing number of laws institutionalising censorship”, saying it only requires illegal content removal — The European Commission rejected on Wednesday Meta (META.O) chief Mark Zuckerberg's assertion that European Union …
Bloomberg:
Ex-Facebook director Katie Harbath says Mark Zuckerberg's team uses elections to take stock of “where society is, to readjust how they're approaching content” — - Meta CEO accused fact checkers of bias and destroying trust — Facebook and Instagram continue fact-checking outside US
Discussion:
The Wrap, CNN, The Sun, Engadget, Popular Information, Newsbusters, Axios, Washington Post, Fox News, New York Times, The Week, AV Club, The Intercept, The Guardian, Digby's Hullabaloo, Wall Street Journal, PinkNews, NBC Bay Area, The Daily Beast, Business Insider, Breitbart, Althouse and New York Times, more at Techmeme »
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Stuart A. Thompson / New York Times:
Meta's fact-checking partners PolitiFact and FactCheck.org say they had no role in deciding what the company did with the content that was fact-checked
Meta's fact-checking partners PolitiFact and FactCheck.org say they had no role in deciding what the company did with the content that was fact-checked
Discussion:
Business Insider, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Townhall, Instapundit, The Federalist, Poynter, The Colorado Sun, Twitchy, RedState, Fox News, The Hill, CBS News, Reason, Racket News, Common Dreams, NPR, freebeacon.com, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Al Jazeera, The Mirror US, El País, Bloomberg and NewsBytes, more at Techmeme »
PolitiFact:
Neil Brown, president of PolitiFact's owner Poynter, said Zuckerberg's statement on fact checkers was “disappointing” and used “inflammatory and false language”
Neil Brown, president of PolitiFact's owner Poynter, said Zuckerberg's statement on fact checkers was “disappointing” and used “inflammatory and false language”
Discussion:
Reporters Without Borders, Fox News, Media Nation, Agence France-Presse, Vox, Poynter, Los Angeles Times, @rwlatstetter.bsky.social, MEDIANAMA, Blaze Media, @damon.kiesow.net, @klonick, @klonick, @klonick, @klonick, Townhall, @billadairduke, @billadairduke, @billadairduke, Twitchy, Mediaite, IJR, The Hollywood Reporter, PBS NewsHour, HotAir, CNN, New Republic, Breitbart, Steven Waldman on LinkedIn, Neil Brown on LinkedIn, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance, Boing Boing, The Texas Tribune, VentureBeat, Rolling Stone, City A.M., Ordinary Times, Free Press, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, The Daily Sceptic, Fortune, MediaPost, RedState, GB News, Irish Independent, The Daily Caller, The Wrap, Le Monde, PhoneArena and Quartz
David Gilbert / Wired:
Meta's fact-checking partners, including USA Today, say they were blindsided by Meta's decision to drop them and reject claims of being “too politically biased”
Meta's fact-checking partners, including USA Today, say they were blindsided by Meta's decision to drop them and reject claims of being “too politically biased”
Discussion:
New York Times, Fox News, New York Post, American Press Institute, @wired.com, @natashabernal.bsky.social, @timobrien.bsky.social, Jamie Wolf on LinkedIn, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, Brenda V. on LinkedIn, @davidgilbert.bsky.social, @howardkurtz, @shayonislynn.bsky.social, NBC News, Variety, The Verge, @realpatrickwebb, @thetnholler, Poynter, Crikey, @mikeisaac.bsky.social, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, @LisaKalayji@infosec.exchange, Forbes, The Free Press, The Hill, Hollywood Life, Lead Stories, Business Insider, @sydette@threads.net, @dell.bsky.social, Rachel Muller-Heyndyk on LinkedIn, @namshine.bsky.social, Time, @baratunde@threads.net, KSLTV.com, @matthewfacciani.bsky.social, @davidgilbert.bsky.social, @katie-drummond.bsky.social, Ars Technica, The Wrap, The Forward, Entrepreneur, Press Gazette, Yahoo Finance, Fox Business and r/Journalism, more at Techmeme »
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Mark Zuckerberg says Meta will phase “civic content” back in, seemingly a reversal of earlier decisions against proactively recommending political content
Mark Zuckerberg says Meta will phase “civic content” back in, seemingly a reversal of earlier decisions against proactively recommending political content
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 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”
Discussion:
Meta, RedState, GB News, Deadline, HotAir, Common Dreams, Music Ally, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Le Monde, Althouse, Mo Dezyanian on LinkedIn, Roy Ka-Wei Lee on LinkedIn, @brianstelter, Matthew Ganz on LinkedIn, Reuters, Raw Story, New York Post, Jean Burgess on LinkedIn, @andymstone, @davidclinchnews, @brookesingman, @francisbrennan, @brookesingman, @brookesingman, @willricci, @christianhaag.bsky.social, @lisaocarroll.bsky.social, @tek@todon.eu, MediaPost, RetailWire, Townhall, Siouxsie Jennett on LinkedIn, Politico, Krista L. Baughman on LinkedIn, CNN, American Greatness, @drsherrypagoto.bsky.social, Talking Points Memo, Adweek, Tubefilter, The Hill, Fast Company, Business Insider, @jospang.bsky.social, Reclaim The Net, @ckatzenbach.bsky.social, Mother Jones, Fox Business, Washington Examiner, The Information, The Bulwark, Daily Kos, ZeroHedge News, Axios, @alfalphamale.bsky.social, @ebakerwhite.bsky.social, Joel Kaplan on LinkedIn, Power Line, @davidakaye.bsky.social, Wired, @mgeist.bsky.social, @nickjcal.bsky.social, Just The News, News18, @alfunk.bsky.social, @dmeyer.eu, Reuters, @brendannyhan.bsky.social, WBAL Baltimore News, Forbes, @mschenk.bsky.social, @worklesshard.bsky.social, @oliverdarcy.bsky.social, @stemcdermott.bsky.social, TechCrunch and NBC News, more at Techmeme »
Hadas Gold / CNN:
A book by a Politico reporter claims Trump's team was given the questions asked by Fox News anchors at an Iowa town hall last January in advance; Fox is probing — New York CNN — — President-elect Donald Trump's team was given the questions asked by Fox News anchors at an Iowa town hall …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Rolling Stone, Raw Story, The Independent, New Republic and @hadas_gold
Arno Rosenfeld / The Forward:
Docs: The Heritage Foundation plans to “identify and target” volunteer Wikipedia editors who it says are “abusing their position” to publish antisemitic content — The conservative think tank told prospective donors that the project was part of its work to combat antisemitism
Discussion:
@forward.bsky.social, @kristiankiehling.bsky.social, @werd.io, @acdha@code4lib.social, @glynmoody.bsky.social, Raw Story, @rdpohl.bsky.social, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, @carmenlynn.bsky.social, @fraying.bsky.social, @LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt, @molly0xfff@hachyderm.io, @culturecrave.co, @bluepolitico.bsky.social, @nelbot.bsky.social, @esqueer.net, @sfpodge.bsky.social, @kagrox.bsky.social and @arnorosenfeld.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »
Pranav Dixit / Business Insider:
Audio: Meta told the International Fact-Checking Network that its US partnerships will end in March but Community Notes rollout is expected to take time — - Meta plans to end US fact-checking partnerships in March, with payments to continue through August.
Discussion:
@joannag, WANE-TV and Consequence, more at Techmeme »
Mark Kleinman / Sky News:
Piers Morgan and News UK strike a deal that gives him ownership of the Uncensored YouTube channel; News UK will get a share of ad revenue until 2029 — The outspoken broadcaster's production company is to take ownership of his Uncensored YouTube channel as part of a deal that will see it enter …
Samuel Stolton / Bloomberg:
Meta will launch a test in Germany, France and the US to publish eBay listings on Facebook Marketplace, after it was fined €798M by EU for abusing dominance — - Company was fined €798 million by EU for abusing dominance — Meta still challenging landmark fine through EU courts
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Yahoo Finance, CNBC, Engadget, The Verge, Reuters, Barron's Online and Benzinga, more at Techmeme »
Alicja Ptak / Notes From Poland:
A new English-language Polish film about Vladimir Putin, in which AI is used to superimpose his real face onto an actor, sparks a debate about the use of AI — A new English-language Polish film about Vladimir Putin, in which the Russian president is portrayed using AI-powered special effects …
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Elena Giordano / Politico:
Italy says Cecilia Sala, the journalist detained in Iran since 19 December, has been freed and is heading back to Italy — PM Giorgia Meloni has informed the reporter's family. — Cecilia Sala, an Italian journalist who was locked up in Iran last month, has been freed and is on a plane that departed from Tehran on Wednesday.
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Whatnot, which lets users sell comics and other items through live videos, raised a $265M Series E at a $4.97B valuation, and says its annual GMV passed $3B — Whatnot, the platform that allows users to sell items such as trading cards, comics, and sneakers through live videos …
Discussion:
Aidan Church on LinkedIn, The Information, Axios and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »