Top News:
Edmund Lee / New York Times:
Axios buys Charlotte Agenda, a North Carolina-based digital startup with a staff of 11, as part of a push into local news; sources say the deal was close to $5M — The site focuses on service journalism for North Carolina's largest city. Now it has been scooped up in a deal valued …
Discussion:
Charlotte Agenda, @jbenton, @ssavitsky, @sarthakgh, @andrew_dunn, @brooksad, @emmakway, @matt_mckenzie1, @milleryoho, @mikecooperjr, @nytimesbusiness, @matt_mckenzie1, @jasonwbade, @ted_williams, @bgrueskin, @seandkennedy, @eatraleigh, @jeremymbarr, @sarahscire, @nathanjmurphy, @hotlinejosh, @mjsolender, @milleryoho, @ylichterman, @thekendallbaker, @billvoth, @katie_levans, @aliciacbell, @emmakway, @kerrymflynn, @briandfrancis, @shanbow, @davemildenberg, @peterhamby, @maryfgross, @katieperalta, @heyprofbow, @jyarow, @crystalmariecom, @heidilegg, @sneddymobbin, @edmundlee, @chaykak, @joannakakissis, @williamsjed, @tommytomlinson, @michaelkruse, @katieperalta, @edmundlee, @benyt, @wxbrad, @katie_levans and @nicktheandersen
Twitter:
Twitter says it will start its new verification policy on January 21 and is developing profile labels to designate bots and memorial accounts — A couple of weeks ago, we announced that we're planning to bring back our public verification program in 2021, shared a draft of our new policy …
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Jack Morse / Mashable:
Twitter says it will stop prompting users to Quote Tweet, restoring the standard RT functionality, and says QT use increased but overall sharing dropped by 20%
Discussion:
@twittersupport, @twittersupport, @henrymance, @carnage4life, @javi_draws, @robmanuel, @oliverjia1014, Adweek, Breitbart, @veronica, 9to5Mac, @anthony, Engadget, @jordanlperkins, @noupside, @jsstansel, @sistertoldjah, @carynrose, @luulubuu, @kevinbparry, MacRumors, @parkermolloy, @dacidbro, @digiphile, @twittersupport, Pocket-lint, Engadget and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Ben Collins / Nieman Lab:
Lots of Americans slipped into conspiracy thinking in the pandemic; we'll need news outlets and others to explain how fantasy took hold and how we can dig out — “We're going to have to learn to create a vocabulary to talk about how their friends fell down the wrong YouTube hole and came out speaking another language.”
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @oneunderscore__, @stphnfwlr, @abbyohlheiser, @katiejstrang, @oliverdarcy, @szechuan, @joshsternberg, @cor_mike_pres, @abbyohlheiser, @amandakhurley, @riogringa, @scottnover, @nayebioskoui, @jesseherlitz, @shallowbrigade, @kumailn, @matteomoschella, @jesseherlitz and @scottnover
Kevin Roose / New York Times:
Facebook rolls back temporary post-election change that lifted news from authoritative outlets over hyperpartisan sources — Facebook confirmed that it has in the past few days rolled back a change that lifted news from authoritative outlets over hyperpartisan sources after November's election …
Discussion:
@tonyromm, @pomeranian99, @poniewozik, @ericschultz, Engadget, @lourdesgnavarro, @jayvanbavel, @slpng_giants, @kantrowitz, @davidbauer, @eshap, @gadyepstein, Vanity Fair and Reuters, more at Techmeme »
Axios:
Texas AG says the state and nine others have filed a lawsuit against Google, claiming Google illegally hurt competition in the ad tech market — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Wednesday that he's leading a lawsuit against Google, accusing the search giant of taking illegal actions …
Discussion:
@txag, New York Times, Vox, New York Times, Vox, Politico, AdExchanger, @kevinroose, @markscott82, @recode, @jason_kint, @econ_marshall, CNBC, @jason_kint, @jason_kint, @moonalice, @slpng_giants, @kostasrossoglou, @ineteconomics, @neoavatara, @mmasnick, @alecstapp, @ashk4n, @emilybell, @bmorrissey, @dseetharaman, @daiwaka, @daiwaka, @pkafka, @joshsternberg, @mikebaz, @matthewstoller, @karlbode, @russellbrandom, @lutherlowe, @kantrowitz, @jason_kint, @jasonabbruzzese, @tonyromm, @tonyromm, New York Post, Bloomberg, Associated Press, Law & Crime, The Week, Reuters, Adweek, Breitbart, Mashable and Financial Times, more at Techmeme »
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Ben Monnie / The Keyword:
Google News Initiative is launching a program to help entrepreneurs as they build digital news startups, seeks applicants for GNI Startups Lab in North America — Over the past nine months, we've been working with LION Publishers and UNC's Hussman School of Journalism and Media to study …
Discussion:
LION Publishers, @googlenewsinit, @ckrewson and @ckrewson
Reza Chowdhury / AlleyWatch:
Comcast's FreeWheel, a TV advertising platform, buys Beeswax, a programmatic ad-tech platform founded in 2014; terms of the transaction were not disclosed — Beeswax, the programmatic ad-tech platform that offers “bidder-as-a-service”, has been acquired by FreeWheel, the digital TV advertising platform.
Discussion:
AdExchanger, Default HubSpot Blog, @aripap, Adweek and FierceVideo
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Vice food vertical Munchies is launching a channel on OnlyFans, the first verified media publisher to do so, to post exclusive weekly videos for $4.99/month — Vice's food vertical, Munchies, is launching a verified channel on the breakout creator platform OnlyFans, a subscription site …
Discussion:
@sarafischer, @modestproposal1, @benvyle, @sachgau, @caseynewton, @neerajka, @00xca, @jscros, @carnage4life, @austin_rief, @richlightshed, @moniquewoodard and @mathewi, more at Techmeme »
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Walmart partners with TikTok to test live-streamed video shopping, during which users will be able to shop Walmart fashion without leaving the app — Walmart and TikTok announced this morning they will be partnering on the first pilot test of a new shoppable product experience on TikTok's social video app.
Discussion:
Adweek, Fast Company, @ginnymarvin, Engadget, @mgtalksretail, CNBC, Marketing Dive, @lanceulanoff, @ellismbeh, @producthunt, Ad Age and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »
William Turvill / Press Gazette:
The Guardian says it has 352K subscriptions to app and tablet editions, up 60% YoY, 548K recurring contributors, up 33% YoY; print subs are up 11% YoY to 119K — The Guardian has more than one million paying subscribers and regular contributors following a surge of interest and support over the past year …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
A startup called Gawq has launched a news app that organizes 150+ news sources; the app helps users compare sources, check facts, and even rate stories — A new startup called Gawq wants to tackle the problem of fake news and the “echo chamber” problem created by social media …
Discussion:
@petezin
Sahil Patel / Wall Street Journal:
Oracle has found a streaming TV scam that exploits flaws in ad-serving tech to fool marketers into paying for ads that are never seen, estimates $14.5M stolen — Oracle says it detected a continuing effort to lure ad dollars with simulated devices and apps
Discussion:
Adweek, @wsj, @davemorgannyc, Ad Age, @simonjharris and @sizpatel
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Spotify is now available on the Epic Games Store, signaling Epic's ambitions to make its game-focused store into a general app store — Epic is in prolonged battles with Apple and Google over their app store business models — Spotify is now available on the Epic Games Store …
Discussion:
PCGamesN, GameSpot, @dylanmcd8, Polygon and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
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