Germany's government pledges to add a 30% film/TV production tax incentive, effective as early as January 2025; Australia raised its rebate to 30% on July 1 (Scott Roxborough/The Hollywood Reporter)

Mediagazer: Germany's government pledges to add a 30% film/TV production tax incentive, effective as early as January 2025; Australia raised its rebate to 30% on July 1 (Scott Roxborough/The Hollywood Reporter)

Top News:

Dow Jones Newswires:

Netflix, Disney, and other US streaming companies ask a Canadian court to block imposition of a fee of 5% of sales to help finance local news and other content— OTTAWA—Netflix, Walt Disney and other U.S. streaming companies have asked a Canadian court to stop plans by authorities to force …
Discussion: New York Post, Media Play News, MobileSyrup, @paulvieira, @hertzbarry, MEDIANAMA, @fagstein, @mgeist, CBC News, Cartt.ca, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Globe and Mail, CBC News, The Desk and Bloomberg

Discussion:

Alexandra Steigrad /
New York Post: Netflix, Disney ask Canada court to stop proposed tax on streaming revenue: report

Erik Gruenwedel /
Media Play News: U.S. Streamers File Appeal of Canadian 5% Tax on All Localized Revenue

Bradly Shankar /
MobileSyrup: Canada's new digital services tax could lead to higher subscription fees

Paul Vieira /
@paulvieira: Netflix, Walt Disney and other U.S. streaming companies have asked a Canadian court to stop plans by authorities to force them to fork over 5% of their sales in the country to help finance local broadcast news and other domestic content. https://www.morningstar.com/ ...

Barry Hertz /
@hertzbarry: BREAKING: @MPACanada, which represents major Hollywood studios and streaming services, files applications to appeal CRTC's recent Bill C-11 move to compel foreign streamers to pay percentage of Canadian revenues to support local news. C-11 levies set to come into effect Sept. 1 [image]

Kamya Pandey /
MEDIANAMA: Global streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney+ challenge Canada's demand for a 5% levy to support local news content

Steve Faguy /
@fagstein: Considering how much money is at stake, it's unsurprising the foreign streaming giants are throwing whatever their lawyers can come up with at the courts trying to overturn the CRTC.

Michael Geist /
@mgeist: The battle over the CRTC's mandated 5% payment is heating up. The video streamers led by @MPACanada asking federal court to quash payments for news in Bill C-11 ruling. Argue CRTC acted unreasonably in compelling news payments and provided inadequate reasons for doing so. [image]

Peter Zimonjic /
CBC News: Liberal government enacts controversial digital services tax, raising trade concerns

Ahmad Hathout /
Cartt.ca: Amazon, Apple join chorus of foreign streamers challenging CRTC's contribution decision

Marie Woolf /
Globe and Mail: Streaming platforms launch multiple legal challenges to Bill C-11 payments in Canada

Jenna Benchetrit /
CBC News: Foreign streamers must pay into fund to boost Canadian content, CRTC says

Randy Thanthong-Knight /
Bloomberg: Netflix and Disney Caught by Canada's New Media Funding Rules

The Hollywood Reporter:

Germany's government pledges to add a 30% film/TV production tax incentive, effective as early as January 2025; Australia raised its rebate to 30% on July 1— German studios have been pushing for the incentive, which they say is necessary to remain competitive in attracting international productions.

RELATED:

Deadline:

Australia raises its Location Offset tax rebate for TV and film productions shooting in the country from the previous 16.5% to 30%— The Australian screen industry is celebrating after the country's Location Offset scheme was raised to 30%. — The legislation, which was announced in May …

Discussion:
IF Magazine and The Hollywood Reporter

Discussion:

Brendan Swift /
IF Magazine: Location Offset increase finally passed after long delay

CNN:

ABC News plans to air an interview with President Biden “in its entirety as a primetime special”, at 8pm ET on July 5; a transcript will also be available— The ABC News interview with President Joe Biden will now air “in its entirety as a primetime special” …

Discussion:
Variety, Axios, The Wrap, CNN, Forbes, NPR, New Jersey Online, Fox News, Bangor Daily News, USA Today, Vanity Fair, Variety, New York Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, @hadas_gold, Politico, @sahilkapur, Media Play News, @brianstelter, Mediaite, New York Post, Newser, Deadline, The Daily Beast, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, The A.V. Club, Axios, ABC News, Fox News and Politico

Discussion:

Natalie Korach /
The Wrap: How to Watch Joe Biden's ABC News Interview: What Time Does it Air?

Hadas Gold /
CNN: Why ABC moved the Biden interview to air Friday night

Joseph Rejent /
New Jersey Online: How to watch Joe Biden's interview with George Stephanopoulos (for free)

Emily DeLetter /
USA Today: When is Joe Biden's ABC interview? How to watch president's sitdown with George Stephanopoulos

Eric Lutz /
Vanity Fair: Joe Biden Is Getting Back on the TV High-Wire

Brian Steinberg /
Variety: ABC News Moves Biden-Stephanopoulos Interview to Friday Primetime

Michael M. Grynbaum /
New York Times: At a Key Juncture, Biden Again Gambles on ABC's George Stephanopoulos

Hadas Gold /
@hadas_gold: Good of ABC to move up airing whole Biden interview to Friday. A lot can happen in two days (orig was gonna air clips Friday with whole thing Sunday) also importantly they say “a transcript of the unedited interview will be made available the same day, Friday, July 5.”

Sahil Kapur /
@sahilkapur: 🚨 Very important change. If the interview was cut up and packaged it risked failing to change minds — diehards wonder if his best parts were left out, skeptical allies wonder about the full picture, foes wonder if he's being protected. Air it in its entirety and you avoid that.

Erik Gruenwedel /
Media Play News: ABC News to Live-Stream President Biden's First Post-Debate Television Interview

Brian Stelter /
@brianstelter: BIG change to ABC's Biden interview rollout plan: It “will air in its entirety as a primetime special, Friday, July 5, at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.” Additionally, “a transcript of the unedited interview will be made available the same day.”

Brian Stelter /
@brianstelter: ABC was originally planning to air just a clip of the Biden interview on Friday evening, then televise other parts over the weekend. This is a much better, more transparent plan.

David Gilmour /
Mediaite: Schedule Shake-Up Sees Biden's High-Stakes ABC Interview Air as Primetime Special July 5

Isabel Keane /
New York Post: Crucial Biden ABC interview — hosted by ex-Clinton official — moved up as prez desperately tries to prove he can stay in race

Rob Quinn /
Newser: ABC Is Airing Biden Interview Early

Dominic Patten /
Deadline: Joe Biden Sit-Down With George Stephanopoulos Moves To Friday Primetime As Pressure On POTUS Increases From Debate Debacle

Hugh Dougherty /
The Daily Beast: Biden's Interview With Stephanopoulos Could Be Over in Just 15 Minutes

Michael M. Grynbaum /
New York Times: Biden Will Sit for Interview on Friday With ABC News

William Hughes /
The A.V. Club: ABC News abruptly flop-sweats Biden interview to primetime on Friday night

Rebecca Falconer /
Axios: ABC News shifts Biden's Stephanopoulos interview to Friday primetime ABC News: President Joe Biden to sit down with ABC News on Friday for first TV interview since debate

RELATED:

Axios:
Analysis: Biden has held fewer press conferences and media interviews than any of the last seven US presidents at this point in their terms

Discussion:
The Hill

CNN:
White House reporters say Biden's mental fitness could have been better covered pre-debate, particularly after the release of Robert Hur's report in February

Discussion:

Brian Stelter /
Vox: Did the media botch the Biden age story?

Dan Kennedy /
Media Nation: The media, the president and what we should have known about his age-related issues

Phillip Nieto /
Mediaite: Amid Increasing Pressure, Biden Tells Reporters at White House: 'I'm Not Going Anywhere'

Kelly McBride /
Poynter: After the debate, plenty of insider texts but little transparency among political reporters

Robby Soave /
Reason: Why Didn't the Media Notice Joe Biden's ‘Jet Lag’ Sooner? Bangor Daily News: Why was it a surprise? Biden's debate problems leave some wondering if the press missed the story

Josh Hersh /
Columbia Journalism Review: What did we know and when? Alex Thompson on investigating Biden's mental decline

TechCrunch:

Cloudflare launches a tool that aims to block bots from scraping websites for AI training data, available free for all customers— Cloudflare, the publicly traded cloud service provider, has launched a new, free tool to prevent bots from scraping websites hosted on its platform for data to train AI models.

Discussion:
The Cloudflare Blog, @gergelyorosz, @rami_bball_fan, @nfergu, @cloudflare, @theobsguy, @carlhendy, @scottkrauss, @mattfthompson, @drale2k, @alex, @iliedaboutcake, @digitalbizweb, @rustybrick, @jenstirrup, @youraimarketer, @gergelyorosz, Dataconomy, Hackaday, Computerworld, TechSpot, The Verge, Decrypt, SiliconANGLE, Engadget, TechRadar, The Register, CMU and Windows Copilot News, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:
The Cloudflare Blog: Declare your AIndependence: block AI bots, scrapers and crawlers with a single click

Gergely Orosz /
@gergelyorosz: Notice how many companies w creatives or creators as paying customers have misread what those customers want from AI. They attempt to train their own AIs on their paying customers' work, without seeking opt-in (and enraging customers.) Cloudflare, again, showing how it's done.

Gergely Orosz /
@gergelyorosz: I've decided to move my blog as well over to Cloudflare - I block AI crawlers in robots.txt, but clearly this is not respected. Almost all AI crawlers are a parasocial relationship, where they offer no value to any website: it's extraction in exchange for nothing (by design.)

Rami Sufian /
@rami_bball_fan: @Cloudflare I'm impressed by Cloudflare's proactive move to protect content creators from AI bots! This easy button solution is a game-changer, especially with the rising concerns about AI-generated content.

Neil Ferguson /
@nfergu: @Cloudflare Seems like a nice feature but I'm skeptical about this claim. How would you know if you got a false negative if you don't know the ground truth? [image] @cloudflare: To help preserve a safe Internet for content creators, we've just launched a brand new “easy button” to block all AI bots. It's available for all customers, including those on our free tier. Read our blog post for more details: https://blog.cloudflare.com/ ... @theobsguy: Kudos to Cloudflare for this. The AI companies need to act responsibly and ethically. Hoovering up terabytes of data from the public web without the consent of content-creators does not constitute fair use. #cloudflare #llms #Ai https://blog.cloudflare.com/ ...

Carl Hendy /
@carlhendy: Cloudflare has launched a new feature to block AI bots, scrapers, and crawlers with a single click, and it's free. As AI crawlers continue to swallow up web content, this tool helps protect your content from being used without consent. Many AI crawlers ignore robots txt [video]

Scott Krauss /
@scottkrauss: Two things: 1. There's absolute explosion of bots crawling the web due to GenAI tools. If you want to drive revenue from these platforms you need to ensure bots can find your content 2. I think the wholesale blocking of all GenAI platforms is a mistake https://blog.cloudflare.com/ ...

Matt F. Thompson /
@mattfthompson: As robots.txt is increasingly ignored, Cloudfare launches functionality to block all AI bots. https://blog.cloudflare.com/ ...

Drazen /
@drale2k: Interesting chart from Cloudflare. The top 3 AI crawlers are from Bytedance (TikTok), OpenAI and Anthropic. You can now block them with a single toggle using Cloudflare https://blog.cloudflare.com/ ... [image] @iliedaboutcake: @Cloudflare Awesome, was doing this manually via WAF for ChatGPT, but this is easier :) [image] @digitalbizweb: Watch @Cloudflare become the most valuable company in the world. I am activating this feature right away. @thatkatieberry and friends you need to see this. https://blog.cloudflare.com/ ...

Barry Schwartz /
@rustybrick: Ooo - @Cloudflare lets you block AI crawlers with one click https://blog.cloudflare.com/ ... [image] @jenstirrup: Cloudflare has launched a new feature allowing customers to block AI bots, scrapers, and crawlers. Decision-makers must now consider how this could affect the quality and breadth of AI training data, potentially impacting future #AI tools. https://blog.cloudflare.com/ ... @youraimarketer: Bytespider, Amazonbot, ClaudeBot, and GPTBot Top four AI web crawlers... Some of these AI scrapers do not respect the robots.txt file and scrape all your content. To prevent this, Cloudflare has launched a new free tool to block AI bots from scraping your website. You can [image]

Gergely Orosz /
@gergelyorosz: A company that “gets” its customers: Cloudflare offers functionality to block AI crawlers, which give zero value to any site (in fact, take away value: the more they crawl, the less traffic the site will later get!) They also consume resources (bandwidth, CPU, etc.) Great move:

Eray Eliaçık /
Dataconomy: Cloudflare will block AI bots with this free tool

Paul Barker /
Computerworld: Cloudflare offers simpler way to stop AI bots

Alfonso Maruccia /
TechSpot: Cloudflare offers one-click solution to block AI bots

Richard Lawler /
The Verge: From ChatGPT to Gemini: how AI is rewriting the internet

Jose Antonio Lanz /
Decrypt: Blocking AI Bots From Scraping Websites Gets Boost From Cloudflare

Maria Deutscher /
SiliconANGLE: Cloudflare rolls out feature for blocking AI companies' web scrapers

Anna Washenko /
Engadget: Cloudflare is taking a stand against AI website scrapers

Thomas Claburn /
The Register: Cloudflare debuts one-click nuke of web-scraping AI

Mpesce /
Windows Copilot News: Declare your AIndependence: block AI bots, scrapers and crawlers with a single click

BBC:

Investigation: a fake news network tied to an ex-Florida sheriff, now in Moscow, appears to be targeting US and UK voters; some Congress members shared posts— A network of Russia-based websites masquerading as local American newspapers is pumping out fake stories as part of an AI-powered operation …

Discussion:
Nina Jankowicz on LinkedIn, @1shyla, @ehunterchristie, @jayinkyiv, @barbmcquade, @laobserved, @jessphoenix2018, @seesyous, @anelsona, @shayan86, MEDIANAMA, @tylerknowsnothing …, Michael McKibben on LinkedIn, Ian Ragsdale on LinkedIn, SentinelOne on LinkedIn, Dave Byrne on LinkedIn and Caoimhe Donnelly on LinkedIn

Discussion:

Nina Jankowicz /
Nina Jankowicz on LinkedIn: Was happy to provide commentary for this story and the BBC World News coverage of it last night. Couple interesting notes: …

Shyla La'Sha /
@1shyla: I suggest you have a list of known neutral, reputable, and trustworthy news sources that you use to verify anything read on social media. #AI can make stuff up and it will sound legit. A Bugatti car, a First Lady, and the fake stories aimed at Americans https://www.bbc.com/...

Edward Hunter Christie /
@ehunterchristie: The Houston Post is “one of dozens of sites with American-sounding names which are in reality run from Moscow”. It alleged, falsely, that the FBI illegally wiretapped Donald Trump's Florida resort. https://www.bbc.com/... @jayinkyiv: Americans pushing disinformation for the Russian government is the growth industry none of us saw coming. https://www.bbc.com/...

Barb McQuade /
@barbmcquade: Great piece by ⁦@BBC⁩ exposing Russian disinformation. Beware of fake news sites with real-sounding names like Houston Post and DC Weekly. One fake story that Ukrainian officials bought yachts with US military aid was repeated by members of Congress. https://www.bbc.com/...

Kevin Roderick /
@laobserved: Quite an investigation by the BBC. Websites in Russia named to sound like American newspapers are pumping fake pro-Trump news at American voters, often using X. https://www.bbc.com/... @jessphoenix2018: Check your sources on this dumpster fire site, people. Chances are high someone is trying to play you for a fool. https://www.bbc.com/... @seesyous: OMG!! Literally EVERY *news* post starts with *Here is a short title...* Some even have stuff like *Here is a short title for the body of the article generated*. EXCEPT for the one about Zelenska and the Bugatti These are AI gen articles and somebody left the *Here is..*😂😂😂 [image]

Anne Nelson /
@anelsona: 1). Essential reading: Putin's information warfare.

Shayan Sardarizadeh /
@shayan86: A viral story that alleges Ukraine's Olena Zelenska recently bought a rare Bugatti car in Paris is the work of an AI-powered disinformation operation, run by an ex-Florida cop now based in Moscow, that pumps out fake news websites aimed at Americans. https://www.bbc.com/...

Tyler K. Nothing /
@tylerknowsnothing@mastodon.social: @Mediagazer Too many Americans are lapping this up like hyenas snacking on the carcass of a fresh kill. A Canadian friend of mine whom I've been very close to for 20+ years even repeats some of this back to me trying to gauge my reaction. …

Michael McKibben /
Michael McKibben on LinkedIn: A network of Russia-based websites masquerading as local American newspapers is pumping out fake stories as part of an AI-powered operation …

Ian Ragsdale /
Ian Ragsdale on LinkedIn: As much as I benefit from using GenAI responsibly at work, I'm extremely worried about how AI is disrupting content on the internet. … SentinelOne on LinkedIn: 🗞 In BBC News: “'Russia will be involved in the US 2024 election, as will others,' said SentinelOne's Chris Krebs …

Dave Byrne /
Dave Byrne on LinkedIn: When one entity can generate thousands of articles, through dozens of fake websites, simply labeling or removing individual pieces of content is not enough …

The Guardian:

One expert says UK political parties were on track to spend £1M on Meta and £250K on Google for election day online ads, as Ofcom rules only limit broadcast ads— Digital campaigning gets round media blackout rule restricting broadcasters' coverage while polls are open

Discussion:
@jimwaterson, @stuart_wilson19

Discussion:

Jim Waterson /
@jimwaterson: The campaigning is definitely still going on but a large chunk of the media can't report on the campaigning which used to be fine because the campaigning had stopped because the media couldn't report on it but then the internet happened and here we are.

Jim Waterson /
@jimwaterson: The polling day ‘blackout’ is a bit of a mess -Political parties to spend £1m on online ads today, more than in *entire* 2015 election -No TV/radio coverage due to 1950s rule -I can write this on Guardian website but the BBC couldn't put it on its website https://www.theguardian.com/ ...

Washington Post:

A look at Meta's struggles to attract influencers to Threads, due to the platform's focus on text and its lack of a clear purpose for users— Threads launched a year ago Friday but has a fraction of the users of Meta's other platforms. Content creators say they don't consider it important.

Discussion:
The Verge

Discussion:

RELATED:

The Verge:
Mark Zuckerberg says Threads has 175M+ MAUs, up from 150M in April, ahead of its one-year anniversary on July 5; source: Meta may turn on ads in Threads in 2025

Discussion:
Fortune, Android Headlines, Geekout Newsletter, TechRadar, Music Ally, BGR, @pernillet@mastodon.online, The Overspill, @walthickey, @maxwelltani, @willoremus, @zuck@threads.net, 9to5Mac, MediaPost, PhoneArena, Garbage Day, Reuters, MobileSyrup, Neowin, @alexheath@threads.net, @mattnavarra@threads.net, @technicallymims@threads.net, @benedictevans@threads.net, @documentingmeta@threads.net, @carnage4life@threads.net, Axios, @kevinrothrock@infosec …, Washington Post, The Information and TechCrunch

Discussion:

Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez /
Fortune: Elon Musk mocks Mark Zuckerberg's July 4th video after passing him on the billionaires list, says he'd rather be working than having fun

Lance Ulanoff /
TechRadar: Threads is one, and it may be the best social media platform you're still not using

Stuart Dredge /
Music Ally: Instagram's Threads app now has more than 175m active users

Pernille Tranberg /
@pernillet@mastodon.online: So strange that so many people love being tracked, profiled and predicted by Meta. Everybody must know this by now. If you want to leave X, you could chose Mastodon where you are in control of your own life https://www.theverge.com/...

Charlesarthur /
The Overspill: Start Up No.2248: Japan wins war on floppy disks, China and the US get big on wind, Threads hits a year and 175 million, and more

Walter Hickey /
@walthickey: Threads has 175 million users https://sherwood.news/...

Will Oremus /
@willoremus: Threads turns 1 this week. We interviewed @mosseri and wrote about how far it has come (175m users), how far it still has to go to catch X (pretty far), and whether its refusal to embrace hard news, politics or even “social issues” will help or hinder it. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

Mark Zuckerberg /
@zuck@threads.net: Threads now has more than 175M monthly actives. What a year.

Filipe Espósito /
9to5Mac: Threads reaches 175 million active users; celebrates first anniversary with custom icons

Colin Kirkland /
MediaPost: Threads Reaches 175M Active Users In Its First Year, Outlines Future Goals

Ryan Broderick /
Garbage Day: Some diatribe about wokeness — You can find audio versions of Garbage Day on every major podcasting app. Reuters: Mark Zuckerberg boasts Threads breaks 175M active monthly users ahead of 1-year anniversary

Bradly Shankar /
MobileSyrup: Threads has reached 175 million users in its first year

John Callaham /
Neowin: Threads now has more than 175 million monthly active users nearly a year after its launch

Alex Heath /
@alexheath@threads.net: have heard this app is still getting a lot of flyby traffic from its hooks in Instagram, but it's still not nothing to launch a new app and have it grow like this. monetization (ads) maybe coming next year now and there's focus on growing in key markets for X now (e.g. Japan)

Matt Navarra /
@mattnavarra@threads.net: Meta Plans To Bring Ads To Threads “Sooner Rather Than Later” @Mosseri said “I would love to do it sooner rather than later. It's just really a question of opportunity cost. Is that the best way to drive business versus making Instagram ads a little bit better on any given month? …

Christopher Mims /
@technicallymims@threads.net: just want to thank Threads for connecting me with more PMs at Meta than I ever would have imagined existed

Benedict Evans /
@benedictevans@threads.net: Yes, but how many user seconds is that? 🙃 @documentingmeta@threads.net: The way that a new text based app has been launched and grown to 175M users in a year despite established incumbents in the space, is nothing short of a miracle and should be studied in business schools. What a year it has been for the app and for this account! Phew. Thanks Elon!

Dare Obasanjo /
@carnage4life@threads.net: Threads launched a year ago and has hit a bunch of key milestones in recent weeks. - 175M monthly active users - There is now a free API for publishing posts and managing content. - Fediverse interoperability now includes viewing & liking comments on your posts from Mastodon.

Kevin Rothrock /
@kevinrothrock@infosec.exchange: One year and 175 million users later, and it's still impossible to find any Russia experts or journalists regularly posting on Threads. — https://www.theverge.com/... [image]

Sylvia Varnham O'Regan /
The Information: Meta's Threads App Hits 175 Million Monthly Active Users

Press Gazette:

An interview with soccer media company Footballco's North America CEO Jason Wagenheim on expanding its editorial staff, learning from lifestyle brands, and more— Footballco's first CEO for North America is enjoying the “luxury” of setting up a “really big, massive important business” …

Discussion:
Acast Podcasts

TechCrunch:

YouTube updates its Erase Song tool for creators with an AI algorithm to detect and remove any copyrighted music from their videos without impacting other audio— On July 4, YouTube released an updated eraser tool for creators so they can easily remove any copyrighted music …

Discussion:
Engadget, @nealmohan, Boing Boing, Android Authority and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Neal Mohan /
@nealmohan: Good news creators: our updated Erase Song tool helps you easily remove copyright-claimed music from your video (while leaving the rest of your audio intact). Learn more... https://www.youtube.com/...

Vinayak Guha /
Android Authority: YouTube's AI eraser removes copyrighted music, preserves other audio

Gaby Del Valle /
The Verge: YouTube's improved eraser tool easily removes copyrighted music from videos

Notes From Poland:

Polish state broadcaster deletes an article that said PM Donald Tusk made “misleading” accusations, supporting claims that Tusk hasn't depoliticized the outlet— Poland's state broadcaster, TVP, has deleted an article from its website that found Prime Minister Donald Tusk to have made …

Notes From Poland:

Polish media protests lawmakers' rejection of an amendment guaranteeing state mediation if an outlet and tech firm fail to agree on compensation for content— Over 350 Polish media outlets, including many of the country's biggest titles, are jointly protesting today against changes …

Discussion:
@notesfrompoland and Politico

Discussion:
@notesfrompoland: Over 350 Polish media outlets are jointly protesting today against a proposed copyright law - implementing an EU directive - that they say would benefit tech giants who can “use our content free of charge and with impunity, and transfer the profits abroad” https://notesfrompoland.com/ ...

Csongor Körömi /