ReportWire

Tag: Digital Media

  • Digitizing and splicing vintage film at the Library of Congress Packard Campus – WTOP News

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    Staff at the Library of Congress Packard Campus are digitizing every single piece of physical media in its storage so the public can view them in their original formats as intended.

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    Preserving film in new and old-fashioned ways at the Library of Congress

    Seventy-five miles southwest of D.C., the art of film preservation is alive and well.

    In Thursday’s episode of “Matt About Town,” come explore the different ways staff members at the Library of Congress Packard Campus are making sure more than 135 years of media stand the test of time — so anyone from the public can view these pieces of history and culture.

    The preservation mission at the Packard Campus, a remote 45-acre plot in Culpeper, Virginia, is twofold: Staff are working to digitize every single piece of physical media the library has in storage and they’re working to preserve the original copies of these pieces of media (like film and TV reels) so they can be optimized for playback in their original formats as originally intended.

    It’s a tall task when you consider there are 415,000 square feet of storage on the campus.

    The fascinating ways in which staff accomplish both of these goals shines a light on just how intricate — and how much of an art form — this process really is.

    You can also visit “Matt About Town” to see all episodes in the Packard Campus exploration series, an exclusive all-access collaboration with the Library of Congress you won’t find anywhere else.

    Hear “Matt About Town” first every Tuesday and Thursday on 103.5 FM!

    If you have a story idea you’d like Matt to cover, email him or chat with him on Instagram and TikTok.

    Check out all “Matt About Town” episodes here!

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    Matt Kaufax

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  • This is ‘brain rot,’ a slang term with something to it

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    (CNN) — You grab your phone and in that first swipe, you see someone traveling the world. Why aren’t you on vacation? Swipe again, and someone is living off the grid. Wow, shouldn’t you get rid of your laptop? Swipe once more, and a tech CEO is telling you how AI is going to optimize your hustle.

    Does it feel like your brain is rotting away?

    If it seems as though social media and online content are dragging you around instead of enriching your daily life, you probably relate to Tiziana Bucec, a content creator in Berlin whose social media posts combat a slang term that’s widely used online: “brain rot.”

    “I’m making this series because I’m tired of feeling like social media makes us dumber, more anxious and less aware,” she said in her first anti-brain rot video, which then became a series on how social media use impacts the brain and how to moderate use.

    Brain rot isn’t a scientific term. It has come to refer to content that might be funny nonsense, Bucec said. Think Skibidi Toilet or 6-7. But it has evolved into a popular way to complain that excessive use of social media has decreased critical thinking and attention span.

    While there’s not much scientific research on brain rot and its possible effects, we can use knowledge about the brain and addiction to infer some possibilities, said Dr. Costantino Iadecola, Anne Parrish Titzell Professor of Neurology at Weill Cornell Medicine and director and chair of the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute.

    The mechanisms that keep you mindlessly scrolling may be similar to those behind addictions such as drug and alcohol use or gambling. In teens diagnosed with internet addiction, past research has found disrupted signaling between brain regions important for controlling attention, working memory and more. It’s reasonable to expect that the amount of time people spend mindlessly engaging with low-quality content, or brain rot, can have detrimental effects, Iadecola said.

    What makes content low quality?

    The main culprit of brain rot is low-quality content, which often refers to short-term videos, like those funny cat compilations or that teen doing a viral dance, said Dr. Nidhi Gupta, a pediatric endocrinologist in Franklin, Tennessee, and author of “Calm the Noise: Why Adults Must Escape Digital Addiction to Save the Next Generation.”

    “Our attention spans are finite, and when we have so much content competing for our attention span, something essential is going to be missed, whether it is health, whether it is work, relationships or sleep,” Gupta said. “We download that low-quality digital media, that digital noise, into our brain space.”

    Short-form content, whether it’s watching someone try on outfits or prank their partner, is designed to give you a big hit of dopamine, the neurotransmitter responsible for reward and motivation, and get you to keep coming back, Iadecola said.

    Often, but not always, that content isn’t helping the viewer learn, grow or develop, he added.

    Watching a lot of it can prime a brain to expect frequent and explosive bursts of excitement, which can make longer and more deeply engaging forms of media feel boring and inadequate, Gupta said.

    Not just a kid problem

    Iadecola is most concerned for kids when it comes to brain rot, he said.

    As with other addictions, there are ways to address excessive social media use and change a bad habit throughout your life, he added. But young children who are glued to a device, rather than running around on a playground learning to interact with people, may be missing key milestones.

    As children develop, they need a lot of different experiences to form a brain that can learn and develop productively, including emotional, social and facial cues, Iadecola said.

    Spending so much time with short-form content is “kind of fast pacing and not really teaching you something that may be useful in the long term, which will eventually affect your ability to learn, and so you’re going to be at a disadvantage,” he noted.

    But helping children have a healthy relationship with social media also can mean examining how adults use it, too.

    “Screen addiction is not a kid problem anymore. It is a human problem,” Gupta said.

    “We as human beings are being role models for kids,” she added. “When we are reaching for our phone while driving, we are silently sending a message in the back seat toward children that it’s OK to do this. So, when they get behind the wheel, they are likely to follow suit.”

    Modeling behavior for children is often more effective than lecturing them about what they should –– or should not –– be doing, Gupta added.

    Can you still tune it out?

    If you’re worried about compilations, fan edits and other lower-quality content, it can be tempting to try to ban it from your feeds and those of the kids you may have in your life. That might not be the answer, though.

    When teens use the term brain rot, it’s an acknowledgment that they are letting their minds not be utilized fully, which is easy to bristle at, said Dr. Lisa Damour, a clinical psychologist in Ohio and author of “The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable and Compassionate Adolescents.”

    But many of today’s teens are doing more work in school than earlier generations, and every generation has had their ways to disengage that adults in their lives might not have preferred, she added.

    “I myself watched a ton of ‘Gilligan’s Island,’” Damour said. “As long as kids are accomplishing the things they need to, being good citizens all around, they absolutely deserve some mindless leisure.”

    Want to set limits?

    Social media can have benefits for adults, so the goal shouldn’t be complete elimination for everyone, said Dr. Gloria Mark, a professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, who studies how digital media affects our lives.

    “Set limits if you’re such a person that goes down rabbit holes (and) can spend hours on social media,” she said.

    Limits can look like setting up a daily time slot to check in with your social media platforms that happens right before something you have to do so you can’t keep scrolling without end, Gupta said.

    In addition to limits, deleting the applications and only accessing social media through a browser may also help moderate social media use –– and the potential brain rot, she added. Using it that way puts more effort between you and a scroll, and a browser version is usually less set up to be addictive than an application, she said.

    “Willpower does not work,” Gupta said. “Environmental changes matter more.”

    Need a little more motivation to cut down? Now is the time to formulate New Year’s resolutions, and you can start by reducing your consumption or making a plan to set limits come January.

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    Madeline Holcombe and CNN

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  • Beyond the Screen: How Trading Cards Support Learning in a Digital Age

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    Tisha Lewis Ellison

    Parents, teachers, and even pediatricians have tried everything to manage kids’ screen time — banning phones from bedrooms, requiring outdoor play, encouraging reading, even prescribing medications. But the pull of technology isn’t going away. Social media, streaming platforms, and artificial intelligence tools are programmed to grab the attention of young people with remarkable effectiveness.

    That has raised alarms and prompted calls for a solution to what some describe as the attention crisis among young people. FormerU.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy proposed warning labels on social media platforms, blaming them for the youth mental health crisis. Lawmakers at both the state and federal levels are considering new limits on how young people use these platforms. But banning – or severely restricting –  digital technologies won’t solve the problem.

    And the truth is we probably should not go down that path anyway. Today’s kids are not just passive scrollers. They are active consumers of digital media – creating graphic content, composing unique sounds and beats, designing their own video games, as well as producing digital stories and podcasts to express themselves, empower others, and bring awareness to issues that matter to them.

    The challenge, therefore, is not about depriving kids of these creative outlets. It is about finding balance and giving young people appealing alternatives that provide slower, more tactile experiences that strengthen skills they will need in school and beyond. And one old pastime that is gaining popularity is showing us why this balance matters: trading cards.

    Collecting and trading cards may sound nostalgic, but the hobby is a powerful developmental tool with lessons that prior generations likely took for granted. Kids who collect and trade cards aren’t just chasing favorite players or characters. They are exercising executive function – a set of mental skills that allow people to plan, organize, focus, follow instructions, and manage time.

    And the wider world is beginning to take notice. The global trading card market, valued at $15.8 billion in 2024, is projected to grow to $23.5 billion by 2030. Driving this surge are parents tapping into nostalgia, kids drawn in by Pokémon or star athletes, and a growing awareness that card collecting isn’t just a pastime, it can be a profitable venture. Yet beyond propelling the trading card market to financial heights, the hobby leaves children with practical instruction and meaningful interactions.

    Collecting and trading cards encourage negotiation, compromise, persuasion, and other skills valuable in any society, let alone one built on commerce like our own. Unlike the instant gratification of the online world, the act of collecting and trading cards also demands patience and long-term thinking – just as journals, jigsaw puzzles, board games, and other recreational activities of the past do.

    Consider what it takes to amass and maintain a collection: saving money, making calculated acquisitions, and learning to assess the value of what you have in your collection. It means knowing what conditions to sell in, or when to trade for something with greater promise. In the process, kids learn to work with peers and, like budding entrepreneurs, develop the focus and accountability that endless clicking and swiping rarely demand.

    Educators are noticing too. Some teachers use trading cards for real-life applications of math skills and reading comprehension. Others bring them into classrooms to promote focus and spur constructive social interaction. The same qualities that make cards fun—organizing, tracking, forecasting, and making comparisons—mirror the very skills students will need to succeed in school and later in the workplace.

    None of this, however, means kids should abandon what the digital world has to offer. Quite the contrary. My research in digital and STEAM literacies (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) shows that young people thrive when they move fluidly between digital and analog practices—gaining strength both academically and socially. Digital tools, when used well, can open doors to creativity and opportunity that analog practices alone cannot. But in an age of constant pings, alerts, and distractions, analog activities like card trading require kids to plan, adapt to challenges, weigh options—and pause long enough to reflect.

    Breaking the digital trance may be closer than we think. In a world that moves faster every day, slowing down with something tangible, like a pack of trading cards, reminds us that learning, connection, and joy can still be held in our hands.

    Tisha Lewis Ellison, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia, Mary Frances Early College of Education. Dr. Lewis Ellison has received numerous accolades and awards for her research, which examines the intersections of family literacy, multimodality, and digital and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics) literacy practices among Black and Latinx families and youth. 

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    Dr. Tisha Lewis Ellison

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  • The New Patronage: A.I., Algorithms and the Economics of Creativity

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    Generative A.I. is cheapening media production while platforms recode payouts, power and provenance. Unsplash+

    The cost of making high-quality media is collapsing. The cost of getting anyone to care about it is not. As generative A.I. turns production into a near-commodity, cultural power is shifting from studios and galleries to the platforms that allocate attention and the algorithms that determine who gets paid. The new patrons are not moguls with checkbooks; they are recommendation systems tuned for engagement and brand safety.

    Production is cheap; distribution is scarce

    Video models now draft storyboards, generate shots and remix audio at consumer scale. Yet the money still follows distribution, not tools. On YouTube, the rules of the YouTube Partner Program, set and revised unilaterally, determine whether a creator receives 55 percent of watch-page ad revenue for long-form content and 45 percent for Shorts. Those headline rates are stable, but the platform’s enforcement posture has shifted: as of July 15, YouTube began tightening monetization against “inauthentic” or mass-produced A.I. content, a clarification aimed at the surge of spammy, low-effort videos. The message is clear: use A.I. to enhance originality, not to flood the feed. 

    The enforcement problem is real. “Cheapfake” celebrity clips—static images, synthetic narration and rage-bait scripts—have racked up views while confusing audiences. YouTube has removed channels and now requires disclosure labels for realistic synthetic media, but detection and policing remain uneven at scale. 

    Platforms are recoding payouts and power

    Spotify’s 2024 royalty overhaul illustrates how platform rule-sets become policy for the creative middle class. Tracks now require at least 1,000 streams in 12 months to pay out; functional “noise” content is throttled; and labels face fees for detected artificial streaming. The goal is to redirect the pool away from bot farms and sub-cent trickles. The effect is a re-concentration of earnings at the head of the curve and a higher bar for the long tail. When platforms change the taps, whole genres feel the drought or the deluge. 

    TikTok’s détente with Universal Music in May 2024 underscored the same power dynamic in short-form video. After months of public sparring over royalties and A.I. clones, a new licensing deal restored UMG’s catalogue to the app, alongside language about improved remuneration and protections against generative knock-offs. When distribution is the choke point, even the largest rights-holders must negotiate on platform terms.

    Data deals: the new studio lots

    If attention is one axis of the new patronage, training data is the other. The most lucrative cultural contracts of the past year were not output commissions but input licences. OpenAI’s run of publisher agreements, including the Associated Press (archives), Axel Springer, the Financial Times and a multi-year global deal with News Corp, reportedly worth more than $250 million, signals a market price for premium corpora. A.I. labs are paying for access, and the beneficiaries are large, well-structured repositories of rights, not individual creators. 

    The legal battles surrounding image training demonstrate the unsettled state of the rules. Getty Images narrowed its U.K. lawsuit against Stability A.I. in June, dropping core copyright claims while pressing trademark-style arguments about reproduced watermarks. The pivot reflects the complexity of proving training-stage infringement across borders, as well as the industry’s search for more predictable routes to compensation.

    Regulation is standardizing transparency and shifting risk

    Rules are arriving, and they read like operating manuals for platformized culture. The E.U.’s A.I. Act phases in obligations for general-purpose models, with guidance for “systemic-risk” providers by 2025 and a Code of Practice outlining requirements for transparency, copyright diligence and safety. In effect, document training, assessing model risks, publishing technical summaries and preparing for audits are all tasks that privilege firms and partners with a strong compliance presence. 

    In the U.S., the Copyright Office’s multipart A.I. study is moving from theory to guidance. Part 2 (January 2025) addresses whether and when A.I.-assisted outputs can be copyrighted, while the pre-publication of Part 3 (May 2025) examines training and how to reconcile text-and-data mining with compensation. The studio system, once established, created creative norms through collective bargaining; now, regulators and A.I. vendors are co-authoring the manual.

    Unions are also imposing guardrails. The WGA’s 2023 deal barred studios from treating A.I.-generated material as “source material” and protected writers from being required to use A.I.; SAG-AFTRA’s agreements introduced consent and compensation for digital replicas, with similar provisions in music. These are not abstractions; they are hard-coded constraints on how platforms and producers can deploy synthetic labour.

    Provenance becomes product

    As synthetic media scales, provenance is turning into both a feature and a bargaining chip. TikTok has begun automatically labelling A.I. assets imported from tools that support C2PA Content Credentials. YouTube now requires creators to disclose realistic synthetic edits. Meanwhile, device makers are integrating C2PA into the capture pipeline, with Google’s Pixel 10 embedding credentials in its camera output. OpenAI, for its part, adds C2PA metadata to DALL-E images. Attribution is becoming clickable. 

    The provenance layer will not solve misinformation alone. Metadata can be stripped, and enforcement lags, but it rewires incentives. Platforms can boost authentic, labelled media in feeds, penalize evasions and share “credibility signals” with advertisers. That is algorithmic patronage by another name.

    What shifts next

    Studios and galleries will increasingly resemble platforms. Owning release windows is no longer enough. Expect investments in first-party audiences, data clean rooms and rights bundles that can be licensed to model providers. The historic advantage, taste and talent pipelines must be coupled with distribution levers and data assets. Deals will include not just streaming residuals but “model-weight” royalties and retraining rights, mirroring the structure of today’s publisher licences.

    Creators will face algorithmic wage setting. Eligibility thresholds (1,000 Spotify streams), demonetization triggers (unoriginal Shorts), disclosure requirements (synthetic media labels) and fraud detection fees are becoming the effective tax code of digital culture. The prudent strategy is to diversify revenue streams, ads, direct fan funding and commerce, and to instrument provenance by default to stay on the right side of both algorithms and regulators.

    Policy, too, will reward those who can comply. The E.U. framework, the U.S. copyright study, and union clauses collectively nudge the market toward licensed inputs, documented outputs and consent-based replication. Those advantages include larger catalogues and well-capitalized intermediaries. For independent creators, collective licensing pools and guild-run registries may offfer the path to negotiating power.

    The arts has seen patronage shift before, from courts to salons to art galleries and museums. This time, the median patron is a ranking function. Where culture is made matters less than where it is surfaced, metered and paid. Those who understand the incentives embedded in platform policy, and can prove provenance at the speed of the feed, will capture the surplus. Everyone else will be producing to spec for someone else’s algorithm.

    The New Patronage: A.I., Algorithms and the Economics of Creativity

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    Gonçalo Perdigão

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  • Parenting 101: 5 Lessons to keep kids safe online for the new school year

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    The back-to-school season is exciting – new knowledge, new digital tools, and new discoveries. But it also brings higher cybersecurity risks for both schools and children. Cybersecurity experts are urging children, parents, and school communities to stay extra alert during this period.

    “The back-to-school period requires additional efforts to keep children and school communities safe online. A new beginning means new digital tools, online searches, and registrations for learning platforms. All of that increases cyber risks that must be taken seriously,” said Karolis Arbačiauskas, head of product at NordPass, in a media release

    A new study by NordPass, in collaboration with NordStellar, reveals a worrying truth: many educational institutions are still using shockingly weak passwords to protect sensitive data. Entries like “123456”, “Edifygroup@1”, and “principal@2021” appeared frequently, showing a widespread reliance on predictable or outdated credentials that are easy for hackers to guess.

    This is why the back-to-school season is the perfect moment to talk to children about cyber hygiene – the dos and don’ts in digital environments – and to help them build strong habits for digital security and privacy. “Learning about cybersecurity can be fun. Many families of cybersecurity professionals make it a game – they host a small party with snacks and guide their children through five simple but essential exercises,” said Arbačiauskas.

    Cybersecurity experts advise to take these steps to preserve your own cybersecurity and that of your family members (it can also be used as inspiration for your family’s Cyber Party):

    • Create strong and unique passwords. Make sure every account in your family – whether it’s yours, your parents’, your significant other’s, or your children’s – uses a strong and unique password. The easiest way to do it? Use a trusted password manager to generate, store, and share them securely.
    • Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA). Add an extra layer of security wherever you can, especially to access school portals, email accounts, and social apps. MFA helps keep hackers out even if a password gets breached – and they get breached more often than you think. A recent study by NordPass revealed that many educational institutions still use shockingly weak passwords.
    • Update devices and apps. Keep phones, tablets, and laptops up to date with the latest software. Outdated apps can contain vulnerabilities that hackers take advantage of to get backdoor access into your device. Updates patch these security holes so that cybercriminals can no longer exploit them.
    • Talk about phishing. Discuss cybersecurity with your family and why it matters. Teach them to never click suspicious links or open unknown attachments – especially in emails or messages claiming to be from the school. When in doubt, verify with the sender by using a website checker.
    • Adjust privacy settings. Review and tighten privacy settings on social media, online games, and school platforms. Limit what personal info is publicly visible and who can contact your kids online.

    – JC

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  • Amazon Facing Lawsuit Over Prime Video Movie Purchases

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    Amazon is facing a new legal challenge following a proposed class action lawsuit over how it markets movies and television shows on its Prime Video platform.

    The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Seattle, alleges that the company misleads consumers by describing digital transactions as “purchases” when, in fact, customers receive only a revocable license.

    Why It Matters

    The lawsuit dives into a broader question over digital ownership and when consumers click “buy” on a streaming platform.

    Is the customer truly purchasing permanent rights, or only renting access at the company’s discretion? At stake is whether Amazon and other digital retailers must clearly explain that so-called purchases can disappear, an issue that could reshape how millions of people understand—and pay for—movies, TV shows, games and other digital goods.

    What To Know

    The complaint, filed August 21 in the Western District of Washington, was brought by California resident Lisa Reingold.

    According to the filing, Reingold bought Bella and the Bulldogs — Volume 4 from Amazon in May 2025 for $17.79 after applying a credit. Soon afterward, she says, the program was no longer available in her library.

    Newsweek contacted Amazon and attorney Wright Noel for comment by email outside of normal office hours on Thursday.

    Bella And The Bulldogs arrive at the Kids’ Choice Awards on Saturday, March 12, 2016, in Inglewood, California.

    Chris Pizzello/AP

    The central claim is that Amazon’s use of terms such as “buy” or “purchase” gives consumers the impression of permanent ownership. In reality, access to the content depends on Amazon retaining licensing rights from studios and distributors.

    “Instead, they receive ‘non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, limited license’ to access the digital audiovisual work, which is maintained at Defendant’s sole discretion,” the complaint says.

    Clarifying Digital Ownership Rights

    The practice is not unique to Amazon, but the case comes as a number of moves have been made to attempt to clarify digital ownership rights.

    Earlier this year, California implemented the Digital Property Rights Transparency Law (AB-2426), which makes it unlawful to market a digital good as a “purchase” unless sellers either obtain clear acknowledgment from buyers that they are receiving a license or provide “a clear and conspicuous statement” explaining the limits of the transaction (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §17500.6).

    Reingold’s suit argues Amazon fails to meet either condition.

    Amazon’s website in its Terms of Use/Help pages acknowledges that purchased digital content may not remain permanently accessible.

    According to the filing, Amazon does not require customers to affirmatively acknowledge they are receiving a license, nor does it present conspicuous disclosures. Instead, the only notice appears “buried at the very bottom” of the confirmation screen in smaller font: “BY BUYING OR RENTING, YOU RECEIVE A LICENSE TO THE VIDEO AND YOU AGREE TO OUR TERMS AT PRIMEVIDEO.COM/TERMS.”

    The lawsuit claims violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law (§17200), False Advertising Law (§17500), and Consumer Legal Remedies Act (§1750).

    It seeks restitution, disgorgement of profits, damages, and an injunction requiring Amazon to revise its practices.

    The company has not yet responded publicly to this complaint.

    Amazon Prime Facing Class Action Lawsuit
    An Amazon Prime shipping container is viewed while being transported by railway, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in Holly Hill, Florida.

    Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP

    Similar Disputes

    Similar disputes have previously arisen.

    In 2020, a consumer filed a class action in California alleging that Amazon’s use of “buy” for digital goods was deceptive. That case was dismissed because the plaintiff had not lost access to her purchases. In later litigation in Washington, a federal judge allowed certain claims to proceed, finding that a reasonable consumer could be misled by the terminology.

    The difference in 2025 is that California’s new statute sets a clearer benchmark. The legislative history cited in the complaint points to concerns raised after Ubisoft shut down servers for the video game The Crew, cutting off access for players who had paid for the title. Lawmakers concluded that “consumers clearly know and understand the nature of their transactions … including the reality that they may not have genuine ownership of their purchase.”

    Reingold’s complaint describes Amazon’s interface in detail, including screenshots showing the “Buy movie” button and the placement of the disclaimer. It argues the notice is not “clear and conspicuous,” as defined by the statute, which requires larger or contrasting text or other markers that call attention to the disclosure.

    The proposed class includes all California residents who purchased digital audiovisual works through Amazon.

    Attorneys representing the plaintiff include Carson Noel PLLC of Washington and Bursor & Fisher, a firm experienced in consumer class actions.

    For Amazon, the case highlights a broader industry challenge: how to market digital goods in a way that matches consumer expectations. While many users understand that streaming rights are time-limited, others view the term “buy” as equivalent to owning a physical DVD or book.

    What People Are Saying

    Amazon Prime Video terms explain that digital titles: “will generally remain available to you but may become unavailable … for reasons such as potential content provider rights restrictions.”

    Wright Noel, counsel for the plaintiff in the complaint said: “Amazon does not meet the standards set by the statute for a clear and conspicuous notice that the thing they are purchasing is a revocable license to access the digital good. The warning is buried at the very bottom of the screen, in font that is considerably smaller than the other text on the screen.”

    What Happens Next

    Amazon will be required to respond in court, either by filing a motion to dismiss or by answering the allegations. If the case survives, it will move into class certification, discovery, and potentially settlement talks or trial. Because the claims rest on a new California statute, the outcome could set an important precedent for how streaming and digital platforms label and market purchases to consumers.

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  • Jeff Bezos doubles down on unprecedented block of a presidential endorsement from ‘The Washington Post’ but admits ‘I am not an ideal owner’

    Jeff Bezos doubles down on unprecedented block of a presidential endorsement from ‘The Washington Post’ but admits ‘I am not an ideal owner’

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    Amazon founder Jeff Bezos might not allow The Washington Post to run its traditional endorsement of a presidential candidate, but he’s willing to pen and run an op-ed justifying his move. It’s all in the name of keeping the media unbiased, Jeff Bezos insists.

    Last Friday, the Post announced it was not endorsing a candidate in the upcoming election, which has been deemed by some to be one of the closest in America’s modern history. Sources said two Post writers produced an article that endorsed Kamala Harris, but the story was killed by Bezos, the outlet’s billionaire owner. 

    Facing backlash, Bezos is standing by his words. But Bezos’ op-ed indicates this is a change of policy for future elections. On the topic of endorsements, he said “ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one.” He called his decision “a meaningful step in the right direction” when it comes to regaining the trust of readers amidst disillusionment with the sector in general.

    Citing Gallup’s data regarding slipping belief in institutions including the media, Bezos wrote “our profession is now the least trusted of all. Something we are doing is clearly not working.” Despite being the owner of the Post since 2013, Bezos made his wealth and spent most of his career in the tech sector where he founded Amazon. Amazon did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

    “It would be easy to blame others for our long and continuing fall in credibility (and, therefore, decline in impact), but a victim mentality will not help,” Bezos wrote. “Complaining is not a strategy.” Going on to claim that “presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election,” Bezos said all they do is “create a perception of bias.” 

    Research from professors at Brown University shows that said endorsements are actually pretty influential “in the sense that voters are more likely to support the recommended candidate after publication of the endorsement.” But influence varies based on one’s bias. 

    Even Bezos admits the timing is a little off, as the election is only two weeks away from when the decision was announced. Calling the move “inadequate planning, and not some intentional strategy,” he insists there’s “no quid pro quo of any kind at work here.” That’s all despite Dave Limp, chief executive at Bezos’ Blue Origin, meeting with Republican candidate Donald Trump the day of the announcement. 

    Bezos said he didn’t know about the meeting beforehand, and implored people to trust him. Calling upon his track record at the Post, Bezos said his views are “principled.” 

    Perhaps this is not the job for a billionaire, concedes Bezos (though without any apparent desire to resign). “When it comes to the appearance of conflict, I am not an ideal owner of The Post,” he wrote, noting that officials at Amazon, Blue Origin, or other company he’s invested in are often meeting with politicians. “I once wrote that The Post is a ‘complexifier’ for me. It is, but it turns out I’m also a complexifier for The Post.” 

    The newspaper with the slogan “democracy lies in darkness,” has endorsed a candidate since 1976—the only other time the Post declined to do so was in 1988, according to NPR. The choice to stay on the sidelines was met with some swift backlash from both internal and external figures. 

    Editor-at-large Robert Kagan resigned the same day as the announcement regarding the change in endorsements, telling CNN that the policy was “obviously an effort by Jeff Bezos to curry favor with Donald Trump in the anticipation of his possible victory,” as “Trump has threatened to go after Bezos’ business.” Three out ten people on the Post’s editorial board also stepped down because of the decision, while other journalists and columnists also quit in response. 

    An op-ed signed by 21 Post columnists disavows the choice as a “terrible mistake,” adding it “represents an abandonment of the fundamental editorial convictions of the newspaper that we love.”

    Bezos’ choice also caused a dent in readership: As of Monday, more than 200,000 people—representing around 8% of the outlet’s total subscriber base—canceled their subscriptions to the Post, sources told NPR.

    “It’s a colossal number,” former Post executive editor Marcus Brauchli told NPR of the dip in subscribers, adding there’s no way to know “why the decision was made.:

    A likely crucial element to America’s distrust of the media is their growing skepticism of the rich. As wealth inequality balloons, more than half of (59%) of Americans reportedly believe billionaires create a more unfair society per Harris Poll’s released survey of more than 2,100 U.S. adults.

    While respondents have some regard for billionaire’s influence over the economy, many want them out of certain spheres. One of them is the media, as 42% of Americans don’t think billionaires should be able to purchase businesses in the media sector.

    As one of the richest people in the world, Bezos’ wealth isn’t just the elephant in the room; it’s basically the whole room. “You can see my wealth and business interests as a bulwark against intimidation, or you can see them as a web of conflicting interests,” he wrote in his op-ed. It seems that some Americans see it as the latter.

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    Chloe Berger

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  • This Startup Has Built an Algorithm to Pay Creators for Their Work Used to Train A.I.

    This Startup Has Built an Algorithm to Pay Creators for Their Work Used to Train A.I.

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    Some startups are exploring the revenue-sharing model to solve A.I.’s growing IP dilemma. Alex Shuper/Unsplash

    OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has come under fire from publishers and artists who alleged the company scraped their work from the internet to train GPT, its large language model, without their consent. These concerns have sparked lawsuits against the A.I. giant on accusations of copyright infringement, highlighting a major ethical dilemma that comes with pushing A.I.’s capabilities forward. Some startups are exploring a solution that focuses on sharing revenue with content creators. In August, Perplexity AI, an A.I.-powered search engine, introduced a program to pay publishers a portion of ad revenue generated by search queries if their content informs its outputs. ProRata.ai, a startup founded by a pioneer of the early internet monetization model, is developing a similar algorithm to compensate publishers, authors and other creators whose work is used to train generative A.I.

    ProRata claims it has created an algorithm that can review an A.I.-generated output, identify the source of information based on novel facts and textual styles, and calculate how much each source contributed to the response. These percentages are then used to cut checks to these creators at the end of every month—a model that, in theory, could help protect the livelihoods of creatives and prevent future lawsuits around intellectual property. 

    “If you don’t share, then creativity is unsustainable. There’s no way for you to make a living,” ProRata’s co-founder and CEO Bill Gross told Observer regarding the careers of artists. Gross is credited as the inventor of the pay-per-click monetization model for internet search with a company he founded in the late 1990s that was later acquired by Yahoo, according to ProRata’s website. 

    The startup, which raised $25 million from venture capital firms Mayfield Fund, Prime Movers Lab, Revolution Ventures and IdeaLab Studio in a series A funding round in August, is set to showcase the algorithm through an A.I.-powered search engine expected to release in October. Starting at $19 a month, the engine will monetize queries through advertisements and subscription payments, according to Gross. While 50 percent of the revenue generated will go to ProRata, the other half will be split proportionately across creators. 

    ProRata’s ultimate goal isn’t to create an alternative to Google Search, but to introduce a new business model that search engines could adopt to ensure creators get paid for their contributions to A.I. “We want to make that the industry standard,” Gross said. While A.I. search features from Google and Microsoft’s Bing don’t directly share ad revenue with publishers, they refer users to links from publishers as a way to drive traffic to their sites.

    The answer engine will only be trained on data from creators who partner with ProRata. That means the model will draw from a limited amount of data that could potentially compromise the accuracy of outputs. Still, ProRata isn’t focused on making its A.I. search engine a standalone product but rather on having the pay-per-use model adopted by major search engines.

    So far, the company has inked deals with publishers like The Atlantic, Fortune, Financial Times, Time, and Axel Springer, the German company that owns Politico and Business Insider. Authors like Walter Isaacson, Adam Grant, and Ian Bremmer have also agreed, as have music industry veterans like Universal Music Group. ProRata hasn’t encountered any resistance or skepticism from its partners yet, according to Gross. “Most people just want us to be wildly successful so they’ll get a paycheck,” the CEO said. The real challenge, he notes, is convincing Big Tech companies who’ve been crawling web data for free to adopt ProRata’s business model.

    “It’s amazing to me that some of the people think that crawling is not stealing,” Gross said. “Basically, Mustafa, the CEO of Microsoft A.I., came out and said, ‘Hey, if it’s available on the web, it’s free for us to use.’ And that’s just bullshit,” Gross added, referring to comments made by Google Deepmind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman during a CNBC interview in July when asked if training A.I. models on web content is akin to intellectual property theft. “Just because something is available and visible doesn’t mean it’s open source,” Gross said.

    ProRata.ai CEO Bill GrossProRata.ai CEO Bill Gross
    ProRata.ai CEO Bill Gross. Andres Castaneda

    Paying creators may be a temporary “Band-Aid” solution

    Financial compensation may not fully address the ethical concerns of having a creator’s work used for A.I. training without explicit permission, according to Star Kashman, a tech lawyer and partner at Cyber Law Firm with expertise in digital copyright law. She cites actress Scarlett Johansson as an example, who allegedly refused to give OpenAI permission to use her voice for ChatGPT despite financial offers. 

    “Many authors and creators have personal, moral objections to their work being utilized for A.I. training, regardless of compensation,” Kashman told Observer. “Without explicit permission, paying creators may be a temporary ‘Band-Aid’ solution, but it may not be an all-encompassing resolution to deeper concerns about consent and the impact on creative works.” 

    The “pay-per-use” model could also potentially lead to a new crop of legal issues. Creators may disagree over whether the payment they receive “accurately reflects” what they contributed to the A.I. systems, especially if they can’t set their own rates, Kashman said. Moreover, A.I. tools may favor the work of bigger, more established creators over smaller ones even if their content is more relevant to a particular query, similar to how search engine optimization (SEO) works. Compensation may also not fully protect A.I. companies from being sued for intellectual property theft, which she said could be easier to prove in court with concrete attribution. 

    “​​There will continue to be many IP cases until the Copyright Act is amended to allow scraping on copyrighted content for the purposes of training LLMs,” Gabriel Vincent, another partner at Cyber Law Firm, told Observer, echoing Kashman’s comments. 

    ProRata has plans to diversify its model to include more than just text. After the October launch, the startup will focus on collaborating with music companies, according to Gross. He also hopes to collaborate with video and movie brands as well as smaller, independent creators and plans to license its attribution technology to A.I. companies that can implement it into their own models. 

    “A.I. is so amazing, but it needs to be fair to all parties,” Gross said. 

    This Startup Has Built an Algorithm to Pay Creators for Their Work Used to Train A.I.

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    Aaron Mok

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  • Top Executive Shakeups in Streaming, Big Media and Digital News in Q1 2024

    Top Executive Shakeups in Streaming, Big Media and Digital News in Q1 2024

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    A quarterly roundup of top hires at Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and more. Getty Images/Observer

    The media and entertainment industry was rife with leadership changes in the first three months of 2024, continuing a trend seen in late 2023. New high-level hires were made by companies from Netflix (NFLX) to Apple (AAPL) to replace key outgoing executives or execute new strategies. 

    Apple and Amazon (AMZN) hired veterans from traditional media giants as they pivot to advertising through their streaming services. Axel Springer, the publisher of Business Insider and Politico, opened its first U.S. headquarters and hired a roster of executives. 

    Here are the most notable media exec moves in the first quarter of the year.

    Netflix hired a new film chief

    Netflix’s film chairman Scott Stuber announced his resignation in January after seven years with the streaming giant. He officially left in March to start his own production company. Stuber was replaced by Dan Lin, whose studio Rideback produced the new live action adaptation of Avatar the Last Airbender. 

    In other content news, Netflix also hired a new head of unscripted series in the first quarter: Jeff Gaspin. Gaspin was the chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment from 2009 to 2011 and had worked on nonfiction content for Netflix, including the docuseries The Tinder Swindler.  

    WBD, Disney and Fox picked a leader for sports joint venture

    The three media giants announced in February that they would release a joint sports streaming platform to combine all of their sports offerings. Though the name of the service is still unknown, former Apple and Hulu executive Pete Distad was picked on Mar. 15 to lead the new product as CEO. The joint venture is expected to launch this fall. 

    Apple hired Big Media execs to build out its advertising business 

    Apple is expanding its advertising business for Apple TV+, with its latest hire being NBCUniversal advertising veteran Joseph Cady, according to Business Insider. The company has made other recent ad hires, including Chandler Taylor and Jacqueline Bleazey.

    Apple’s services division, which includes AppleTV+, reached 1 billion subscribers at the end of 2023. The streaming platform doesn’t yet have an ad-supported tier, but the new hires indicate this could change soon. 

    Axel Springer filled its U.S. roster 

    The German media company owns Business Insider and Politico, but didn’t have an American executive team until this year, when the company opened its U.S. headquarters in New York City. Axel Springer is shifting to prioritize its presence in the U.S. to compete with the biggest digital news companies here. The U.S. team has ten executives, including chief operating officer Gabriel Brotman and head of U.S. government affairs Amelia Binder. 

    Amazon Prime hired a new ad chief from Disney 

    Amazon launched an ad-tier Prime Video subscription in January and brought in new advertising strategists to execute the change. The new head of advertising for Prime Video, Jeremy Helfanz, came from The Walt Disney Company (DIS)’s direct-to-consumer sector, leading advertising platform strategy for Disney+, ESPN and Hulu. He also worked at Hulu as head of advertising platforms before he took on the broader role. 

    Top Executive Shakeups in Streaming, Big Media and Digital News in Q1 2024

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    Nhari Djan

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  • Friday 5: The pivotal role of school libraries

    Friday 5: The pivotal role of school libraries

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    Key points:

    School libraries have evolved from stereotypical hush-hush environments to bustling resource centers where students not only learn to locate and evaluate information, but where they develop critical skills guided by digital media specialists.

    Let’s take a look at what makes libraries such critical parts of the school environment:

    Why do libraries matter?

    Study after study has shown that effective library programs can increase student literacy and test scores and create more equitable student outcomes. Having access to the skills needed to decode text and other media impacts our students now and forever. Literacy can make or break their school performance and enhance their career and civic participation. All our students should have access to a school library and a certified librarian to help improve reading levels and foster critical thinking and source analysis. There are many types of school libraries–here’s why they’re all essential.

    What is the purpose of a school library?

    As we examine elementary school library best practices, we realize the true purpose of a school library is not limited to one specific idea. Rather, a school library serves myriad purposes for students, teachers, and even community members. Here are four key ways librarians are leading digital transformations to meet the varied needs of all who use them.

    What are the characteristics of a library?

    Library innovations in the 21st century include building a space that students actually want to inhabit, which is imperative to facilitating their learning and curiosity when it comes to reading. In some cases, that means out with the stuffy, shush-filled library, and in with the coffee shop vibes. Because as long as a student simply enters the space–even if it’s just to hang out–that gives us the opportunity to make a connection with them. Discover 5 functions of a school library here.

    What makes an effective school library?

    When you think of a school librarian, what comes to mind? Is it shelving, stamping, and shushing? That’s the stereotype you’re probably most familiar with. Librarians are so much more than this, though. They’re the keepers of the information, the resource kids use to explore new lands through the turning of pages–but their role as librarians is one that has historically been misunderstood. Because as times have changed, technology has advanced, and student needs have evolved–so, too, has the role of the librarian. Here’s why librarians are essential, and why the importance of the school library for students can’t be overstated.

    What are the three key roles of school librarians?

    School librarians play a critical role in teaching and learning, research, and sharing information. Gone are the days when a school librarian’s job was defined by shushing, rocking, and reading.  While reading out loud and building a love of literacy is still a foundational part of their job in a school, school librarians in the school media center wear many, many hats and touch many lives in the course of a day’s work. Here are 10 reasons to love your school librarians.

    Laura Ascione
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    Laura Ascione

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  • The Biden Campaign Fills Out Its Digital Team Ahead of Super Tuesday

    The Biden Campaign Fills Out Its Digital Team Ahead of Super Tuesday

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    President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is staffing up on digital, with four key hires ahead of the Super Tuesday primary elections.

    On Sunday, the campaign named Ryan Thompson as chief mobilization officer and Kate Conway as creative director. Cat Stern was named director of digital persuasion and Clarke Humphrey is being brought on as a senior adviser for digital persuasion. A Biden spokesperson told WIRED that Stern, formerly vice president of paid media at the Democratic marketing firm Authentic, will be leading a digital ads program along with Humphrey, who will also work with its network of influencers. Humphrey previously served as White House digital director for the Biden administration’s Covid-19 response team. The pair’s program will be “focused on creative testing and being in more places than ever.”

    “I’m thrilled to bring on four experienced digital operatives as we turn to the general election,” Rob Flaherty, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, said in a statement to WIRED. “This is a team that doesn’t just understand how to reach voters in a climate that is more personalized and more online than ever before—they are some of the leading architects of the cutting-edge tactics needed to win this election.”

    The announcement comes as the Biden campaign is shifting its focus toward how it can reach more voters online throughout the general election cycle. During the Super Bowl in January, the Biden team launched a TikTok account despite lawmaker fears that the app could be used by the Chinese government to spy on US citizens. Earlier this year, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said that the app reaches more than 170 million Americans, including many young voters who supported Biden in 2020.

    “We’re in a new phase of the campaign where people are tuning in, and we want to make sure we’re reaching people in as many places as possible,” Flaherty told WIRED of the decision to join TikTok in February.

    Flaherty, who previously served as digital director for the White House, was named deputy campaign manager in August. Thompson was previously the chief digital officer at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, where in 2018 he managed a $15 million email-list-building budget that ultimately raised more than $106 million. Conway also worked at the DCCC, where as creative director she built up their in-house creative team.

    Over the past four years, the Biden campaign has made significant investments in digital. Since Biden’s inauguration, his team has built relationships with dozens of social media influencers across platforms like Instagram and TikTok to spread the president’s message online. The administration has gone as far as holding briefings with creators over pressing topics like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In December, the White House held its first-ever holiday party for political content creators.

    While young voters overwhelmingly supported Biden in the last presidential election, their support has been waning, according to recent polls. The campaign’s continued investment in its digital work will be critical for reengaging these voters with whom Biden is falling out of favor.

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    Makena Kelly

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  • Trooh Media’s Digital Network Exceeds 1,000 Colleges With Acquisition of CheddarU’s Digital Screens

    Trooh Media’s Digital Network Exceeds 1,000 Colleges With Acquisition of CheddarU’s Digital Screens

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    Press Release
    •

    Feb 27, 2024 16:00 EST


    MANHATTAN, N.Y., February 27, 2024 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Trooh Media, a leading digital out-of-home media company, is thrilled to announce its acquisition of CheddarU’s large format digital screens on college campuses across the U.S. 

    With the acquisition of CheddarU’s digital screens, Trooh Media gains exclusive access to over 900 screens across 325 college campuses across the U.S. “This acquisition is a nice complement to our existing network of schools and gives Trooh access to new campuses across the country,” said Kennedy Turner, VP Client Partnerships of Trooh. Continues Turner, “Our digital out-of-home screens provide campuses with a valuable communication tool in which to speak to their students and offers marketers a unique opportunity to connect with 18-24 college students digitally through a full-service ad tech platform.”

    Trooh’s network of large format, dynamic digital screens, which will now be available in over 1,000 U.S. colleges, offers brand-safe, relevant engaging content that is important to both students and marketers. Trooh screens are located within non-academic areas of campuses. “This acquisition marks an exciting chapter in our growth story and solidifies our strong foundation in providing brands with an exceptional reach of A18-24s at scale in the real world,” said Alison Jacobs, CRO of Trooh.

    About Trooh 

    Trooh is a leading, large-format digital out-of-home company reaching millions of consumers in the USA on their daily journey out-of-home. Trooh’s extensive digital video, audio-enabled, premium screens are positioned in high dwell time and defined audience locations across the U.S.  

    Source: Trooh Media

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  • Steam’s Subreddit Is Running An Excellent Protest

    Steam’s Subreddit Is Running An Excellent Protest

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    As we’ve been covering, things are not going well over on Reddit at the moment, with the site’s ownership currently engaged in a running battle with readers and moderators. Users are so annoyed at attempts to monetise the site that they’re working through a variety of protests, but one of the larger gaming subreddits—r/steam, with 1.9 million subscribers—is now my favourite.

    The Top Ten Most Played Games On Steam Deck: March 2023 Edition

    We’ve seen blackouts, we’ve seen sites toggle their settings to NSFW (thus cutting off ad revenue), but r/steam—whose mods were threatened with removal if they didn’t reopen the subreddit after an initial blackout—has decided as a community that if they had to reopen, they were going to reopen with a purpose.

    And that purpose, as PC Gamer point out, was to become the internet’s top destination for all things steam-related. And by that I don’t mean the PC’s preferred shopfront and launcher, but steam engines. Steam clouds. Steam tractors, steam-driven cars and academic books about steam.

    Here, for example, is a classic “rate my setup” post, emphasis on classic:

    Image for article titled Steam's Subreddit Is Running An Excellent Protest

    In this post, a user has an important technical question they’re hoping the community can answer:

    Image for article titled Steam's Subreddit Is Running An Excellent Protest

    Just because there’s a protest going on doesn’t mean there isn’t anything to celebrate:

    Image for article titled Steam's Subreddit Is Running An Excellent Protest

    Like most gaming subreddits, users are sometimes overcome with nostalgia, and like to reminisce about the good old days:

    Image for article titled Steam's Subreddit Is Running An Excellent Protest

    Here’s a reminder that Reddit only exists as it does today because it’s a place where users can teach, learn and hang out with other human beings for free:

    Image for article titled Steam's Subreddit Is Running An Excellent Protest

    While this maybe isn’t the most effective form of protest—with users still generating content, anyone viewing r/steam on the company’s official mobile app will still be served ads, which is the whole reason they’re trying to squeeze third-party applications out in the first place—if you’re going to settle into a protest for the long-run, you may as well have some fun with it.

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    Luke Plunkett

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  • Insider Reaches Deal To End Longest Strike In Digital Media History

    Insider Reaches Deal To End Longest Strike In Digital Media History

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    The Insider Union has reached a tentative agreement with management at the news site Insider, ending the longest strike in digital media history, the union’s bargaining unit announced Wednesday.

    “Our strike is over ― we’re going back to work tomorrow!” read a tweet from the account of the unit, which consists of about 250 people.

    Staff at Insider, organized through the NewsGuild, have been on strike for 13 days. Negotiations with the site’s management had fallen apart after more than two years of bargaining over increased health care costs, salary minimums and various other workplace conditions.

    The three-year deal they reached Wednesday includes a $65,000 salary minimum, immediate raises for most unit members, a layoff moratorium through the end of 2023, a “just cause” requirement for disciplining employees, and a commitment from management to reimburse more than $400,000 in health care costs over the course of the agreement. The tentative contract now goes to the full unit for a vote on ratification.

    “The deal we won today shows the power of solidarity,” Dorian Barranco, a member of the Insider Union bargaining committee, said in a statement. “We came together and refused to settle for anything less than what we were worth, and our collective power won a contract that will resonate in newsrooms across the country. It’s never an easy decision to go on strike, but today’s victory proves it was well worth it. We’re excited to get back to work with our new wins in hand.”

    Increased health care costs were a major point of tension during bargaining. Last November, the NewsGuild filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge against Insider with the National Labor Relations Board, which found merit with the complaint in May. The complaint alleged that management had unlawfully changed workers’ health care coverage, resulting in increased costs for unit members.

    Up until now, striking staffers have encouraged readers not to cross the digital picket line by visiting Insider or clicking on any of the site’s stories. The non-unionized staffers who remained at work, meanwhile, recycled old stories and published unfinished content.

    At one point, Insider’s editor-in-chief, Nicholas Carlson, was captured on film biking around Brooklyn, New York, and ripping down pro-union fliers that called him out with the headline “Have You Seen This Millionaire?”

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  • Reddit Goes Down As Communities Protest Wildly Unpopular Changes [UPDATE]

    Reddit Goes Down As Communities Protest Wildly Unpopular Changes [UPDATE]

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    As we reported earlier in the month, Reddit, one of the most popular forums for gaming communities, is planning to make some changes under the hood that will essentially kill off every third-party app. Given the state of the official app and its heavy reliance on huge ads, it’s a deeply unpopular move, so unpopular that it has led to a protest movement that you are likely witnessing the effects of as we speak. If you load Reddit right now, chances are very good that you’re seeing a message that reads, “Sorry, we couldn’t load posts for this page.”

    This Lesbian Mafia Anime Might Actually Make You Want To Play Golf

    Alongside big subreddits like r/bestof, r/sports, r/music, r/pics and r/videos, a number of the most popular gaming subreddits have either confirmed they’re taking part, are polling members for their thoughts or will be taking more limited action as well.

    That includes r/gaming with its 37 million members, r/PS5 and its 3.3 million members, r/minecraft’s 7 million members and r/wow’s 2.3 million members. Meanwhile mods at r/pcgaming (3.2 million members) are asking users for their input before making a decision, while r/nintendo are going into a “a read-only/restricted mode”, which is not quite as severe as locking the entire subreddit down. But if you’re like most people, you likely just lurk pages, so you may not be able to see anything but this right now:

    Screenshot: Reddit / Kotaku

    The entire thing has been planned for a while now, as a gathering of Reddit’s unpaid moderators banded together and penned an open letter to the site’s management, outlining not just the general popularity of the third-party apps, but also concerns over the potential loss of important moderation tools (which many third-party apps have but the official offering somehow lacks) and impact on NSFW content as well.

    Reddit Goes Down

    That letter has been backed by plans for much of the site to engage in a “blackout” on June 12, meaning today, which means individual subreddits will lock down into “private” mode, meaning anyone who isn’t already a follower/subscriber won’t be able to access them or see any of their content.

    According to The Verge, over 6,000 subreddits have been affected on Monday as a part of the protest, which will last until the 14th. Some, it should be noted, are planning on staying private until things change. Other communities went dark as soon as the unpopular API changes were announced. Really, there are all sorts of approaches to the bad news. You might notice some communities are indeed available, but you can only post about the API changes. Others meanwhile will let you read the subreddit as it was, but won’t let you make new posts. In short, it’s a shitshow for Reddit.

    Update 6/12/2023 11:10 a.m.: We’ve updated this post to reflect that Reddit is now in fact down and out.

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    Luke Plunkett

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  • Reddit Is Killing The Best Way To Read The Site

    Reddit Is Killing The Best Way To Read The Site

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    Reddit is one of the biggest and most important websites on the planet, especially since it’s one of the last places human beings can get questions answered by actual human beings. So it sucks to see that the company is about to crush many of the best ways to actually experience the whole thing.

    The Week In Games: System Shock, Street Fighter 6, And More

    For anyone using the site on a desktop computer the Reddit experience is fine, I guess (“Old Reddit” is better), but on phones, that all changes. Reddit’s official app sucks, and is absolutely loaded with intrusive ads, meaning a lot of people rely on the work of third-party apps—like the incredibly popular Apollo on iOS and my own favourite, Infinity on Android—to browse and comment.

    Or they did. Those third-party apps only existed because Reddit allowed them to access their API (essentially their backend); today, the site announced specific changes to that arrangement (first broadly announced last month), implementing charges for the data—similar to those introduced by another platform with popular third-party apps, Twitter—that are so astronomical they’re going to price every third-party app out of the market.

    The creator of Apollo has done the math, and says:

    I’ll cut to the chase: 50 million requests costs $12,000, a figure far more than I ever could have imagined.

    Apollo made 7 billion requests last month, which would put it at about 1.7 million dollars per month, or 20 million US dollars per year. Even if I only kept subscription users, the average Apollo user uses 344 requests per day, which would cost $2.50 per month, which is over double what the subscription currently costs, so I’d be in the red every month.

    Meanwhile one of the developers of RIF, another popular Android app, say that not only are they also being priced out (if Apollo can’t afford it nobody can), but that Reddit is also implementing a change where third-party apps would lose access to NSFW subreddits, while the official site would not:

    Removal of sexually explicit material from third-party apps while keeping said content in the official app. Some people have speculated that NSFW is going to leave Reddit entirely, but then why would Reddit Inc have recently expanded NSFW upload support on their desktop site?

    It’s obvious that the steep pricing, which goes far beyond what these developers were expecting or could ever afford, is not there to make money. Not when it was clear nobody was ever going to be able to pay it. It’s being brought in to crush third-party alternatives, driving every mobile user to the official app where they’ll either have to watch ads or pay for Reddit Premium.

    Or, you know, stop going to Reddit.

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    Luke Plunkett

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  • Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

    Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

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    Every year, around about now, indie Japanese games retailer/shopfront Meteor holds an exhibition called Famicase. The goal? Showcase the design and illustration of cartridge art for games that do not exist. Artists from all over the world take part, sending in their submissions, and every year Meteor pick the best and display them live in their store.

    Disney’s New Post-Apocalyptic Anime Proves The Mouse Has Good Taste

    The Week In Games: Return To Hyrule

    Monday 3:53PM

    Given the exhibition is in Tokyo, however, most of you reading aren’t able to go check it out. No matter! Meteor are also kind enough to post the submissions every year on their website, leaving us free to take a look at just how incredible every single one of them are

    Like I have ever year for what feels like 1000 years, this post is going to highlight some of my favourite entries for the year, some of them from local artists, some of them from international ones, and some of them even from Kotaku readers who were kind enough to send in their own successful submissions.

    If you want to check out every entry, there’s a gallery site here, while you can also buy a lovely book of the whole collection from Meteor for ¥1430 (or around USD$10). Anyway, without further ado: the submissions!

    Image for article titled Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

    Image for article titled Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

    Image for article titled Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

    Image for article titled Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

    Image for article titled Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

    Image for article titled Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

    Image for article titled Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

    Image for article titled Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

    Image for article titled Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

    Image for article titled Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

    Image for article titled Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

    Image for article titled Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

    Image for article titled Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

    Image for article titled Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

    Image for article titled Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

    Image for article titled Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

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    Image for article titled Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

    Image for article titled Welcome To Famicase 2023, My Favorite Time Of The Year

    I should note here at the end that while the whole point of Famicase is to imagine games that don’t exist, and with the focus on simply making pieces of cartridge art that looks nice hanging on a wall (or displayed in a book), that doesn’t mean that these games don’t get made. As we’ve covered previously, the A Game By Its Cover jam takes place every year, and asks developers to turn some of these concepts into playable, actual games.

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    Luke Plunkett

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  • Big-Name Twitch Streamer Amouranth Got Banned Again For Some Reason [Update]

    Big-Name Twitch Streamer Amouranth Got Banned Again For Some Reason [Update]

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    Update 5/5/2023 1:30 p.m. ET: After just 24 hours, Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa’s Twitch channel has been reinstated, Dexerto reports. Don’t expect to watch previous livestreams, though, as all of her VODs have been nuked. All that’s left for now are clips clipped by her fans. Original story follows.

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    Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa, one of Twitch’s top-performing and most popular female streamers, has been yeeted off the platform. She was hit with what appears to be a temporary ban on May 4, though the reason is unknown.

    Read More: The Surprising Reason Twitch Star Amouranth Hasn’t Ditched NSFW Content (Yet)

    Amouranth is a household name on Amazon’s livestreaming platform. With over six million Twitch followers (and millions more across Instagram and YouTube), Amouranth is easily the purple streamer’s most recognizable female creator next to Imane “Pokimane” Anys. She’s been in hot water before, particularly for regularly streaming in skimpy bikinis, but that hasn’t stopped her from charting highly on Twitch. Despite receiving a few bans in the past that lasted no more than a couple of days, Amouranth consistently pulls in thousands of absolutely down-bad viewers. Yeah, she’s beautiful, but she’s also entertaining and wholesome, so it’s no wonder why folks create waiting rooms for and replays of her livestreams. Unfortunately, her main channel is currently unavailable on Twitch.

    Amouranth’s Twitch ban seems temporary for now

    As spotted by Dexerto, Amouranth is now banned for the first time since October 2021. As is customary when a creator gets booted off the platform, their channel displays the standard text: “This channel is temporarily unavailable due to a violation of Twitch’s Community Guidelines or Terms of Service.” Interestingly, she hasn’t streamed since at least May 1, suggesting that perhaps something in one of her videos-on-demand (VODs) led to the ban. However, because her channel has been nuked, you can’t view her content, so there’s no way to determine, at least for now, why Twitch decided to ban her.

    At the time of this writing, Amouranth and Twitch haven’t publicly said anything on the matter. Kotaku has reached out to Amouranth for comment. A Twitch representative told Kotaku that it doesn’t comment on specific individual streamer bans.

    Despite this lack of explanation, Dexerto posited an interesting theory that might explain the ban. The publication speculated that the burgeoning drama between Amouranth and fellow streamer Adriana Chechik, which escalated on April 27 as Amouranth responded to Chechik’s calling her “a fucking cunt” by saying she wanted to fight her in a ring—most likely a reference to Creator Clash, an annual charity boxing event that started in May 2022—could be the reason for Amouranth’s latest Twitch ban.

    According to Twitch’s community guidelines revolving around violence and threats, any violations of its rules on or off the platform could result in a temporary suspension or a permanent ban depending on the severity.

    “Acts and threats of violence are counterproductive to promoting a safe, inclusive, and friendly community,” the guidelines read. “Violence on Twitch is taken seriously and is considered a zero-tolerance violation, and all accounts associated with such activities on Twitch will be indefinitely suspended.”

    Read More: Amouranth Can’t Be Your Girlfriend, She’s Building An Empire Beyond Twitch

    Amouranth isn’t the only big-name creator to have been yeeted off the platform recently. GTA streamer Bruce “BruceDropEmOff” Ray was banned three times this year, with his latest exile happening on May 3. Internet personality Dalauan “LowTierGod” Sparrow was banned at the tail end of April. And both Cloud9 streamer Hans “Forsen” Fors and Kai Cenat, the new King of Twitch, were temporarily banned last month before their channels got reinstated a week later. Twitch seems to be clapping tons of popular streamers right now.

     

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    Levi Winslow

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  • Frostpunk: The Board Game: The Kotaku Review

    Frostpunk: The Board Game: The Kotaku Review

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    I’ve reviewed a lot of board game adaptations of video games on this website, and with good reason: it’s the most intimate intersection of our board game and video game coverage. In nearly every case, the key consideration has been how does the board game feel compared to the original. What kind of concessions have been made, how does it differ, does it match the video game in terms of vibes, if not exact mechanics.

    Frostpunk is different. It’s a hulking huge board game that seeks, in almost every meaningful way, not to adapt the video game to the tabletop, but to bring it wholesale, warts and all. It’s an ambitious undertaking if nothing else, but I’m also not quite sure if it’s worth all the effort.

    And it is an effort. When I went to play the game for the first time I was at least 30 minutes into setting it up when I started to get the sweats. I had spent half an hour painstakingly punching cards, reading the manual and placing tokens on the table and it looked like I’d barely begun. Was I doing something wrong? Was I just a very slow guy? After reading this Dicebreaker story called “I spent an hour failing to set up a board game and it made me question everything” it turns out no, thankfully I’m fine, it’s the game that’s slow.

    Photo: Luke Plunkett | Kotaku

    Frostpunk is one of the most complex board games I have ever played, let alone set up (and that’s not just me talking, it has a 4.32/5 “weight” rating on BoardGameGeek, which is very high). There are a seemingly endless array of tokens, multiple decks of cards that look the same but aren’t and loads of different rules that bend and sway for each player. Most maddeningly, there are eight boards you have to keep track of.

    Eight. Boards. That’s too many boards.

    If you’re wondering why the board game version of a (relatively) straightforward city-builder needs to be so complicated, it’s because this edition of the game, for whatever reason, didn’t want to vaguely recreate the spirit of playing Frostpunk. It wants to recreate the whole damn thing, substituting tabletop components for mouse clicks. Nearly everything you can do in the video game, from the politics to the resource gathering to the quest expeditions to city-building is here, and it works much the same way it does on PC.

    It is, in many ways, a staggering achievement. Once you (eventually) get on top of the game’s vast array of components, boards and rules it really does feel like you’re playing Frostpunk, the pressures and nagging responsibilities of the digital wasteland transplanted perfectly to the physical world. Indeed some of those pressures are even better here, because Frostpunk is a co-op game, meaning there can be 2-4 of you (there’s also a singleplayer mode, but I didn’t play that) taking on different jobs within the city, working together while at the same time arguing over every decision. If you thought the social and political stuff was cool in the video game, it’s great here since you’re essentially acting out a lot of those debates in the flesh.

    Yet in other ways it all feels a bit pointless? The board game cuts so close to the video game’s cloth that at times you wonder why you’re bothering at all, since the video game does all this for you, without the arduous setup time or constant consultation with the rules. Sure, that’s a more solitary experience, but there’s a point where that trade-off can be worth it, and for many people—myself included—that point can come when you’re hours into a single game and find you’re not even close to finishing it.

    Image for article titled Frostpunk: The Board Game: The Kotaku Review

    Photo: Luke Plunkett | Kotaku

    At least some of that setup is worth it. The game ships with an enormous plastic recreation of The Generator, which doesn’t just look amazing on the middle of the table but has actual gameplay use as well, since players need to drop coal into it almost every turn as they play, an act that rivals Deep Rock Galactic’s robot mining as one of the most satisfying physical actions in recent board game history.

    And, in a very rare occurrence for these reviews, I want to give a shout out to the game’s documentation. For whatever reason most board game rulebooks in 2023 still suck, but Frostpunk, despite the game’s complexity and scale, never let us down.

    There’s a very specific type of person out there for this game. Someone who is into Frostpunk but gets lonely playing it, or someone who has never played the video game but is intrigued by the density and politics on offer here. Sadly I was neither of those people, I found its setup time and length just too much, but like I’ve said I can at least appreciate the exhaustive design effort that went into the approach taken here, if nothing else.

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    Luke Plunkett

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