Spotify now lets all podcasters upload videos, rather than only creators who signed up to Spotify for Podcasters hosting; Spotify has 250K+ video podcasts (Lauren Forristal/TechCrunch)

Mediagazer: Spotify now lets all podcasters upload videos, rather than only creators who signed up to Spotify for Podcasters hosting; Spotify has 250K+ video podcasts (Lauren Forristal/TechCrunch)

Top News:

Bloomberg:

Elon Musk tried to repair his often strained relationship with the ad industry through an appearance at the Cannes Lions, after Twitter skipped 2023's event— Elon Musk attempted to repair his often strained relationship with the advertising industry with an appearance at the Cannes Lions conference in France on Wednesday.
Discussion:

Laura Bradley /
The Daily Beast: Elon Musk Tries to Make Nice With Advertisers at Cannes

Peter Kafka /
@pkafka: Saw folks describing Elon's Cannes ad pitch as a walkback/retreat etc. And, true: This time he didn't tell advertisers to go fuck themselves. But ad buyers' biggest problem with Twitter is the guy who owns it, and what he says on it. And that's not going to change. [image] @joeatlarge@mastodon.world: Can't wait for X/Twitter/whatever to finally die already and take its owner with it. — https://www.axios.com/... #Twitter #twittermigration #x

Kerry Flynn /
@kerrymflynn: My dispatch from @elonmusk's appearance at @Cannes_Lions “What is not cool is insisting that there can be no content they disagree with on the platform,” Elon Musk told advertisers at Cannes https://www.axios.com/...

Ben Page /
@benatipsos: Elon here in Cannes “I do shoot myself in the foot from time to time but at least you knownit is genuine, not from the pr dept” #musk @elonmusk [image]

Dima Zeniuk /
@dimazeniuk: WPP CEO Mark Read at Cannes Lions conference: “In November, you told us to go f*ck ourselves.... Why did you say that, and what did you mean?” “It wasn't to advertisers as a whole; it was with respect to freedom of speech.” - Elon Musk [image]

Meg Graham /
@megancgraham: At @Cannes_Lions, WPP's Mark Read asks Elon Musk: “In November, you told us to go fuck ourselves.... Why did you say that and what did you mean?” Musk: “it wasn't to advertisers as a whole, it was with respect to freedom of speech...” [image]

E.J. Schultz /
Ad Age: Cannes Today—Musk meets marketers, Marcel explains 'WoMen's Football'—plus the Grand Prix winners

Arif Durrani /
The Media Leader: How Elon Musk tried to woo back brands at Cannes

Jon Lax /
@jonlax@threads.net: Elon trying to convince advertisers to spend money on X while running ads telling users to pay for premium because ads are a waste of their time is really something.

Arlo Brady /
Arlo Brady on LinkedIn: Elon Musk's Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity interview with WPP's Mark Read today was fascinating on many levels. Four things that stuck me: …

Ariel Zilber /
New York Post: Elon Musk clarifies ‘go f-k yourself’ comment as he tries to woo advertisers at Cannes Lions

Jenni Reid /
CNBC: Advertising is now a ‘meritocracy’ in the wake of social media, Resy co-founder Gary Vaynerchuk says

Megan Graham /
Wall Street Journal: Elon Musk Pitches Advertisers on a Return to X, Months After Telling Some to ‘F’ Themselves

Kendra Barnett /
The Drum: Elon Musk on why he told advertisers to ‘go fuck yourself’ - and why he wants them back

Brittaney Kiefer /
Adweek: Elon Musk's Advertiser Apology Tour Begins at Cannes

Caroline Frost /
Deadline: Elon Musk Forecasts A “10%-20% Chance” Of AI-Related Global Disaster & Doubles Down On Free Speech Over Advertisers' Ask For Censorship — Cannes Lions

RELATED:

Axios:

At Cannes, X CEO Linda Yaccarino says the platform is in conversations with sports leagues about producing more docuseries, like the NWSL series The Offseason— - About 70% of the conversation ahead of the Paris Olympics this summer is about women's teams, she added.

Discussion:
@xnews, @warriorrabbit.bsky.social, @axios, Awful Announcing and The Information

Discussion:
@axios: X is in conversations with sports leagues about producing more docuseries on the platform, CEO Linda Yaccarino tells Axios at Women's Sports House in Cannes. https://www.axios.com/...

The Guardian:

Sources: WaPo's Will Lewis advised Boris Johnson and others to “clean up” their phones during UK's COVID-era Partygate scandal in December 2021 and January 2022— Sources' claim suggests advice by Will Lewis, an informal adviser to then prime minister, contradicted instructions to staff

Discussion:

Dan Ladden-Hall /
The Daily Beast: Washington Post CEO Advised Boris Johnson to ‘Clean Up’ Phone in COVID Party Scandal: Report

David Rothkopf /
@djrothkopf: They need to fire this guy and rescind the offer to his colleague asap. The longer this goes on, the longer Bezos appears indifferent to it, the deeper and more lasting the damage to the Post.

Jason Pedlow /
@jasonpedlow: Corruption at the highest levels of government. Deleting evidence. And, judging by the number of times @RishiSunak & @BorisJohnson said they “couldn't recall” while they gave evidence to the Covid enquiry, they deleted their memories too. https://www.theguardian.com/ ...

Peter Jukes /
@peterjukes: Lewis was a member of a so-called “brain trust” of Johnson's close political allies who were leading an effort - codenamed Operation Save Big Dog. Lewis was awarded a knighthood in 2023 for his political service to the conservative prime minister https://www.theguardian.com/ ...

David Beard /
@dabeard: In terrible news for the battered ⁦@washingtonpost⁩, now we know the justice-obstructing “service” its new publisher performed for the UK's disgraced conservative prime minister. And why he got a knighthood. https://www.theguardian.com/ ...

Adam Bienkov /
@adambienkov: A reminder that there were 5,000 WhatsApp messages missing from Boris Johnson's phone when he gave it to the Covid Inquiry. Deliberately destroying evidence demanded by a public inquiry is a serious criminal offence punishable by up to a year in prison https://www.theguardian.com/ ... [image]

Kara Swisher /
@karaswisher: The hits keep on coming: Washington Post publisher alleged to have advised Boris Johnson to ‘clean up’ phone during Partygate Covid scandal | Will Lewis | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/ ...

Jack Shafer /
@jackshafer: “Washington Post publisher alleged to have advised Boris Johnson to ‘clean up’ phone during Partygate Covid scandal” https://www.theguardian.com/ ...

Clara Jeffery /
@clarajeffery: This should be the final nail in the coffin... should be https://www.theguardian.com/ ...

Tim Dickinson /
@7im: Democracy is Deleted in Darkness @dougiec3@libretooth.gr: Three sources say Will Lewis told Tories to delete evidence from their phones to cover up Partygate. — https://www.theguardian.com/ ... #Partgate #BorisJohnson #Tories #England #COVID #Lockdown

Jeff Jarvis /
@jeffjarvis@mastodon.social: Call him Sir Won't Lewis. You won't be publishing incriminating news about me, now will you? You won't read emails from New Corp's hacking scandal; they're gone. You won't have Boris Johnson's Covid party texts; they gone. He won't soon be CEO of the Post. Or Will he? …

Wired:

Analysis: Perplexity seems to scrape sites using surreptitious methods, ignoring robots.txt, with a Perplexity-tied machine doing so on Wired and other sites— A WIRED investigation shows that the AI-powered search startup Forbes has accused of stealing its content is surreptitiously scraping—and making things up out of thin air.

Discussion:
Jonathan Usher on LinkedIn, @jessicalessin, @carnage4life, @rafat, @katiedrumm, @olifranklin, @dmehro, @clive@saturation.social, @johnvoorhees@mastodon …, @technicallymims@threads.net, @benedictevans@threads.net, @johnkoetsier@threads.net, @noahshachtman@threads.net, @bernie_michalik@threads.net, @LeftistLawyer@kolektiva …, @howelloneill@infosec.exchange, @timmarchman.bsky.social and Axios, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Jonathan Usher /
Jonathan Usher on LinkedIn: What on earth is Perplexity up to? As reported by WIRED it is seemingly ignoring requests from website admins not to crawl their sites …

Jessica Lessin /
@jessicalessin: Killer reporting from @WIRED. Hopefully this is a wake-up call to publishers about AI companies not being into the business of news. https://www.wired.com/...

Dare Obasanjo /
@carnage4life: Wired has discovered that Perplexity's crawler ignores robots.txt directives that block AI crawlers. Given the choice of spending millions licensing content like Google & OpenAI or having outdated info, it's sad but not surprising some startups are taking the third option. [image]

Katie Drummond /
@katiedrumm: A @wired investigation found that Perplexity is ignoring robots.txt — despite vowing to honor block requests. Perplexity has published a list of IP addresses its crawlers use. The company seems to be scraping sites using an IP address *not* on that list. https://www.wired.com/...

Oli Franklin-Wallis /
@olifranklin: Incredible @WIRED investigation shows Perplexity, the much-hyped, AI-powered Google search alternative funded by Bezos and others, is intentionally ripping off publishers' copyrighted work - and reveals exactly how they're doing it. https://www.wired.com/... [image]

Dhruv Mehrotra /
@dmehro: NEW: Perplexity is ignoring the Robots Exclusion Protocol (robots.txt), using a secret server to regurgitate news articles and investigations that take reporters years to create, often without giving us credit. W/ @timmarchman https://www.wired.com/...

Clive Thompson /
@clive@saturation.social: A terrific investigation at @WIRED finds that Perplexity scrapes and (sometimes with bullshit added) summarizes web sites that it has been explicitly told, by those web site owners, not to visit — https://www.wired.com/... Excellent work by @dmehro and @timmarchman @johnvoorhees@mastodon.macstories.net: Wired has corroborated what @robb discovered over the weekend while helping us prevent AI crawlers from accessing @macstories: — Perplexity is straight up shady. @WIRED's story: https://www.wired.com/...

Christopher Mims /
@technicallymims@threads.net: perplexity is ignoring robots.txt prohibitions against scraping content

Benedict Evans /
@benedictevans@threads.net: Probably not a good thing that Perplexity appears to be breaking robots.txt and lying about it. I hope it's not the new Stability. https://www.wired.com/...

John Koetsier /
@johnkoetsier@threads.net: Whoa Looks like Perplexity AI is scraping content behind robots.txt barriers from hidden IP addresses not publicly acknowledged by the company. So ... Unethically ripping off content , but also doing it in an unethical way. https://www.wired.com/...

Noah Shachtman /
@noahshachtman@threads.net: .@perplexity.ai is using a secret server to steal journalists' work, often without credit https://www.wired.com/...

Bernie Michalik /
@bernie_michalik@threads.net: If you still think Perplexity is good and you should use it after this, idk (via @technicallymims ) @LeftistLawyer@kolektiva.social: The hits are coming hard and fast now. With good reason, nobody trusts the tech sector anymore. Nvidia is now the most *valuable* company in the world. Is anyone seeing a pattern? The bubble will explode soon. — https://www.wired.com/...

Patrick Howell O'Neill /
@howelloneill@infosec.exchange: The fact that there hasn't been stronger legal action from publications against AI-branded plagiarists is wild to me. You have to protect your work when it's being stolen. https://www.axios.com/...

Tim Marchman /
@timmarchman.bsky.social: New from me and @dmehro.bsky.social: Despite claiming it isn't, Perplexity, the billion dollar AI search startup Forbes has accused of plagiarism, is scraping websites, including WIRED, from which developers have tried to block its crawlers.

Sara Fischer /
Axios: Forbes' lawyer demands that Perplexity AI remove articles sourced from Forbes, seeks assurances that Perplexity AI won't infringe on Forbes copyrights, and more

TechCrunch:

Spotify now lets all podcasters upload videos, rather than only creators who signed up to Spotify for Podcasters hosting; Spotify has 250K+ video podcasts— Spotify is now letting non-hosted podcasters upload videos to the platform. The company quietly rolled out the new feature last week …

Discussion:
Podnews

Discussion:

Committee to Protect Journalists:

Interviews with Ethiopian journalists who fled the country due to civil war and conflict and who remain in exile, sometimes struggling to afford food and rent— When Belete Kassa's friend and news show co-host Belaye Manaye was arrested in November 2023 and taken to the remote Awash Arba military camp known …

American Prospect:

A look at Talking Points Memo's origins, its revenue models over the years, and why “both-sides” framing is due to political journalism's economic structure— The book I'm working on now is about how the last 25 years of American politics brought our democratic republic to the brink of collapse.

Discussion:
@lolgop, @bjkeefe, @joshtpm, @texmexelsa, @theprospect, @joshtpm and @jalefkowit@vmst.io

Discussion:
@lolgop: “If you rev the economy that hard, the people who benefit the most are not going to let you win the elections that let you fix everything after the fact.” https://prospect.org/...

Josh Marshall /
@joshtpm: Perhaps the most flattering part is I suspect there's so little imagery of me from the news services they were reduced to using a photo of me that's probably 20 years old if not older. Not that I have held up okay but still. @texmexelsa: @joshtpm Us old folks remember. TPM and many other great online places for citizen journalism to bloom. Daily Kos, and a few other sites where regular folks could write about what was happening locally. So when something happened anywhere, some one there could add to the information. @theprospect: In this week's installment of The Infernal Triangle, @rickperlstein details how political journalism can meet the moment, using @joshtpm's independent success as a case study. https://prospect.org/...

Josh Marshall /
@joshtpm: Here's a kind of fun, interesting piece on the origins of TPM, running a tabloid for smart people, the origins of bothsides journalism and more. Much more interesting I think then the original interview it's based on since Ric brings so much smarts to it. https://prospect.org/...

Jason Lefkowitz /
@jalefkowit@vmst.io: “What the Internet did is create a new D.C.-based political journalism space—the Politicos, the Axioses. All of that is funded by a subset of the national corporate lobbying budget. You advertise in Politico, you sponsor Politico's events, because ‘I need to be talking to the staffers who write the legislation.’ So your publication can't be left, or even right. …

WBEZ:

Unionized journalists at WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times voted overwhelmingly for Chicago Public Media CEO Matt Moog's immediate removal, after layoffs in April— Unions for the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ criticized Matt Moog, who announced he planned to leave last year but later oversaw layoffs.

Discussion:
Radio Ink, @artsjournalnews, @markjacobnews@threads.net, @laphilip and @naderdissa

Discussion:
@artsjournalnews: “Under Mr. Moog's stewardship, we have seen a loss of talented and expert staffers and continued revenue declines, stunting our efforts to achieve sustainability even as we receive generous foundationsupport that should fuel growth,” the unions wrote https://www.wbez.org/... [image]

Mark Jacob /
@markjacobnews@threads.net: As the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ unions call for the immediate ouster of Chicago Public Media CEO Matt Moog, a WBEZ story quotes from my 2021 interview with Moog in which he said his no-layoffs position was a “read my lips” moment. https://www.wbez.org/...

Lisa Kurian Philip /
@laphilip: 🤔 https://www.wbez.org/... [image]

Nader Issa /
@naderdissa: Matt Moog quoted George H.W. Bush in 2022, vowing “emphatically, without reservation” he wouldn't lay off WBEZ or Sun-Times staff. In 2024, he laid off 14 WBEZ/Sun-Times workers. Today, he says he's “personally attacked” by our unions' no-confidence vote https://www.wbez.org/... [image]

Bloomberg:

Netflix ramps up local production in Southeast Asia to attract new subscribers as US rivals pull back; Asia Pacific accounted for just ~11% of its 2023 revenue— - Streaming giant is backing big-budget shows in Indonesia — Thai production rises to 10 titles this year, from six in 2023

Discussion:
@lucas_shaw, Sohee Kim on LinkedIn and The Hollywood Reporter

Discussion:

Lucas Shaw /
@lucas_shaw: While most US Entertainment companies pull back on spending in other markets, Netflix is plowing ahead. It will make 10 shows in Thailand this year. @soheefication https://www.bloomberg.com/...

Sohee Kim /
Sohee Kim on LinkedIn: My latest story from Jakarta: — Netflix is ramping up local production in Southeast Asia, aiming to boost its subscriber base in the populous region even as US rivals are pulling back. …

O'Reilly Media:

How generative AI model providers can create business models that reward copyright holders and content creators, much like what has happened on the web— Last month, The New York Times claimed that tech giants OpenAI and Google have waded into a copyright gray area by transcribing …

Discussion:
@ainemacdermot.bsky.social and Tim O'Reilly on LinkedIn

Discussion:

Áine /
@ainemacdermot.bsky.social: Like Elon rewarding fascists for shit posting, ignoring people who had been contributing real content for 17 years kinds of rewards? You tech bro fuckers are laughable. [embedded post]

Business Insider:

MoffettNathanson: Q1 2024 was the worst quarter the pay-TV business has ever seen, losing 2.37M subscribers, down 6.9%, and even YouTube TV slightly shrank— - Pay TV just suffered its worst quarter in history — a stunning 6.9% drop. — The TV industry used to hope digital services …

Discussion:
Nielsen, Next TV, @chrifamouamo1, @pkafka, @penenberg, The Overspill, @pkafka, @thatniggaephy, @nicksologist, Cord Cutters News and Awful Announcing

Discussion:

Daniel Frankel /
Next TV: Amid Another Worst Quarter Ever for U.S. Pay TV, Even YouTube TV Lost Subscribers in Q1, Analyst Says @chrifamouamo1: @pkafka Shocked that xfinity and the others haven't offered genre packs or tiny tiers They're still playing the all or nothing game

@chrifamouamo1:
@pkafka The fact that over 1M people **successfully** canceled comcast/spectrum/dish in just 12 weeks is truly impressive Think about the 2M that likely called and were relegated to new promos or talked out of it....

Peter Kafka /
@pkafka: @mhudack Slowly and then all at once

Adam L. Penenberg /
@penenberg: @pkafka It's dismal and has gotten more expensive. Talking to you, @Ask_Spectrum It's like you're begging customers to pull the plug, like we'd be doing you a favor.

Charlesarthur /
The Overspill: Start Up No.2238: Qualcomm settles shareholder lawsuit, Apple lessens Vision Pro?, weight-loss jab trouble, cable TV slumps, and more

Peter Kafka /
@pkafka: It's boring to keep saying cable TV is collapsing but boy oh boy is cable TV collapsing. Pay TV - including digital substitutes like YouTube TV and Hulu Live - lost a record 2.37 million subscribers in Q1. That's a drop of 6.9%.

Some Black Guy /
@thatniggaephy: @pkafka Wrote about the trend from an spend POV in South Africa https://techcabal.com/...

Nick Hennen /
@nicksologist: @pkafka @DylanByers I dumped @YouTubeTV . — as much as I love it it is way over priced

Luke Bouma /
Cord Cutters News: YouTube TV Reportedly Lost 150,000 Subscribers in The 1st Quarter of 2024 As Every Major Live TV Provider Saw Subscribers Drop

Politico:

Snap agrees to a $15M settlement with California after a three-year probe into employees' allegations of discrimination, retaliation, and sexual harassment— Women who worked for the company in the last decade may be eligible for compensation. — SACRAMENTO, California …

Discussion:

Mariella Moon /
Engadget: Snap will pay $15 million to settle California lawsuit alleging sexual discrimination

Kim Zetter /
@kimzetter: “women at [Snapchat] were actively discouraged from applying for promotions or lost promotions to less-qualified male colleagues. Women also faced unwelcome sexual advances and other harassment.... When the employees spoke up, the company leaders retaliated with negative

Suhauna Hussain /
@suhaunah: new: Snap, the parent of Snapchat, has agreed to pay $15 million to settle allegations of rampant sex discrimination, harassment, pay equity violations & retaliation. settlement resolves a three-year investigation by @calcivilrights https://www.latimes.com/... @calcivilrights: NEW: We've reached a $15M settlement with Snapchat over allegations of discrimination against its female staff, including unfair pay, sexual harassment, & retaliation. Women are entitled to equality in every job, workplace, & industry. Learn more below ⬇️ https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/ ... [image] CRD: Civil Rights Department Obtains $15 Million Settlement Agreement with Snapchat Over Alleged Sex-Based Employment Discrimination

Natalie Hanson /
Courthouse News Service: Snapchat reaches $15 million settlement over gender discrimination, harassment claims

Ida Mojadad /
San Francisco Chronicle: Women who worked at Snapchat's parent company between 2014 and 2024 may be eligible for compensation.

Suhauna Hussain /