Internet Media

Canada Leads Battle of Media Titans

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Article in The Guardian by Leland Cecco, 11/29/24

Headline: “Canadian media companies sue OpenAI in case potentially worth billions”

Subhead: “Litigants say AI company used their articles to train its popular ChatGPT software without authorization”

“Canada’s major news organizations have sued tech firm OpenAI for potentially billions of dollars, alleging the company is “strip-mining journalism” and unjustly enriching itself by using news articles to train its popular ChatGPT software.

The suit, filed on Friday in Ontario’s superior court of justice, calls for punitive damages, a share of profits made by OpenAI from using the news organizations’ articles, and an injunction barring the San Francisco-based company from using any of the news articles in the future.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/29/canada-media-companies-sue-openai-chatgpt

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Article in the New York Times by Matina Stevis-Gridneff, 11/29/24

Headline:   “Major Canadian News Outlets Sue OpenAI in New Copyright Case”

Subhead:  “A coalition of some of Canada’s biggest media companies is seeking billions of dollars in compensation for what they say is copyright infringement on their work through ChatGPT.”

“These artificial intelligence companies cannibalize proprietary content and are free-riding on the backs of news publishers who invest real money to employ real journalists who produce real stories for real people,” said Paul Deegan, president of News Media Canada.

“A coalition of Canada’s biggest news organizations is suing OpenAI, the maker of the artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, accusing the company of illegally using their content in the first case of its kind in the country.

Five of the country’s major news companies, including the publishers of its top newspapers, newswires and the national broadcaster, filed the joint suit in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Friday morning.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/29/world/canada/canada-openai-lawsuit-copyright.html

No More Social Media for Kids

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Update in UPI by Alasdair Pal and Cordelia Hus, 11/29/24

Headline:  “Australia’s under-16 social media ban sparks anger and relief”

“Australians reacted on Friday with a mixture of anger and relief to a social media ban on children under 16 that the government says is world-leading, but which tech giants like TikTok argue could push young people to ‘darker corners of the internet’

“Australia approved the social media ban for children late on Thursday after an emotive debate that has gripped the nation, setting a benchmark for jurisdictions around the world with one of the toughest regulations targeting Big Tech.”

 

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Article in New York Times by Victorieia Kim, 11/28/24

Headline:  “Australia Has Barred Everyone Under 16 From Social Media. Will It Work?”

Subhead:  “The law sets a minimum age for users of platforms like TikTok, Instagram and X. How the restriction will be enforced online remains an open question.”

“Australia has imposed a sweeping ban on social media for children under 16, one of the worlds most comprehensive measures aimed at safeguarding young people from potential hazards online. But many details were still unclear, such as how it will be enforced and what platforms will be covered.

“After sailing through Parliaments lower house on Wednesday, the bill passed the Senate on Thursday with bipartisan support. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said that it puts Australia at the vanguard of efforts to protect the mental health and well-being of children from detrimental effects of social media, such as online hate or bullying.

“The law, he has said, puts the onus on social media platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent anyone under 16 from having an account. Corporations could be fined up to 49.5 million Australian dollars (about $32 million) for ‘systemic’ failures to implement age requirements.

“Neither underage users nor their parents will face punishment for violations. And whether children find ways to get past the restrictions is beside the point, Mr. Albanese said.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/28/world/asia/australia-social-media-ban-law.html

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AP article by By ROD MCGUIRK, 11/28/24

Headline:  “Social media ban for under-16s passes the Australian Senate and will soon be a world-first law”

“The law will make platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for systemic failures to prevent children younger than 16 from holding accounts.”

https://apnews.com/article/australia-social-media-children-ban-safeguarding-harm-accounts-d0cde2603bdbc7167801da1d00ecd056

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Article in Al Jazeera by staff 11/28/24

“Australia’s Parliament has passed a law banning children aged under 16 from using social media, one of the strictest regulations targeting the platforms in the world.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/28/australia-passes-legislation-banning-under-16s-from-social-media

What ?! – Chinese Media News Sites Are Fake?

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Article in Forbes by Emma Woolacott, 11/25/24

Headline:  “Hundreds Of Fake News Sites Pulled From Google Search”

“Google has blocked hundreds of fake news services and websites from its search results on the grounds that they were serving up Chinese propaganda.

The firm’s Threat Analysis Group said that an umbrella group of four companies, dubbed Glassbridge, has been creating and operating hundreds of domains that pose as independent news websites from dozens of countries.

In fact, though, the content involves narratives aligned to the political interests of the People’s Republic of China — and the company has now blocked more than a thousand Glassbridge-operated websites from appearing in Google News features and Google Discover.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawoollacott/2024/11/25/hundreds-of-fake-news-sites-pulled-from-google-search/

Will Media Approach “Truth Social”?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jem Baertholomew, 11/25/24

Headline:  “Truth Social and Consequences”

Subhead:  “The political press gears up for an unprecedented story: the social media executive in chief.”

“. . .Trump’s post—or “re-truth,” to use the platform’s lingo—flashed a signal to journalists now entering uncharted territory, as they cover a president-elect who owns a controlling stake in a social media company. Truth Social’s parent . . .  launched its platform in 2022, after Trump’s encouragement of the Capitol insurrection prompted mainstream social media—Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.—to kick him off. ”

“. . . How seriously journalists should take his 4am posts is another question. “When he became a candidate, it became a more important tool,” Tara Palmeri, senior political correspondent for Puck, told me. “Truth Social is going to remain relevant as long as Trump is around, as much as we might want to turn a blind eye to it,” Sarah Jones, senior writer covering politics for New York’s Intelligencer, said. “I do think it’s worth paying attention to and following

https://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/truth-social-trump-media-how-important-stocks-shares-announcements.php

Bleak Media Landscape in U.S.

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Aricle in Daily Kos by Gdevo, 11/23/24

Headline:  “Why The Media Landscape in the United States is hard for Democracy”

“Is the internet & social media been good for our country or society? Our free press has always been a vulnerability, it is an opportunity for nefarious people to inject false and harmful ideas into the public domain, but the truth has mostly won by being right. The old adage ‘You can fool some of the people some of the time…’ is true until possibly today when the massive overpopulation of mis- and dis- information in conservative media may have the ability to fool most of the people most of the time.”

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/11/23/2288187/-Why-The-Media-Landscape-in-the-United-States-is-hard-for-Democracy?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

More Media Abandon X

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Article in Common Dreams by Olivia Rosane, 11/15/24

Headline:  “Major Media Reform Group Says Goodbye to Musk’s ‘Toxic Twitter'”

Subhead:  “It’s clear that X will not correct course under Musk’s leadership, and it’s time for Free Press to exit.”

“Media watchdog Free Press announced on Thursday that it would leave the social media platform formerly known as Twitter over concerns about owner Elon Musk’s platforming of hateful speech, fostering an increase of disinformation, and his intensifying harassment of critics

“In doing so, the advocacy group joined the more than 100,000 U.S. users who have abandoned Musk’s X following Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election last week. Musk aggressively used the site to boost Trump and his campaign, promoting him with tweets worth $24 million and spreading disinformation about the Democratic Party and the integrity of U.S. voting infrastructure.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/free-press-leaves-toxic-twitter

Traditional Media vs. Social Media

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Article in Mediaite by Zachary Leeman , 11/19/24

Headline:   “Morning Joe’s Mike Barnicle Fears for Cable News After Social Media Poll: ‘I Don’t Know How We Make Ourselves Relevant Again’ “

“Barnicle admitted he doesn’t have a clue how cable news and mainstream media can compete with quick snippets on social media.

“ ‘I don’t know how we make ourselves relevant again because we can’t compete with 20 second snippets on an iPhone, walking up the street and getting your entire news digest of the day in less than a minute on your phone as you’re walking in a crowd with coffee in one hand and your phone in the other. I don’t know how we catch up to that,’ he said.”

https://www.mediaite.com/media/morning-joes-mike-barnicle-fears-for-cable-news-after-social-media-poll-i-dont-know-how-we-make-ourselves-relevant-again/

Media Group in India Sues OpenAI

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Posted in Slashdot by msmash on Tuesday 1/19/024

Headline:  “Indian News Agency Sues OpenAI Alleging Copyright Infringement (techcrunch.com)”

“One of India’s largest news agencies, Asian News International, has sued OpenAI in a case that could set a precedent for how AI companies use copyrighted news content in the world’s most populous nation.

“From a report: Asian News International filed a 287-page lawsuit in the Delhi High Court on Monday, alleging the AI company illegally used its content to train its AI models and generated false information attributed to the news agency. The case marks the first time an Indian media organization has taken legal action against OpenAI over copyright claims.”

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/11/19/1718229/indian-news-agency-sues-openai-alleging-copyright-infringement

Bad Media? Ban ‘Em From the Press Room

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Article in Daily Kos by News Corpse, 11/13/24

Headline: “HUH? Fox News Asks Biden’s Press Sec if He Apologized to Trump for Saying He’s a Threat to Democracy”

Subhead:  “America needs to prepare itself for what’s to come in the White House Press Briefing room. Axios is reporting that Trump is expected to ‘shake it up.’ “

“Trump’s first administration tried to ban outlets it saw as unfavorable from off-camera press briefings. That included the New York Times, Politico, CNN and BBC.” […]

“Any efforts to expand access to daily press briefings to pro-Trump outlets, such as Steve Bannon’s War Room, would need to come at the expense of existing outlets.”

“So get ready for briefings that feature folks like Bannon, Alex Jones, and Laura Loomer. The ‘mainstream’ media reporters from the New York Times and CBS and NPR will all be banished as ‘fake news.’ And Trump’s press secretary is likely to be someone like his former attorney Alina Habba or his daughter Tiffany. Which means the rest of the media had better grow a spine and be prepared to protect the very notion of a free press.”

https://www.dailykos.com/blogs/Media%20Watch

Media Kissing the Ring

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Article in Freepress by Craig Aaron, 11/15/24

Headline:  “Media and Tech Billionaires Helped Elect Trump — and Now They’re Ready to Serve”

Subhead:  “First, they come for the media”

“Surveying the wreckage after the 2024 election, many post-mortems have tried to explain the tactical or messaging mishaps that led to Trump’s victory. But a lot of them have missed the most obvious culprit: the media.

“Yes, in this case, it is appropriate to blame the messengers —– or at least their billionaire bosses.

“In 2024, instead of acting as a check on power, the media aided and abetted Trump’s restoration at every turn — whether by outright manipulating their platforms to push Trump propaganda, relentlessly amplifying racist conspiracy theories, suppressing political content while groveling before Republican politicians, abandoning political endorsements and undermining their own journalists, profiting off the relentless onslaught of misleading political ads, or focusing on the horse-race stories, opinion-poll watching and fake scandalizing that infects political reporting everywhere.”

“. . . Trump and those around him have learned from other strongmen that rule once-democratic societies. Look at Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, who told the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2022 that the path to power is to “have your own media.” Or Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel, where some of Trump’s biggest backers have tested these strategies and staged a right-wing media takeover, leading to a dangerous alternate reality on the airwaves that conceals war crimes and attacks dissenters. . . ”

https://www.freepress.net/blog/media-and-tech-billionaires-helped-elect-trump-and-now-theyre-ready-serve