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Monday, November 27, 2023

Welcome back after the holiday weekend! Russia targets The New Yorker's Masha Gessen and Meta's Andy Stone, Sports Illustrated deletes articles published under fake author names with A.I. generated photos, Bob Iger prepares to address his Disney troops, Sean Hannity opens up about his relationship with Gavin Newsom, new legal documents shed light on Instagram's addictive qualities, Stephen Colbert cancels a week of shows after his appendix ruptures, and so much more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

The Great eXodus

CNN Photo Illustration/Leon Neal/Pool/Reuters

The exodus from X is bleeding beyond just major advertisers.

In recent days, a number of prominent media brands have not only paused their paid marketing campaigns on the embattled Elon Musk-owned social platform, but have ceased posting on it altogether, going silent on the once essential site that sought to be the world's "digital town square."

The flagship accounts belonging to Disney, Paramount, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, Universal, and Warner Bros. Discovery have not posted on the platform in roughly 10 days, following Musk's disturbing endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory, which he still has not apologized for.

None of the studios commented on the record when I reached out for comment. But people familiar with the social media strategies of Paramount and WBD (CNN's parent) confirmed under the condition of anonymity that it's no coincidence: the companies have made the active decision to stop posting under certain handles on X due to concerns, including brand safety.

The blackout on X extends beyond these companies' corporate accounts, in some cases. For instance, the most high profile accounts affiliated with Disney have gone dark on X, such as @StarWars, @Pixar, and @MarvelStudios, which were previously posting multiple times a day on the platform to their millions of followers. Instead, these brands have switched over to the Meta-owned rival Threads, where they have started actively posting.

For instance, when "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" on Monday shared the news that host Stephen Colbert would be off the air this week due to appendicitis (see below for more on that), the program did so on Threads. Prior to Musk's backing of an antisemitic post, Colbert's show, however, was primarily active on X, regularly posting videos and other content. Now, the inverse is true.

When reached for comment on Monday, a representative for X did not directly address questions on the loss of the media behemoths on the platform, which must be setting off alarm bells inside the social media company. It is already quite bad for the struggling company to be starved of advertising revenue. It's even worse if it is also starved of content, particularly from household entities that have helped make the platform the center of real-time discussion for years.

It is, of course, possible that these companies will reverse course down the road and resume posting and even advertising on the platform. It would not be the first time that has happened after advertisers have fled an outlet en masse. But it's also possible that won't happen.

With Musk at the helm of the platform for the foreseeable future overseeing the critical decisions that have led to a surge in hate speech (while also personally contributing himself to the awful rhetoric), the risk versus reward calculus on whether to engage with the company has taken a sharp nosedive. The situation is not dissimilar to when Tucker Carlson permanently chased most advertisers away from Fox News' 8pm hour during his time at the network.

And if more companies and other notable figures abandon Musk's platform for other social networks, it will extinguish the allure it once had, providing yet another reason for average users to ditch the troubled platform.

"Every day, more brands are waking up to the reality that Twitter is dead and X is a cesspool," Platformer's Casey Newton told me. "The global town square is now dispersed across many different platforms, and increasingly the most relevant conversations are taking place elsewhere."

X MARKS THE HATE

Another quits: Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo quit X, calling the site a "global sewer" and saying the "platform and its owner intentionally exacerbate tensions and conflicts." (AP)
X "may lose up to $75 million in revenue as more advertisers pull out," Ryan Mac and Kate Conger reported over the holiday weekend. (NYT)
Elon Musk is in damage control mode. On Monday he visited Israel and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (CNN)
But the trip wasn't necessarily a PR victory. Israeli President Isaac Herzog told Musk that his platform "is a harboring of a lot of old hate which is Jew hate, which is antisemitism." (Times of Israel)
And Haaretz Editor-In-Chief Esther Solomon called Musk a "blatant antsemite and publisher of antisemitism," arguing that the billionaire conspiracy theorist "should be persona non grata in Israel." (The Hill)

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Russia's Revenge: Russia's crusade against a free press continues to rage on. The Vladimir Putin-led government has now opened a criminal case against Masha Gessen, a renowned journalist whose reporting for The New Yorker has been critical of the Kremlin, for allegedly spreading "false information" about Russia's war on Ukraine. "The chances that I will ever be able to go back to Russia — I'm 56 years old — are pretty slim," Gessen told The WaPo's Mary Ilyushina. "That has a significant impact on my life and at some point, my journalism." New Yorker Editor-In-Chief David Remnick said in a statement, "These charges are baseless and absurd, and The New Yorker stands with Masha Gessen." Ilyushina has more here.

► It's not just Gessen. The Kremlin also placed Andy Stone, arguably Meta's most public facing spokesperson, on its wanted list.

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration/Gary Cosby Jr/Tuscaloosa News/USA Today Network

Sports Automated: Yikes! Sports Illustrated has some serious mud on its face. The once-celebrated legacy magazine said on Monday that it had deleted several articles from its website after a report from Futurism's Maggie Harrison found that the pieces were published under fake author names and using profile images generated by A.I. When Futurism asked for comment, Harrison said Sports Illustrated deleted the stories without explanation. After Futurism published its report, The Arena Group, which operates Sports Illustrated, said the deleted articles were actually produced by a third-party company, AdVon Commerce. "We have learned that AdVon had writers use a pen or pseudo name in certain articles to protect author privacy — actions we don't condone — and we are removing the content while our internal investigation continues and have since ended the partnership," an Arena Group spokesperson said. CNN's Liam Reilly has all the details here.

🔎 Zooming in: "AdVon did not respond to a CNN request for comment. But the questions raised Monday marked the second time in as many months that AdVon has found itself at the center of an A.I. publishing controversy," Reilly noted. "In October, Gannett-owned Reviewed came under fire following reports it had used A.I. to produce stories. A similar investigation followed: The website contained several stories written by authors who couldn't be found online and whose colleagues couldn't confirm their existence. But Gannett denied the articles had been written with the use of A.I."

Rice to Be Released? Here's an example that shows the power of good journalism: In 2022, in a cover story for The Atlantic, Jake Tapper highlighted the case of C.J. Rice, a teenager wrongfully sentenced to prison for a crime he insists he didn't commit. The case never received the attention it deserved, but following Tapper's cover story, the wheels of justice started turning. On Monday, Tapper reported that Rice's conviction had been overturned and that the Philadelphia D.A. must now decide whether to retry the case or release him from custody. "Once you see the issue of incompetent counsel and what passes for our 'justice' system, you can't unsee it," Tapper told us. Read his original story here.

THE FOURTH ESTATE

"It's open season on journalists": Paul Farhi looks into the situation playing out in Alabama, where a local Atmore News reporter and the outlet's publisher have been charged by local authorities. (WaPo)
The advent of so-called ghost newsrooms — newsrooms that don't have a single reporter on staff — has been met with efforts by local start-ups to bridge the gap, Alexandra Bruell reports. (WSJ)
Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan have inked a deal for a book on Donald Trump's final act with Simon and Schuster, Mike Allen reports. (Axios)
News networks will be in special coverage mode Tuesday afternoon, covering Rosalynn Carter's funeral at Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church in Atlanta. Former President Jimmy Carter is expected to attend, along with all living First Ladies.

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

At least 57 journalists have now been killed since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. (CPJ)
An alarming trend online: A rising number of Gaza and Israeli civilians have been accused of being "crisis actors" as users attempt to blunt the reality on the ground, Shannon Bond reports. (NPR)
Peter Kiefer goes "inside Hollywood's WhatsApp wars," writing that "amid the Israel-Hamas war, difficult and angry conversations are going underground as invitation-only groups proliferate." (The Ankler)

IN THE MARKET

Coming soon: Bob Iger is set to address the Disney troops at a company-wide town hall moderated by David Muir on Tuesday.
"At the annual event on Nov. 28 with Hulu and its theme parks empire in focus, the CEO could face questions about how to fend off activist investors, fix the studio, and decide on possible deals involving its linear TV and ESPN businesses," Georg Szalai writes. (THR)
Claire Atkinson writes about how Amazon Prime is about to enter the advertising game: "Get ready for a big shake-up in the ad-supported streaming landscape." (The Ankler)
Public relations firm Edelman has said public trust in some authoritarian governments is on the rise. "But Edelman has been less forthcoming about the fact that some of these same authoritarian governments have also been its clients," Adam Lowenstein reports. (The Guardian)
M. Scott Havens, Bloomberg Media's chief executive, has exited the company to join the New York Mets. (THR)

MEDIA MOVES

Dow Jones named Artem Fishman its chief technology officer. (Dow Jones)
The NYT Styles promoted Marie Solis to editor, hired Simbarashe Cha as a staff photographer and visual columnist, and promoted Callie Holtermann to reporter. The NYT also announced that Katie Van Syckle has relaunched its nightlife coverage. (NYT)

THE INFO WARS

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Chris Heath went inside "the war room with Steve Bannon," describing it as a "world with a whole disorienting language of its own." (Esquire)
Sean Hannity talks to Stephen Battaglio about his relationship with Gavin Newsom, ahead of this week's face-off between the California governor and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: "From the first time we met we just hit it off." (LAT)
Christopher Cadelago writes about how the Newsom-DeSantis debate is "also a test of sorts for Hannity, with Newsom questioning whether the conservative TV host can treat him and DeSantis as equals." (POLITICO)
She just can't quit! Maria Bartiromo "floated a right-wing conspiracy theory that suggests former President Barack Obama is calling the shots in the White House," Jennifer Bowers Bahney reports. (Mediaite)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Didem Mente/Anadolu/Getty Images

Meta's Profit Mentality: Anyone who has ever used social media knows that it can be addicting. But now it's clear that Meta's leadership knew Instagram could be addicting, particularly for younger users. Specifically, new legal documents indicate that Meta was aware the photo/video-sharing app can "trigger intermittent dopamine releases in its young users." Meta has been accused by states attorneys general of having "profited from children's pain" by "intentionally designing its platforms with manipulative features that make children addicted to their platforms." It goes without saying that Meta has pushed back against the lawsuit. CNN's Eva Rothenberg has details.

TOO MANY TABS

Meta also knew many of Instagram's users were below the age of 13, but did not shut down the majority of the accounts, Eva Rothenberg further reports, citing new legal filings. (CNN)
Jeff Horwitz and Katherine Blunt found that the algorithm behind Instagram's Reels drives users who follow children toward a mix of toxic videos. (WSJ)
TikTok whet the internet's appetite for short videos — but the company is now segueing into longer-form content, Kaya Yurieff reports. (The Info)
ByteDance is laying off employees in its video game unit. (TechCrunch)
Sam Altman "now has more power — and fewer constraints — than ever," Alex Kirshner writes. (Slate)
"OpenAI's board might have been dysfunctional–but they made the right choice," Ann Skeet argues. "Their defeat shows that in the battle between AI profits and ethics, it's no contest." (Fortune)
Google has started to delete inactive accounts. (AP)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Scott Kowalchyk/CBS/Getty Images

Colbert's Close Call: There will be no new episodes of "The Late Show" this week. Host Stephen Colbert joked on Thread s Monday that the cancelation was not due to a turkey overdose. "Actually, I'm recovering from surgery for a ruptured appendix," Colbert said. "I'm grateful to my doctors for their care and to Evie and the kids for putting up with me. Going forward, all emails to my appendix will be handled by my pancreas." CNN's Alli Rosenbloom has more here.

OFF STAGE

Disney had another dismal opening at the domestic box office with its latest animated movie, "Wish," pulling in a lackluster $31.7 million over a five-day holiday weekend. (Variety)
Chris Evans said that reports currently in circulation that the original Avengers characters could be returning to the franchise for a future movie is "news to me." (TheWrap)
Merry Christmas! Taylor Swift is releasing her "Eras Tour" concert film on Dec. 13 via rental and on-demand streaming offerings. (Pitchfork)
J.Lo's ninth album, "This Is Me … Now," will drop on Feb. 16 alongside a short movie acquired by Amazon MGM Studios. (Variety)
Netflix picked up Paula Pell's comedy, "The Fifth Wheel," which will star and be produced by Kim Kardashian. (Variety)
The sequel to the "Karate Kid" has already received 10,000 applications for the lead role. (THR)
Production has resumed on "Venom 3." (THR)

Thank you for reading! This newsletter was edited by Jon Passantino and produced with the assistance of Liam Reilly. Have feedback? Send us an email. You can follow us on Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn. We will see you back in your inbox tomorrow.