A law professor cited by CBS News called Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris “...so ill grounded that it comes close to being sanctionable as frivolous.” But now, the The Wall Street Journal reports that executives at CBS’ parent company, Paramount Global, have discussed settling the suit while “gaming out options to reduce friction with the incoming administration” ahead of a government review of its merger with Skydance.
The paper reports that incoming FCC chairman and censor-in-chief Brendan Carr warned execs last year that presidential dissatisfaction with CBS News will make a review tougher. He’s also publicly displayed that view, saying during a Fox News interview in November, “...CBS has a transaction before the FCC. I’m pretty confident that news distortion complaint over the CBS 60 Minutes transcript is something that is likely to arise in the context of the FCC’s review of that transaction.”
The lawsuit claims that in airing two differently edited versions of Harris’ response to a question about the war in Gaza, “CBS used its national platform on 60 Minutes to cross the line from the exercise of judgment in reporting to deceitful, deceptive manipulation of news.”
But instead of mounting a defense of free speech against a lawsuit and Trump’s accusations that the network said were false and completely without merit, Paramount is considering following the example of Disney and tech oligarchs who will line up at the inauguration like Mark Zuckerberg.
The ABC News owner agreed to pay $15 million to Trump’s presidential foundation and museum to settle a defamation lawsuit in December. Zuckerberg sharply redirected Meta’s policies to the right while meeting with Trump, reportedly “in part to mediate a lawsuit Trump brought against Facebook and Zuckerberg in 2021 over the platform’s suspension of Trump’s account after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.”
You’d think that TikTok would have a Plan B by now.
It’s now clear the company never planned for a scenario in which it would lose to the Supreme Court. Maybe it couldn’t, given that the Chinese government ultimately has final say on a sale. Now, TikTok’s leaders are banking on Donald Trump to save them in a last-ditch effort that will unquestionably come with strings attached.
Politically, TikTok misplayed its hand at every turn of this multi-year saga. Executives repeatedly dismissed the possibility of a ban, even going so far as to literally laugh at the idea. They were blindsided by Congress overwhelmingly agreeing on a ban. Then, they lost on appeal to the Supreme Court with only a day left before the law goes into effect. The only leverage they seemingly have left is that Trump thinks the app helped him win the election — plus their willingness to let him extract whatever pound of flesh he wants.
TikTok backed itself into this corner technically, too. It spent over $1 billion on Project Texas to try and appease concerns about US data making its way to China. Amazingly, TikTok started Project Texas before the government gave its blessing, which of course never came. US...
Instagram’s profile grids will display content as rectangles instead of squares as part of a change rolling out “over the weekend,” Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said in an Instagram Story on Friday.
“I know some of you really like your squares. And square photos are sort of the heritage of Instagram. But at this point, most of what’s uploaded, both photos and videos, are vertical in their orientation,” Mosseri said. It’s a “bummer to overly crop them,” he added.
Mosseri recognizes that the change might be a “bit of a pain,” but he thinks that it’s a “transitional” pain. “I think people will, over the long run, be excited that more of their photos and more of their videos are actually visible as intended in the profile as opposed to aggressively cropped,” Mosseri said.
Mosseri’s justification is pretty similar to what he said in August when Instagram confirmed it was conducting a “limited test” of the change.
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Amazon has paused testing of its delivery drones following a crash involving two of its models, according to Bloomberg. It’s the latest setback for Amazon’s beleaguered Prime Air program, which aims to deliver around 500 million packages a year to customers by the end of the decade. Bloomberg reports two Amazon drones crashed in rainy […]
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The Federal Aviation Administration is ordering SpaceX to conduct a mishap investigation into what caused the company's Starship rocket to explode mid-flight on January 16. Until the FAA approves SpaceX's investigation reported, the company won't be allowed to proceed with future Starship missions.
SpaceX's launch seemed to be going as planned prior to the explosion. Starship successfully made it off the launch pad and SpaceX was even able to catch the ship's boosters. But then, only eight and a half minutes after taking off, the Starship spacecraft exploded, according to SpaceX's post-launch blog post. In response to the sudden explosion, the FAA activated a "Debris Response Area" and slowed or diverted nearby flights to prevent further accidents, severely delaying flights from multiple airlines, according to CNBC.
The FAA's statement says that no one was injured by the falling debris but that its working "to confirm reports of public property damage on Turks and Caicos." The mishap investigation SpaceX performs will have to determine not only what caused the explosion, but also what corrective actions the company needs to take to prevent it from happening again. "Initial data indicates a fire developed in the aft section of the ship," SpaceX says.
This isn't the first time Starship has met an explosive end. Multiple Starship launches have ended with either SpaceX's boosters, the Starship spacecraft or both exploding. The company does appear to be getting better at catching and reusing its Super Heavy boosters, however. The successful catch that preceded the January 16 explosion is only the second time SpaceX has pulled it off. Its first successful Super Heavy catch was in October 2024.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/the-faa-is-grounding-spacexs-starship-after-its-latest-explosion-223535001.html?src=rss
A new rumor today suggests that the Camera app will get a dramatic overhaul as part of iOS 19 this year. In a video on YouTube, Jon Prosser reveals that the new Camera app in iOS 19 will feature a design that “mirrors the design ethos from visionOS.”
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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 Insiderstory 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.”
Threads
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.”
I asked Zuckerberg if he felt 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 regarding Sandberg, though he claimed they are being misconstrued.
"I answered a question about where the phrase 'bring your whole self to work' came from, and now there's a whole bogus narrative saying I blamed Sheryl for a bunch of stuff that I never did and never will," he said. (Bringing your "whole self" to work is a slogan popularized by Sandberg in Lean In. Similar language often appeared on Meta's careers site when the company highlighted diversity among its employees. "Being your authentic self is the foundation of who we are as a company," Meta wrote on a since-deleted page of its corporate website where it shared its internal diversity reports.)
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?
Update, January 17, 2025, 4PM PT: This post was updated to reflect an additional comment from Zuckerberg.
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
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)
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 CNETand Ars Technica.
