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January 10, 2025, 9:30 AM
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Top News

Sam Biddle / The Intercept:
A look at Meta's convoluted or contradictory hate speech examples for user content moderators, allowing derogatory remarks about races, nationalities, and more  —  Meta is now granting its users new freedom to post a wide array of derogatory remarks about races, nationalities, ethnic groups …
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Meta's new policies for contractors and staff moderating Facebook and Instagram allow dehumanizing speech, like “a trans person isn't a he or she, it's an it”  —  “A trans person isn't a he or she, it's an it,” reads a new guideline telling moderators what is now allowed on Facebook and Instagram
Jason Koebler / 404 Media:
Sources: many of Meta's employees are furious about its moderation changes allowing “allegations of mental illness” when based on “gender or sexual orientation”  —  Meta's decision to specifically allow users to call LGBTQ+ people “mentally ill” has sparked widespread backlash at the company.
Colby Hall / Mediaite:
GOP Senator Markwayne Mullin says Mark Zuckerberg met with Donald Trump the day before announcing that Meta would replace fact-checking with Community Notes
More: The National Pulse, Salon, Gizmodo, and The Hill
Bluesky: @noupside, @noupside, and @noupside.  Threads: @aaron.rupar.  X: @bennyjohnson
Joseph Cox / Wired:
A hack of data company Gravy reveals Candy Crush, Tinder, and thousands of other apps are used to collect user location data; app developers may not even know  —  A hack of location data company Gravy Analytics has revealed which apps are—knowingly or not—being used to collect your information behind the scenes.
Kevin Purdy / Ars Technica:
The Linux Foundation launches an initiative to fund developing Chromium projects in a “neutral space”, with support from Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Opera  —  But it's really a “neutral space” for funding and support, corralling together some big names with a stake in the future of Chrome's open source roots, Chromium.
Financial Times:
Sources: Elon Musk and his right-wing allies discussed how to destabilize the UK Labour government and remove PM Keir Starmer, beyond Musk's aggressive X posts  —  Technology billionaire interested in building support for another political party, notably Reform UK
Politico:
In a weird X Spaces chat, Elon Musk and Alice Weidel, a co-chair of the German far-right party AfD, pushed disinformation about Hitler, migrants, war, and more  —  God!  Martians!  A “communist” Hitler!  It was heavy on oddness and light on policy as the X owner and the AfD co-leader hit it off.
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Court docs: Mark Zuckerberg approved the Meta team that trains AI Llama models to use data from LibGen, a “links aggregator” to pirated, copyrighted material  —  Counsel for plaintiffs in a copyright lawsuit filed against Meta allege that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave the green light …
Automattic:
Automattic plans to cut its WordPress contributions to ~45 hours per week “due to the lawsuits from WP Engine”, focusing mostly on security and critical updates  —  Automattic has always been deeply committed to the success of WordPress, dedicating significant resources and talent to its development for almost two decades.
Makena Kelly / Wired:
The CFPB proposes new rules to give consumers the same rights when using virtual currencies used in Roblox and some other video games as when they use USD  —  In a new proposal issued Friday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking to regulate virtual currencies used in Roblox and other video games like US dollars.
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney, Fox, and WBD say they have collectively agreed to discontinue their Venu Sports streaming venture, and will focus on existing products  —  The sports-focused streaming service will not move forward, the companies said Friday.  —  Venu is dead.  —  The sports-focused streaming …

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From Mediagazer

Sara Fischer / Axios:
PBS and a public TV affiliate in Minnesota sue the Trump administration, saying his executive order to cut federal funding violated PBS' First Amendment rights

Brian Stelter / CNN:
OAN chief Pentagon correspondent Gabrielle Cuccia says she was fired after criticizing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's media restrictions at the Pentagon

Max Tani / Semafor:
The California State Senate opens an inquiry into whether Paramount's reported $15M proposed settlement with Trump violated bribery and unfair competition laws

More News

Nikkei Asia:
TSMC reports December revenue up 57.8% YoY to $8.4B, pushing the 2024 revenue to ~$88.02B, up 34% YoY, driven by AI chips demand from Nvidia and Broadcom
Heather Landi / Fierce Healthcare:
Hippocratic AI, which is building an LLM for health care use cases, raised a $141M Series B at a $1.64B valuation, and launches a health care AI agent app store
George Hammond / Financial Times:
Elon Musk calls on California's and Delaware's AGs to force OpenAI to auction off a large stake in its business; source: OpenAI had no plans for such an auction

Earlier Picks

Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Ubisoft says it is appointing advisers to review and pursue strategic options after an October 2024 report said its majority backers were considering a buyout
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
A US judge rules that Google must face a class action claiming Google collected users' personal data from their phones after they turned off Web & App Activity
Stephen Totilo / Game File:
December court filing: Activision revealed that Call of Duty: Black Ops III cost $450M+ to make, Modern Warfare cost $640M+, and Black Ops Cold War cost $700M+
Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat / Reuters:
Frank McCourt's Project Liberty says it made a formal bid to ByteDance to acquire TikTok's US assets, aiming to keep the app alive without its current algorithm
Richard Lawler / The Verge:
Apple says it “has never used Siri data to build marketing profiles” and never sold it for advertising or other purposes, after paying $95M to settle a lawsuit
Carly Page / TechCrunch:
Ivanti warns that threat actors exploited a critical-rated zero-day in its widely used Connect Secure VPN tool to compromise its corporate customers' networks
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