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Ticker: CNN Settles Zachary Young Defamation Case

Top of the Ticker: CNN has been found liable by a Florida jury in its defamation case brought by Navy veteran Zachary Young. Young had accused the network of inflicting financial harm as a result of displaying his face onscreen alongside a Nov. 2021 story that discussed a "black market" that smuggled Afghanistan citizens out...

Brands That Invest In Immersive Experiences Must Change The Way They Think About ROI

This post was created in partnership with Infinite Reality Immersive experiences are changing how brands, creators, and audiences engage online. And marketers who immerse themselves in technology like extended reality (XR) and AI will reap the benefits. At a live Adweek group chat at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, presented in partnership with Infinite Reality,...

With the TikTok Ban All but Confirmed, Here’s Where Marketers Can Still Focus Their Efforts

As the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the TikTok ban, brands and publishers are grappling with how to maintain their connection to young consumers. The reality of losing TikTok has sparked reactions ranging from strategic reevaluation to outright panic. However, history shows us that platforms evolve, algorithms shift, and audiences adapt. Here's what marketers need to...

Some News Influencers Have Already Lost Ad Revenue As TikTok Ban Nears

Back in the 2010s, journalists and the legacy media outlets that employed them famously pivoted to video on digital platforms like Facebook and Twitter. In 2020, they pivoted to TikTok. As the world went into lockdown amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, the platform saw its audience skyrocket. And those incoming viewers proved particularly hungry for news--a...

How News Networks Are Aiding Los Angeles Wildfire Relief Efforts

The wildfires that have raged in the Los Angeles area since Jan. 7 have resulted in large-scale amounts of property destruction and people displacement. With the death toll still climbing and over 12,000 structures damaged, it is expected to be one of the costliest natural disasters in the country's history, with an estimated price tag...

Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg want you to know they're still friends and definitely not mad at each other

On Thursday, The New York Times published a lengthy story about the rise in power of Stephen Miller, a longtime loyalist of Donald Trump known for his hardline views on immigration. Normally, a story like that wouldn’t get much attention in the tech press. But the piece opened with an anecdote about Mark Zuckerberg that immediately raised eyebrows.

The story detailed a recent meeting Miller had with Zuckerberg when the Meta CEO traveled to Mar-a-Lago last year. According to The Times, Zuckerberg — who would soon renounce Meta’s prior fact checking efforts and ditch corporate diversity programs — “blamed his former chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, for an inclusivity initiative at Facebook that encouraged employees’ self-expression in the workplace.”

That line set off a fresh round of speculation (and some outrage) in tech circles. Sandberg, who left Meta in 2022 and rose to fame after authoring her women in the workplace manifesto Lean In, was known for her once close partnership with Zuckerberg at the top of Facebook. That Zuckerberg would blame his former top lieutenant for fostering “inclusivity” at his company, raised eyebrows even among longtime observers of the company.

“She always knew who Mark Zuckerberg and covered for him,” New York Times reporter Sheera Frankel, who co-wrote a book about Facebook’s dominance, observed on Bluesky. “ The question is whether she will continue to do so when he so blatantly throws her under the (Trump) bus.” Journalist and longtime tech pundit Kara Swisher likewise noted that “folks I talked to tonight from the Mark/Sheryl Facebook era are shocked but not surprised by his blaming her.”

I also weighed in on my Threads account, sharing a link to a Business Insider story from February that quoted an interview in which Zuckerberg said that Sandberg had raised him “like a parent.” I joked that the comment hadn’t aged well.

But on Friday, Zuckerberg decided to let me (and I guess everyone else) know that he and Sandberg are still cool, after all. “Sheryl did amazing work at Meta and will forever be a legend in the industry,” he wrote in a reply to my post. “She built one of the greatest businesses of all time and taught me much of what I know.”

Still besties.
Threads

Zuckerberg did not respond when I asked if Sandberg was too focused on DEI initiatives at Meta or whether she took away from the “masculine energy” he recently told Joe Rogan corporations should embody. (Notably, he has not denied The Times’ reporting about his comments on Sandberg.)

But, a few minutes later, Sandberg jumped in to helpfully let me know there are no hard feelings on her side, either. “Thank you, @zuck. I will always be grateful for the many years we spent building a great business together - and for your friendship that got me through some of the hardest times of my life and continues to this day.”

Zuckerberg responded with a single heart emoji.

So, I guess that settles it. Nothing to see here, folks. Mark and Sheryl are definitely still friends. They may not work at the same company anymore, but they are still able to come together to head off a potential PR crisis. What could be more inspiring than that?

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/mark-zuckerberg-and-sheryl-sandberg-want-you-to-know-theyre-still-friends-and-definitely-not-mad-at-each-other-222145203.html?src=rss

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© Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images

SUN VALLEY, IDAHO - JULY 08: CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg walks with COO of Facebook Sheryl Sandberg after a session at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 08, 2021 in Sun Valley, Idaho. After a year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world’s most wealthy and powerful businesspeople from the media, finance, and technology worlds will converge at the Sun Valley Resort for the exclusive week-long conference. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

AT&T pulls its 5G internet service in NY over new affordable internet law

The AT&T 5G All-Fi Hub sitting on a white table.
The All-Fi hub that connects to AT&T’s 5G network to provide home internet access in rural areas without broadband access. | Image: AT&T

AT&T announced it will no longer offer its 5G Internet Air service in New York this week in response to the state’s Affordable Broadband Act going into effect on Wednesday. The company says existing users can continue to use the service for 45 days without any charges, giving them time to find an alternate broadband provider, according to CNET.

New York originally passed the Affordable Broadband Act in 2021, but the law was stalled for several years by pushbacks and legal challenges from broadband lobbying groups. Last December, the US Supreme Court declined to intervene, allowing the law to finally come into effect this month.

It follows Congress’ decision not to continue funding the federal Affordable Connectivity Program last year, which started during the covid-19 pandemic and offered discounts of up to $30 per month on home internet for qualifying households.

The law requires internet providers with over 20,000 customers to offer two affordable broadband plans to low-income households that qualify for social assistance benefits like Medicaid or the National School Lunch Program. One plan offers download speeds of at least 25Mbps for no more than $15 per month, while the other boosts that to speeds of up to 200Mbps at a maximum of $20 per month.

AT&T’s Internet Air service offered New York residents download speeds of 40 to 140Mbps (which was temporarily slowed when the company’s 5G network was busy) for $55 per month, or $60 for those not opting for autopay. Instead of complying with the new law and offering Internet Air at a discount, AT&T has instead ended its home internet services in New York. The company also doesn’t offer home internet over fiber or DSL in the state.

“While we are committed to providing reliable and affordable internet service to customers across the country, New York’s broadband law imposes harmful rate regulations that make it uneconomical for AT&T to invest in and expand our broadband infrastructure in the state,” the company said in statements provided to CNET and Ars Technica.

Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd returns as CEO amid a dating app decline

The Wall Street Journal’s 2024 The Future Of Everything Festival
Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

Bumble founder and executive chair Whitney Wolfe Herd, who stepped down as CEO at the beginning of 2024, is returning to the post in mid-March. Former Slack CEO Lidiane Jones, who succeeded Herd, has resigned for “personal reasons” and will remain in the role until Wolfe Herd takes over.

“As I step into the role of CEO, I’m energized and fully committed to Bumble’s success, our mission of creating meaningful, equitable relationships, and our opportunity ahead,” Wolfe Herd says in a statement. “We have exciting innovation ahead for Bumble in this bold new chapter.”

Bumble gained popularity in part because it was set up for women to message their matches first. But in April, it introduced a redesign and a feature that let men send the first message in response to prewritten questions.

That redesign was announced following layoffs that the company said would “better align its operating model with future strategic priorities,” however, as Fortune notes, its share price has dropped by more than half since the redesign.

Dating apps have struggled as of late, following the “Bumble fumble” anti-celibacy ad it apologized for last year, as competitor Match Group (the owner of Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, and other services) reported a drop in users. In Bumble’s most recent earnings report, it said that the number of paying users had increased from 3.8 million to 4.3 million over the last year, however, average revenue per paying user dropped from $23.42 to $21.17, and its total revenue dropped slightly.

A 2023 Pew Research survey found that 52 percent of respondents thought they had come across a scammer on dating sites and apps, and 51 percent of women said their experiences had been negative. In the UK, an Ofcom report last year noted that usage of each of the top three largest dating services had declined from 2023, and survey data increasingly suggests Gen Z daters aren’t using the apps as much.

Under new law, cops bust famous cartoonist for AI-generated child sex abuse images

Late last year, California passed a law against the possession or distribution of child sex abuse material (CSAM) that has been generated by AI. The law went into effect on January 1, and Sacramento police announced yesterday that they have already arrested their first suspect—a 49-year-old Pulitzer-prize-winning cartoonist named Darrin Bell.

The new law, which you can read here, declares that AI-generated CSAM is harmful, even without an actual victim. In part, says the law, this is because all kinds of CSAM can be used to groom children into thinking sexual activity with adults is normal. But the law singles out AI-generated CSAM for special criticism due to the way that generative AI systems work.

"The creation of CSAM using AI is inherently harmful to children because the machine-learning models utilized by AI have been trained on datasets containing thousands of depictions of known CSAM victims," it says, "revictimizing these real children by using their likeness to generate AI CSAM images into perpetuity."

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© Andri Tambunan | Getty Images

Greta Gerwig's Narnia movie will get up to four weeks in theaters

Greta Gerwig's follow-up to Barbie, an adaptation of one of C.S Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia books, will be exclusively viewable in theaters for four weeks before it hits Netflix on Christmas, according to a new report from Puck. Netflix is historically anti-theater, but it seems like it can set that aside for the right filmmaker.

Theaters will have a four-week exclusive window on the film globally — longer than the week Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery got — but it will only be available to watch on IMAX screens to start. IMAX is guaranteeing the film will be shown in the format for two weeks, according to Puck, and is willing to add another week if there's demand. After that, the film could come to non-IMAX theaters, too. 

Netflix, while owning a few theaters itself, is philosophically-opposed to theatrical exclusivity. It'll put Netflix movies in theaters for the amount of time required to qualify for awards season, but otherwise avoids them like the plague. That might be nice for subscribers who've become accustomed to watching everything at home, but most filmmakers want their films to be seen on the big screen. For example, Netflix reportedly lost the chance to distribute Saltburn director Emerald Fennel's next film, an adaptation of Wuthering Heights, because it refused to give the film time in theaters, according to The New York Times.

Rumors circulated that IMAX, Gerwig, and Netflix were discussing a deal in October 2024, and it seems the director got her way. It's strange to have to fight tooth and nail for what could be a blockbuster movie to be seen by a paying audience. There's plenty of evidence that putting films in theaters makes money, but it's a lesson that even company's like Disney have had to relearn after the streaming boom. Moana 2 started as a Disney+ filler before it was tweaked and turned into a theatrical release that made over $200 million in December 2024

It's impossible to say if this decision signals a longterm change at Netflix, but future filmmakers working with the company now have interesting precedent to point to for their own theatrical deals.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/greta-gerwigs-narnia-movie-will-get-up-to-four-weeks-in-theaters-203920581.html?src=rss

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© REUTERS / Reuters

Greta Gerwig, Jury President of the 77th Cannes Film Festival, poses during a photocall for the 2024 Kering Women In Motion Awards and Cannes Film Festival Presidential Dinner as part of the 77th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 19, 2024. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier

Nintendo omits original Donkey Kong Country Returns team from the remaster’s credits

A screenshot from Donkey Kong Country Returns HD.
Image: Nintendo

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, the just-launched port of the 2010 Wii game, doesn’t include individual members of the original Retro Studios development team in the credits, as reported by GameSpot. Since the discovery, however, Nintendo has commented on the omission, giving a statement to Eurogamer.

“We believe in giving proper credit for anyone involved in making or contributing to a game’s creation, and value the contributions that all staff make during the development process,” the statement reads, which is sourced only to Nintendo and not to a specific individual. The game’s credits reveal that the port was done by Forever Entertainment.

Crediting is an industry-wide issue, and this isn’t the first time Nintendo has come under scrutiny for its crediting decisions. Some developers who worked on the original Metroid Prime — another Retro Studios game — were unhappy that Metroid Prime Remastered’s credits didn’t include the full original credits. And external translators have expressed frustrations with being left out of credits for some major Nintendo games, Game Developer reported last year.

As of late, Nintendo has also been somewhat cagey about things like voice actors and the specific studios developing its games.

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