THAT'S A WRAP #15
Hello and welcome. It’s almost the weekend! Before you unplug (if that is indeed your plan), check out these latest scoops in publishing and technology. Pub-knowledg-y.
META THREATENS TO PULL NEWS IN CALIFORNIA, RUNS TESTS TO BLOCK IT IN CANADA?
The California Journalism Preservation Act passed the state’s assembly in a 46-6 vote amid cheers from the News/Media Alliance. If it becomes law, it will require companies like Google and Meta to pay a “usage fee” when their platforms display news content. 70% of those fees would have to go to paying staff and journalists. A few days after the vote, the Los Angeles Times announced that it would be firing 74 journalists due to declines in revenue.
Meta responded that it would rather remove news from its platforms in California than pay into a “slush fund” that would benefit out-of-state media companies. A study funded by Google, Meta, Amazon, and other tech companies found that Fox News would stand to benefit more from the bill than California news outlets.
You’re probably wondering, “and what happened in Canada??” As covered in this newsletter a few months ago, Google made similar threats when a bill introduced in the Canadian Senate proposed requiring tech companies to pay publishers for using their content.?
Earlier this week, Meta announced that it will begin running tests to limit access to news content on Facebook and Instagram in Canada. 1-5% of users will find they are blocked from posting content that links to a select number of undisclosed news sites. Meta has said it will notify publishers if they will be included in the test.
PROGRAMMATIC PRODUCTS: PUBLISHERS AND PARTNERS PUT THEIR HEADS TOGETHER
Programmatic ads…publishers can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em. A new steering committee formed by experts in ad tech and publishing says it will focus on several issues, including addressability and first-party data deployment. Publishers have long bemoaned the relative lack of profitability and blows to brand safety at auction but have been unable to resist the ease and scalability of programmatic campaigns.?
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PUBLISHERS PROPOSE GUARDRAILS FOR AI
A digital trade organization that counts the likes of The Washington Post and Disney among its members has issued seven principles for governing AI, including that copyright laws protect content creators from the unlicensed use of their content (#3) and GAI systems should not create, or risk creating, unfair market or competition outcomes (#6).
Meanwhile, NewsGuard (the “nutritional label” for news) announced this week that it has started tracking misinformation generated by sites based on AI-generated content with little to no human oversight; for example, the website CelebritiesDeaths.com, which claimed the president of the US had died in office. So far, NewsGuard has identified 150 sites that meet its four criteria of AI-generated misinformation.?
A.G. Sulzberger (NYT) recently told the INMA World Congress that AI is “almost certainly going to usher in an unprecedented torrent of crap, to use the scientific word”. He went on to point out that while this could be a boon for trusted brands, content consumers who are unwilling or unable to pay for news will suffer the consequences.
…and that’s a wrap!
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