Mediagazer: 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 (Steven J. Horowitz/Variety)

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: @danprimack, @tvgrimreaper, @johnwilson, @bdsams.com and @jimvandehei, more at Techmeme »

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, Reuters, The Information, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Benzinga, Yahoo Finance and CNBC

New York Times:

The president of MSNBC, Rashida Jones, steps down; Rebecca Kutler, SVP of content strategy at MSNBC, succeeds her as interim president — Rebecca Kutler, senior vice president of content strategy at MSNBC, will succeed Ms. Jones as interim president. — The president of MSNBC, Rashida Jones …

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

Discussion: Advanced Television, @brianstelter and Barrett Media

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

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

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 …

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 …

Discussion: CNN, Dexerto, Music Ally, @michaelsobolik, @awwstn, @milkkarten, @kyurieff, @stx12_, Deadline, Business Insider, Raw Story, The Verge, The Desk, New York Daily News, Metro.co.uk, Bloomberg, FTVLive and Fast Company, more at Techmeme »

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 — Drake has withdrawn his petition against Spotify and Universal Music Group after accusing the entities of launching an illegal …

Discussion: Billboard, Cele|bitchy, Consequence, The Verge, Music Ally, Music Business Worldwide, Rolling Stone and UPROXX, 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 and Rolling Stone, more at Techmeme »

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

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 — Meta may have to “roll back or pause” some features in India due to an antitrust directive which banned …

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

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 — After testing live video features in the fall, newsletter platform Substack announced on Tuesday that it is now making livestreaming available to all publishers.

Discussion: On Substack, Passionfruit and Adweek