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Elizabeth Lopatto / The Verge:
Twitter reactivates its gray “Official” badge for select high-profile accounts, after a wave of impersonators bought blue checks — Okay, so Twitter broke its own verification system by making the blue check — previously a signal that the account had provided information …
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Bloomberg:
Sources: Twitter's head of ad sales Robin Wheeler resigned, but Musk convinced her to stay; head of Trust & Safety Yoel Roth confirmed his resignation — Elon Musk, in his first address to Twitter Inc. employees since purchasing the company for $44 billion, said that bankruptcy …
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Washington Post:
Internal note: Twitter has temporarily disabled sign-ups for Twitter Blue to “help address impersonation issues” affecting brands, politicians, and celebrities — Twitter accounts impersonating celebrities and politicians spread on the site after the company rolled out paid check marks.
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The New York Times Company:
The New York Times hires Jonathan Swan, a national political reporter at Axios, for its politics team — The political reporter is joining the Politics team at The Times. Read more in this note from Politics Editor David Halbfinger and Washington Bureau Chief Elisabeth Bumiller.
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@oliverdarcy, The Wrap, Mediaite, Axios, The Hill, @sam_baker, @jmart, @jonathanvswan, @emptywheel, @cliffordlevy, @mikiebarb, @jamisonfoser, @sarahamatthews1, @sophiacai99, @maggienyt and @jakesherman
Jack Queen / Reuters:
A Connecticut judge orders Alex Jones to pay $473M in punitive damages on top of the nearly $1B in defamation claims that a jury awarded to Sandy Hook parents — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must pay $473 million in punitive damages on top of a nearly $1 billion verdict handed down last month …
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Jennifer Maas / Variety:
An interview with HBO Max Head of Original Content Sarah Aubrey on her mandate to grow Warner Bros. Discovery IP, canceling originals, and figuring out ratings — Sarah Aubrey definitely did not sign up for this. — In early 2015, when she ended her producing partnership with filmmaker Peter Berg …
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SlashFilm, ScreenRant and The Playlist
Margaret Sullivan / Media Maelstrom:
Margaret Sullivan, WaPo's former media critic, launches Media Maelstrom, a Substack newsletter about “what's wrong with the press and how to fix it” — Coming soon This is Media Maelstrom, a newsletter about what's wrong with the press and how to fix it.
Discussion:
@sulliview, @heerjeet, @markjacob16, @mollyjongfast and The B-Roll
Freedom of the Press Foundation:
Ohio newspaper editor who used an unlawful recording was charged with felony wiretapping, against Supreme Court precedent; his cell phone and laptop were seized — Promoting press freedom in the 21st century … An Ohio newspaper editor was charged with felony wiretapping for publishing audio …
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Committee to Protect …, Scioto Valley Guardian, @kajtweets and @pressfreedom
Louise Matsakis / Semafor:
TikTok quietly started testing its livestreaming e-commerce feature TikTok Shop in the US this week; source: TikTok invited select US businesses to participate — TikTok quietly entered the United States e-commerce market this week, where it will compete with Amazon and other retail giants during the coming holiday shopping season.
Mia Sato / The Verge:
Memo: One of the world's biggest ad firms, Omnicom Media Group, citing risk to brand safety, recommends clients halt ad spending on Twitter — Omnicom, one of the world's biggest ad firms, representing brands like McDonald's, Apple, and Pepsico, is recommending clients pause spending on Twitter …
Jason Del Rey / Vox:
How Amazon's shopping experience, saturated with ads, impacts sellers and consumers, as its 2022 ad revenue surpassed revenue from Prime and other subscriptions — Inside the under-the-radar business that makes more money than Amazon Prime. — Type any random product into Amazon's search bar and look closely at the results.
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Next in Marketing, Beyond Search, MediaPost, Light Reading and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:
Thomson Reuters plans to acquire Irvine-based tax automation software company SurePrep for $500M in cash, and expects the deal to close in Q1 2023 — Thomson Reuters has announced plans to acquire SurePrep, a tax automation software company based in Irvine, California.
Discussion:
Thomson Reuters and SurePrep, more at Techmeme »