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Meta launches Instagram's text-based Threads app on the App Store and Google Play in 100+ countries; users log in via Instagram and can follow the same accounts — - Threads is a text-based messaging app that looks very similar to Twitter. — People will be able to use their Instagram usernames …
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Hands-on with Threads: fairly bare-bones text-based messaging app, log in via Instagram, no hashtags, no edit button, search is only for user handles, and more — Programming note: I really was trying to take a vacation, but this felt like it was worth the one-day interruption.
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GQ EIC Will Welch, who sources say made the call to pull a piece critical of WBD CEO David Zaslav, is producing a Warner Bros. movie, a likely ethical conflict — On July 3, GQ.com rolled out a hot-take story titled “How Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav Became Public Enemy Number One in Hollywood.”
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GQ pulls an article criticizing David Zaslav; sources say a Zaslav spokesman complained, causing extensive edits and the author asking GQ to remove his byline
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G/O Media sites start posting AI-generated content despite staff pushback; a Gizmodo editor calls an AI-generated Star Wars list with errors “embarrassing” — A few weeks back, we wrote about the seemingly never-ending drama at G/O Media, wondering why writers would want to continue working …
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Peter Chernin's North Road Company names David Nevins as CEO; Nevins was previously Paramount Premium Group CEO — Formerly chairman and CEO of Paramount Premium Group and chief creative officer of Paramount+ scripted series, Nevins will oversee North Road's portfolio of brands …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, @richlightshed and WORLD SCREEN


Trade groups push back against the FTC's “click to cancel” proposal; News Media Alliance says members receive “very few complaints” about cancellation processes — Mandating a simpler cancellation process would confuse consumers and create problems for businesses, trade groups say


Memo: NBC's Mike Cavanagh promotes Donna Langley, broadening her role over entertainment creative decisions, and Mark Lazarus, directing business decisions — Donna Langley will gain broader oversight of creative decisions for the company's entertainment content.
Discussion:
Variety, Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Deadline, Above the Line and @benmullin


Twitter quietly backtracks on requiring users to log in to see individual tweets, ending Elon Musk's “temporary emergency measure”; profiles remain blocked — The platform is becoming slightly more usable just as Meta opens up its Twitter competitor.


The 2024 election is likely to be the first modern US election without a “minimum viable media”, as news institutions and distribution systems collapse — In a recent interview with Canadian right-wing influencer Jordan Peterson, Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made an electoral meta-prediction.
Discussion:
@intelligencer and @grahamdavida


Spotify stops letting subscribers paying via Apple's App Store to use IAP as a payment method, after barring new subscribers from using Apple's IAP in May 2016 — Spotify hasn't let new Premium subscribers pay for service using in-app purchases via Apple's App Store since May 2016 …
Discussion:
Gizmodo, The Verge, Complete Music Update, TechCrunch, Digital Music News, MacRumors, Engadget, 9to5Mac and AppleInsider, more at Techmeme »


California and Canada should call Google's and Facebook's bluff, given the success of Australia's 2021 media law, as the companies threaten to remove news links — In June, Canada passed a law that will require major tech platforms such as Google and Facebook to pay a small fee when they host news …
Discussion:
The Overspill, @parismarx, @noah__goldberg, @tychobrahe, @jbenton, @nancyskinnerca, @knightlat, @mattdpearce, @bcmerchant, @bcmerchant, @davidshipley and @drpatsoonshiong
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Canada's government, media company Quebecor, and cable TV operator Cogeco suspend advertising on Facebook and Instagram in response to Meta's move to drop news
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@pablorodriguez, CBC News, @drjacobsrad, @jonkay, @jbenton, @mathieu_dion, National Post, @paulvieira, @markmackinnon, @ezralevant, @awudrick, @awudrick, The Desk, Gizmodo, Politico, CTV News, CP24, Reuters and Global News


Baseball pitcher Trevor Bauer settled a defamation case against The Athletic and freelance reporter Molly Knight over coverage of a sexual assault allegation — Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
Discussion:
@molly_knight, @thesarahkelly and @meghanncuniff


A look at Disney's costly flops, creative struggles, and shrinking box office in 2023, in a shift from 2022, when it had Avatar: The Way of Water and other hits — For the past decade, Disney has been the Teflon movie studio, remarkably adept at withstanding the tectonic changes impacting the film industry …
Discussion:
Screen Rant, The Wrap, Deadline, @alberto9herrera, @variety and @comixace.bsky.social