Social media
Australia fights back against Zuckerberg with social media penalty fees
Labor will force big tech companies to pay for Australian journalism under a new scheme that seeks to punish platforms such as Facebook for refusing to sign content deals, raising the prospect of a financial penalty if they do not contribute to local news, the Sydney Morning Herald’s David Crowe and Paul Sakkal report.
The dramatic move will pile pressure on social media platforms to honour a “bargaining code” with publishers or face the risk of being forced to pay to keep operating in Australia, amid fears the failure of an existing code would cost news providers $1 billion over four years.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to release the plan on Thursday after months of talks about how to respond to Facebook’s threat to block news content if it is forced to pay and concern in some quarters that a tax on big American companies would upset US President-elect Donald Trump.
The approach is expected to mandate financial costs on the platforms if they do not negotiate in good faith with news providers struggling in a hard advertising market and pay for articles shared with their social media customers.
Meta suffers major global outage as WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook down for thousands
Meta has suffered a major outage, with thousands of people across the globe reporting Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp are down, The Daily Telegraph’s Clareese Packer reports.
The reports began to flow in just after 4.30am AEDT on Thursday, according to Down Detector. More than 150,000 users across the three platforms reported outages on Down Detector.
Meta confirmed the outage in a statement posted to X. The statement read: “We’re aware that a technical issue is impacting some users’ ability to access our apps. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and apologise for any inconvenience.”
News Brands
Judge rejects sale of Infowars to The Onion, says auction process was flawed
A federal judge has rejected the sale of the conspiracy platform Infowars to satirical news outlet The Onion after Alex Jones claimed that a recent bankruptcy auction was fraught with illegal collusion, the ABC reports.
The Onion was named the winning bidder on November 14 over a company affiliated with Jones. US Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez’s decision means Jones can stay at Infowars in Austin, Texas.
The Onion had planned to kick Jones out and relaunch Infowars in January as a parody.
At the end of a lengthy two-day hearing in a Texas courtroom, Judge Lopez criticised the auction process as flawed and said the outcome “left a lot of money on the table” for families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
“You got to scratch and claw and get everything you can for them,” Judge Lopez said. Judge Lopez cited problems — but no wrongdoing — with the auction process.
Prince Harry could face ‘extensive’ questioning in trial of claim against Sun publisher
Prince Harry could face an “extensive” four days of questioning in the witness box in his upcoming trial against the publisher of The Sun over allegations of unlawful information gathering, the Press Gazzette reports.
The Duke of Sussex and former Labour deputy leader Lord Tom Watson are bringing legal action against News Group Newspapers, which is set to head to trial in January 2025.
At a hearing on Tuesday, lawyers for both sides said how long they thought different parts of the approximately seven-week trial should take, including Harry’s cross-examination.
Anthony Hudson KC, for NGN, said that 30 articles will be included in the trial in the duke’s case, and that he would need to be questioned on each one.
Radio
Sunshine Coast 92.7 MIX FM radio’s Caroline Hutchinson on her career
For 26 years, Sunshine Coast radio listeners who have switched the dial to 92.7FM have heard the voice of Caroline Hutchinson, The Courier Mail’s Jarrod Tutbury reports.
The 92.7 MIX FM stalwart has been with Sunshine Coast residents through fires, floods and as they have emptied their pockets for others to give to charities the radio station supports.
With her retirement from radio and her final show coming up fast, she reflected on the highlights of her career. Caroline said her radio show had been extremely fulfilling and she had “loved it” all. “I feel very grateful for the love and support I have received for 26 years,” she said.
“People have been very kind to me and my family, inviting me to things, answering the call when I was doing charity stuff and telling funny stories on the air.”
Entertainment
Peter Jackson, ‘Lord of the Rings’ Cast Return to Hobbiton For ‘Rohirrim’ Launch
Peter Jackson and a starry line-up of cast members from “The Lord of the Rings” this week returned to Middle Earth for a special party, Variety Australia’s Lars Brandle reports.
The Hobbiton Movie Set hosted the gathering, a launch-pad for “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,” the latest cinematic tale in J.R.R. Tolkien’s saga.
Actors Andy Serkis (Gollum), Brian Cox (Helm Hammerhand), Miranda Otto (Éowyn), Gaia Wise (Héra) and others were on hand, alongside the filmmakers director Kenji Kamiyama, executive producers Jackson, Jason DeMarco and Joseph Chou, producer Philippa Boyens, and co-screenwriters Phoebe Gittens and Arty Papageorgiou.
On the night, Wellington pop-rock act Drax Project performed “The Rider,” a new single from the movie’s soundtrack, performed by rising artist Paris Paloma.
According to a joint statement from Universal Pictures and Warner Bros., guests mingled with a stilt-walking wizard, a fire performer, juggling hobbits, fiddlers, flutists, and horseback riders. Also, themed cocktails were handed out, including “The Hammerhand” (blue margarita), “Wulf’s Revenge” (espresso martini), “Hera’s Fire” (apple pie), and “Fréaláf’s Fizz” (gin fizz).
Super Bowl Halftime Headache? How Jay-Z in the Headlines Could Impact Roc Nation’s NFL Deal
Over the weekend, a gloating 50 Cent took to Instagram to re-caption a still-popular meme that may have gone over fans’ heads.
The post, meant to dunk on his rap rival Jay-Z, is an image of 50 from his cameo on HBO’s Entourage, and it’s captioned: “Ok I don’t know what’s going on, but are we gonna still have the Super Bowl. 😟I’m just asking for a friend!”
If you don’t get the gag, don’t worry, you’re not out of touch, The Hollywood Reporter’s Kevin Dolak reports. The punchline here relies on you knowing that Jay-Z, who on Sunday was named in a civil suit accusing him and Sean “Diddy” Combs of raping a 13-year-old girl, runs the entertainment company Roc Nation, which has been producing the Super Bowl Halftime Show for the past five years. 50 Cent is also producing an investigative docuseries on Diddy for Netflix.
Streaming
This 13-year-old Aussie sitcom just cracked the US market
Laid is one of those very clever television ideas. Written by Australian screenwriter Marieke Hardy back in 2011, it is the story of a young woman who realises that her past lovers are starting to die one by one, and must begin piecing together her sexual past to unravel the mystery of what is going on, the Sydney Morning Herald’s Michael Idato reports.
It might have been a double blip on the Australian cultural copybook – a second season was made by the ABC in 2012 – but more than a decade later, the series has been rebooted for American TV. Which means this is the story of a 13-year-old modestly successful Aussie sitcom that just cracked the toughest TV market in the world.
“We love this premise, we love it so much, it’s so dark and so fun,” the show’s US co-executive producer, Sally Bradford McKenna, says. Co-executive producer Nahnatchka Khan adds: “Leaning into the romcom elements of the story was something that appealed to us while keeping this kind of danger, death streak going.”
‘Kick a ball’: Magistrate’s tirade in celebrity gossip podcaster’s court case
A magistrate launched into a fiery tirade about social media, saying he doesn’t “understand it” and “we used to have thick skin back in my days” during a court case over a podcaster’s episode about a former reality television star, The Daily Telegraph’s Aymon Bertah reports,
Megan Pustetto, who hosts popular celebrity gossip podcast So Dramatic, fronted Waverley Local Court on Wednesday after previously pleading guilty to two counts of contravening a prohibition or restriction in an AVO. Agreed facts revealed Ms Pustetto was issued and served an AVO for the protection of Dannii Erskine in November last year.
Ms Erskine appeared on the Seven Network’s Bride and Prejudice in 2019. However, agreed facts state the final order was issued and served on the accused on March 2 and no registration of the Victorian AVO, in NSW, was served until July 11.
Mr Barko admitted Ms Pustetto lived “in a world I know nothing of” and acknowledged she struggled with her mental health for some time. He said there had been “some conflict” between her and Ms Erskine which wasn’t “clear on the material”. He ultimately dismissed the two charges without conviction, declaring the offending was at the lower end of objective seriousness.
Ms MacDougall told The Daily Telegraph Ms Pustetto was “relieved with today’s result” and she “is looking forward to moving on with her life and focusing on her career”.