Top News:
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
Sources: Mark Zuckerberg faces less friction in making broad policy changes after Meta's layoffs in 2022 and 2023, which hit much of its civic integrity teams — Mark Zuckerberg's announcement this week that Meta would pivot its moderation policies to allow more “free expression” …
Discussion:
The Intercept and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Financial Times:
Some advertisers raise brand safety concerns over Meta's content moderation changes, fearing a surge in harmful content and misinformation on its platforms — Mark Zuckerberg's unexpected ‘free speech’ overhaul of Meta's content moderation has sparked concerns among advertisers that it will lead …
Discussion:
@juddlegum.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »
David Allen Green / Financial Times:
How aligning with Trump's new administration lets Meta and X pivot from futile cooperation with the EU and other jurisdictions to confrontation and coercion — Behind the alignment of X and Meta with Trump is a cold business logic — and a position of weakness rather than strength
New York Times:
Sources detail Zuckerberg's sprint to remake Meta after meeting with Trump at Thanksgiving; he no longer wants to keep his views of how Meta should be run quiet — After visiting President-elect Donald J. Trump in November, Mr. Zuckerberg decided to relax Meta's speech policies.
Discussion:
The Guardian, Breitbart, Axios, Daring Fireball, Washington Examiner, @grandmastershah.bsky.social, @charlescmann.bsky.social, @shayonislynn.bsky.social, @fbajak.bsky.social, Semafor, @zackstanton.bsky.social, The Gateway Pundit, @bremaininspain.com, NPR, @matthewstoller, 404 Media, Politico, @mikeisaac, @mikeisaac, Fox Business, The Post Millennial, The Japan Times, The San Francisco Standard, @isaacdovere.bsky.social, @harrymccracken@mastodon …, @brianstelter.bsky.social, People, Forbes, Business Insider, @haleaziz.bsky.social, Gizmodo, @sydney-bauer.com, @donmoyn.bsky.social, @branzellan.bsky.social, @lauren@mastodon …, @juddlegum.bsky.social, @mattrosoff.bsky.social, Sander van der Linden on LinkedIn, @slothropsmap.bsky.social, @bgrueskin.bsky.social, @sheeraf.bsky.social, @eff.org, @kateconger.com, @accountabletech.bsky.social, @Khrys@mamot.fr, @laurenshof@indieweb.social, @mvario@mastodon.social, @jaredwhite@indieweb.social, @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social and @h@social.besties.house, more at Techmeme »
Josh Wingrove / Bloomberg:
Biden assailed Meta over its move to end third-party fact-checking on its social media platforms in the US, saying “it's really shameful”
Biden assailed Meta over its move to end third-party fact-checking on its social media platforms in the US, saying “it's really shameful”
Angrej Singh / Axios:
Zuckerberg says Meta's fact-checking was “something out of 1984” and criticized the media for hounding Facebook to clamp down on misinfo after the 2016 election
Zuckerberg says Meta's fact-checking was “something out of 1984” and criticized the media for hounding Facebook to clamp down on misinfo after the 2016 election
Discussion:
Nature, Variety, @jaywillis.net, @bildoperationen.bsky.social, Washington Times, RedState, @ianbetteridge.com, @piyushmittal.bsky.social, @benwhitelaw.bsky.social, @dangillmor.mastodon …, Townhall, One America News Network, Deseret News, Power Line, Shore News Network, BGR, CNBC, The Gateway Pundit, The Wrap, GB News, Reclaim The Net, Washington Examiner and The Post Millennial, more at Techmeme »
Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:
Matt Mullenweg deactivates the accounts of several WordPress.org members, some of whom have been leading a push to create a new fork of the open-source project — Automattic CEO and WordPress co-creator Matt Mullenweg has deactivated the accounts of several WordPress.org community members …
Discussion:
@jdevalk, @webdevlaw, @okko, @deviorobert, @daniel_iser, @vinnysgreen, @arniepalmer, @audrasjb, @sereedmedia, @ryancduff, @p3ob7o, @agressiva, @kevinpowell.co, @tcarmody.bsky.social, @kithrup.bsky.social, @jalefkowit@vmst.io, @daniloc.xyz, @serrata.org, @elkmovie.bsky.social, WordPress.org and acecomments.mu.nu, more at Techmeme »
Michael Schneider / Variety:
How LA reporters have been personally affected by the wildfires after several days of non-stop, commercial-free news coverage: “fatigue is setting in” — Enrique Chiabra was anchoring coverage of the Los Angeles fires for Telemundo's KVEA-TV (Channel 52) on Wednesday night …
Discussion:
@dannygroner.bsky.social, @variety, Los Angeles Times and @franklinavenue.bsky.social
Kipp Jones / Mediaite:
Fortune retracts a story claiming Elon Musk plans to remove timestamps from X posts and charge an $8 signup fee, apologizing for being “intentionally misled” — Fortune published a story Thursday that was wrought with dubious claims about changes Elon Musk was alleged …
Discussion:
Fortune, @fortune_exposed, @mediaite, @fortune_exposed, @elonmusk, @tomaxwell and ZeroHedge News
Erik Hayden / The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney commits $15M to various relief efforts following the fires in Los Angeles, and Paramount Global says it will donate $1M to relief organizations — Studios are mobilizing their own response efforts amid the devastation; Paramount Global commits $1 million to multiple nonprofits.
Discussion:
Variety, Fortune, AV Club, The Mirror US, The Desk, Los Angeles Times, TVNewsCheck, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, The Wrap, ABC7, Deadline, Adweek and MyNewsLA.com
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: UFC is looking to get more than $1B a year from its next media-rights deal, more than double its current ESPN contract, which goes through 2025's end — - The mixed martial arts league wants to double its media money — Viewership of the UFC has grown over the last decade
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, @kirkmurphy.bsky.social and @jackwannan.bsky.social
John Micklethwait / Bloomberg:
Bloomberg EIC John Micklethwait predicts AI's impact on journalism: jobs will change, not vanish, reporting and breaking news will remain valuable, and more — The news business is facing its next enormous challenge. Here are eight reasons to be both optimistic and paranoid.
Discussion:
New Yorker and @leokelion
Greg Stohr / Bloomberg:
SCOTUS signals it is likely to uphold the TikTok divest-or-ban law, as a majority of justices suggested they see national security overriding free speech issues — - Roberts points to parent company's close ties to China — Law would ban TikTok on Jan. 19 if ByteDance doesn't sell
Discussion:
Investor's Business Daily, New York Daily News, The Economist, Yahoo Finance, New York Times, New York Times, CNN, @loudmouthjulia, ABC News, Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, ABC7, @mikeroe.bsky.social, Scientific American, Joel Bervell on LinkedIn, Associated Press, MacRumors, Arkansas Advocate, Wired, USA Today, CNET, Reclaim The Net, HotAir, Deseret News, Free Press, Adweek, AV Club, @gshans.bsky.social, Gizmodo, UPI, Rolling Stone, The Information, Forbes, Tubefilter, 9to5Mac, Fox News, The Wrap, Fast Company, Skift, TVNewsCheck, @jonbecker.bsky.social, Newsbusters, Knight First Amendment …, NBC News, TechCrunch, @arozenshtein.bsky.social, Politico, @ruddock.bsky.social, RTÉ, @gshans.bsky.social, @kissphoria.bsky.social, @stevierea.bsky.social, @charliencontext.bsky.social, Wall Street Journal, Semafor, @stevevladeck.bsky.social, @genevievelakier.bsky.social and The Independent
RELATED:
Wired:
A live blog where The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in TikTok's appeal against the divest-or-ban law
A live blog where The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in TikTok's appeal against the divest-or-ban law
Discussion:
Variety, The Gateway Pundit, New York Magazine, Deadline, Benzinga, CNN, @jason_kint, @mikesacksesq, @swiftstories, The Daily Signal, @swiftstories, @mikesacksesq, @mikesacksesq, @mikesacksesq, @mikesacksesq, @mikesacksesq, @mikesacksesq, @mikesacksesq, @mikesacksesq, @mikesacksesq, Raw Story, Reuters, Vox, Reason, Courthouse News Service, Amy Howe, Mediaite, Washington Post, The Verge, Roll Call, New York Times, New York Daily News, Axios, New York Post, Townhall, The Hill, CNET, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, Politico, Fox News, @willoremus.com, @wired.com, @drewharwell.com, SFist, @drewharwell.com, @davelee.me, New Republic, @genevievelakier.bsky.social, @drewharwell.com, Boston.com, @davelee.me, The Verge, The Guardian, WBNS-TV, USA Today and Supreme Court of the United States
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Nexstar's NewsNation and 63 of its stations go dark on Altice cable systems amid a carriage dispute; Altice says Nexstar rejected an interim contract extension — Nexstar said Friday that 63 of its local TV stations had gone dark in 42 markets around the U.S. as a result of a contract disagreement.
Joe Reedy / Associated Press:
As Amazon Prime Video wraps up its third season streaming NFL games, a look at its use of AI and “Prime Vision with Next Gen Stats” during broadcasts — The Los Angeles Rams defense appeared to be content to drop back in coverage and prevent San Francisco's Brock Purdy from completing …
Discussion:
USA Today, more at Techmeme »
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney, Fox, and WBD say they have agreed to discontinue their Venu Sports streaming joint venture and will focus on existing products and distribution channels — The sports-focused streaming service will not move forward, the companies said Friday. — Venu is dead.
Discussion:
Deadline, Shane Cannon on LinkedIn, Variety, Deadline, ESPN Press Room U.S., @dylanbyers, IndieWire, @ourand_puck, CNN, @kaplansportsbiz, @morningbrew, @jasoninquires, @tvgrimreaper, @sherman4949, @pkafka, @bristei, @compound248, @matthewstoller, @jacobfeldman4, @novy_williams, @espnpr, @sherman4949, Peter Kafka on LinkedIn, Forbes, Rameez Tase on LinkedIn, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Business Insider, AV Club, Liz Spaulding on LinkedIn, Earth breaks yearly …, Barrett Media, New York Times, Mediaite, NBC News, The Media Leader, Reuters, The Desk, The Hill, CNET, The Verge, Ad Age, Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, Ars Technica, Los Angeles Times, Streaming Better, Yahoo Finance, Adweek, The Wrap, The Streamable, Pocket-lint, The Information, WDW News Today, New York Times, TVLine, 9to5Mac, Front Office Sports, Barron's Online, @welch.bsky.social, Wall Street Journal, Awful Announcing, AOL, Reuters, DeepNewz and What's On Disney Plus
RELATED: