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Can platforms outsmart Texas’s social media law?
This new law coming into Texas had completely escaped me but now I’m reading up about it, it’s bonkers. HB20 would allow the state’s attorney general and average citizens to sue platforms with more than 50 million users any time they believe the platform removed a post due to the viewpoint it expresses.
Yes, that means someone could sue Facebook for removing harassment, abuse, misinformation, hate speech and all sorts of other content (anti-vaxx, pro-Nazi… you can only imagine). Texas has told the court that the law only apples to Meta, YouTube and Twitter; but in fact other platforms with more than 50 million monthly users in the United States include Wikipedia, Quora, Microsoft Teams, and iMessage.
“The future of content moderation feels like it’s all about to come down to a coin flip, and I’m not sure anyone is fully prepared for what could come next.” said Casey Newton.
Digital publishing revenue up by 12% with 70% boost for recruitment ads
Recruitment ad revenue has seen a huge burst of growth in the UK with revenue from classifieds up 70.3% year-on-year. Online video revenue was up by 7.1% and subscriptions grew by 3.5%, but sponsorship revenue dropped by 9.7%. So far it’s looking like publishers are in a good position to weather this recession.
Hearst eyes $12 billion in revenue as B2B business grows
On a related note, Hearst is having a good year, driven by the expansion of its B2B business which has branched out from specialty publications to adjacent data and software businesses. A decade ago, Hearst’s specialty media portfolio represented less than 10% of total profits. This year, it will be north of 40%. Riches in niches…
How The Local Sweden uses product thinking to remain “useful” to readers
The Local is a news outlet for English-speaking expats, published in nine European countries. Its Swedish edition uses reader surveys and audience data to create editorial products that its readers want and need. Their version of ‘product thinking’ is simply to make sure the publication is useful to its readers. Can’t argue with that.
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