Hong Kong District Court sentences now-shuttered Stand News editor Chung Pui-kuen to 21 months in prison, the first jailing of a journalist on sedition charges (Alan Wong/Bloomberg)

Mediagazer: Hong Kong District Court sentences now-shuttered Stand News editor Chung Pui-kuen to 21 months in prison, the first jailing of a journalist on sedition charges (Alan Wong/Bloomberg)

Top News:

The Register:

Matt Mullenweg says WP Engine no longer has free WordPress.org access and WP Engine customers having trouble with their sites should contact WP Engine support— WordPress on Wednesday escalated its conflict with WP Engine, a hosting provider, by blocking the latter's servers …
Discussion: WordPress News, TechRadar, WP Engine's Status Page, @bgardner, @pressable, @automattic, @tmeister, @bgardner, @rmccue, @wpdavidv, @thedannorris, @patchstackapp, @fjzeit, @shendison, @joshmanders, @mrlanphear, @williamsba, @timbouchard, @stshank, @tomfrankly, @danielcid, @vinnysgreen, @itsdavemartin, @dcurtis, @t3dotgg, Dave Martin, @slexaxton, @tealou, @benjmay, @thespacedmonkey, @seldo, @jbenton, @bretcarmichael@mastodon …, @photomatt, @carlhancock, @dvk@toot.re, @runakog@threads.net, @Kye@tech.lgbt, @ozskier, @photomatt, @davidtaggart, @photomatt, @mgeheren, @jalefkowit@vmst.io, @bgardner, @keithdevon, @taraclaeys, @chris@mastodon …, TechCrunch, Search Engine Journal, @viewfromthebox, @Jayhoffmann@mastodon.social, @raymmar_, @photomatt, @deviorobert, @wordpress and @photomatt, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Matt Mullenweg /
WordPress News: WP Engine is banned from WordPress.org

Brian Gardner /
@bgardner: My heart is breaking. 💔 @pressable: If you're not happy with your hosting at WP Engine but you bought into an annual contract, we want to help set you free. Check out our special offer here: https://pressable.com/... @automattic: Automattic is deeply committed to open source, and we will continue to safeguard its ideals and the community that supports it. We want to make this clear: Using “WP” is not a trademark issue.

Enrique Chavez /
@tmeister: I totally agree with this take. Not only must #WPEngine win, but Matt should be removed from any position with decision-making power on any #WordPress entity (.org, .com and the foundation).

Brian Gardner /
@bgardner: Many things out of my control, but some are not. I will continue to: ✴︎ Advocate for #WordPress. ✴︎ Make myself available to you. ✴︎ Create for the community. Please reach out if there is any way I can support you or your business.

Ryan McCue /
@rmccue: For the continued health and vibrancy of the WordPress project, WP Engine must win. https://journal.rmccue.io/...

David Vogelpohl /
@wpdavidv: Schools, governments, emergency service websites, churches, non profits, healthcare websites. These are just some of the types of important websites Mullenwonka is exposing to security risks by blocking their sites from accessing .org. DANGEROUS, SHAMEFUL, WRONG.

Dan Norris /
@thedannorris: Big test happening now for Open Source CMS tech. It's always been confusing to me what was allowed and what wasn't. We named WP Curve pretty much because we saw @wpengine and others use that wording and assumed it was OK, but it's always been a grey area. @patchstackapp: All @patchstackapp users with protection turned on at #WPengine will continue to receive virtual patches to all of the latest security vulnerabilities as usual. Meanwhile, we hope the situation resolves soon and users are able to update to patched versions ASAP. @fjzeit: Imagine if every large open source initiative went daggers at the commercial operations that profit from it without suitable financial support in return. Sure, the WP drama has other angles around appropriate conduct wrt impact upon users but the fundamental issue is solid.

Scott Hendison /
@shendison: It took @wpengine support chat over 20 minutes to tell me that “this is a known issue”, and they'll update me by email, but NOW I know that it's an issue for ALL websites you host? WTF?!? Why not tell your support chat? Is this related to the @photomatt criticism / drama from [image]

Josh Manders /
@joshmanders: Automattic was an investor in WPEngine's Series A round. They had zero issues with what WPEngine has been doing until now. Imagine if I convinced Vercel to invest in my series A for Primcloud because I was going to have specialized hosting for Next.js and then a decade later @mrlanphear: This latest stunt by Matt Mullenweg is unconscionable. You're not harming @wpengine. You're harming their customers. WordPress' customers. My agency's customers. You're about to make my life as a developer a living hell. Fix this before you can't undo the damage. @photomatt

Brad Williams /
@williamsba: This now affects all of us. This is no longer anti-WPE, this is anti-WordPress. This hurts us all. Unreal.

Tim Bouchard /
@timbouchard: Matt's out of line. If he wants to waste money chasing bogus legal claims he should do it without affecting the people. Absolute insanity #WordPress

Stephen Shankland /
@stshank: The fight between @WordPress and @wpengine just got orders of magnitude uglier, with the latter's paying customers now unable to update their site plugins (which is to say secure their websites). WordPress statement: https://x.com/...

Thomas Frank /
@tomfrankly: This is absolutely the wrong way to handle this dispute. All my sites were previously on WP Engine. If I hadn't moved them a couple years back, I'd be feeling pretty screwed right now. Even though I did, I'm still pretty angry on behalf of all the site owners who did nothing

Daniel Cid /
@danielcid: To all WordPress and Linux users out there. Image how would react if Ubuntu (for example) blocked your servers from receiving updates and installing new packages because you never contributed back or donated to Ubuntu. If they found the IP ranges for all your servers and got it

Vinny Green /
@vinnysgreen: Let's triage the obvious problem before we start concerning ourselves with anything that appears as problem. WP Engine and Silverlake have never been in position to screw up WordPress as bad as Matt is screwing it up now.

Dave Martin /
@itsdavemartin: I shared my thoughts on Matt's recent comments. Here's my summary of the primary issue: WPEngine extracts a great deal of value from the WordPress ecosystem without giving much back to the WordPress commons in return. You can read my full thoughts here: https://davemart.in/...

Dustin Curtis /
@dcurtis: Automattic's bizarre, unconvincing fight with WP Engine is bad for Wordpress, bad for open source software, and bad for the web. There has to be more to the story than a petty fight over disabling revision history. It makes no sense.

Theo /
@t3dotgg: WordPress will never die, but today they killed the trust their community had in them.

Alex Sexton /
@slexaxton: genuinely have no clue about this wordpress drama but I feel compelled to say that I was on the board of the jQuery foundation during some of the glory years and @photomatt was the ~largest donor. definitely puts his money where his mouth is in supporting dependent oss.

Téa Smith /
@tealou: This is an absolutely disgusting move from @WordPress So in order to maintain continuity for clients, I need to eat the time sent on manual updates or migrate away from an excellent hosting provider. Not good enough. I stand with @wpengine

Ben May /
@benjmay: Wondering if this is a new option lol @thespacedmonkey: My thoughts on WP Engine drama. I feel like saying that WPE doesn't contribute to WordPress and WordPress ecosystem seems a little disingenuous. WPE, has sponsored countless WordCamps and local meetups. There bought and kept open source plugins like ACF & wpgraphql

Laurie Voss /
@seldo: Meanwhile over in Wordpress land things are escalating wildly. You can't power 40% of the web and act this way, people will fork your shit.

Joshua Benton /
@jbenton: This is getting very ugly.

Bret Carmichael /
@bretcarmichael@mastodon.social: WordPress has confirmed that it terminated WP Engine's access to the plugin repo. Any legal consequences aside, this presents a lot like a malware attack. Instead of installing malware directly, WordPress is blocking WP Engine sites from receiving security updates that might prevent it, including critical severity ones. …

Matt Mullenweg /
@photomatt: @deviorobert ... They do, they just don't want to spend it. It will cost them a lot more than the 8% deal they turned down.

Carl Hancock /
@carlhancock: For the record, if someone sued me I'd stop supporting them too unless I was compelled to do so by a judge. Just saying.

Danny van Kooten /
@dvk@toot.re: I'm pretty uncomfortable with these kinds of posts and use of language on the WordPress.org blog, regardless of whatever the f. is happening. — https://wordpress.org/...

Runako Godfrey /
@runakog@threads.net: The way this is written makes WordPress look bad. Petty management, opaque accusations, the whole thing. I don't know what went down, but this does not look like a mature reaction from the organization that powers 40%(?) of websites. https://wordpress.org/...

Kye Fox /
@Kye@tech.lgbt: This has escalated to WP Engine being blocked from updates using the repositories on the open source project's servers. This is going to be the end of WordPress if it keeps up. https://wordpress.org/... #WordPress #wpengine

Dave Amirault /
@ozskier: This is absolutely insane and such a disgusting abuse of power by @photomatt. I have clients using @wpengine and now they can't easily install plugins or update themes. #WordPress [image]

Matt Mullenweg /
@photomatt: @bgardner @wpengine Happy to unblock you, drop your legal claims and get a trademark license. @davidtaggart: This Wordpress vs WP Engine mess is the dumbest damn thing I have ever seen. Whatever the backstory ends up being @photomatt just shot the WP ecosystem in the stomach. It will see a slow and steady death. Right now like 40% of sites are on WP. In 10 years it will be 20% or

Matt Mullenweg /
@photomatt: @init_sh Nope! None of them have publicly attacked me and https://wordpress.org/.

Michael Geheren /
@mgeheren: Not being able to do @WordPress updates because of the @photomatt/@wpengine fight is infuriating. For a small nonprofit, being caught in the middle of this could be costly if we need to migrate our sites to a new host. That money/time should be used for our mission.

Jason Lefkowitz /
@jalefkowit@vmst.io: I am sincerely starting to wonder whether Matt Mullenweg is OK — https://wordpress.org/... [image]

Brian Gardner /
@bgardner: I want to share: https://wordpress.org/ has blocked @wpengine customers from updating and installing plugins and themes via WP Admin—disrupting essential work for #WordPress users, agencies, freelancers, and plugin developers. Please read: https://wpenginestatus.com/...

Keith Devon /
@keithdevon: @WordPress Some of my clients use WP Engine. You're hurting them. You're hurting my business. You're hurting the WordPress community.

Tara Claeys /
@taraclaeys: @LilJimmi @photomatt Massive panic and confusion coming from my clients who own their own accounts at WPE but have no idea what that means. It will cost them money to move, and cost us many hours to access their DNS and help move their sites to ... possibly the next company that gets banned?

Chris Wiegman /
@chris@mastodon.chriswiegman.com: I wasn't totally convinced that it was time to abandon #WordPress completely but now I know that it is definitely the right time to do so. How long until this happens to every host? https://wordpress.org/...

Roger Montti /
Search Engine Journal: WordPress Bans Thousands Of WP Engine Customers

Jacob Martella /
@viewfromthebox: Today in Matt destroys the WordPress community: you can't add plugins directly from the .org repo if you have a WP Engine site. And I can confirm that this is happening. https://www.reddit.com/... [image]

Jay Hoffmann /
@Jayhoffmann@mastodon.social: Every time I think Matt has found a point of no return, he goes a little bit further. — This is egregious, sloppy, and destructive for a community and software that I truly love. — https://wordpress.org/... @raymmar_: This is absolutely bonkers. I've been a @wpengine customer for almost a decade and now I'm being punished arbitrarily by a so called “open source” platform. This is a sad day for the WordPress community.

Matt Mullenweg /
@photomatt: @DavidTaggart Let's check back in ten years! I set my calendar.

Matt Mullenweg /
@photomatt: @TaraClaeys @LilJimmi No other company has attacked https://wordpress.org/, so you should be fine.

Robert DeVore /
@deviorobert: @DuaneStorey @schutzsmith “they have full access to the GPL code. they just need to host and run it themselves” - @photomatt I'm no mathematician, but I think Silver Lake may have enough money to clone https://wp.org/ and run an independent repository of the themes and plugins + core files found @wordpress: Pending their legal claims and litigation against https://wordpress.org/, WP Engine no longer has free access to https://wordpress.org/'s resources. https://wordpress.org/... #WordPress

Matt Mullenweg /
@photomatt: @hashim_warren ... WP Engine controls the code on your site, as they demonstrated by blocking the meetups widget. They should be able to copy all the GPL code in the repository and provide it to their customers.

RELATED:
Matt Mullenweg:

Matt Mullenweg says Automattic has “been attempting to make a licensing deal” with WP Engine “for a very long time, and all they have done has string us along”— In short, WP Engine is violating WordPress' trademarks. Moreover, they have been doing so for years.

Discussion:
@photomatt@mastodon.social and Search Engine Journal, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Matt Mullenweg /
@photomatt@mastodon.social: WPE & Trademarks — I've been writing and talking about WP Engine a lot in the last week, but I want to be crystal clear about the core issue at play. In short, WP Engine is violating WordPress' trademarks. Moreover, they have been doing so for years. …

TechCrunch:
Automattic sends a cease-and-desist letter to WP Engine, alleging unauthorized use of the WordPress trademark, after WP Engine sent a C&D letter on September 23

Discussion:
@darnell@one.darnell.one, @carnage4life, One Man & His Blog

Discussion:
@darnell@one.darnell.one: This digital pissing match between two #WordPress giants will leave @WordPress & many users wet with regret. — @photomatt & @wordpressdotcom need to seek arbitration as this will damage the brand and convince many hosts to seek out alternatives in order to avoid a lawsuit. …

Dare Obasanjo /
@carnage4life: Usually companies change licenses in response to this form of asymmetric competition. It's unusual to first demand a portion of revenue and then sue for trademark violations instead. The business impact on Automattic/WordPress must be non-trivial https://techcrunch.com/...

Dare Obasanjo /
@carnage4life: WordPress hit the same problem other open source cloud software like Redis, MongoDB and ElasticSearch have. You do a bunch of R&D only for another company to host your software and provide the same or better service with your free labor. [image]

Adam Tinworth /
One Man & His Blog: What the hell is happening at Automattic (part 2)?

Flipboard says it is federating 250 publisher profiles and 4,000 of their curated Magazines, including ABC News, the AP, The Atlantic, PBS, and USA Today— BYMARCI MCCUE — Today Flipboard is federating 250 publisher profiles and 4,000 of their curated Magazines, making it possible …

Discussion:
@mike@flipboard.social, @Flipboard@flipboard.social and @tchambers@indieweb.social

Discussion:

Mike McCue /
@mike@flipboard.social: Another day, another set of amazing Flipboard accounts to federate. Today includes 250 top tier publishers along with more than 4,000 magazines they curate to let you follow specific things like: — Design Trends by Apartment Therapy (@design-trends-AptTherapy) — Science by The Atlantic (@science-TheAtlantic) … @Flipboard@flipboard.social: 📣 It's been a while since we've federated a batch of publishers — so to make up for it, here are 250, and they're big ones. — Today, we're bringing names like @abc, @RollingStone, @forbes, @BleacherReport, @NationalGeographic and @newyorktimes to the fediverse. …

Tim Chambers /
@tchambers@indieweb.social: I continue to be impressed at the commitment to the fediverse from @Flipboard - and what a responsible and good actor they have been to the entire Fedi. Their latest news: — “Flipboard Brings 250 Publishers to the Fediverse - Flipboard...” — https://about.flipboard.com/ ...

Poynter:

A Muck Rack survey of 402 US journalists found that their primary sources of stress include workload, salary, and the expectation that they always be “on”— A Muck Rack survey found high levels of burnout and exhaustion among journalists. One potential reason? The upcoming election.

Discussion:
@risj_oxford, @jackcarterbenjamin …, Muck Rack, MediaPost and r/Journalism

Discussion:
@risj_oxford: 56% of US journalists have considered quitting their job this year due to exhaustion or burnout. 40% have done so in the past. <25% have access to mental health services at work. -from @muckrack's work-life balance in journalism report via @angelanfu https://www.poynter.org/...

Jack Benjamin /
@jackcarterbenjamin@threads.net: Per a new survey conducted by Muck Rack, 56% of US journalists considered quitting their job this year due to burnout and salary concerns. — Over 60% said they work on 4+ stories a week. — 80% said they work outside business hours at least once a week. — 70% said their vacation days have been disrupted by work. …

Bloomberg:

Hong Kong District Court sentences now-shuttered Stand News editor Chung Pui-kuen to 21 months in prison, the first jailing of a journalist on sedition charges— - Jailing adds to cases fueling concerns over press freedom — Offense carries maximum penalty of two years in prison

Discussion:
New York Times, Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, KSTP-TV, Associated Press and Reuters

Discussion:

Tiffany May /
New York Times: Hong Kong Editors Sentenced in Landmark Case

Hans Tse /
Hong Kong Free Press HKFP: Ex-editor of Hong Kong's Stand News Chung Pui-kuen jailed for 1 year, 9 months for sedition in landmark case Associated Press: Hong Kong court sentences journalist to 21 months in jail in case seen as barometer of press freedom

Press Gazette:

The London Standard launches its first weekly edition with an AI-generated picture of Keir Starmer and a feature about London's potential as an AI capital— The first edition of the weekly London Standard features an AI-generated picture of Prime Minister Keir Starmer on its front page.

Discussion:
The Media Leader

Discussion:

Jack Benjamin /
The Media Leader: Evening Standard relaunches as weekly London Standard

Nieman Lab:

A look at Project 2025's plans for the news media, including defunding NPR, PBS, and other public broadcasters and removing restrictions on media ownership— From defunding NPR and PBS to kicking reporters out of the White House, it's an array of conservative priorities and Trumpian retreads.

Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, @froomkin, @jillgeisler, @johnastoehr, @newsjennifer, @laurengbarton, @jbenton and Tong Li on LinkedIn

Discussion:

Joshua Benton /
TVNewsCheck: What Would Project 2025 Do For (Or To) Journalism? — From defunding NPR and PBS …

Dan Froomkin /
@froomkin: Good read. Grim stuff.

Jill Geisler /
@jillgeisler: Read and share. @johnastoehr: Reporters will be as surprised by their political incarceration under Trump as they have been by the economic boom under Biden. Why? Because they weren't doing their jobs as journalists.

Jennifer Schulze /
@newsjennifer: HOLY HELL THIS IS FRIGHTENING. Make sure you read this @jbenton piece on the #Project2025 plans to crack down on journalists.... and share it with everyone you know.

Lauren /
@laurengbarton: super interesting piece by @jbenton about how project 2025 could impact journalism as we know it https://www.niemanlab.org/...

Joshua Benton /
@jbenton: New by me —> You've heard about what Project 2025 would mean for abortion rights, climate policy, immigration, and much more. But what would it mean for journalists and the news industry? (a brief 🧵) https://www.niemanlab.org/...

FlatpanelsHD:

LG rolls out full-screen screensaver ads to its smart TVs, including its expensive OLED models; the ads, on by default, can be disabled— Even if you buy one of the most expensive TV models today, you cannot escape ads. LG is rolling out screensaver ads, including ads for things completely unrelated to the TV experience.

Discussion:
Advanced Television, TechRadar, Ars Technica, Digital Trends, Streaming Better and Media Play News, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

James Davidson /
TechRadar: Your LG TV will now show screensaver ads, even on OLEDs - but here's how to turn them off

Scharon Harding /
Ars Technica: LG TVs start showing ads on screensavers

Aaron Mamiit /
Digital Trends: LG's flexible OLED TV might be worth your money now that it's $500 off

Erik Gruenwedel /
Media Play News: Cineverse's ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’ Anime FAST Channel Joins LG Smart TVs

The Hollywood Reporter:

Disney officially launches its password sharing crackdown; users can add an “Extra Member” for $6.99/month for Disney+ Basic or $9.99/month for Disney+ Premium— The company rolled out what it is calling its paid sharing policy this week, letting users add a member outside their household …

Discussion:
The Walt Disney Company, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, Cord Cutters News, The Verge, AV Club, Deadline, Quartz, Media Play News, Engadget, Streaming Better, The Streamable, Los Angeles Times, Variety, The Wrap, BGR, @juwanthecurator.bsky.social, @wagatwe.com, Consequence and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Amelia Schwanke /
TechRadar: Disney Plus' password-sharing fees are official - here's how much it costs, and how it compares to Netflix

Martin Shore /
Tom's Guide: Disney Plus password-sharing crackdown is here — here's what the paid-sharing program costs

Luke Bouma /
Cord Cutters News: Disney Starts Password-Sharing Crackdown with New Paid Sharing Program

Emma Keates /
AV Club: Disney+ says bibbidi bobbidi bye to password sharing

Jill Goldsmith /
Deadline: Disney+ Unveils Details Of Password Sharing Crackdown

Erik Gruenwedel /
Media Play News: Disney+ Expands Password Sharing Crackdown, Updates Paid Account Sharing Guidelines

Anna Washenko /
Engadget: Disney+ account sharing crackdown starts today in the US

Ryan Faughnder /
Los Angeles Times: Disney+ launches password sharing crackdown. What you need to know

Todd Spangler /
Variety: Disney+ Launches Broad Password-Sharing Crackdown, Offers Paid ‘Extra Member’ Option

Lucas Manfredi /
The Wrap: Disney+ Password Sharing Crackdown Rolls Out for US Subscribers - Here's Everything You Need to Know

Jacob Siegal /
BGR: Disney+ password sharing: How much it costs and how it works @juwanthecurator.bsky.social: I'm sorry, I just can't imagine willingly handing over your bank accounts for this nonsense [embedded post]

Chance Miller /
9to5Mac: You can officially no longer share your Disney+ account without paying extra

Deadline:

Sources: Disney is laying off ~300 people in the US in corporate operations, including in communications; ESPN, Disney Entertainment, and parks are not affected— Disney is in the middle of a new wave of cuts as part of a “cost-saving initiative,” sources tell Deadline.

Discussion:
@tvgrimreaper, Bloomberg, The Wrap and Variety

Discussion:

Thomas Buckley /
Bloomberg: Disney Undertakes Fresh Round of Job Cuts at the Corporate Level

Todd Spangler /
Variety: Disney Lays Off Several Hundred Corporate-Level Employees

The Verge:

Mark Zuckerberg says Meta will likely strike “certain partnerships” for AI training content, but some publishers may be overestimating their content's value— 'If they demanded that we don't use their content, then we just wouldn't use their content.'

Discussion:

Winston Cho /
The Hollywood Reporter: Mark Zuckerberg Must Face Deposition in Sarah Silverman's AI Lawsuit Against Meta

Dominic Patten /
Deadline: Ta-Nehisi Coates & Sarah Silverman Win Bid For Meta “Chief Decision Maker” Mark Zuckerberg To Be Deposed In AI Suit

Megan Cerullo /
CBS News: Here are the celebrity voices Meta now uses for its AI chatbots

Mary Kate Carr /
AV Club: Mark Zuckerberg will go to court for A.I. lawsuit while plowing ahead with new celeb endorsements

Anne F. /
Anne F. on LinkedIn: The sheer arrogance is beyond words — Zuck indicating he can steal because - really - our work doesn't matter ! — If its not valuable - then why steal it ? … @noellemitchell@mstdn.social: Mark Zuckerberg: creators and publishers ‘overestimate the value’ of their work for training AI — “Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says there are complex copyright questions around scraping data to train AI models, but he suggests the individual work of most creators isn't valuable enough for it to matter.” …

Kevin Beaumont /
@GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social: Mark Zuckerberg: creators and publishers ‘overestimate the value’ of their work for training AI — Get tae Falkirk on this one, Mark - people deserve to be paid, or have informed opt in consent about not being paid. — https://www.theverge.com/...

Bobby Miller /
@therealbobbymiller@threads.net: Cool take! Mark Zuckerberg: creators and publishers ‘overestimate the value’ of their work for training AI https://www.theverge.com/...

Nilay Patel /
@reckless1280@threads.net: This is broadly how basically every tech company feels about the value of AI training data — they are using so much of it no single creator or publisher matters, and they're striking deals to keep the loudest happy. Sort of good that @zuck just came right out and said it on Decoder so everyone can stop pretending the industry feels otherwise: https://www.theverge.com/...

iMore:

iMore, which covers Apple products and services and is owned by Future PLC, says it will no longer post new content; its forum will stay active until November 1— Time to power down for good. — Dig out your old iPod and fire up your ‘Songs to cry to’ playlist, I come bearing sad news.

Discussion:

Wesley Hilliard /
@HilliTech@techhub.social: This news comes as a shock. I followed iMore from the early days. Rene Ritchie, Serenity Caldwell, and Lory Gil were all big names I read in those days. — When I first became interested in covering tech I reached out to Rene Ritchie, this was before he left iMore, and asked him about work and shared what I had written. …

Rene Ritchie /