Mediagazer: Flipboard rolls out support for integrating accounts from decentralized social networks Bluesky and Pixelfed, after adding support for Mastodon in February 2023 (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)

3:05 PM ET, May 23, 2023

Top News:

Sources: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to launch his presidential bid on Twitter Spaces on May 24, in a conversation with Elon Musk moderated by David Sacks — The Florida governor will announce he is running for president on Twitter Wednesday evening in a conversation with Musk.

Zack Beauchamp / Vox:

The uproar after right-wing outlet Daily Signal accused Fox of being pro-trans due to state workplace rules signals ongoing backlash after Tucker Carlson's exit — A conservative outlet is attacking Fox for being too respectful of trans employees. It's a sign of the times on the right.

Discussion: @mattwalshblog, Mediaite, The Daily Signal, @brynntannehill, @noamchompers, @sulliview, @andreancaruso, @walshfreedom, @catturd2, @paleozoomer99, @kimmasters, @kf_crow, @jessicashortall, The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone and Insider

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

BuzzFeed debuts Botatouille, a free chatbot that suggests recipes from its food brand Tasty, and plans to offer AI-personalized services to sell subscriptions — Jonah Peretti, the company's chief executive, has embraced artificial intelligence more than most publishers.

Discussion: @benmullin, @bmorrissey, @zachsilberberg, @buzzfeedpr, @benmullin and @mccarthyryanj, more at Techmeme »

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:

Google says it will use generative AI to boost Search ads' relevance based on query context and debuts a conversational experience for creating ad campaigns — Google is going to start using generative AI to boost Search ads relevance based on the context of a query, the company announced at its Google Marketing Live event today.

Discussion: Search Engine Land, AdExchanger and Wired, more at Techmeme »

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google plans to experiment with running Search and Shopping ads, which are fully customized based on users' queries, inside its conversational AI Search tool

Discussion: MediaPost, Ad Age, Bloomberg, The Drum, Search Engine Land, The Keyword and Insider, more at Techmeme »

Sara Fischer / Axios:

The Daily Wire plans to put all of its podcasts on Twitter beginning May 30, after YouTube demonetized videos from Daily Wire host Matt Walsh in April 2023 — The Daily Wire, a conservative media and entertainment company, plans to put its entire slate of podcasts, which are almost all recorded as videos …

Discussion: Mediaite, @mattgertz, @mattgertz, @mattgertz, @gayest_tone, @dailywirenews, @oneunderscore__, @bmorrissey, @benshapiro and @jeremydboreing

Bill Donahue / Billboard:

A US judge rules that a case claiming YouTube enables piracy by restricting access to copyright tools to record labels may not proceed as a class action — The case claimed that YouTube offers tools like Content ID to record labels but refuses to allow “ordinary” copyright owners to use them.

Discussion: Plagiarism Today, Complete Music Update, Music Ally and Cord Cutters News

Yuvraj Malik / Reuters:

Shutterstock plans to acquire Giphy from Meta for $53M in cash, after the UK CMA ordered Meta to divest the deal in 2022; Meta reportedly paid $400M for Giphy — Stock photos repository Shutterstock Inc (SSTK.N) said on Tuesday it would buy animated-images platform Giphy Inc from Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) for $53 million in cash.

Ann M. Simmons / Wall Street Journal:

A Russian court extends Evan Gershkovich's pre-trial detention until at least August 30, according to state news agency TASS — WSJ reporter is deemed by the U.S. to be wrongfully held — A Russian court extended until at least Aug. 30 the pretrial detention of Evan Gershkovich …

Discussion: Voice of America, The Hill, Al Jazeera, Talking Biz News, The Moscow Times, CBS News, Forbes, Politico, NPR, Fox News, Committee to Protect …, @biettetimmons, @nat_vasilyeva, @biannagolodryga, Kyiv Independent, Semafor and The Guardian

New York Times:

US Department of Education settles with a Georgia school district, which the agency says may have violated students' civil rights by removing some library books — The U.S. Department of Education reached a settlement with a Georgia school district after launching an investigation …

Discussion: Fox News, Reason, @paisleyrekdal, Washington Post and The Daily Signal

Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:

Nielsen: from May 15 to May 19, CNN averaged 429K daily viewers, its lowest week since June 2015; Fox News had its worst key demo ratings since September 2001 — This reporting is featured in this week's edition of Confider, The Daily Beast's media newsletter. Subscribe here and send your questions, tips, and complaints here.

Discussion: Front Office Sports, @schotthappens, @stevenjcbuckley and UPROXX

Kristin Robinson / Billboard:

SoundCloud CEO sends staff an email announcing layoffs affecting 8% of staff in order to help the company turn a profit for the first time in its history — The layoffs were announced during an all hands meeting by CEO Eliah Seton. — SoundCloud leaders told staff on Tuesday (May 23) …

Discussion: Variety and Music Business Worldwide

The Nib:

The Nib, a 10-year-old political cartoon outlet, is shutting down in August, having published more than 6K comics and paid out over $2M to creators — I'm afraid I have some bad news. After ten years of publishing, The Nib is going to close down this summer. The new issue of our magazine, the Future issue, will be our last.

Discussion: @mattbors, @andycomics, @thenib, @lubchansky, Boing Boing and Graphic Policy

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Flipboard rolls out support for integrating accounts from decentralized social networks Bluesky and Pixelfed, after adding support for Mastodon in February 2023 — Social magazine app Flipboard is continuing its investment in the federated social web with today's news that it's integrating …

Discussion: Music Ally, more at Techmeme »

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Part-time Editor, Remote — Techmeme

Home & Travel Reporter, Ireland — Newsweek

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Senior Editor - Visuals (Temporary), DC — NPR

Copy Editor, Remote US — ProPublica

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Staff Writer, NV — Las Vegas Weekly

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Investigations & Enterprise Ed., WI — Cap Times

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Editor-in-Chief, NY (flexible) — The 74

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More News:

Kerry Flynn / Axios:
San Francisco-based boombox.io, a service that lets music producers store and manage audio files and create contracts for song ownership, raised a $7M seed

Discussion: Yahoo Finance

Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:
Comcast unveils plans for Now TV, a $20/month streaming package that includes 40+ live channels, 20 FAST channels, and a subscription to Peacock Premium

Discussion: The Streamable, MediaPost, The Wrap, Deadline, Variety, Light Reading, Media Play News and @michaelmiraflor

Elias Leight / Billboard:
Endel, a startup that uses AI to make “functional music”, partners with UMG to transform the label's tracks into soundscapes for sleeping, relaxing, or studying

Discussion: Forbes, Music Ally, Rolling Stone, Music Business Worldwide and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:
Singapore-based BandLab Technologies, which offers a social music creation platform and has 60M+ registered users, raised a $25M Series B1 at a $425M valuation

Discussion: Billboard, Digital Music News and Music Business Worldwide, more at Techmeme »

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
As music revenue slows, record labels may force Spotify, which has never changed its US base plan's price, to follow Apple, Amazon, and others in raising prices

Discussion: @realkunalashah, @tiagodf, @lucas_shaw, @guillermosmind, @pkedrosky, @kouroshshafi, @lucas_shaw and Billboard, more at Techmeme »

Anne Branigin / Washington Post:
A look at The Wall Street Journal's decision to drop courtesy titles like Mr., Ms., and Mx., leaving The New York Times as the most notable holdout remaining

Discussion: @austinramzy and @thesarahkelly

Earlier Picks:

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Max introduces a higher-priced tier: Ultimate Ad-Free for $20/month, offering four concurrent streams, 100 offline downloads, and 1,000+ 4K UHD films and shows

Benjamin Weiser / New York Times:
Filing: E. Jean Carroll asks to amend her 2019 defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump, seeking a “very substantial” amount for his comments at CNN's town hall

Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Tegna says its deal to be acquired by Standard General has been terminated; Standard General agreed to acquire Tegna in February 2022 in a deal valued at ~$8.6B

Discussion: Axios, Inside Radio, Reuters, Next TV, Bloomberg, Business Wire and Cord Cutters News

Peter White / Deadline:
Paramount plans to launch its Paramount+ with Showtime service in the US on June 27 for $11.99 per month; Paramount+ without Showtime will cost $5.99 per month

Discussion: CNET, The Streamable, Adweek, The Verge, IndieWire, Comic Book, IGN, TVLine, CNBC, Variety, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons

Bobby Allyn / NPR:
TikTok sues Montana over its new law intending to ban the app, citing the First Amendment, the state's lack of authority on national security issues, and more

Discussion: Mediaite, McSweeney's, The Register, Forbes, Reuters, @krcr7, @davidgura, @bobbyallyn, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Quartz, Gizmodo, 9to5Mac, Politico, The Verge, Variety, Semafor and New York Daily News

Chloe Xiang / VICE:
Some blue-check Twitter accounts, one pretending to be Bloomberg, spread an AI-generated image of an explosion at the Pentagon; the stock market briefly dipped

From Techmeme:

Alex Heath / The Verge:
Meta details Llama 3: 8B- and 70B-parameter models, a focus on reducing false refusals, and an upcoming model trained on 15T+ tokens that has 400B+ parameters

David Pierce / The Verge:
Google announces internal reorganizations, including an AI-focused Platforms and Devices group overseeing Pixel, Android, Chrome, and more, led by Rick Osterloh

Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
Europol and 19 countries make 37 arrests and disrupt phishing-as-a-service platform LabHost in a year-long operation with help from Microsoft, Intel, and others

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