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12:50 PM ET, April 17, 2025

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
David McCabe / New York Times:
A US judge says Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in some online advertising tech, the second time in a year a court found Google acted illegally  —  The ruling was the second time in a year that a federal court had found that Google had acted illegally to maintain its dominance.
RELATED:
Axios:
The DOJ and 17 US states that brought the antitrust case seek to force Google to sell off its “network” ad business, which is ~12% of Alphabet's total revenue  —  Google's dominance of the online advertising and ad-tech markets violates U.S. antitrust laws, a Federal court ruled Thursday …
Bloomberg:
In her ruling, Judge Brinkema says Google did not meet the monopoly definition for tools used to buy display ads, but did for ad exchanges and website ad tools  —  Google was found by a federal judge to have illegally monopolized some online advertising technology markets in a blow to a key part of the company's business.
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Similarweb: total desktop social referral traffic from Facebook grew 75% YoY for 68 top English-language news sites due to algorithm changes in January 2025  —  Facebook traffic appears to be a growing part of the social pie again at three-quarters of the world's biggest news websites.
Discussion: @2xaught7.bsky.social
Reuters:
MoffettNathanson: a US recession may result in $45B in lost ad spend in 2025 and ad budgets shifting from traditional TV to alternatives like streaming services  —  Wall Street analysts offered a gloomy view of the first quarter for much of Hollywood, warning that economic uncertainty caused …
Devin Leonard / Bloomberg:
A profile of Hipgnosis founder Merck Mercuriadis, who stepped down in July 2024 after accusations of mismanagement, conflicts of interest, and accounting issues  —  Merck Mercuriadis convinced everyone from pop stars to Blackstone that music was the next hot asset class.  It worked out for everyone—but him.
Discussion: @devinleonard and @bw
@newsfromgoogle:
Google says “we won half of this case and we will appeal the other half” of the US antitrust ruling and “disagree[s]” with the decision on its publisher tools  —  “We won half of this case and we will appeal the other half. The Court found that our advertiser tools and our acquisitions, such as DoubleClick, don't harm competition. We disagree with the Court's decision regarding our publisher tools. Publishers have many options and they
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
In a tweet, the FCC chairman suggests Comcast may be violating its licenses and accuses it of “news distortion” after MSNBC didn't air a WH press hearing  —  FCC chairman Brendan Carr suggested that Comcast may be violating its broadcast licenses after MSNBC declined to carry …
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Smashing, an AI-powered news and social media posts aggregation app by Goodreads co-founder Otis Chandler, shuts down, citing its inability to grow quickly  —  Building an app dedicated to helping people aggregate and read news, articles and social media posts in one place is apparently a tough proposition these days.
Julian Sancton / The Hollywood Reporter:
Breakthrough Prize Foundation cut Seth Rogen's criticism of Silicon Valley's Trump support from a “full” YouTube video; a spokesperson blamed the event's length  —  While presenting an award at the event known as the Oscars of Science, ‘The Studio’ star pointed out the irony …
Melanie Goodfellow / Deadline:
Palestinian photojournalist and artist Fatima Hassouna has been killed in an Israeli airstrike on her family's home in Gaza City  —  A Palestinian artist and photojournalist who is the protagonist of a documentary due to premiere in Cannes in May has been killed in an Israeli air strike.
Washington Post:
President Trump's DC US attorney pick, Ed Martin, has been on Russian state-funded RT and Sputnik as a commentator over 150 times from August 2016 to April 2024  —  Nominee Ed Martin did not initially disclose his RT and Sputnik appearances from 2016 to 2024 to the Senate.
 
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 More News: 
Catherine Perloff / The Information:
Source: in January 2025, Pinterest considered buying an ad tech firm to boost its ad sales, and is working to allow ad sales through independent ad tech firms
Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
A US appeals court temporarily blocks Sony from taking over distribution of syndicated game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune from CBS
 Earlier Picks: 
Financial Times:
Sensor Tower: Temu and Shein cut their ad spending on platforms including Meta and X an average of 31% and 19%, respectively, so far in April, compared to March
Eileen Guo / MIT Technology Review:
Marco Rubio confirms the elimination of the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Hub; conservatives alleged it censored conservative media
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
In a court filing, the AP says the White House's new policy eliminating wire services' press pool access is a “clear violation” of the court's injunction
 

 
From Techmeme:

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Apple says general counsel Kate Adams and policy chief Lisa Jackson will retire, and Jennifer Newstead, Meta's former chief legal officer, will replace Adams

A.J. Vicens / Reuters:
US and Canadian authorities warn that Chinese hackers are using the Brickstorm malware to install backdoor access within unnamed government and IT entities

Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Meta says it is shifting some of its investment from metaverse toward AI glasses and wearables, and “we aren't planning any broader changes than that”
 
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