Top News:
Bloomberg:
Australia's under-16 social media ban excludes Discord, GitHub, LEGO Play, Roblox, Steam, Google Classroom, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and YouTube Kids — Young teenagers in Australia have been barred from social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok in one of the toughest crackdowns …
Discussion:
@nvbinder.io, @davezatz and Forbes, more at Techmeme »
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The Guardian:
Australia's eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant says under-16s slipping through the cracks of the social media ban will be “booted off” the platforms in time — Albanese says commencement of ban a ‘proud day’ for him as prime minister, while eSafety commissioner unconcerned by reports of children bypassing restrictions
Discussion:
Australian Financial Review, Sydney Morning Herald, ABC and Telegraph, more at Techmeme »
Nic Fildes / Financial Times:
As Australia enacts the world's first under-16 social media ban, a look at the implications, reaction from parents and teens, and more — Under-16s will no longer be able to subscribe to popular apps under groundbreaking Australian law — Kirstin Hunter was picking up her daughter …
Discussion:
Engadget, France 24, CNBC, The Cyber Express, BBC, RTÉ, The Guardian, USA Today, Mirror, The Free Press, SBS News, Associated Press, The Register, The Conversation, New York Times, Tom's Guide, IJR, CBS News, Fox News, NDTV Profit, Forbes, NBC News, YouTube, Fortune and CNET
Josh Taylor / The Guardian:
Australia's ban on under-16 social media users takes effect, as Meta, YouTube, and others remove users; platforms that don't comply risk up to AU$49.5M in fines
Australia's ban on under-16 social media users takes effect, as Meta, YouTube, and others remove users; platforms that don't comply risk up to AU$49.5M in fines
Discussion:
Hollywood Life, Associated Press, Fortune, ABC, Time, KnowTechie, Sydney Morning Herald, Mirror, CGTN, NDTV Profit, Digit, Nicola Trotman on LinkedIn, KDFX-TV, People, Information Age, CNN, Forbes Australia, @amirattaran.bsky.social, PC Gamer, @lizhighleyman.bsky.social, @publictorsten@mastodon.social, The Hill, Wansoo Im on LinkedIn, UPI, Talal Shamoon on LinkedIn, Al Jazeera, The Cyber Express, ABC, @kate@aus.social, @claesdevreese.bsky.social, CNET, The Verge, @rlstollar.bsky.social, Android Headlines, @hammancheez.bsky.social, Semafor, @jan6risingvoice.bsky.social, today.rtl.lu, Kyodo News, Breitbart, Silicon Republic, Le Monde, Tom's Guide, Moneycontrol, Los Angeles Times, BBC, Firstpost, Mashable, Tech in Asia, Reuters and SmartCompany, more at Techmeme »
Rohan Goswami / Semafor:
Sources: some WBD investors warm to David Ellison and his top team, after they were reassured that Paramount's Middle Eastern financing is secure — THE SCENE — Paramount CEO David Ellison spent Tuesday morning and afternoon meeting with major shareholders in Warner Bros. Discovery …
Discussion:
Status, CNN, @semaforben, Breaking the News, @maxwelltani, Business Insider, Raw Story, Poynter, TVNewsCheck, Daring Fireball, Proactive and primetimer.com
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Tim Wu / New York Times:
WBD merging with either Netflix or Paramount should be challenged by US antitrust authorities and would be bad for US streaming market competition
Discussion:
American Prospect, Financial Times, New York Times, Barrett Media, @cmthiede@social.vivaldi.net, Variety, Washington Examiner, The Entertainment Strategy Guy, JD Supra, Benzinga, Daring Fireball, AzerNews, @ppopiel.bsky.social, Benzinga, Courthouse News Service, Cord Cutters News, The Wrap, Financial Times, Stratechery and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren …
Christopher Palmeri / Bloomberg:
Money manager Mario Gabelli said it's “highly likely” he will tender his clients' WBD shares to Paramount in an effort to spark a bidding war for WBD
Money manager Mario Gabelli said it's “highly likely” he will tender his clients' WBD shares to Paramount in an effort to spark a bidding war for WBD
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Proactive, NDTV Profit, Blockchain.News, Benzinga, Financial Times, One America News Network and Techdirt
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
CBS names Tony Dokoupil as the new anchor of CBS Evening News as part of a major overhaul under Bari Weiss; Dokoupil is currently an anchor on CBS' morning show — Dokoupil, currently an anchor on the CBS morning show, will lead an overhaul of the evening newscast under CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
Nick Vivarelli / Variety:
The UK's Channel 4 names Priya Dogra as CEO, starting March 2026, replacing Alex Mahon, who stepped down after eight years; Dogra currently works for Sky — Priya Dogra has been appointed as the next chief executive of U.K. public service broadcaster Channel 4, replacing Alex Mahon who stepped …
Emma Roth / The Verge:
The RSL Collective, backed by Ziff Davis, Yahoo, and others, launches RSL 1.0, to let publishers set licensing and compensation rules for AI web crawlers — RSL 1.0 helps publishers outline how AI companies should pay for the content they scrape across the web.
Discussion:
RSL Internet Collective and Search Engine Journal, more at Techmeme »
Reece Rogers / Wired:
Instagram launches Your Algorithm, which shows users an AI analysis of their activity to let them customize the topics shaping their Reels recommendations — In the battle for your attention, Instagram is betting that more control over the algorithm could keep you scrolling on Reels.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, TechRadar, Fast Company, The Verge, 9to5Mac, MediaPost and Verdict
Emanuel Maiberg / 404 Media:
Instagram appears to be generating often misleading SEO-style headlines and long descriptions for users' Instagram posts, appearing in Google Search results — Instagram is generating headlines for users' Instagram posts without their knowledge, seemingly in an attempt to get those posts to rank higher in Google Search results.
Discussion:
@andymstone.bsky.social, Pixel Envy and Engadget
Wall Street Journal:
Chernin Group agrees to take a minority stake in Entangled Publishing, a publisher of romance-fantasy books; sources say the deal values Entangled at ~$400M — Deal values publisher of popular ‘Fourth Wing’ books at $400 million — Media executive Peter Chernin's private-equity firm …
Francesca Stevens / Bloomberg:
Vietnam's parliament passes amendments to its press law that tighten restrictions over information gathering and sharing, weakening confidentiality protections — Vietnam's parliament passed amendments to the press law that tighten restrictions over information gathering and sharing …
Discussion:
Reuters
New York Times:
A look at Alan's Universe, a YouTube channel for Gen Alpha with 98.3M subscribers that releases long-form, episodic videos as viewers shift to watching on TV — As Gen Alpha's attention drifts from TV and movies, video creators like Alan Chikin Chow are eager to fill the void.
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck
