Top News:
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Meta revamping its content moderation systems with Community Notes is good, but Zuckerberg pretending it's about free speech is bad, and the timing is stupid — When the NY Times declared in September that “Mark Zuckerberg is Done With Politics,” it was obvious this framing was utter nonsense.
Discussion:
Beyond Search, The Future, Now and Then, The Atlantic, The Economist, Business Insider, Garbage Day, Write In Stone, @joshsternberg.com, Wired, Semafor, @karlbode.com, @mmasnick.bsky.social, Townhall, Just Security, Breitbart, GB News, Talking Points Memo, HotAir, Vox, Barron's Online, Popular Information, Axios, The Hill and Quartz, more at Techmeme »
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Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Mastodon CEO Eugen Rochko says Meta's moderation changes are “deeply troubling”, and Mastodon will take action on Threads accounts violating Mastodon's policies
Pranav Dixit / Business Insider:
Audio: Meta told the International Fact-Checking Network that its US partnerships will end in March but Community Notes rollout is expected to take time
Discussion:
Hindustan Times, BGR, @mikeisaac, @brianstelter.bsky.social, @joannag, Pranav Dixit on LinkedIn, KELOLAND.com, Tomorrow USA, Poynter and HotAir
Variety:
Los Angeles fires prompt cancellation of movie premieres and tapings of Jimmy Kimmel Live and After Midnight, and the Critics Choice Awards have been postponed — “Jimmy Kimmel Live” has been canceled Wednesday night, because of the fires that have been raging throughout Los Angeles since Tuesday, Variety has confirmed.
Discussion:
The Wrap, CNN, The Wrap, The Wrap, LateNighter, New York Daily News, The Wrap, Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, IndieWire, Benzinga, Daily Mail, Billboard, Deadline, GoldDerby, Forbes, Just Jared and LateNighter
Business Insider:
Instagram ends a program that paid creators for ads placed between content on their profiles; Meta began testing the program in the US in 2022 — Instagram has ended a program that allowed creators to earn money from ads placed between content on their profiles, the company confirmed to Business Insider.
Discussion:
@simonowens.bsky.social
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
Bauer Media Group subsidiary Bauer Radio agrees to acquire the northern European operations of American outdoor advertiser Clear Channel Outdoor for $625M — The acquisition represent's Bauer's entry into the out of home advertising market. — Bauer Radio Limited, a subsidiary of Bauer Media Group …
Discussion:
PR Newswire, RTÉ and The Media Leader
Tom Butts / TV Tech:
Hub Research: 66% of US TV consumers in December 2024 say they prefer to watch TV with ads in exchange for lower subscription costs, up from 58% in June 2021 — Annual survey finds two-thirds of viewers find advertising more tolerable than in on-demand programming
Discussion:
Next in Media
Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:
Letterboxd, the cinephile social platform that has become an effective tool to promote independent films, hit 17M members in 2024, up from 11.4M in 2023 — Letterbox, the cinephile social platform that's become perhaps the most effective tool for independent film in a landscape where moviegoers …
Discussion:
Letterboxd and The Hollywood Reporter
Richard Lawler / The Verge:
Adam Mosseri says Meta is adding political content recommendations to Instagram and Threads; Threads' political content control setting will have three options — It's been nearly a year since Instagram and Threads defaulted to blocking recommendations of “political” content from accounts …
Discussion:
Meta, Wall Street Journal, PhoneArena, @foolishowl@social.coop, Engadget, @harrymccracken@mastodon …, @dannygroner.bsky.social, @thebrianpenny@threads.net, @david_ingram@threads.net, @mosseri@threads.net, @mosseri@threads.net, @jack_toohey@threads.net, @johndellaporta@threads.net, @broken.com, @mosseri@threads.net and 6abc, more at Techmeme »
Ray Schultz / MediaPost:
Podcast publisher iHeartMedia and the NFL extend their partnership, with plans to debut new original podcasts and NFL Club shows each year as part of the deal — Podcast publisher iHeartMedia and the National Football League have extended their partnership, and are planning to create …
Discussion:
Deadline, RADIO ONLINE, Inside Radio and Radio & Television …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google rolls out Daily Listen, which uses AI to generate a five-minute personalized audio overview of stories and topics that a user follows, to its mobile app — Google is kicking off a new experiment in Search Labs today called “Daily Listen.” It's a bit like NotebookLM's Audio Overviews, while there are also podcast parallels.
Peter White / Deadline:
Sources: Peacock President Kelly Campbell is leaving Comcast's NBCUniversal three years after she joined the company; she was previously president of Hulu — Peacock President Kelly Campbell is leaving NBCUniversal, Deadline has confirmed. — It comes three years after she joined …
Discussion:
Variety, Puck, The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, The Desk, Cord Cutters News, @great_katzby, The Hollywood Reporter and Media Play News
Philip Blenkinsop / Reuters:
EU rejects Zuckerberg's claim that “Europe has an ever increasing number of laws institutionalizing censorship”, saying it only requires illegal content removal — The European Commission rejected on Wednesday Meta (META.O) chief Mark Zuckerberg's assertion that European Union …
Discussion:
The Information, @mikeisaac, Benzinga, The Economist, CBS News, The Atlantic, Public, RTÉ, Breitbart, Blaze Media, The Gateway Pundit, True North, The Verge, Washington Times and New York Post, more at Techmeme »
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Cristiano Lima-Strong / Washington Post:
Meta's fact-checking overhaul is set to deepen a growing schism between how platforms do content moderation in the US and in stricter regions like Europe
Discussion:
The Hill, The Guardian, Business Insider, Defense World, @sjweymouth, @willoremus.com, @cmthiede@social.vivaldi.net, @viacristiano.bsky.social, People For, The Verge, Townhall, Los Angeles Times, Free Press, CBS News, Common Dreams, Electronic Frontier Foundation, New York Times and New Republic
Ben Lang / Road to VR:
Infinite Reality, which is building an engine for creating immersive web content, says it has raised $3B from an unnamed private investor at a $12.25B valuation — Infinite Reality, a company building an engine for creating immersive web content underpinned with WebXR support …
Discussion:
Reuters, VC News Daily, theinfinitereality.com and VentureBeat, more at Techmeme »
Financial Times:
Internal 2023 docs: Meta exempted some top advertisers from its usual content moderation process amid concerns that its systems mistakenly penalized top brands — Social media giant's ‘guardrails’ intended to ‘protect high spenders’ amid internal concern its systems over-enforced rules
Discussion:
Search Engine Land, The Guardian, MediaPost, @ryanlcooper.com, The Information, CBS News and Crooks and Liars, more at Techmeme »
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