Mediagazer: The US SEC sues Elon Musk, claiming he failed to timely disclose a 5%+ purchase of Twitter's stock ahead of his takeover of the social media platform in 2022 (Nicola M White/Bloomberg)

11:45 AM ET, January 15, 2025

Top News:

Sara Fischer / Axios:

OpenAI will fund the expansion of Axios to Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Boulder, and Huntsville, as part of a broader content-sharing and technology deal — - Google struck a deal with McClatchy to fund the creation of three digital-only local newsrooms in 2019.

Discussion: Engadget, @jeffjarvis, @MikeImBack@disabled.social, @tvgrimreaper, @danprimack, @jimvandehei, @bdsams.com and @johnwilson, more at Techmeme »

David Folkenflik / @davidfolkenflik:

[Thread] 400+ WaPo journalists, including some star reporters, call on Jeff Bezos to intervene, saying they are “deeply alarmed by recent leadership decisions” — NEWS: More than 400 Washington Post journalists - including some of its most distinguished reporters & editors - have sent plea to owner Jeff Bezos to intervene at the paper. While not citing CEO Will Lewis by name, it casts a harsh light on his leadership./more

Geoff Weiss / Business Insider:

TechCrunch says it has cut staff amid “evolving needs” and fewer than 10 employees were impacted; no other Yahoo properties were impacted — - TechCrunch has cut staff amid “evolving needs,” the company told Business Insider. — The Washington Post, HuffPost, and Vox Media have all conducted layoffs in 2025.

Discussion: @johnbiggs, @mediaevan.bsky.social and MediaPost

The Information:

Sources: TikTok plans to switch off its app in the US on January 19 unless SCOTUS blocks the ban; the law only requires app stores to stop TikTok app downloads — TikTok plans to shut off its app for U.S. users on Sunday, the day a federal law will ban the app, unless the Supreme Court intervenes …

Joe Coscarelli / New York Times:

Drake sues UMG for defamation and harassment, calling its release and promotion of “Not Like Us” an example of valuing “corporate greed” over artists' safety — In a federal lawsuit on Wednesday, Drake accused Universal Music Group of putting his life and reputation …

Discussion: Billboard, Variety, Forbes, The Hollywood Reporter, TMZ.com, Vibe, @eriqgardner, @joecoscarelli, @joecoscarelli, @joecoscarelli, UPROXX, Just Jared, Daily Mail, Consequence and The Hollywood Gossip

Steven J. Horowitz / Variety:
Drake pulls his petition accusing UMG and Spotify of inflating Kendrick Lamar's “Not Like Us” with bots and payola; the diss track accuses Drake of pedophilia

Discussion: Vibe, Billboard, Bossip, TheGrio, Forbes, Music Ally, The Verge, Rolling Stone, Cele|bitchy, UPROXX, Music Business Worldwide and The Sun, more at Techmeme »

The Verge:

Court docs: internal chats suggest Meta used data from piracy site LibGen to train its Llama AI models and worked to conceal it, as Meta raced to beat rivals — A major copyright lawsuit against Meta has revealed a trove of internal communications about the company's plans to develop …

Discussion: MEDIANAMA, @richvn.bsky.social and Rolling Stone, more at Techmeme »

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

The Independent promotes its deputy editor Chloe Hubbard to UK editor, reporting to Geordie Greig as the brand's global EIC — The Independent has promoted its deputy editor Chloe Hubbard to UK editor. — Hubbard, who first joined The Independent as assistant editor in 2017 …

Ed Nawotka / Publishers Weekly:

Created by Humans, a startup cofounded by Trip Adler that helps writers license books to AI companies, launches for authors and announces it raised a $5M seed — Created by Humans has officially launched its promised AI rights licensing platform for authors.

Discussion: PRWeb and Publishing Perspectives

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Warner Bros. Discovery adds Anthony Noto and Joey Levin to its board; Noto is CEO of SoFi, and Levin is stepping down as CEO of Barry Diller's IAC — Noto joined the board as of Jan. 8, 2025, and Levin will join the on Feb. 1, 2025. Both will stand for election at the company's 2025 annual meeting of stockholders.

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, Deadline, WORLD SCREEN, Reuters, The Information, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Benzinga and Yahoo Finance

Nicola M White / Bloomberg:

The US SEC sues Elon Musk, claiming he failed to timely disclose a 5%+ purchase of Twitter's stock ahead of his takeover of the social media platform in 2022 — (Adds details on Twitter share purchase from second paragraph.)

Katie Campione / Deadline:

Nielsen: Prime Video's NFL Wild Card game averaged 22.07M viewers, the best average audience so far for NFL on Prime, but below 2024's Wild Card game on Peacock — Saturday night's NFL Wild Card game set multiple records for Prime Video after what was already the streamer's best regular season yet.

Discussion: @sherman4949, @sherman4949, NBCSports.com, The Hollywood Reporter, Media Play News and New York Post

Kathryn Wilkens / Mediaite:

An interview with Nicholas Carlson about his new video-focused media company Dynamo, blogging for Gawker, leaving Business Insider, Bill Ackman, and more — Nicholas Carlson, CEO and editor in chief of a new video-focused media company Dynamo, has navigated some of the most significant shifts …

Discussion: Simon Owens on LinkedIn, Axios and Talking Biz News

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More News:

Reuters:
Court filing: Meta says it may have to “roll back or pause” some features in India after a CCI directive banned WhatsApp data sharing with Meta for ad purposes

Discussion: Hindustan Times and Digital Trends, more at Techmeme »

Josh Russell / Courthouse News Service:
In federal court, lawyers for Microsoft and OpenAI defended the scraping of news stories to train LLMs and urged the dismissal of news outlets' copyright claims

Discussion: @martyswant, Beyond Search, @martyswant, @martyswant, @martyswant, Digiday, @martyswant, Mercury News and NPR, more at Techmeme »

Thaslima Begum / The Guardian:
Al Jazeera cameraman Fadi al-Wahidi, shot in Gaza in October 2024, has been denied medical evacuation despite pleas from press and human rights organizations

Discussion: @ajplus, @thaslima_b, @thaslima_b, Annie Kelly on LinkedIn, @amerliberal.bsky.social, @glynmoody@mastodon.social, @jeffjarvis.bsky.social, @pjournalismnews.bsky.social and @indexoncensorship.org

Matthew Kassel / Jewish Insider:
Paramount Global's Shari Redstone says she is pleased Susan Zirinsky is CBS News interim executive editor; Redstone earlier criticized CBS over Israel coverage

Discussion: New York Post, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap and Variety

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Substack makes livestreaming available to all publishers who have 10 or more free subscribers, with recommended clips for sharing and complete stream recordings

Discussion: Engadget, On Substack, Passionfruit and Adweek

Earlier Picks:

Brian Stelter / CNN:
Internal data: The Guardian US' end-of-2024 fundraising campaign raised $5.13M in immediate contributions and $16.1M in pledges, vs. $2.2M and $6.12M in 2023

Discussion: American Press Institute and @brianstelter.bsky.social

Michaela Zee / Variety:
Netflix says Ms. Rachel, a kids show hosted by YouTuber and educator Rachel Accurso, will make its Netflix debut on January 27 with a four-episode season

Discussion: graziadaily.co.uk, Netflix Tudum, @kr1573n.bsky.social, Netflix US on Instagram, Decider, Business Insider, Plain Dealer, What's on Netflix, Consequence, Comic Book, BetaNews, The Wrap, WPMT, The Verge and The Hollywood Reporter

Ted Johnson / Deadline:
On Truth Social, Trump rants about Seth Meyers' late night NBC show, saying that “Comcast should pay a BIG price” for shows that he calls “political hits”

Ted Johnson / Deadline:
Source: Mark Lazarus told MSNBC staffers that the network will retain its name after the Comcast spin-off, and Rebecca Kutler will hire a head of newsgathering

Max Tani / Semafor:
Internal data: The Washington Post's traffic fell from a brief high of ~22.5M DAUs in January 2021, after the Capitol attack, to around 2.5M-3M DAUs in mid-2024

From Techmeme:

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Tech stocks fall after President Trump announced new global tariffs: Meta drops as much as ~8%, Amazon drops ~7%, Nvidia ~5%, Alphabet ~4%, and Microsoft ~3%

Matt Levine / Bloomberg:
Circle's S-1 shows that it is a fintech and that, as of December 31, 2024, ~85% of USDC reserves were in a BlackRock-managed money market fund only for Circle

The Information:
Sources: Google is in advanced talks to rent Nvidia Blackwell chips from CoreWeave, highlighting how Nvidia customers are struggling with AI chip availability

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