Top News:
Bloomberg:
House Democrats release 3,519 Facebook ads from Russia-linked accounts, spanning 2015 to 2017, showing a coordinated campaign to sow distrust in US politics — - House Intelligence Committee Democrats publish 3,519 ads — Posts targeted specific groups to inflame civil discord
Discussion:
NBC News, Facebook, Financial Times, Variety, The Wrap, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Wired, @facebook, @nbcnews, USA Today, @firstdraftnews, @sarahfrier and @oneunderscore__, more at Techmeme »
Shan Wang / Nieman Lab:
Medium abruptly ends feature that let publishers use the platform to collect revenue from their own subscriptions, affecting 21 publishers — “Could we have a better metaphor for the way Silicon Valley considers local journalism?" fumed the owner of one of these remaining publications.
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Spotify announces a hateful content and conduct policy to distance itself from controversial artists and introduces AudioWatch tool to scan its back catalog — Spotify has announced a new hate content and hateful conduct policy as it looks to distance itself from controversial music artists …
Discussion:
newsroom.spotify.com, Ad Age, Bloomberg, New York Times, Fast Company, Associated Press, @buzzfeedben, The Verge, @danrys, @mtfiii, The Muse and @pitchfork, more at Techmeme »
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
IAB report: online advertising exceeded total spent on broadcast and cable TV in 2017, reaching $88B, a 21% increase from 2016; mobile rose 36% YoY to $49.9B — Online advertising reached $88 billion last year, a 21 percent increase from 2016 and a new high, according to the latest IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report.
Simon Dumenco / Ad Age:
The Onion's Clickhole launches Resistancehole to parody the Trump “resistance” the same way Patriothole, started last year, parodies the conservative right — Do you oppose President Trump? And do you have a sense of humor about your opposition? (Or do you not have a sense of humor about it but don't realize it?)
Discussion:
ClickHole and @jenniferm_q
Brianne O'Brien / BuzzFeed:
BuzzFeed to launch a new Saturday podcast, The News, where BuzzFeed staffers add context to news — Don't get lost in the chaos. Join BuzzFeed News reporters and editors every Saturday for news that's smart, not stuffy. — We get it. — With the news alerts constantly blowing up our phones …
Discussion:
@janelytv
Sahil Patel / Digiday:
Sources: Facebook Watch is proposing annual budgets from $5M to $10M for daily news programming and $1M to $2M for weekly shows, based on per-episode costs — As Facebook looks to recruit news publishers for daily and weekly shows for Facebook Watch, the company is proposing a wide range …
David Shepardson / Reuters:
FCC says that the Obama-era net neutrality rules from 2015 will end on June 11; Senate to vote as early as next week on whether to reject the FCC repeal — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Communications Commission said in a notice Thursday that landmark 2015 U.S. open-internet rules will cease on June 11.
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
AMC Networks' Q1 revenue grew 2.9% YoY to $741M with a 10.8% gain in content licensing and distribution revenue that offset a 8.8% drop in ad sales — AMC Networks delivered strong gains in revenue and earnings per share in the first quarter as gains from content licensing pacts offset a 9% slump in ad sales.
Discussion:
The Wrap, Multichannel News, AMC Networks Inc. and Deadline
Jeffery C. Mays / New York Times:
NYC council member wants to prioritize Freedom of Information requests from professional media, but one expert says the plan could hurt journalists — Ritchie Torres is looking for allies in his new role as head of the City Council investigations committee: journalists.
Discussion:
@nyclu and @shanegoldmacher
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:
Gannett reaches deal to buy search marketing company WordStream for $130M in cash plus up to $20M in earnout through 2020 if revenue goals are met — WordStream, the paid search software company that helps advertisers manage their PPC campaigns, has been acquired by the Gannett Company for $150 million.
Discussion:
MediaPost, Business Wire, WordStream, @adammedros and Editor & Publisher, more at Techmeme »
Matt Labunka / Facebook:
Facebook Live will now let publishers crosspost live video across pages, use persistent stream keys for easier setup, says live rewind is coming soon — Today we are rolling out several new features that are focused on making it easier for publishers to go live on Facebook.
Discussion:
Tubefilter and Marketing Land