This was a surprisingly cathartic read

Emails show Amazon colluding with other firms to raise prices, California authorities allege The previously redacted messages were unveiled as part of an antitrust battle with California attorney general Rob Bonta

This is massive. Not clear when it took place, but Amazon colluded with major retailers to set prices. "Amazon employees have repeatedly worked with vendors using its platform to push retail vendors including Walmart and Chewy to set higher prices collectively." www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

Social Media Powers Online’s Ad Market Dominance, and Meta Eats 70 Percent of That Pie Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok "capture over 90 percent of social media advertising revenues," an Omdia analyst tells the StreamTV Europe gathering in Lisbon.

"CTV advertising is increasingly owned by just three companies​,” which Omdia predicts will account for 40 percent of this form of ad revenue by 2030. In comparison, traditional broadcasters will only get a 25 percent share in 2030." www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus...

I strongly don't disagree.

The Inside Story of Five Days That Remade the Supreme Court

More damning evidence of the overt and subtle capture of the U.S. Supreme Court for political (right-wing) ends. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...

Watch David Borenstein, who just won an Oscar for his documentary “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” call out the dangers of the pending Paramount-WBD merger, and what it means for press freedom.

Read the text of this invite below. It is crazed.

'Ellison’s decision to spend time in Washington “honoring” a White House that has made demonizing the press central to its playbook has outraged staffers at CBS News.' www.status.news/p/david-elli...

Glad to see Guy Hoskins & I's new article out. It examines the growing prominence of US & Chinese hyperscalers in the
ownership & control of critical internet infrastructure, provision of AI and media services, & tightening integration into state policy. intellectdiscover.com/content/jour...

The Public Options Tool Kit: Ensuring Access, Public Value, and Accountability in the Economy Market-only solutions aren't enough. Suzanne Kahn shows how "Public Options" can fix our cost-of-living crisis and put people over corporate profits.

Great work by @rooseveltinstitute.org @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

Average film crew salary: $44,261/year or $21.28/hour
James Cameron net worth: $1 billion.

Paramount+WBD: more power to set media industry wages concentrated in one company.

www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Fil...

Very positive news, state AGs playing a crucial role here (amid ongoing federal incompetency and dysfunction)

Hungary’s prime minister-elect vows to suspend ‘propaganda machine’ state media Péter Magyar compares media coverage to Nazi-era Germany and says his government will ‘restore its public service character’

U.S. antitrust regulators could do the same by blocking the Paramount-WBD merger...

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

congrats!!

Paramount Pulls Ads From The Ankler After Rushfield Boosts ‘Block the Merger’ Movement at CinemaCon | Exclusive Paramount pulled its advertising from The Ankler after its editorial director and chief columnist, Richard Rushfield, was seen at CinemaCon with “Block the Merger” buttons.

Is Paramount trying to make the case against its own merger? If the Ellisons are already punishing news outlets, imagine if they own CNN and their buddy Trump calls in a favor.

This doesn't sound like a company that deserves even more power over the press.

Struggling to stay relevant.

Stanford report highlights growing disconnect between AI insiders and everyone else | TechCrunch Stanford’s latest AI Index shows a widening gap between experts and the public, with rising anxiety over jobs, healthcare, and the economy.

Stanford’s latest AI Index shows a widening gap between experts and the public, with rising anxiety over jobs, healthcare, and the economy.

Well, hopefully not! But glad to see the piece of shit go!

That Vance bump! 🔥

More of this please.

Hard not to feel joy as Orban loses his authoritarian grip on power after more than a decade.

🚨 New Paper Alert 🚨
Perhaps the most pressing question facing the legal community is how AI affects human legal reasoning. Our new co-authored draft provides the first empirical evidence directly addressing that question. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Amazon, Microsoft and Google Under Fire for Data Center Resource Use | PYMNTS.com Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google are facing growing scrutiny from both local communities and investors as concerns intensify over the environmental

Thank god it's not a bubble. "More than a dozen investors are increasing pressure ahead of upcoming annual meetings, seeking clearer disclosures on water consumption and conservation practices as the technology giants expand their computing infrastructure."
www.pymnts.com/cpi-posts/am...

Great talk by Olivier Sylvain at ISP. Let middleware discourse RIP.
law.yale.edu/yls-today/ya...

Trump is directly copying Orban's approach to mass media: autocrat-friendly oligarchs buy up all the corporate media outlets, then pummel the public with 24/7 propaganda while the government harasses and murders real independent journalism just out of frame

Trump's tariffs one year on: How Americans are paying the price US households paid $1,000 more for the same goods over the past year, with lower-income families hit the hardest.

US households paid $1,000 more for the same goods over the past year, with lower-income families hit the hardest.

Social Media Use Linked to Mixed Views on Democracy Americans who spend more time on social media feel more civically empowered but also show less support for democracy and democratic norms.

Social Media Use Linked to Mixed Views on Democracy news.gallup.com/poll/704198/...

Thrilled that my paper (w/@sarahobolt.bsky.social,@catherinedevries.bsky.social,@simonecremaschi.bsky.social) was accepted at the American Political Science Review!

We find that declining public services fuel support for the populist right — and show why the right benefits more than other parties 🧵

Trump’s Executive Order on NPR and PBS Is Unconstitutional, Judge Rules

“The message is clear: NPR and PBS need not apply for any federal benefit because the president disapproves of their ‘left-wing’ coverage of the news. [But the First Amendment] does not tolerate viewpoint discrimination and retaliation of this type.”
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/31/b...

US Senators Probe FCC Chief Over Fast-Tracked Nexstar-Tegna Deal The ranking members of the Senate Commerce Committee questioned the head of the Federal Communications Commission in a Monday letter, criticizing his approval of Nexstar Media Group Inc.’s merger with...

We reached “too shady for Ted Cruz” levels in the Nexstar-Tegna deal.

A line graph of the number of NSF awards in fiscal 2026 compared to fiscal years 2021-2025. The fiscal year 2026 is well below the other curves and increasing only very slowly.

NSF Update through March 13, 2026

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