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Google shutters FLoC, its controversial replacement for cookies, and details Topics, which organizes browsing into 300+ topics — FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts), Google's controversial project for replacing cookies for interest-based advertising by instead grouping users into groups of users with comparable interests, is dead.
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Hundreds of German advertisers and publishers, including Axel Springer, say Google is breaking EU law by phasing out third-party cookies from Chrome by 2023 — Axel Springer among the media groups demanding that Brussels intervene on search giant's plan — Google is facing a fresh complaint …
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New York Post, What's New in Publishing, TechCrunch, The Drum, Media Voices, @emilybell, @eric_seufert, @wblau, MediaPost, AdExchanger and AppleInsider, more at Techmeme »


Fox News' Peter Doocy says Biden called him to “clear the air” about an hour after the president was caught on a hot mic calling Doocy “a stupid son of a bitch” — The president later called Peter Doocy and “cleared the air,” Mr. Doocy said.
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A look at likely First Amendment ramifications of the Sarah Palin v. The New York Times libel case, as reporters face aggressive defamation allegations — The trial comes at a time when those who argue that news outlets should pay a steeper price for getting something wrong are more emboldened than they've been in decades.
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Neil Young posts and then deletes a letter to his management team demanding they remove his music from Spotify over Joe Rogan's vaccine misinformation — Neil Young posted a since-deleted letter to his management team and record label demanding that they remove his music from Spotify.
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The Guardian, Forbes, USA Today, The Daily Beast, Billboard, UPI, The Verge, @jimwaterson, @anthonylfisher, @benschwartz_, Hollywood Life, The Wrap, UPROXX, Breitbart, Insider, The A.V. Club, WGN-TV, Variety, Music Ally, Consequence and Digital Music News
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Over 1,000 health professionals sign an open letter calling on Spotify to crack down on COVID-19 misinformation following a Joe Rogan podcast controversy — An open letter urging Spotify to crack down on COVID-19 misinformation has gained the signatures of more than a thousand doctors …
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Gawker, @rexchapman, Reason, @justinhendrix, @npr, Bartl Bright, The Starting Block, TheGrio, The Falcon Report and And Other Things


CBS News overhauls its streaming service to capture TV news viewers moving online, by adding hosts, reviving classic programming, and expanding local offerings — Talent like Norah O'Donnell and Tony Dokoupil will host streaming shows, including revivals of Edward R. Murrow's ‘Person-to-Person’ and doc series ‘CBS Reports.’
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Variety, CNN, The Wrap, CBS News, @bristei, Too Much TV Newsletter, @alexweprin, @cbsnewspress, @alexweprin, @alexweprin, The Streamable, TVNewser, Next TV, Daily Herald, Los Angeles Times and MediaPost


Sony announces it acquired Bob Dylan's recorded music back catalog and rights to future new releases in July 2021; sources say the deal is worth $150M-$200M — Sources tell Variety that the deal was worth between $150 million and $200 million, although the number was not confirmed; reps for Sony and Dylan declined comment.
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Billboard, The Guardian, @sterlewine, Rolling Stone, @bowiesongs, Forbes, @billboardbiz, The Wrap, Bloomberg and Consequence


Fight Club, newly released on Tencent Video in China, features an alternative ending whereby police thwart Tyler's anarchist plan — Someone tried very hard to please Chinese movie censors. — VZ — Fight Club is getting an entirely different ending in a new online release in China …
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Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards, who was sentenced to six months in prison for providing BuzzFeed News with US Treasury Department documents, has been released — Revelations by Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards prompted sweeping reform to the financial industry.
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@jasonleopold, @bitmeehan, @seamushughes, @buzzfeed, @arielkaminer, @jasonleopold, @brianstelter and @thetweetofjohn


PitchBook: VCs invested $1.4B in US and European publishing startups in 2021, more than twice the investment of any previous year — Spiffy online news outlets are hot again. Every month seems to welcome a new publication built on an established journalist's existing audience.
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@acoyne


Netflix signs France's new windowing rules to get movies 15 months after their release; other streamers wait 17 months and free-to-air channels wait 22 months — After months of heated debates and clashes, the French film industry has set new windowing rules for movies that are released in local theaters.
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@frasermatthew and Deadline