Mediagazer: The Biden administration's promise to “review” Section 230 in response to anti-vax posts on Facebook will fail since being wrong online is protected speech (Adi Robertson/The Verge)

Todd Spangler / Variety:

AT&T Q2: HBO Max and HBO have 67.5M subscribers, up 12M YoY; HBO Max subscription revenue grew 39% YoY to $2B; WarnerMedia income fell 11.3% YoY to $1.7B — For the second quarter of 2021, the company reported a net gain of 2.8 million total domestic HBO Max and HBO subscribers …

Discussion: AT&T, Fast Company, The Wrap, MediaPost, The Streamable, Light Reading, FierceVideo, @attnews, Los Angeles Times, @richlightshed, @xpangler, @richlightshed, Wall Street Journal, @richlightshed, The Streamable, Cord Cutters News, Media Play News and Hollywood Reporter

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

Jason Kilar says Warner Bros. will produce at least 10 movies exclusively for HBO Max in 2022 — Warner Bros. will produce 10 or more movies exclusively for HBO Max in 2022, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar said Thursday as he declared “motion pictures matter and will continue to matter.”

Discussion: Observer, Yahoo Finance, CNBC, Hollywood Reporter, The Playlist, Collider and Media Play News

Hollywood Reporter:

WarnerMedia says it will delay the launch of HBO Max in Europe from H2 2021 to early 2022 as it focuses on subscriber growth in Latin America — The global rollout for WarnerMedia's streaming service has hit a fork in the road in 2021 as subscriber growth in Latin America becomes a near-term focus.

Discussion: Variety and The Streamable

Los Angeles Times:

LA Times names Shani Hilton to a newly created role, managing editor for new initiatives; she'll oversee podcasts and video and foster newsroom experimentation — Shani Hilton has been appointed to the newly created role of managing editor for new initiatives at the Los Angeles Times, effective immediately.

Discussion: @acnatta, @lisatozzi, @sewellchan, @sorayamcdonald, @emilydreyfuss, @lpolgreen, @sdkstl, @meridak, @kyoshino, @craigsilverman and @niemanlab

Oliver Darcy / CNN:

WaPo reporter Felicia Sonmez sues WaPo, Marty Baron, and other editors, claiming she faced discrimination after disclosing she was a sexual assault victim — New York (CNN Business)A reporter at The Washington Post filed a lawsuit Thursday against the newspaper, its former top editor …

Discussion: The Hill, The Wrap, @patcaldwell, @maxjrosenthal, @emmacarew, @hshaban, @joemfox and @gabemschneider

Adi Robertson / The Verge:

The Biden administration's promise to “review” Section 230 in response to anti-vax posts on Facebook will fail since being wrong online is protected speech — ‘Reviewing’ Section 230 isn't the answer to anti-vax posts — Last week, the White House declared war …

Discussion: Fast Company, NPR, The Daily Beast, @russellbrandom, @russellbrandom, @reckless, Politico and Techdirt, more at Techmeme »

Reuters:

Filing: Teads, which provides automated buying and selling of online ad space, plans to raise up to $808.5M in its US IPO, at a valuation of about $5B — Advertising technology company Teads BV, owned by French telecom company Altice, said on Wednesday it aims to raise up to $808.5 million through …

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:

Former CBS CEO Joe Ianniello has launched a SPAC, called Argus, and hopes to raise $300M+ to pursue an acquisition in media, telecommunications, or technology — SPAC, dubbed Argus, hopes to raise at least $300 million and is hunting for an acquisition in media, telecom or technology

Discussion: The Wrap and Hollywood Reporter

Martha Carr / New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Times-Picayune and The Advocate to receive $1M from the Ford Foundation to double the size of the papers' investigative team and expand its geographic reach — The Times-Picayune and The Advocate will receive a $1 million gift from the Ford Foundation, one of the nation's largest philanthropic funds …

Discussion: @k_mosbrucker, @denicewross, @bgrueskin, @brownjen, @kyle_whitfield, @gordonrussell1 and @aegallo

Kayleigh Barber / Digiday:

A look at livestream shopping shows from BuzzFeed, which has put on 50+ livestreams on Amazon Live this year, including a 16-hour-long show on Prime Day — BuzzFeed is the latest media company to start experimenting with livestream shopping (aka the new, digital version of QVC) …

Discussion: @peterhimler and @simonowens

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Comcast is offering its broadband subscribers the option of signing up for Hulu + Live TV, which is not available to Comcast's cable subscribers — Cable giant Comcast, like other traditional pay-TV providers, has been steadily losing video subscribers the last several years.

Discussion: The Streamable, Light Reading and Cord Cutters News

Hannah Ellis-Petersen / The Guardian:

Tax inspectors raid headquarters and regional offices of major Indian media group Dainik Bhaskar after it criticized the government's COVID response — Dainik Bhaskar accuses government of pursuing it on trumped-up charges in response to its reporting — Tax raids have been carried …

Discussion: Scroll.in