Top News:
David McCabe / New York Times:
A US judge says Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in some online advertising tech, the second time in a year a court found Google acted illegally — The ruling was the second time in a year that a federal court had found that Google had acted illegally to maintain its dominance.
Discussion:
The Verge, MediaPost, Engadget, Reuters, The Drum, Daily Mail, Fast Company, Skift, Benzinga, Yahoo Finance, CNBC, Adweek, News/Media Alliance, Washington Times, Financial Times, CBS News, The Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg, Gizmodo, @ddayen.bsky.social, @khushitavasant, @_annalanglois, MacRumors, @matthewstoller, @aripap, Barron's Online, @aripap, @moreperfectus, @mcconnell.bsky.social, @lutherlowe, @benremaly, @aripap, The Western Journal, SFist, @klobuchar.senate.gov, @jahmierose.bsky.social, @laurenfeiner.bsky.social, 9to5Google, @sayreevan, @dell.bsky.social, @jakeweindling.bsky.social, UPI, @benbrodydc, Deadline, Wall Street Journal, @benremaly, @lewis_crofts, @zamaan_qureshi, @future_of_music, @sarafischer, @matthewstoller, @chronotope, @lukewgoldstein, @_annalanglois, @loudmouthjulia, Variety, MarTech, @moreperfectus, @superwuster.bsky.social, WBAL Baltimore News, AppleInsider, The Post Millennial, Semafor and Drudge Retort, more at Techmeme »
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Axios:
The DOJ and 17 US states that brought the antitrust case seek to force Google to sell off its “network” ad business, which is ~12% of Alphabet's total revenue — Google's dominance of the online advertising and ad-tech markets violates U.S. antitrust laws, a Federal court ruled Thursday …
Discussion:
Daily Sabah, Daily Caller News Foundation, CNET, Yahoo Finance, Los Angeles Times, ABA Journal, Reuters, Sherwood News, CNN, The Wrap, MEDIANAMA, Politico, Bloomberg, Business Insider, Quartz, The Register, Benzinga, The Hill, WBAL Baltimore News, Agence France-Presse, CBS News, Common Dreams, The Guardian, Lawyer Monthly, Breitbart, Search Engine Land and UPI, more at Techmeme »
@newsfromgoogle:
Google says “we won half of this case and we will appeal the other half” of the US antitrust ruling and “disagree[s]” with the decision on its publisher tools — “We won half of this case and we will appeal the other half. The Court found that our advertiser tools and our acquisitions, such as DoubleClick, don't harm competition. We disagree with the Court's decision regarding our publisher tools. Publishers have many options and they
Discussion:
Search Engine Land, The Information and Investor's Business Daily, more at Techmeme »
Bloomberg:
In her ruling, Judge Brinkema says Google did not meet the monopoly definition for tools used to buy display ads, but did for ad exchanges and website ad tools
In her ruling, Judge Brinkema says Google did not meet the monopoly definition for tools used to buy display ads, but did for ad exchanges and website ad tools
Discussion:
TV Tech, Reuters, Fox Business, Breitbart, State of California, Wired, Townhall, Ars Technica, The Information, TechCrunch, The Daily Wire, Daily Caller News Foundation, New York Post, ZeroHedge News, One America News Network, Washington Examiner, Entrepreneur, MediaPost, Digiday and Forbes, more at Techmeme »
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix reports Q1 revenue up 12.5% YoY to $10.54B, vs. $10.51B est., net income of $2.89B, and stops reporting subscriber numbers on a quarterly basis — Netflix is no longer reporting number of subscribers on a quarterly basis. But it's still motoring on a hot growth engine …
Discussion:
MediaPost, The Desk, Adweek, The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, Reuters, Benzinga, Fortune, Associated Press, Financial Times, Axios, Investor's Business Daily, Yahoo Finance, The Hollywood Reporter, Wall Street Journal, Cord Cutters News, @lucas_shaw, Bloomberg, The Verge, Media Play News, Forbes, Sherwood News, CNBC, Business Insider, Motley Fool, Barron's Online and Deadline, more at Techmeme »
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Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Netflix says co-founder Reed Hastings has left his post as executive chairman to become chairman and non-executive director of the company — Reed Hastings, co-founder and longtime former CEO of Netflix, is shifting from executive chairman to chairman of the board.
Discussion:
The Wrap, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The Information and Media Play News, more at Techmeme »
Natalie Jarvey / The Ankler:
With Kid Cowboy, Nickelodeon becomes the first TV network to debut an original series in full on YouTube, bowing to YouTube's supremacy among kids — Exec Ashley Kaplan and creator Freddy Wexler take me inside the inside the launch of ‘Kid Cowboy’ as the TV net's first original to debut on the free streamer
Discussion:
@simondowens@threads.net and @natjarv
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Chris Matthews is reviving Hardball on Substack with new episodes on Mondays at noon; Matthews abruptly retired from MSNBC in March 2020 — The former MSNBC host retired five years ago, but says he will reboot his cable news program on the subscription platform. — Hardball is back.
Discussion:
Barrett Media and Hardball with Chris Matthews
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Similarweb: total desktop social referral traffic from Facebook grew 75% YoY for 68 top English-language news sites due to algorithm changes in January 2025 — Facebook traffic appears to be a growing part of the social pie again at three-quarters of the world's biggest news websites.
Discussion:
@2xaught7.bsky.social
Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
Zachary Young, a Navy veteran who won $5M in a defamation suit against CNN in January, sues Puck and the AP for their allegedly defamatory reporting on the case — Zachary Young also sued Puck News over its reporting on his lawsuit against CNN. … Young, in a lawsuit filed in Florida state court …
Discussion:
Variety, Fox News and Newsbusters
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
In an X post, the FCC chairman suggests Comcast may be violating its licenses and accuses it of “news distortion” after MSNBC didn't air a WH press hearing — FCC chairman Brendan Carr suggested that Comcast may be violating its broadcast licenses after MSNBC declined to carry …
Discussion:
Ars Technica, @brendancarrfcc, The National Pulse, The Wrap, @chucktodd, @slazerlee.bsky.social, @mattwelch, The Verge, @ryangrim, @tedstew, @ditzkoff.bsky.social, The Independent, @mediaevan, @foglandia.bsky.social, New Republic, @aaronterr1, @adamkinzinger, @nickgillespie, The Hill, Mediaite, New York Post, Variety and TVNewsCheck
Reuters:
MoffettNathanson: a US recession may result in $45B in lost ad spend in 2025 and ad budgets shifting from traditional TV to alternatives like streaming services — Wall Street analysts offered a gloomy view of the first quarter for much of Hollywood, warning that economic uncertainty caused …
Discussion:
The Daily Upside, The Register and New York Times
Devin Leonard / Bloomberg:
A profile of Hipgnosis founder Merck Mercuriadis, who stepped down in July 2024 after accusations of mismanagement, conflicts of interest, and accounting issues — Merck Mercuriadis convinced everyone from pop stars to Blackstone that music was the next hot asset class. It worked out for everyone—but him.
Discussion:
@devinleonard and @bw
