Instagram’s new Twitter-like app Threads is not prepared to truly challenge Elon Musk’s X, if recent statements by Instagram head Adam Mosseri hold true. In response to a post about Threads’ position on hard news, Mosseri explained the company did not intend to “amplify” news on its platform. His position is not a surprise, though…
VidCon is a weird event. Over the last 13 years, the event has transitioned from just a fan convention to an industry-forward gathering where you’ll mingle with venture capitalists and Hatsune Miku cosplayers alike. Now, after pulling off its first-ever East Coast event, VidCon will return to Anaheim, California on June 26-29, 2024. VidCon is…
In the wake of increasing misinformation related to the Israel-Hamas war now circulating on X, the app formerly known as Twitter, a number of journalists are building up their networks on rival platforms. The shift, though potentially small in terms of raw user numbers, could have an outsized impact on X, where power users create…
It looks like Spotify’s rumored “Superpremium” offering is gearing up for a launch. According to references discovered in the Spotify app’s code by Chris Messina, the Superpremium service now has a flashy logo and a longer list of features beyond the 24-bit lossless audio we’ve been anticipating. In fact, the broader feature set appears to…
Netflix has “not succeeded” in scaling up its business in India despite the global streaming giant consistently lowering the subscription costs in the country, analysts at AllianceBernstein wrote in a report to clients Thursday. The U.S. streamer has about 6.5 million subscribers in India, compared to Prime Video’s 20 million in the South Asian market,…
Yes, there are clear concerns about AI’s potential for auto-generating disinformation. But as a tool for creatives to better create, AI is having its moment. And the AI-driven tools designed to assist creators in producing their podcast are clearly on a roll. Podcastle, a full-service podcasting platform which we covered when it raised $7 million…
Mainstream social media platforms could face limits on their ability to take down independent journalism that violates their terms and conditions under a proposal agreed by European Union lawmakers yesterday. In a vote Tuesday, the European parliament set its negotiating position for upcoming talks with the Council on the bloc’s draft Media Freedom Act —…
Spotify today unveiled what’s next for the future of its audiobooks service. At an event hosted in its New York offices on Tuesday afternoon, the company announced a new business model where it will now provide Spotify Premium subscribers with access to a subset of its audiobooks catalog — a total of 150,000 titles —…
After launching its “Paid Stories” program in 2019, the social storytelling platform Wattpad is now replacing it with a new freemium model called “Wattpad Originals” that gives authors the best of both worlds — monetization and growing their audience of non-paying readers. With the new model, authors can hide certain chapters behind a paywall while…
Content moderation continues to be a contentious topic in the world of online media. New regulations and public concern are likely to keep it as a priority for many years to come. But weaponized AI and other tech advances are making it ever harder to address. A startup out of Cambridge, England, called Unitary AI…