iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

"The order approving the settlement by Martínez-Olguín was the final remaining barrier to Paramount’s debt-fueled $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, after it had been cleared by regulators in 68 jurisdictions worldwide including the Justice Department." variety.com/2026/film/ne...

variety.com

Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Set to Close Next Week After Judge OKs Settlement With State AGs

Paramount is eyeing an Oct. 6 closing date for the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, after a judge approved its settlement with state attorneys general.

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Pawel Popiel @ppopiel.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

"An ad for Representative Barry Moore, Republican of Alabama, featured the phrase “CHAMPION AMERICAN INNOVATION” as he shook hands with firefighters in a garage" www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

nytimes.com

A.I. Groups Are Spending Millions to Influence the Midterms

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Pawel Popiel @ppopiel.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Nice to see the Ellisons taking a breather after winning that merger settlement and joining other Trump allies for this royal feast.

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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 22/09/2026

This merger strikes a chilling blow against that freedom — and hands even more power to billionaires like David Ellison to decide what Americans see and hear, all while lifting scrutiny off the federal leaders who pushed it through.

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Pawel Popiel @ppopiel.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

How ever will this new editorial independence board address the ongoing rightward shift at CBS, overseen by an ombudsman with Trump ties, imposed as a condition of *a previous* merger?

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Pawel Popiel @ppopiel.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

"the deal does not include the three words — robust structural remedies — that California’s attorney general had said was the goal since filing suit in July." Editorial independence ≠ one company with Trump ties owning CNN and CBS (whose independence it gutted) variety.com/2026/film/ne...

variety.com

Rob Bonta, Facing Skeptics, Defends ‘Very Strong’ Paramount Deal

Rob Bonta argued that the Paramount-Warner Bros. deal will be the 'opposite of Disney-Fox' but acknowledged it was not his preferred outcome.

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Alvaro M. Bedoya @bedoyausa.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Folks, Paramount's new editorial "independence" board for CNN and CBS will be hand-picked by the Ellisons and will report... to the Ellisons

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Pawel Popiel @ppopiel.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Pretty devastating. Drastic consolidation in exchange for ending a stupid bluff (Paramount leaving CA), basic investment in CA film production, and creating an oversight board for its news operations (which will effectively do nothing, think Meta Oversight Board). variety.com/2026/film/ne...

variety.com

What’s in the Paramount Settlement With States: Commitment to Not Sell Studio Lots, Additional $300M Yearly Investment in U.S. Film Production, CNN Oversight and More

Details of the terms of Paramount's deal with 12 states settling their antitrust case that was holding up the Warner Bros. Discovery merger have been revealed.

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Pawel Popiel @ppopiel.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Obvious point, but saying "Google’s artificial intelligence system, Gemini, escaped its testing environment and hacked into three companies" implies the problem is with a rogue model and not the company and testers who should've securely sandboxed the shit out of it. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/t...

nytimes.com

Gemini AI Hacked Three Companies in a Testing Breakout, Google Says

A third-party test company inadvertently gave internet access to Google’s Gemini and other artificial intelligence models during cybersecurity testing.

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Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 17/09/2026

“A senior executive at Microsoft said A.I. systems built on the work of others will be seen as ‘an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions’ and possibly the greatest robbery of labor in human history, according to court documents unredacted Thursday in an ongoing Manhattan lawsuit.”

orlandosentinel.com

Docs in A.I. copyright suit reveal startling admission by Microsoft exec over ‘astonishing theft’

The admission appeared in a newly unredacted filing in the landmark copyright infringement legal battle playing out between newspapers like the Orlando Sentinel and tech companies Microsoft and OpenAI...

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Rachel Griffin @rachelgriffin.eurosky.social · 12/09/2026

AI could kill us all within 10 years! now that I've got your attention, our only hope is that all threats to my business model be crushed,

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Pawel Popiel @ppopiel.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Slowing down "will be limited by the lead that US companies have over authoritarian regimes. If we slow down by more than this amount, then (unpaced) [Chinese] projects will pull ahead, creating significant national security risk." So we're basically not slowing down. darioamodei.com/post/we-must...

darioamodei.com

Dario Amodei — We Must Pace the Frontier

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Stine Eckert @stineeckert.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel said the agency that regulates TV "threatened" the show and that an interview with James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, will not air on TV but on YouTube—thus bypassing any control or regulation by the FCC. #USA www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...

pbs.org

Kimmel says Talarico interview won't air on TV under regulatory pressure from FCC

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel said the agency that regulates television “threatened” the show and that an interview with James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, will not air ...

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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 31/08/2026

Google has outlined how it’s handling Donald Trump’s latest tantrum. In the US, it will display “Lake America.” In Canada, it will show “Lake Ontario.” In the rest of the world, it will make it seem like a debate: “Lake Ontario (Lake America).” More reason to replace Google Maps.

Google will show Lake America in the US, Lake Ontario in Canada, and Lake Ontario with Lake America in brackets in the rest of the world.

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Pawel Popiel @ppopiel.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

"The financial architecture of American retirement has created a structural constituency for AI capital—a mass base of involuntary shareholders whose material interests are now aligned with the continued growth of a handful of tech firms." www.promarket.org/2026/08/26/y...

promarket.org

Your 401(k) Is Propping Up the AI Bubble - ProMarket

Americans’ retirement savings are disproportionately tied to the dozen Big Tech firms that now dominate the S&P. This makes any intervention into regulating Big Tech that risks devaluing them politica...

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Pawel Popiel @ppopiel.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

"Data centers are proxy fights over AI, jobs, the environment, energy production and energy use." www.axios.com/2026/08/25/d...

axios.com

The data center era that's reshaping America

Everyone needs to understand the size, scope and sentiment surrounding them.

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Pawel Popiel @ppopiel.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

"following the President’s demand, the Chairman stated that the Commission would consider ABC’s decision not to broadcast the July 16 address as part of its review of the Stations’ renewal applications.” deadline.com/2026/08/abc-...

deadline.com

Five Standout Claims In ABC's First Amendment Lawsuit Against The FCC

The network cited attacks on Jimmy Kimmel and 'The View," as well as threats after it decided not to broadcast Donald Trump's primetime speech.

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ProPublica @propublica.org · 18/08/2026

ICYMI: Months after FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty cast a decisive vote approving Paramount’s historic $8 billion merger with Skydance Media, she and a guest accepted Kennedy Center gala tickets from the company worth more than $12,000.

propublica.org

FCC Officials Took Pricey Gifts From Paramount as the Company Needed Approval for Billion-Dollar Deals

Accepting tickets to the Kennedy Center honors gala compromised the commissioners’ impartiality, ethics experts told ProPublica. FCC Chair Brendan Carr has been gifted at least $63,000 worth of ticket...

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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

IANAL but the states and the WGA didn't set up the $7 million/day fee for a delay in merger closing past September, Paramount did. Maybe David Ellison should have thought about the possibility of a lawsuit before signing the deal. variety.com/2026/film/ne...

variety.com

Paramount Requests States and WGA Be Required to Post $1.9 Billion Bond to Cover Financial Losses While Warner Bros. Merger Is Stuck on Hold Pending Trial

David Ellison's Paramount Skydance asked the judge overseeing the antitrust lawsuits filed by 12 states and the WGA to force the plaintiffs to pony up a whopping $1.88 billion bond to cover the compan...

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Pawel Popiel @ppopiel.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

"Amazon is buying tons of rare books, cutting off their spines, and scanning them for AI training, according to 404 Media, which placed a tracking device in a rare book that ultimately arrived at an Amazon facility in Las Vegas."

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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 14/08/2026

This is the coverage of Arday **just in the Telegraph** in the UK. This is only the first four pages of results, just in one outlet.

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Jason Arday found dead
2 hours ago — Mr Arday was found •unresponsive• at an address in Battersea. south London. on Froy
afternoon. He was uter pronounced dead at the scene. A Read rnore
Jason Arday says he was an illiterate, mute child. His .
6 hours ago — Jason Arday says he was an i&erate. mute child. Cambridge's youngest-ever black
professor in 2023. Arday attended from the age of four to 11
r— mm-WI 3
A PhD is no longer a sign of brilliance — take it from Dr Arday
1 day aeo — Juon Arday resigns from the Unwersity of Cambrdge after The Telegraph reports he had
falseb• claimed to have pubåshed a book
We are all Jason Arday now
S days ago — Jason Arday resons from the University of Cambridge after The Telegraph reports he had
falsew cGimed to have published a book Aug 7.2028. Read more
Cambridge professor claimed he was on Seven Up..
2 Aug 2026 — He was not bom until 1985. Prof Arday is at the centre of a row about academk
plagiarism after The Tekgragh that he had been accused
The Jason Arday 'memoir' that now appears to be more .
7 days ago — Instead of tales of triumph over adversity. the now-fomer Cambridge professors
autob"qraphy is a case study in self-rnythobgising,
Arday failed to mention 'months-long coma' in autobiography
8 days ago — Jason Arday toz publishers he was k•ft a three-month coma fohwhg a car gash. but
never wrote about the ordeal his memoirs_
Jason Arday is living proof that you reap what you sow
6 Aug 2028 — The Cambridge professor feed plagiarism alegations and made fantastical clä'ns about
his life. so what did he expect woUz happen? Read rmre
ÄIO
Arday 'accused student of Miite privilege' after she
4 days ago — Forrner Cambrdge professor alleged* htplied that Roehamptm student was racist after
cornplaint about essay SOOre.
Jason Arday is rnerely a symptom of the Leffs corruption
Aug 2026 — Lab-curs on school standards is on the same toxic assumptions that created his
academic career.
Cambridge hired Arday after 'listening to black stu…

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Mediamorphis @mediamorphis.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

One more time because this is such a valuable resource, especially as Paramount's bid for Warner Bros. Discovery confronts headwinds and the syllabi for fall courses in media industries and policy are prepared.

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Pawel Popiel @ppopiel.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

“While we believe all artists have creative choice in determining how they present themselves, Spotify’s programming is focused on elevating music from authentic artists building careers in music.” www.nytimes.com/2026/08/11/a...

nytimes.com

Spotify Will Label A.I. Artists and Avoid Promoting Them

The new label, which will begin to be applied next month, is an effort by the streaming service to be more transparent about A.I.-generated music on its app.

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Mediamorphis @mediamorphis.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

New data for US communication, internet & media industries, 1984 to 2025, now out & ready for you to explore! Thanks to @ppopiel.bsky.social @sydneyforde.bsky.social @theine.bsky.social @christopherali.bsky.social for their stellar contributions to the Global Media & Internet Concentration Project.

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Dare Obasanjo @carnage4life.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

To comply with the EU AI Act, Anthropic will now watermark text and photos created by Claude and digitally sign files it creates to indicate they were generated by AI. So going forward text generated by Claude will be detectable as generated by AI programmatically.

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Pawel Popiel @ppopiel.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

For anyone studying, advocating, analyzing, or learning about media, telecommunication, and tech industries, the GMICP project's new dashboard is up: gmicp.org/dashboard/ 36 countries, more than 20 industry sectors, covered across decades. And the underlying data is publicly available.

urldefense.com

Dashboard

Dashboard Explore data collected by the Global Media and Internet Concentration Project

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Mediamorphis @mediamorphis.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

The work done by @adewaard.bsky.social, Shawna Kidman, @mirandabanks.bsky.social, @itstv.bsky.social, @ppopiel.bsky.social & others on this report from MACRO Lab challenging Paramount's takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery is excellent. It's a great example of engaged, policy relevant scholarship.

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Pawel Popiel @ppopiel.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Just as a corrective to the Ellison PR machine, some empirical data and analysis of the significant, pervasive, and detrimental impacts of the merger to the U.S. media system: macrolab.ucsd.edu/paramount-wa...

macrolab.ucsd.edu

The Costs of Consolidation: – MACRO Lab

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Pawel Popiel @ppopiel.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Just some preliminary data for context, looking at the creative labor impacts of the Paramount-WBD merger: the combined entity would acquire nearly half of all US scripted TV creative labor and nearly one-third of live-action creative labor. Below-the-line jobs would face one less big employer.

Paramount-WBD post-merger labor concentration scenario - the entity acquires the largest concentration of TV creative labor

Creative labor concentration by craft - Paramount-WBD concentration would be highest in camera, below-the-line crew, directing and producing

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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Ellison put on a dinner headlined “Honoring the Trump White House” and included his CBS editor, top anchor, and WH correspondent, so he can spare us this both-sides ridiculousness

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Pawel Popiel @ppopiel.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/w...

The announcement comes a day after a Florida-based pastor sued the company for giving a near-fatal suggestion not to consult a doctor.

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Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Rob Bonta on Paramount merger lawsuit TRO: "We’re fighting for a free and fair market and a thriving film and television industry that serves creatives and audiences alike. We have a full tank of gas, the law on our side, and look forward to continuing to make our case.” oag.ca.gov/news/press-r...

oag.ca.gov

Quiet on the Set! Attorney General Bonta Secures Critical, Early Win in Lawsuit to Block Warner Bros./Paramount Merger

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued the following statement after the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted the states’ request for a temporary r...

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Pawel Popiel @ppopiel.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

this may rival england v. mexico for the most insane match

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Pawel Popiel @ppopiel.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Just in time: "Nexstar, one of the largest owners of TV stations in the U.S., has been barred [from acquiring] Tegna, a smaller TV station owner, since the transaction would give Nexstar too much control over local TV properties across the country." variety.com/2026/tv/news...

variety.com

FCC Moves to End Cap on National Broadcast Ownership

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