Musk shakes up Twitter’s legal team as he looks to cut more costs
Over the past two weeks, Elon Musk has shaken up Twitter’s legal department, disbanded a council that advised the social media company on safety issues and is continuing to take drastic steps to cut costs, report The New York Times’ Ryan Mac, Mike Isaac and Kate Conger.
Musk appears to be gearing up for legal battles at Twitter, which he purchased in October for $44 billion, according to seven people familiar with internal conversations. He and his team have revamped Twitter’s legal department and pushed out one of his closest advisers in the process. They have also instructed employees to not pay vendors in anticipation of potential litigation, the people said.
To cut costs, Twitter has not paid rent for its San Francisco headquarters or any of its global offices for weeks, three people close to the company said. Twitter has also refused to pay a $197,725 bill for private charter flights made the week of Musk’s takeover, according to a copy of a lawsuit filed in New Hampshire District Court and obtained by The New York Times.
Meta faces $1.6bn lawsuit over Facebook posts inciting violence in Tigray war
Meta has been accused in a lawsuit of letting posts that inflamed the war in Tigray flourish on Facebook, after an Observer investigation in February revealed repeated inaction on posts that incited violence, reports The Guardian’s Alex Hern.
The lawsuit, filed in the high court of Kenya, where Meta’s sub-Saharan African operations are based, alleges that Facebook’s recommendations systems amplified hateful and violent posts in the context of the war in northern Ethiopia, which raged for two years until a ceasefire was agreed in early November. The lawsuit seeks the creation of a $1.6bn (£1.3bn) fund for victims of hate speech.
One of the petitioners said his father, an Ethiopian academic, was targeted with racist messages before his murder in November 2021, and that Facebook did not remove the posts despite complaints.
“If Facebook had just stopped the spread of hate and moderated posts properly, my father would still be alive,” said Abrham Meareg, who is ethnic Tigrayan and an academic like his father.
“I’m taking Facebook to court so no one ever suffers as my family has again. I’m seeking justice for millions of my fellow Africans hurt by Facebook’s profiteering – and an apology for my father’s murder.”
Troubled TV star Andrew O’Keefe to fight assault charges
An embattled former television star was caught up in a bizarre scene outside a Sydney court on Wednesday, with a member of the public pulling him in for a hug as he left the building, report News Corp’s Adelaide Lang and Lauren Ferri.
Andrew O’Keefe, 51, sported a new look at the Downing Centre on Wednesday morning, where he appeared to set a hearing date to fight allegations of assault and intentionally choking a woman without consent.
Unshaven and rumpled, he stood silently before the court as his lawyer confirmed the date to defend the raft of charges.
And as he left court shortly afterwards, O’Keefe was embraced by a local character who was a admirer of his television appearances.
The man approached the former game show host and gave him a handshake before pulling him into a hearty hug, which O’Keefe returned in kind.
Mexico, the deadliest country for journalists in 2022: watchdog
Mexico is the country where most journalists were killed in 2022, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Wednesday in a report that documented alarming evidence of kidnappings, assaults and arrests of media workers, reports Reuters.
The report registered 11 killings of media professionals in the Latin American country from January to Dec. 1, or nearly 20% of the global total, the report said.
“Pressures from civil society and international organizations, and the protection mechanisms of local authorities have been insufficient,” RSF said.
Freedom of speech advocacy groups have documented even more killings of media workers this year, making 2022 the deadliest year on record for journalists in Mexico.
Worldwide, RSF reported 57 journalist killings, an 18.8% increase from 2021, driven mainly by the war in Ukraine.
Agencies
dentsu announces acquisition of Aware Services
dentsu has announced the acquisition of consultancy Aware Services.
The acquisition will be part of Merkle, dentsu’s technology-enabled, data-driven customer experience management business and is an important step in its strategic plan to become the leading customer transformation partner in Australia.
Aware Services is an Australian-owned Salesforce, MuleSoft, and Tableau partner with data and analytics capability, working with a broad range of clients in both the public and private sectors.
The acquisition will bolster Merkle’s existing Salesforce and data and analytics practices, empowered by dentsu which has more than 1,500 Salesforce trained staff and almost 3,900 Salesforce certifications.
Aware will assist Merkle in better serving existing clients, while allowing Merkle to pursue its goal of sustainable growth with a newly expanded team. Together with dentsu they will continue to provide exceptional customer experience transformation solutions that are aligned with Salesforce cloud capabilities.
News Brands
Funding cuts mean BBC can’t compete with Netflix, says watchdog
The BBC is struggling to compete with Netflix because it cannot afford the salaries of tech workers required to create online services, according to the UK’s public spending watchdog, reports The Guardian’s Jim Waterson.
While commercial streaming companies can provide high-quality personalised recommendations to viewers, the BBC’s technology is lagging behind the competition. As a result, the corporation cannot tell the difference between a sport fan who is interested in football and one who is interested in cricket – meaning it struggles to serve up relevant content to users.
The BBC director general, Tim Davie, has set out plans to become a digital-first broadcaster over the coming decades, with traditional television and radio channels slowly being switched off in favour of providing all content through the internet.
However, its online products are not up to the challenge, according to the National Audit Office, in part because of strong competition for tech workers and years of funding cuts. While Netflix is budgeting £1.7bn a year on the technology that underpins its global streaming platform, the BBC’s spending on digital product development has declined to £98m.
Television
Banijay appoints Christian Wikander new global head of scripted production
Banijay has appointed Christian Wikander as its new global head of scripted. He replaces Lars Blomgren who is returning to work in the industry as a producer.
Christian Wikander
Wikander joins from HBO Max Nordic (Warner Bros Discovery), where, since 2020, he has served as commissioning editor & VP, original programming. Prior to this, he was managing director for London-based Twelve Town, having joined in 2016 as head of drama for Europe.
In his new post at Banijay, Wikander will report to CEO, Marco Bassetti.
Marco Bassetti, CEO, Banijay commented: “Having been a commissioner, managing director and producer, Christian has demonstrated not only his immense creative talent and agility as a leader, but importantly, his natural eye for recognising a story with international potential. With him in place, we feel we have further opportunity to grow our premium scripted offering and heighten Banijay’s reputation as a leader in both local and English-language dramas that connect audiences worldwide.”
In Australia, Banijay operates under the Endemol Shine Australia and Screentime Australia banners.
Banijay’s latest announced/on-air scripted highlights include SAS: Rogue Heroes (Kudos for BBC One), Marie Antoinette (Banijay Studios France, CAPA Drama, Les Gens France for Canal+ and BBC Two), Domina (Tiger Aspect for Sky Atlantic), Riding in Darkness (Jarowskij for CMORE/TV4), Ronja (Filmlance for Viaplay), Fallen (Filmlance for CMORE/TV4/ZDF), Bosé (Shine Iberia, VIS, Elefantec Global, Legacy Rock for Paramount Plus), Ripley (Endemol Shine North America for SHOWTIME), Gypsy Bride (Diaganol TV for Antena3), Dance Brothers (Endemol Shine Finland for Netflix), and Two Tone (Kudos for BBC One).
Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff hospitalised after being ‘injured in an accident at the Top Gear test track’
Former England cricketer Andrew Flintoff has been taken to hospital after an accident during the filming of an episode of the BBC’s Top Gear show, but his injuries were not life-threatening, British media reported on Tuesday (local time), reports the ABC.
“Freddie [Flintoff] was injured in an accident at the Top Gear test track this morning — with crew medics attending the scene immediately,” a BBC spokesperson told Sky News.
The public broadcaster also reported that “it is understood that the accident did not happen at high speed”.
Separately the Sun newspaper said, citing a source, that Flintoff was receiving treatment, and that his injuries were not life-threatening.
All-rounder Flintoff quit cricket in 2010 and joined Top Gear as a host in 2019, having also tried out a career in boxing in between.
Australian TV delivers warm romcom gems to provide hope amid the gloom
A funny thing happened to Australian TV comedy this year: it brought us some laughs. Not just an odd, isolated giggle or fleeting sitcom smile, but a quartet of notable narrative comedies, reports Nine Publishing’s Debi Enker.
Two ABC sitcoms, Aftertaste and Fisk, moved smoothly into their second seasons, and Aunty also introduced the cleverly conceived and confidently executed anthology series, Summer Love. Now the streamer Binge has capped off the year with Colin From Accounts, a romcom that really works. Yes, you read that right: a homegrown romantic comedy with the desired upbeat energy, precision timing and chemistry, basically an entity as rare and precious as a four-leaf clover.
Romcoms have never been Australia’s forte. Astute and astringent satires like Frontline and Utopia, yes; uncomfortable, off-beat, fish-out-of-water scenarios like Please Like Me, Rosehaven and Frayed, okay; knowing social send-ups like Kath & Kim, Upper Middle Bogan and The Letdown, yup. But romcoms, not so much.