Global News, TVO and Postmedia will benefit from the first-round of Google News Initiative (GNI) YouTube Innovation funding. Google says many of the 87 projects, selected in 23 countries, are focused on expanding newsroom video operations and trying out new ways of reporting news through video. Global says it will use its funding to support the growth of its original, online video news initiatives.
Facebook has responded to allegations it gave large tech companies like Netflix and Spotify access to user messages and the ability to delete them. Konstantinos Papamiltiadis, the social network’s Director of Developer Platforms and Programs, writes in a blog post that none of the so-called “integration partnerships” or features gave companies access to information without people’s permission. Users had to explicitly sign in to Facebook first to use a partner’s messaging feature that would allow users of Spotify, for example, to send and receive messages without ever leaving the app. The social platform says with the exception of Amazon and Apple, most of the integration partnership have since been shut down.
Facebook Watch has renewed original offerings Five Points, Huda Boss, Sacred Lies and Sorry for Your Loss, which collectively drew nearly 1.3 million followers. Watch appears to be gaining momentum, attracting more than 400 million monthly users, who spend at least a minute checking out videos, 75 million of those users spend an average of 20 minutes watching shows every day. Prior to its global launch in August, Facebook was reporting that Watch was drawing just 50 million monthly users in the U.S.
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