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Cut Us In, Or Cut It Out
Twitter is ticked off at Microsoft over data use.
Elon Musk outlined his grievances in a letter sent by his personal lawyer, Alex Spiro, to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Thursday, The New York Times reports.
The letter comes one month after Musk threatened a lawsuit over Microsoft “illegally” using Twitter’s data to train its AI tech. Twitter is now accusing Microsoft of using more of its data than required and sharing that data with government agencies without permission.
Musk started requiring third parties to pay a fee to use Twitter’s API to access its data earlier this year. In response, Microsoft dropped Twitter from its advertising platform rather than pay up.
But even before Twitter introduced API fees last year, it claimed Microsoft went beyond the scope of their existing data usage agreements. In 2022 alone, Microsoft used Twitter’s data portal more than 780 million times to retrieve data on more than 26 billion tweets, according to Spiro’s letter.
Twitter’s legal threats are the latest instance of media companies looking to make AI tech providers pay for the privilege of using their content to train AI models. Last month, Reddit also announced it will start charging fees for access to its API.
Monetizing Funny
There’s one type of creator that seems to be building up careers – and bank accounts – on TikTok: Comedians.
Other than getting payouts for the content they post on the platform, comedians are also getting traction with brand sponsorships and promoting ticket sales at live shows.
Lucas Lopez, for instance, is a comedy content creator with 3.1 million TikTok followers who makes most of his money working with national brands like Manscaped and Bud Light. According to Insider, he made $50,000 from one partnership with Bud Light alone.
And there are lots of other examples, although not all as lucrative. Comedy group Don’t Tell Comedy says TikTok brings in several hundred dollars per month for the network.
Still, that’s a whole lot more than the chump change other influencers report squeezing out of TikTok Pulse.
But unlike most other types of online influencers, comedians are often on tour performing live shows. Having viral content on TikTok makes a huge difference to the amount of tickets they can sell.
“People know me because of TikTok – and that sells tickets wherever I go,” comedian Zarna Garg tells Insider.
Hope You Kept Your Receipt
TFW a massive ad system glitch causes advertisers to collectively overspend by tens of millions of dollars and it takes weeks for the refunds to roll in.
In late April, a major system error on Meta led ad buyers to automatically double their daily spending cap during the very early hours of a Sunday morning.
Meta’s response left something to be desired, and refunds have been slowly trickling in. Some buyers started to get refunds as of Friday, Search Engine Land reports.
The problem – well, one of them, anyway – for smaller advertisers in particular is that the refund process has been especially slow.
The amounts have also been handed out inconsistently, and it’s unclear why certain advertisers are being refunded more than others. One theory is that the more you spend with Meta, the more they care about you. Better customer service for the big spenders.
Buyers with a personal connection also seem to have more luck getting in touch with Meta and being made whole … or whole-ish.
Refunds in this type of situation are often pennies on the dollar, and Meta doesn’t share how it calculates the payouts.
Perhaps not the greatest look for a company that works with millions of SMBs and is pouring billions of dollars into its AI investments.
But Wait, There’s More!
Fox News will dissolve its investigative news unit to cut costs after the $787.5 million Dominion settlement. [Rolling Stone]
Tech and social media insiders doubt Montana’s TikTok ban will go into effect. [The Drum]
Brands and agencies share safeguards for mitigating AI fraud. [Digiday]
Twitter’s top users are posting less since Elon Musk’s takeover, according to the Pew Research Center. [CNBC]
You’re Hired!
Treasure Data appoints Mark Tack as global CMO. [Release]
