Top News:
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 …
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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
Discussion:
@shaneliamconway, Stuart Lambert on LinkedIn, @reichenstein@mastodon.social, Lauri Rechardt on LinkedIn, @danielagabor.bsky.social, @gideonrachman, @diegocastaneda, @jwsidders.bsky.social, Hürriyet Daily News, @henrymance.bsky.social, @ianfraser.bsky.social, @davidallengreen … and Breitbart, more at Techmeme »
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
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
Discussion:
Benzinga, @sbyrnes.bsky.social, @justiceleague00.bsky.social, New York Post and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
Renée DiResta:
Meta's changes to its content policies will appease vocal political critics only for the short term, and they signal a retreat from responsibility to users
Meta's changes to its content policies will appease vocal political critics only for the short term, and they signal a retreat from responsibility to users
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
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
Discussion:
The Guardian, Axios, The Verge, Breitbart, 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, @matthewstoller, NPR, @mikeisaac, @mikeisaac, Politico, 404 Media, Fox Business, The Japan Times, The Post Millennial, 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 »
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:
The Gateway Pundit, Nature, Variety, @jaywillis.net, Washington Times, @bildoperationen.bsky.social, 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 Wrap, GB News, Reclaim The Net, Washington Examiner and The Post Millennial
Bloomberg:
Amid LA's fires, studios halted work on over a dozen projects, including shows like Wheel of Fortune; IATSE union: 8K+ of its members live in evacuation zones — First came the pandemic. Then came the strikes. Now, the fires. — Every Angeleno has experienced an earthquake, but the threat of fire has often felt more distant.
Discussion:
Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn and @carlquintanilla.bsky.social
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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
Riley MacLeod / Aftermath:
The Washington Post's renaming of its PR team to Star Talent Unit, focusing on “personalities and creators”, promotes false ideas about how journalism gets done — Good journalism isn't created in a vacuum — Yesterday, The Washington Post (former employer of Nathan Grayson and me) …
Toby Helm / The Guardian:
Sources: the UK considers tightening rules on MPs' contracts with media outlets, as some MPs doubled their parliamentary salaries as presenters on TV channels — Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nigel Farage are among those who have earned large sums from broadcasters, but a tightening of rules on MPs' outside interests is being considered
Discussion:
GB News, @lucympowell, The Mirror, @stutay.bsky.social and @harryeccles.bsky.social
James Hale / Tubefilter:
Streams Charts: Twitch watch time fell to 1.58B hours in December, its lowest monthly total since July 2020, as the number of channels live at any one time rose — Something interesting may have happened on Twitch in December. — Over the course of the month, the platform accumulated 1.58 billion hours …
Discussion:
Dexerto
Ben Smith / Semafor:
Tech reporter Ashlee Vance has left Bloomberg to start a media company called Core Memory, with documentaries, a YouTube show, podcast, and newsletter planned — The Scoop — The prolific Bloomberg tech journalist Ashlee Vance has left to start a new media company around his curious …
Discussion:
Core Memory and Talking Biz News
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:
@carnage4life.bsky.social, @jdevalk, @webdevlaw, @deviorobert, @p3ob7o, @okko, @vinnysgreen, @ryancduff, @audrasjb, @sereedmedia, @daniel_iser, @arniepalmer, @agressiva, @kevinpowell.co, acecomments.mu.nu, @tcarmody.bsky.social, @kithrup.bsky.social, @jalefkowit@vmst.io, @daniloc.xyz, @serrata.org, @elkmovie.bsky.social and WordPress.org, more at Techmeme »
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, @spacesudoer, @fortune_exposed, @mediaite, @fortune_exposed, @timcast, @lindayax, @amasad, @elonmusk, @tomaxwell and ZeroHedge News
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:
@katie_roof, Nicholas Thompson on LinkedIn, @sotweets, New Yorker and @leokelion, more at Techmeme »
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, TVNewsCheck, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, The Wrap, ABC7, Deadline, Adweek and MyNewsLA.com