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		<title>Whiskey mogul offers free $200M college campus to religious groups, with one major catch</title>
		<link>https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/whiskey-mogul-offers-free-200m-college-campus-to-religious-groups-with-one-major-catch/</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 05:22:55 +0000</pubDate>
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		<category><![CDATA[200M]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/?p=13926</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>The founder of a Vermont-based whiskey brand wants to give away a college campus that he bought during the pandemic — on the condition the new owner shares his vision for “the revival of our country and our civilization.” Raj Peter Bhakta is offering to gift the campus of 185-year-old now-defunct Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/whiskey-mogul-offers-free-200m-college-campus-to-religious-groups-with-one-major-catch/">Whiskey mogul offers free $200M college campus to religious groups, with one major catch</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com">Our Story Insight</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The founder of a Vermont-based whiskey brand wants to give away a college campus that he bought during the pandemic — on the condition the new owner shares his vision for “the revival of our country and our civilization.”</p>
<p>Raj Peter Bhakta is offering to gift the campus of 185-year-old now-defunct Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont — an asset he estimates would cost $200 million to rebuild — to a Catholic or Christian institution that shares his belief that a return to Western civilization “is predicated on a spiritual revival.”</p>
<p>The 50-year-old WhistlePig and Bhakta Spirits founder credits his entry into the industry to President Donald Trump — who fired Bhakta when he was a contestant during the second season of “The Apprentice.”</p>
<p>“I got into the whiskey business by getting fired by the sitting president of the United States,” Bhakta told Fox News Digital.</p>
<p>After a failed congressional run involving an elephant and a mariachi band, he found himself “dead broke and alone” on a run-down Vermont farm during the 2008 recession. Identifying a gap in the high-end American whiskey market, he founded WhistlePig.</p>
<p>Despite the brand’s ascent, Bhakta’s tenure at WhistlePig ended in a high-profile corporate showdown.</p>
<p>Raj Peter Bhakta, founder of WhistlePig and Bhakta Spirits, is giving away the Green Mountain College campus in Poultney, Vermont. <span class="credit">FOX News</span></p>
<p>Following a dispute with the company’s board, he sold his stake in WhistlePig in 2019, according to his website, and “embarked on a sabbatical in search of new discoveries in the world of spirits.”</p>
<p>Armed with the proceeds from his departure, Bhakta launched his namesake spirits company in 2020.</p>
<p>He then turned his attention to what he describes as the “epic, large-scale” disaster of American higher education. In the summer of 2020, amid the uncertainty of COVID lockdowns, he purchased the shuttered Green Mountain College campus at auction for $4.5 million. That was much lower than its $20 million original asking price.</p>
<p>“There’s a deeper, more fundamental need in this country, and that is to go back to our Christian roots.”</p>
<p>“I bought this place, and then quickly learned that starting a college was a little bit more complicated than I had originally envisioned, especially while starting a new spirit startup,” he said.</p>
<p>His vision for the campus is rooted in the belief that the nation’s values are eroding and that a technical or secular fix is not enough.</p>
<p>“There’s a deeper, more fundamental need in this country, and that is to go back to our Christian roots,” Bhakta said.</p>
<p>Bhakta bought the Green Mountain College campus for $4.5M in 2020, seeking a “spiritual revival.” <span class="credit">FOX News</span></p>
<p>While he originally intended to lead the new institution himself, Bhakta is now vetting “credible potential beneficiaries” who possess the “execution capacity” to fulfill his vision.</p>
<p>His first preference is a Catholic institution — followed by a Christian group.</p>
<p>“And if I can’t find one of those, I’ll sell it,” he added. “But I don’t suspect that I’ll have to sell it.”</p>
<p>Green Mountain College closed in 2019, citing declining enrollment. It was one of three private colleges in Vermont that closed that year, along with Southern Vermont College and the College of St. Joseph.</p>
<p>Sarah Pelkey, former community development director for the town of Poultney, told The Associated Press in 2020 that Green Mountain College is “a beautiful space, a beautiful campus — and somebody definitely got a steal.”</p>
<p>Fox News Digital reached out to Pelkey, who recently left her post to join the Chamber &#038; Economic Development of the Rutland Region, for additional comment.</p>
<p>Bhakta is firm about his convictions. </p>
<p>“We’ve had two great awakenings in this country before, and I think we’re at the dawn, God willing, of a third great awakening,” said Bhakta. </p>
<p>The 185-year-old Green Mountain College closed in 2019 due to declining enrollment. <span class="credit">FOX News</span></p>
<p>“And that will hopefully, by God’s grace, lead to the revival of this great country and this great civilization.”</p>
<p>He added, “That, incidentally, is worth fighting for.”</p>
<p>His website notes, among other things: “We know that mankind’s greatest achievements flow from humility and service, and that humility and service lie at the heart of our destinies.”</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/whiskey-mogul-offers-free-200m-college-campus-to-religious-groups-with-one-major-catch/">Whiskey mogul offers free $200M college campus to religious groups, with one major catch</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com">Our Story Insight</a>.</p>
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		<title>Anthropic&#8217;s Claude hits No. 1 on Apple&#8217;s top free apps list</title>
		<link>https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/anthropics-claude-hits-no-1-on-apples-top-free-apps-list/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[admin]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Mar 2026 07:26:50 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anthropics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apples]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Claude]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/?p=13580</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>In this illustration, the Claude AI app is seen in the app store on a phone on February 16, 2026 in New York City. According to reports from the Wall Street Journal, the Defense Department used Anthropic&#8217;s Claude Ai, via its Palantir contract, to help with the attack on Venezuela and capture former President Nicolás [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/anthropics-claude-hits-no-1-on-apples-top-free-apps-list/">Anthropic&#8217;s Claude hits No. 1 on Apple&#8217;s top free apps list</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com">Our Story Insight</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span class="HighlightShare-hidden" style="top:0;left:0" /></p>
<p>In this illustration, the Claude AI app is seen in the app store on a phone on February 16, 2026 in New York City. According to reports from the Wall Street Journal, the Defense Department used Anthropic&#8217;s Claude Ai, via its Palantir contract, to help with the attack on Venezuela and capture former President Nicolás Maduro.</p>
<p>Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images</p>
<p>Anthropic&#8217;s Claude artificial intelligence assistant app jumped to the No. 1 slot on Apple&#8217;s chart of top U.S. free apps late on Saturday, a day after the Trump administration sought to block government agencies&#8217; adoption of the startup&#8217;s technology.</p>
<p>The rise in popularity suggests that Anthropic is benefiting from its presence in news headlines, stemming from its refusal to have its models used for mass domestic surveillance or for fully autonomous weapons. </p>
<p>&#8220;The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the Department of War, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution,&#8221; President Donald Trump wrote in a Friday Truth Social post.</p>
<p>Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he asked that Anthropic be labeled as a supply-chain risk to national security, and therefore, no U.S. defense contractor would be able to draw on Anthropic tools.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is the Department&#8217;s prerogative to select contractors most aligned with their vision,&#8221; Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a statement. &#8220;But given the substantial value that Anthropic&#8217;s technology provides to our armed forces, we hope they reconsider.&#8221;</p>
<p>Historically, other AI chat apps have been more popular among consumers than Claude. OpenAI&#8217;s ChatGPT sat at No. 2 on the App Store rankings on Saturday, while <span class="QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer" data-test="QuoteInBody" id="RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-6">Google&#8217;s<span class="QuoteInBody-inlineButton"><span class="AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer" id="-WatchlistDropdown" data-analytics-id="-WatchlistDropdown"><span class="AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag" /></span></span></span> Gemini was at No. 4. </p>
<p>The Claude iOS app has gained momentum this month. On Jan. 30, it was ranked No. 131 in the U.S., and it bounced around the top 20 for much of February, according to data from analytics company Sensor Tower. The data shows ChatGPT has held on to the No. 1 spot for most of February.</p>
<p>Anthropic&#8217;s count of free users have increased by over 60% since January, with daily sign-ups tripling since November, breaking an all-time record every day this week, a spokesperson said in an email. Its paying subscribers have more than doubled this year, the spokesperson said.</p>
<p>In the past year, Anthropic — which was formed in 2021 by former OpenAI employees — has gained momentum as a supplier of models for coding and general corporate use. OpenAI, whose ChatGPT now has over 900 million weekly users, has been responding to Anthropic&#8217;s surge in business by striking partnerships with consulting firms such as Accenture and Capgemini.</p>
<p>On Friday night, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the startup had reached an agreement with the U.S. Defense Department on the deployment of its models.</p>
<p>Hours later, pop singer Katy Perry posted a screenshot of Anthropic&#8217;s Pro subscription for consumers, with a heart superimposed over it.</p>
<p><strong>WATCH:</strong> Sec. Pete Hegseth directs Pentagon to designate Anthropic supply-chain risk</p>
<p><span class="InlineVideo-videoButton" /><span /></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/anthropics-claude-hits-no-1-on-apples-top-free-apps-list/">Anthropic&#8217;s Claude hits No. 1 on Apple&#8217;s top free apps list</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com">Our Story Insight</a>.</p>
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		<title>Krispy Kreme offers free doughnuts during nationwide Verizon outage: &#8216;SOS got you down?&#8217;</title>
		<link>https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/krispy-kreme-offers-free-doughnuts-during-nationwide-verizon-outage-sos-got-you-down/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Jan 2026 23:14:14 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[doughnuts]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/?p=12359</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Never fear, doughnuts are here. Krispy Kreme cheekily announced it will be handing out the “sweet backup plan” to all customers during Verizon’s nationwide network outage on Wednesday afternoon. “SOS got you down? We can hear you now — and we’re serving up,” the popular doughnut company wrote on Instagram. Krispy Kreme is giving out [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/krispy-kreme-offers-free-doughnuts-during-nationwide-verizon-outage-sos-got-you-down/">Krispy Kreme offers free doughnuts during nationwide Verizon outage: &#8216;SOS got you down?&#8217;</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com">Our Story Insight</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Never fear, doughnuts are here.</p>
<p>Krispy Kreme cheekily announced it will be handing out the “sweet backup plan” to all customers during Verizon’s nationwide network outage on Wednesday afternoon.</p>
<p>“SOS got you down? We can hear you now — and we’re serving up,” the popular doughnut company wrote on Instagram.</p>
<p>Krispy Kreme is giving out one free doughnut to customers amid the Verizon network outage. <span class="credit">Rick Dembow N.Y. POST</span></p>
<p>Between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Wednesday, Krispy Kreme will be doling out one free original glazed doughnut to each customer “because some days need a sweet backup plan you can rely on.”</p>
<p>The doughnut giant’s slick move of “marketing genius,” as praised by fans online, coincides with the nationwide Verizon network outage that forced tens of thousands of users offline Wednesday.</p>
<p>Most major cities in the US were impacted by the outage. <span class="credit">Downdetector</span></p>
<p>The disruption, which affected major cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and Washington, DC, started just after 9 a.m. EST and soon spread coast to coast.</p>
<p>Many customers reported total signal loss, failed or spotty calls, and dead data connections, according to Downdetector.</p>
<p>Verizon acknowledged the outage and assured its engineers were “working to identify and solve the issue quickly” in a brief statement to The Post.</p>
<p>“SOS got you down? We can hear you now — and we’re serving up,” Krispy Kreme wrote on Instagram.  <span class="credit">Stephen Yang</span></p>
<p>“We understand how important reliable connectivity is and apologize for the inconvenience,” a Verizon spokesperson said.</p>
<p>The phone and internet company has not announced a cause or timeline for full restoration as of Wednesday afternoon. Scattered reports suggested service was beginning to return for some — while many others were still waiting.</p>
<p>T-Mobile, one of Verizon’s primary competitors, mercilessly trolled the network’s meltdown. </p>
<p>“T-Mobile’s network is keeping our customers connected, and we’ve confirmed that our network is operating normally and as expected. However, due to Verizon’s reported outage, our customers may not be able to reach someone with Verizon service at this time,” the company posted on X.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/krispy-kreme-offers-free-doughnuts-during-nationwide-verizon-outage-sos-got-you-down/">Krispy Kreme offers free doughnuts during nationwide Verizon outage: &#8216;SOS got you down?&#8217;</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com">Our Story Insight</a>.</p>
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		<title>Starlink offers free internet in Venezuela after U.S. strikes, Maduro arrest</title>
		<link>https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/starlink-offers-free-internet-in-venezuela-after-u-s-strikes-maduro-arrest/</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Jan 2026 12:14:58 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/?p=12090</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>SpaceX headquarters is shown in Hawthorne, California, U.S. June 5, 2025. Daniel Cole &#124; Reuters Elon Musk&#8217;s Starlink is offering free broadband internet service to users in Venezuela through Feb. 3, following U.S. airstrikes and the capture of ousted leader Nicolás Maduro.  The satellite internet provider said in a release on Sunday that service credits [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/starlink-offers-free-internet-in-venezuela-after-u-s-strikes-maduro-arrest/">Starlink offers free internet in Venezuela after U.S. strikes, Maduro arrest</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com">Our Story Insight</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span class="HighlightShare-hidden" style="top:0;left:0"/></p>
<p>SpaceX headquarters is shown in Hawthorne, California, U.S. June 5, 2025.</p>
<p>Daniel Cole | Reuters</p>
<p>Elon Musk&#8217;s Starlink is offering free broadband internet service to users in Venezuela through Feb. 3, following U.S. airstrikes and the capture of ousted leader Nicolás Maduro. </p>
<p>The satellite internet provider said in a release on Sunday that service credits were being added to both active and inactive accounts as it monitored evolving conditions. </p>
<p>Starlink, a subsidiary of the aerospace company SpaceX, provides internet access via low-earth-orbit satellites and requires users to purchase separate equipment to connect to the service.</p>
<p>While Starlink&#8217;s availability map on its website lists Venezuela as &#8220;coming soon,&#8221; the company indicated that users can access the service through a roaming plan. </p>
<p>&#8220;While we do [not yet have] a timeline for local purchase availability, if and when there are updates they will be communicated directly through official Starlink channels,&#8221; it added. It remains unclear how the company&#8217;s services and pricing would evolve after Feb. 3. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, a temporary extension of free internet services in the country could help provide connectivity amid the fallout of recent U.S. airstrikes and a ground raid to capture and extradite Maduro for trial on allegations including narco-terrorism and election rigging.  </p>
<p>Starlink allows internet to be provided by non-state companies in authoritarian regimes</p>
<p>Marko Papic</p>
<p>Global GeoMacro Strategist at BCA Research</p>
<p>Washington&#8217;s operations on Jan. 3 mostly targeted areas in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, with the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira also attacked, according to a government statement.</p>
<p>Following the airstrikes, reports indicated that areas of Caracas had lost power and internet connectivity. Some local outlets also reported outages in Miranda over the weekend. </p>
<p>U.S. President Donald Trump has stated that the U.S. would oversee Venezuela&#8217;s transition, though details remain unclear amid concerns over a power vacuum.</p>
<p>The president also announced Saturday that Vice President Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in after Maduro&#8217;s arrest, but has threatened a second strike on Venezuela if the leadership didn&#8217;t &#8220;behave.&#8221;</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council plans to hold a meeting on Jan. 6 to discuss the legality of U.S. action, as countries, including U.S. allies such as Brazil and Spain, have condemned the military actions.  </p>
<h2 class="ArticleBody-subtitle">Starlink&#8217;s growing reach </h2>
<p>Venezuela is not the first conflict zone where Starlink has been deployed. The satellite service was rolled out in Ukraine in 2022 to replace internet and communication networks damaged by Russia&#8217;s invasion of the country, quickly becoming a critical tool for both civilian and military connectivity.</p>
<p>While Ukrainian and international officials praised Starlink&#8217;s role in the war-torn country, its use in the conflict also raised questions about the influence a single private company could wield over access to internet services during wartime.</p>
<p>These concerns escalated in September 2023 when a biography on Musk revealed that he had previously denied a Ukrainian request to activate Starlink coverage over Russian-annexed Crimea, effectively thwarting a planned drone submarine attack.</p>
<p>This disclosure prompted the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee to probe &#8220;serious national liability issues&#8221; stemming from a private citizen&#8217;s sway over the conflict.</p>
<p>However, in June 2023, the U.S. Department of Defense brought Starlink&#8217;s activities in Ukraine under its formal oversight through a contract with SpaceX, effectively making the company an official military contractor.</p>
<p>The Department of Defense did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment regarding potential involvement or oversight of Starlink&#8217;s operations in Venezuela. </p>
<p>Beyond conflict zones, Starlink has also been used to bypass government-imposed internet censorship and shutdowns in several countries.</p>
<p>In Iran, thousands of users have reportedly used Starlink to access the unfiltered internet, defying government restrictions despite the service not being officially approved.</p>
<p>Venezuela also has a well-documented history of internet censorship and shutdowns, especially during times of political upheaval under the governments of Hugo Chávez and Maduro. </p>
<p>&#8220;Starlink allows internet to be provided by non-state companies in authoritarian regimes,&#8221; Marko Papic, Global GeoMacro Strategist at BCA Research,  told CNBC, adding that this is almost certain to become a trend. </p>
<p>It is highly likely that Starlink will become available everywhere where the U.S. is involved in an antagonistic relationship with the regime, he added. </p>
<p>However, amid broader international concerns over Starlink and the U.S.&#8217;s dominant role in the satellite broadband sector, governments such as China and the European Union have been supporting domestic alternatives. </p>
<p>That includes Shanghai-based Qianfan, also known as SpaceSail, which has launched at least 108 low-earth-orbit satellites so far, according to Chinese state-backed media.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Beijing&#8217;s state-owned space program last month announced the successful launch of its 17th batch of low-Earth-orbit internet satellites under its Guowang constellation project. </p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/starlink-offers-free-internet-in-venezuela-after-u-s-strikes-maduro-arrest/">Starlink offers free internet in Venezuela after U.S. strikes, Maduro arrest</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com">Our Story Insight</a>.</p>
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		<title>Free streaming service Tubi is rivaling major players for viewership</title>
		<link>https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/free-streaming-service-tubi-is-rivaling-major-players-for-viewership/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Dec 2025 14:48:22 +0000</pubDate>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>Pavlo Gonchar &#124; Lightrocket &#124; Getty Images Tubi hit profitability this year doing what other streaming services are trying to: attract younger audiences who are willing to sit through ads. The Fox Corp.-owned free streaming platform has long been among a sort of second tier of streaming services alongside lower-budget and less popular offerings like [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/free-streaming-service-tubi-is-rivaling-major-players-for-viewership/">Free streaming service Tubi is rivaling major players for viewership</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com">Our Story Insight</a>.</p>
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										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span class="HighlightShare-hidden" style="top:0;left:0"/></p>
<p>Pavlo Gonchar | Lightrocket | Getty Images</p>
<p>Tubi hit profitability this year doing what other streaming services are trying to: attract younger audiences who are willing to sit through ads. </p>
<p>The <span class="QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer" data-test="QuoteInBody" id="RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-3">Fox Corp<span class="QuoteInBody-inlineButton"><span class="AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer" id="-WatchlistDropdown" data-analytics-id="-WatchlistDropdown"><span class="AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag"/></span></span></span>.-owned free streaming platform has long been among a sort of second tier of streaming services alongside lower-budget and less popular offerings like Pluto and The Roku Channel. But the free service is gaining traction and finding its footing in conversations with the big players. </p>
<p>In November, Tubi made up 2.1% of total streaming minutes on The Gauge, Nielsen&#8217;s monthly analysis of viewing trends, ahead of NBCUniversal&#8217;s Peacock and <span class="QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer" data-test="QuoteInBody" id="RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-5">Warner Bros. Discovery&#8217;s<span class="QuoteInBody-inlineButton"><span class="AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer" id="-WatchlistDropdown" data-analytics-id="-WatchlistDropdown"><span class="AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag"/></span></span></span> HBO Max. <span class="QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer" data-test="QuoteInBody" id="RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-6">Google&#8217;s<span class="QuoteInBody-inlineButton"><span class="AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer" id="-WatchlistDropdown" data-analytics-id="-WatchlistDropdown"><span class="AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag"/></span></span></span> YouTube holds the top spot in the viewership tracker. </p>
<p>&#8220;Our fans come in, and they behave like [subscription streaming] viewers. The only difference is they don&#8217;t pay for it,&#8221; said Tubi&#8217;s chief marketing officer, Nicole Parlapiano, in an interview. </p>
<p><span class="QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer" data-test="QuoteInBody" id="RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-7">Netflix&#8217;s<span class="QuoteInBody-inlineButton"><span class="AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer" id="-WatchlistDropdown" data-analytics-id="-WatchlistDropdown"><span class="AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag"/></span></span></span> dominance in streaming has led many media companies to chase the same success, spending billions of dollars on original content to attract subscribers and strive for profitability. </p>
<p>In response, the cost of streaming has risen, with nearly every subscription platform instituting multiple price hikes in recent years and pushing consumers toward cheaper, ad-supported options. A crackdown on password sharing by some of the biggest players has also shaken up the space.</p>
<p>&#8220;People used to cut the cord, now they&#8217;re canceling subscriptions. And is that driving more consumption into free streaming? Absolutely,&#8221; Tubi Chief Content Officer Adam Lewinson told CNBC. </p>
<p>Tubi said it has more than 100 million monthly active users and 1 billion hours of streamed content per month. For comparison, Netflix reported more than 300 million subscribers as of late 2024, the last time it reported the metric, while <span class="QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer" data-test="QuoteInBody" id="RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-10">Disney+<span class="QuoteInBody-inlineButton"><span class="AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer" id="-WatchlistDropdown" data-analytics-id="-WatchlistDropdown"><span class="AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag"/></span></span></span> reported 131 million subscribers as of the end of September. </p>
<p>Nearly 60% of Tubi&#8217;s audience is made up of millennials or members of Generation Z, and nearly half are multicultural, Tubi said, citing an MRI-Simmons Cord Evolution Study of its audience. </p>
<p>Tubi bulks up its library by licensing films and TV series — some popular and some niche. The platform does produce original content, albeit at a smaller scale than its competitors. It&#8217;s also tapped Fox&#8217;s sports arsenal, airing two NFL games this year on Tubi, most notably the Super Bowl in February and a Thanksgiving Day game last month. </p>
<p>In total, Tubi boasts more than 300,000 titles on its platform.</p>
<h2 class="ArticleBody-subtitle">Fox&#8217;s answer to streaming</h2>
<p>In October, Fox reported that Tubi had reached profitability for the first time for the fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30, with Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch adding that it reached that milestone &#8220;earlier than expected.&#8221; Tubi reported 27% revenue growth for the quarter, which was driven by an 18% increase in total view time. </p>
<p>Murdoch said at the time the hope was for Tubi to continue on its trajectory so it could become &#8220;a meaningful contributor&#8221; to earnings in the near term. </p>
<p>The growth is validation for Fox, which took a different tack to the streaming game than its media peers. Its stock is up more than 40% this year, while other media stocks haven&#8217;t fared nearly as well amid a sea of uncertainty. </p>
<p>The company offloaded its entertainment assets to Disney in 2019, and its TV business — broadcast network Fox and cable networks like Fox News — consist mostly of news and sports. In 2020, the media company acquired Tubi for $440 million. </p>
<p>Since then, Tubi had been Fox&#8217;s main answer to streaming until recently, when the company launched Fox One, a direct-to-consumer streaming service of all Fox content for $19.99 per month. Murdoch has emphasized there are no plans for Fox One to produce original or exclusive content, leaving Tubi to shine with a digital and cost-conscious audience. </p>
<h2 class="ArticleBody-subtitle">Free reigns</h2>
<p>Paige Bulera, a 23-year-old from Buffalo, New York, said she doesn&#8217;t believe in paying for disappointment. That&#8217;s why Tubi has emerged as the winner amid all of her streaming apps. </p>
<p>Bulera said she watches movies more often than the average person and uses her sister&#8217;s logins for nearly all of the major streaming services. But with each subsequent price increase, she&#8217;s finding less satisfaction with their investment.</p>
<p>&#8220;Not only are they going up in price, it seems like with each price increase you&#8217;re losing things,&#8221; Bulera told CNBC. &#8220;It&#8217;s like now you can&#8217;t share accounts with people on Netflix, or even if it goes up in price, there&#8217;s still going to be ads.&#8221;</p>
<p>Jaque Silva | Nurphoto | Getty Images</p>
<p>Her slate of movies heavily leans toward horror. Tubi said the platform has the largest collection of horror content with 9,000 titles, while also offering fan favorites spanning genres like &#8220;Coraline,&#8221; &#8220;The Wolf of Wall Street&#8221; and &#8220;Tom and Jerry.&#8221; </p>
<p>&#8220;With Tubi, it&#8217;s completely free – you know you&#8217;re getting ads, but it&#8217;s promoted in a way where you can watch old movies, new movies, or Tubi originals, so that&#8217;s why I&#8217;m a big fan of the platform, mainly because of the fact that it&#8217;s cost-effective,&#8221; Bulera said. </p>
<p>A recent report from MoffettNathanson notes that streaming engagement remains strong at YouTube, followed by free, ad-supported platforms — called FAST channels — like Tubi, <span class="QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer" data-test="QuoteInBody" id="RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-19">Paramount Skydance&#8217;s<span class="QuoteInBody-inlineButton"><span class="AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer" id="-WatchlistDropdown" data-analytics-id="-WatchlistDropdown"><span class="AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag"/></span></span></span> Pluto, and <span class="QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer" data-test="QuoteInBody" id="RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-20">Roku&#8217;s <span class="QuoteInBody-inlineButton"><span class="AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer" id="-WatchlistDropdown" data-analytics-id="-WatchlistDropdown"><span class="AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag"/></span></span></span>The Roku Channel. </p>
<p>Tubi executives say the platform often gets caught up in the same conversation as platforms like Pluto because it offers channels in a guide format that reflect the traditional linear model. However, since nearly all of its viewership is on demand – meaning viewers are selecting films and series from the library rather than tuning into a preprogrammed channel – Tubi argues it should swim in the same pool as subscription services like Netflix and Disney+. </p>
<p>&#8220;Ninety-five percent of people are coming in with the intent to watch what they want to watch, and they are leaned in. They&#8217;re not passive viewers,&#8221; said Tubi&#8217;s Parlapiano. </p>
<p>Executives say that selection process makes Tubi viewers more inclined to watch ads than those tuning into other free, ad-supported channels for more of a laid-back experience — or simply to have something on in the background. That&#8217;s a strong sales pitch for advertisers. </p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re 100% ad-supported, which other streamers are not. Yes, they have ad-supported tiers, but it&#8217;s unclear on each platform how big those tiers are and how much viewing is happening in an ad-supported environment,&#8221; Parlapiano said.</p>
<p>On Fox&#8217;s most recent earnings call, CFO Steve Tomsic said the company&#8217;s overall TV advertising revenue was up 6%, primarily driven by Tubi&#8217;s growth.</p>
<h2 class="ArticleBody-subtitle">Leaning into Gen Z</h2>
<p>James Van Der Beek and Noah Beck in Tubi&#8217;s Sidelined 2: Intercepted</p>
<p>source: Tubi</p>
<p>With 58% of its viewers skewing young, Tubi has invested a lot of work into appealing to younger generations, according to company executives.</p>
<p>In June, Tubi launched Tubi for Creators, part of a broader push from the company into incorporating content creators into Hollywood.</p>
<p>&#8220;The idea behind it is to give creators a pathway to Hollywood that really allows them to maintain their authenticity that made them popular in the first place and maintain a lot of creative control,&#8221; said Rich Bloom, head of Tubi for Creators. &#8220;We launched with six creators and about 500 episodes of content, and we&#8217;re now up to well over 100 creators and over 10,000 episodes of content.&#8221;</p>
<p>Tubi has signed deals with well-known YouTube entertainers to add their existing episodes to the platform, such as Dan and Riya&#8217;s &#8220;Beverly Valley High&#8221; and FunnyMike&#8217;s series &#8220;Mr. Creepy Eyes.&#8221; It&#8217;s also been inking deals with independent filmmakers through Kickstarter-funded projects.</p>
<p>Bloom said Tubi has seen that the category is attracting new, younger audiences, and the &#8220;retention rate of those viewers is actually better than our general new viewers.&#8221;</p>
<p>Tubi&#8217;s Lewinson said the platform has been particularly successful with young adult movies, like &#8220;Sidelined&#8221; and &#8220;Sidelined 2,&#8221; starring TikTok star Noah Beck. The franchise has brought in nearly 20 million viewers alone, with the median age of new viewers watching the sequel just 21 years old, Lewinson added. </p>
<p>Tubi&#8217;s Sidelined 2: Intercepted</p>
<p>source: Tubi</p>
<p>&#8220;We are really proving that we can bring young viewers to a long-form streaming platform,&#8221; he said. &#8220;There&#8217;s a perception that they&#8217;re only interested in short-form – completely not accurate. So long as you have relevant content for their fandom, they&#8217;ll come to Tubi.&#8221;</p>
<p>Gen Z is also leaning into nostalgia, with older shows like &#8220;Columbo&#8221; and &#8220;Murder, She Wrote&#8221; popular on Tubi, too. </p>
<p>Tubi executives note its growing Gen Z and millennial audience is another selling point for advertisers. </p>
<p>&#8220;My acquisition team can go out and acquire whatever we can possibly find, but we&#8217;re finding that as we produce these types of stories, we&#8217;re really bringing in those viewers,&#8221; Lewinson said. &#8220;They&#8217;ll come in to watch &#8216;Sidelined,&#8217; but then we&#8217;re following their journey to see what else they&#8217;re watching on the platform, and we&#8217;re making sure that we have plenty of those types of categories for those viewers to watch.&#8221;</p>
<p>Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/free-streaming-service-tubi-is-rivaling-major-players-for-viewership/">Free streaming service Tubi is rivaling major players for viewership</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com">Our Story Insight</a>.</p>
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		<title>How Google abandoned facts for &#8216;free expression&#8217;</title>
		<link>https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/how-google-abandoned-facts-for-free-expression/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[admin]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Sep 2025 06:27:09 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/?p=9677</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Google CEO Sundar Pichai waves as he arrives to attend the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit at the Grand Palais in Paris, France, February 11, 2025. Benoit Tessier &#124; Reuters Google long touted the need for factually accurate information on its platforms, but a letter submitted to Congress this week demonstrates how the tech company [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/how-google-abandoned-facts-for-free-expression/">How Google abandoned facts for &#8216;free expression&#8217;</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com">Our Story Insight</a>.</p>
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										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span class="HighlightShare-hidden" style="top:0;left:0"/></p>
<p>Google CEO Sundar Pichai waves as he arrives to attend the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit at the Grand Palais in Paris, France, February 11, 2025. </p>
<p>Benoit Tessier | Reuters</p>
<p><span class="QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer" data-test="QuoteInBody" id="RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-1">Google<span class="QuoteInBody-inlineButton"><span class="AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer" id="-WatchlistDropdown" data-analytics-id="-WatchlistDropdown"><span class="AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag"/></span></span></span> long touted the need for factually accurate information on its platforms, but a letter submitted to Congress this week demonstrates how the tech company is shifting to prioritize &#8220;free expression.&#8221;</p>
<p>The company&#8217;s YouTube division on Tuesday said it will soon allow accounts that were previously banned for spreading misinformation related to Covid-19 and the 2020 U.S. election to apply for reinstatement. The company made the announcement through the letter, which was penned by Alphabet lawyer Daniel Donovan and sent to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.</p>
<p>That announcement effectively rolled back a policy that had treated violations as lifetime bans.</p>
<p>Google&#8217;s new stance comes despite the company touting the need for accuracy and fact-checking as far back as 2016 and throughout the pandemic. During that time, the company has used third party fact-checkers and trust and safety teams monitoring misinformation.</p>
<p>Donovan&#8217;s letter is the latest backtrack from the company that once positioned itself as a bastion for accurate information but is increasingly touting &#8220;free expression.&#8221; Google isn&#8217;t alone. Meta similarly changed its speech policies in January, just before the second inauguration of President Donald Trump.</p>
<p>YouTube&#8217;s new reinstatement policy comes as Alphabet is under heavy regulatory pressure. The company lost back-to-back antitrust cases brought by the Department of Justice related to Google&#8217;s dominance in online search and advertising. Google is also in talks with Trump lawyers after a lawsuit stemmed from the suspension of the president&#8217;s social media accounts after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Trump filed suits against Facebook, the company formerly known as Twitter and YouTube later in 2021, and he settled with Meta and X earlier this year. </p>
<p>&#8220;Google is committed to free expression and works to connect users with a broad range of high quality, relevant information,&#8221; the company told CNBC in a statement, adding that it does not rely on external fact checkers for ranking content in products like Search or YouTube.</p>
<p>The company added that it is continue to invest in new technologies like SynthID, a watermarking tool that shows when content is AI-generated, and Community Notes, a feature that allows users to annotate content on YouTube with additional context.</p>
<p>Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump and Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) speak on Day 2 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., July 16, 2024. </p>
<p>Mike Segar | Reuters</p>
<h2 class="ArticleBody-subtitle">The importance of &#8216;accurate information&#8217;</h2>
<p>Google first ramped up its fact-checking operations ahead of the 2016 U.S. elections.</p>
<p>The company had faced growing concerns over misinformation, and false or misleading stories often ranked highly in Search or appearing in Google News.</p>
<p>Alphabet added a fact-checking category to Google News in October 2016. The &#8220;Fact Check&#8221; tag used the program ClaimReview to highlight articles from verified fact-checking organizations like PolitiFact and Snopes. With the new tag, Google said it wanted &#8220;to help readers find fact checking in major news stories.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re excited to see the growth of the Fact Check community and to shine a light on its efforts to divine fact from fiction, wisdom from spin,&#8221; Google said at the time.</p>
<p>In 2017, Google expanded its &#8220;Fact Check&#8221; tag globally and to its search results. It showed results from third-party fact-checking organizations that were verified by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) or similar bodies. The fact-checked tags in search results showed information about the accuracy of a claim, who made the claim and who fact checked the claim.</p>
<p>&#8220;Even though differing conclusions may be presented, we think it&#8217;s still helpful for people to understand the degree of consensus around a particular claim and have clear information on which sources agree,&#8221; the company said at the time.</p>
<p>In 2018, YouTube&#8217;s then-CEO Susan Wojcicki said the video service would begin including text boxes with &#8220;information cues&#8221; on videos that promote conspiracy theories. The boxes would link to third-party sources that debunk the hoaxes in question, CNBC reported at the time.</p>
<p>At a U.S. Congressional testimony that December, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said that users &#8220;look to us to provide accurate, trusted information.&#8221;</p>
<p>Google&#8217;s fact-checking efforts took on greater importance following the Covid-19 outbreak. The company faced criticism for misinformation going viral on its properties, including videos on YouTube related to elections, Covid-19 and vaccines.</p>
<p>In an April 2020 blog, Google said more people were coming to YouTube for news, so it would be &#8220;expanding fact checks on YouTube to the United States.&#8221; To do this, YouTube said it would use the information panels introduced in 2018 to link users to information about Covid-19 from sources like the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health authorities.</p>
<p>&#8220;The outbreak of COVID-19 and its spread around the world has reaffirmed how important it is for viewers to get accurate information during fast-moving events,&#8221; it said at the time.</p>
<p>In a May 2020 blog titled &#8220;CoronaVirus: How We&#8217;re Helping,&#8221; Pichai wrote that Google is protecting people from misinformation. </p>
<p>&#8220;Our Trust and Safety team has been working around the clock and across the globe to safeguard our users from phishing, conspiracy theories, malware and misinformation, and we are constantly on the lookout for new threats,&#8221; Pichai wrote. &#8220;On YouTube, we are working to quickly remove any content that claims to prevent the coronavirus in place of seeking medical treatment.&#8221;</p>
<p>Still, videos containing inaccurate information began to go viral faster than YouTube could manage by November 2020.</p>
<p>A video titled &#8220;Trump won&#8221; posted by right-leaning media organization One American News Network on YouTube showed OAN anchor Christina Bobb saying, &#8220;President Trump won four more years in the office last night.&#8221; The video also included unsubstantiated claims of &#8220;rampant voter fraud&#8221; against Republican ballots and urged viewers to &#8220;take action&#8221; against Democrats. The video had more than 300,000 views before YouTube stopped running ads alongside it.</p>
<p>YouTube does not &#8220;allow ads to run on content that undermines confidence in elections with demonstrably false information,&#8221; a spokesperson for the service said at the time.</p>
<p>Asked why the video was left up, another YouTube spokesperson said that the service&#8217;s &#8220;Community Guidelines&#8221; for taking videos down applied to videos that discouraged voting but not to videos that advocate for interference after votes have already been cast.</p>
<p>Later that month, YouTube suspended OAN&#8217;s account, saying it was &#8220;due to repeated violations of its Covid-19 misinformation policy and other channel monetization policies.&#8221;</p>
<p>Days after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, the company suspended Trump&#8217;s YouTube account, saying that the outgoing president&#8217;s videos violated the service&#8217;s policies that prohibit content from inciting violence.</p>
<h2 class="ArticleBody-subtitle">The importance of &#8216;free expression&#8217;</h2>
<p>In 2023, Google began changing its tune.</p>
<p>That June, Google said that effective immediately it would stop removing false claims of widespread election fraud in the 2020 presidential race from YouTube.</p>
<p>YouTube said in a blog that it made the decision to balance its twin goals of &#8220;protecting our community and providing a home for open discussion and debate.&#8221; The decision, which came ahead of the 2024 mid-term U.S. elections, undid a policy implemented in December 2020 after President Joe Biden won the 2020 U.S. election.  </p>
<p>&#8220;In the current environment, we find that while removing this content does curb some misinformation, it could also have the unintended effect of curtailing political speech without meaningfully reducing the risk of violence or other real-world harm,&#8221; the company wrote.</p>
<p>In March 2023, YouTube reinstated Trump&#8217;s YouTube channel, allowing him to upload videos once again.</p>
<p>A year later, Google and YouTube in March 2024 laid off employees from its trust and safety team as part of broader staff cuts across the company. Those cuts came as others in tech, including Meta, Amazon and the company then known as Twitter, also reduced the size of their respective trust and safety teams.</p>
<p>The velocity of YouTube&#8217;s changing speech policies accelerated in 2025.</p>
<p>Kent Walker, president and chief legal officer at Alphabet Inc., during an interview in New York, US, on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. </p>
<p>Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images</p>
<p>Google Global Affairs President Kent Walker told a deputy director of the European Commission that it would &#8220;pull out of all fact-checking commitments&#8221; from its software code before letting its services become a code of conduct for the EU&#8217;s Digital Services Act, according to a January report by Axios.</p>
<p>The fact-checking integration required by the European Commission &#8220;simply isn&#8217;t appropriate or effective for our services,&#8221; Walker wrote in a letter to the deputy director, according to the report.</p>
<p>The company expanded on this notion in a blog for developers published in June, saying that it would phase out &#8220;support for a few structured data features in Search,&#8221; including the ClaimReview fact-checking snippets.</p>
<p>&#8220;Google did not inform fact-checkers that the 10-year collaboration was coming to an end, let alone consult with us on the decision to stop using the fact-checks that we provided for free,&#8221; wrote Clara Jiménez Cruz, CEO of fact-checking foundation Maldita.es and chair of the European Fact-Checking Standards Network.</p>
<p>Google told CNBC it never integrated fact checking at scale. The company added that the phase out of ClaimReview was done as part of an effort to simplify its Search results page.</p>
<p>In August, YouTube TV signed a multi-year deal with OAN, the same network it had suspended from YouTube after the 2020 U.S. election.</p>
<p>And with Tuesday&#8217;s letter, YouTube said it would allow accounts previously banned for spreading misinformation about Covid-19 and the 2020 U.S. election to apply for reinstatement. Among channels previously banned under those rules were some associated with Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.</p>
<p>YouTube on Thursday posted on X saying that previously terminated creators had already begun attempting to create new channels. It clarified that the new policy is a &#8220;limited pilot program&#8221; that hasn&#8217;t formally opened yet.</p>
<p>&#8220;YouTube has not and will not empower fact-checkers to take action on or label content across the Company&#8217;s services,&#8221; Alphabet&#8217;s counsel wrote in its letter to Rep. Jordan.</p>
<p>In contrast to the letter, YouTube&#8217;s help page as of Thursday says the service will display information panels with links to independent fact checks under videos.</p>
<p>&#8220;If a channel is owned by a news publisher that is funded by a government, or publicly funded, an information panel providing publisher context may be displayed on the watch page of the videos on its channel,&#8221; the help page states.</p>
<p>Google said it will continue to use information panels on topics that warrant additional context, such as videos that discuss the moon landing. Google said the panels link to more information but never refute claims made within a particular video.</p>
<p>In the letter, Alphabet&#8217;s Donovan also wrote that senior Biden administration officials pressed the company to remove &#8220;non-violative user-generated content.&#8221; Donovan wrote that the Biden administration &#8220;sought to influence the actions of platforms based on their concerns regarding misinformation.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;It is unacceptable and wrong when any government, including the Biden Administration, attempts to dictate how the Company moderates content,&#8221; Donovan wrote. Alphabet &#8220;has consistently fought against those efforts on First Amendment grounds.&#8221;</p>
<p>Donovan wrote that while YouTube&#8217;s reliance on health authorities during the pandemic was well intentioned, it &#8220;should never come at the expense of public debate.&#8221;</p>
<p>In that five-page letter, Alphabet appeared to take a different tone than it had in the past. There were no mentions of accurate, factual or highly-reliable information, but the company made several mentions of protecting &#8220;free expression.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;﻿﻿﻿The Company has a commitment to freedom of expression,&#8221; Donovan wrote. &#8220;This commitment is unwavering and will not bend to political pressure.&#8221;</p>
<p>The House Judiciary Committee published its own press release alongside the Alphabet letter, writing &#8220;Google admits Censorship Under Biden.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>WATCH: </strong>Rep. Jim Jordan on Google reinstating banned YouTube accounts, return of Jimmy Kimmel</p>
<p><span class="InlineVideo-videoButton"/><span/></p>
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		<title>Solange Knowles is launching a free radical library. ‹</title>
		<link>https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/solange-knowles-is-launching-a-free-radical-library/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sun, 28 Sep 2025 17:44:44 +0000</pubDate>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>September 26, 2025, 2:55pm Once again, Solange Knowles is using her popularity for a good cause. Last night on Instagram, the polymath poet, culture worker, and song stylist announced a new literary project. An archive sponsored by Saint Heron, Knowles’ “multidisciplinary institution reverencing the spiritual act of creation,” will house and lend a rare collection [&#8230;]</p>
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]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p>
<p>September 26, 2025, 2:55pm</p>
<p>Once again, Solange Knowles is using her popularity for a good cause. Last night on Instagram, the polymath poet, culture worker, and song stylist announced a new literary project.</p>
<p>An archive sponsored by Saint Heron, Knowles’ “multidisciplinary institution reverencing the spiritual act of creation,” will house and lend a rare collection of Black and Brown intellectual, literary, and art works. Knowles is the founder and creative director behind the Saint Heron Community Library.</p>
<p>Per its charter, the library is a new “literary center dedicated to students, artists, creatives and general book/literature enthusiasts” interested in the often underserved corridors of the archive.</p>
<p>Based on a 2021 collaboration with Rosa Duffy, founder of Atlanta’s For Keeps Bookstore, the library aims to be an open educational resource. States-based readers can follow Solange’s Insta stories for registration details. And, when the portal’s up and running, borrow works for 45 days, for free.</p>
<p>A glance at the archive reveals a dazzle of rare resources that one would usually need the Schomburg’s help to track down. Saint Heron’s packing poetry, art catalogues, histories, monographs, and anthologies. One could request Ntozake Shange’s A Daughter’s Geography, or a rare bundle of June Jordan essays.</p>
<p>Out-of-print, rare, and first-edition titles make up the bulk of the collection. So works by Wanda Coleman, Pope L., and Ruby Dee sit next to titles by Octavia Butler and Audre Lorde.</p>
<p>The physical book borrowing system will be honor based. Each borrower may reserve one book per person, with requests fulfilled on a first-come, first-served basis. Shipping will be complimentary, but if your book isn’t in by the deadline, a credit card will be charged on file. But details to come on this logistics front.</p>
<p>In the meantime, hooray for the archive! Have you thanked a Knowles sister today?</p>
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		<title>The Banned Wagon is Giving Away Banned Books for Free</title>
		<link>https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/the-banned-wagon-is-giving-away-banned-books-for-free/</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Sep 2025 00:54:01 +0000</pubDate>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Book Riot Editorial is made up of passionate readers, writers, and book lovers dedicated to delivering insightful book recommendations, literary analysis, and the latest in book culture. With expertise spanning multiple genres and a deep understanding of the [&#8230;]</p>
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<p class="author-bio--description">Book Riot Editorial is made up of passionate readers, writers, and book lovers dedicated to delivering insightful book recommendations, literary analysis, and the latest in book culture. With expertise spanning multiple genres and a deep understanding of the publishing industry, we offer thoughtful commentary, book deals, and news that matters to readers. Whether it’s uncovering hidden gems, analyzing literary trends, or championing diverse voices, Book Riot’s editorial team is here to keep you informed and inspired.</p>
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<p>For the third year in a row, Penguin Random House is doing the Banned Wagon Tour, which gives away banned books—for free!—during Banned Books Week (October 5-11). This year, they’ll be visiting libraries and indie bookstores in Washington D.C. and Philadelphia.</p>
<p>This year’s tour also includes Save Our Stories Supper at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library, a private event with guests including Ibram X. Kendi, author of How To Be an Antiracist; Malinda Lo, author of Last Night at the Telegraph Club; and James Baldwin’s nephews.</p>
<p>image via Penguin Random House</p>
<p>The Banned Wagon will be giving away 30 titles from picture books to adult nonfiction, all of which are currently banned or challenged in schools and libraries in states across the U.S.. The Banned Wagon also has a QR code, and every scan will donate a book to a community in need via First Book. Anyone donating can include a note about a banned book they love.</p>
<p>image via Penguin Random House</p>
<p>“This week is not just for celebration—it’s about action,” said Skip Dye, Chair of Penguin Random House’s Intellectual Freedom Taskforce. “By standing together as publishers, authors, educators, librarians, students, and readers, we can ensure that shelves remain filled with diverse ideas and perspectives, and that the next generation grows up with the freedom to explore them.” </p>
<p>Literary Activism</p>
<p>
News you can use plus tips and tools for the fight against censorship and other bookish activism!
</p>
<p>image via Penguin Random House</p>
<p>“Books and stories are essential to our identities, our histories, and our future,” said Alyssa Taylor, Director of Brand Marketing, Penguin Random House. “We’re proud to take the Banned Wagon to Washington D.C. and Philadelphia–two iconic cities in our country’s history–to help protect every American’s access to books that make it possible to read, think, and learn freely.” </p>
<p>image via Penguin Random House</p>
<p>Some of the books being given away this year are:</p>
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou</li>
<li>The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood</li>
<li>Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin</li>
<li>This Is Your Time by Ruby Bridges</li>
<li>My Two Border Towns by David Bowles, illustrated by Erika Meza</li>
<li>Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry, illustrated by Vashti Harrison</li>
<li>The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi</li>
<li>The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros</li>
<li>Colonization and the Wampanoag Story by Linda Coombs</li>
<li>The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank</li>
</ul>
<p>image via Penguin Random House</p>
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Change Sings by Amanda Gorman, illustrated by Loren Long</li>
<li>The Fault in Our Stars by John Green</li>
<li>The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones and edited by Caitlin Roper, Ilene Silverman, and Jake Silverstein</li>
<li>I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas</li>
<li>The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini</li>
<li>How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi</li>
<li>Families, Families, Families! by Suzanne Lang and Max Lang</li>
<li>Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo</li>
<li>Beloved by Toni Morrison</li>
<li>The Rainbow Parade by Emily Neilson</li>
<li>1984 by George Orwell</li>
</ul>
<p>image via Penguin Random House</p>
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Born Ready by Jodie Patterson, illustrated by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow</li>
<li>All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold, illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman</li>
<li>I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez</li>
<li>The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot</li>
<li>Born Behind Bars by Padma Venkatraman</li>
<li>On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong</li>
<li>Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut</li>
<li>Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson</li>
<li>The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead </li>
</ul>
<p>If you’re surprised to see any of these titles on this list, consider subscribing to Book Riot’s Literary Activism newsletter to stay up-to-date on book censorship news.</p>
<p>image via Penguin Random House</p>
<p>You can learn more about the Banned Wagon Tour on the website. You can learn more about Penguin Random House’s other anti-book ban initiatives on the Penguin Random House website.</p>
<p>Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in <strong>Breaking in Books</strong>.</p>
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		<title>Skydance reportedly in early talks to buy Bari Weiss&#8217; The Free Press</title>
		<link>https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/skydance-reportedly-in-early-talks-to-buy-bari-weiss-the-free-press/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 12 Jul 2025 15:31:22 +0000</pubDate>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>Skydance CEO David Ellison has reportedly held talks with Bari Weiss to buy her online news site The Free Press — fueling growing speculation that he is wooing the right-of-center voice to join CBS News once his company’s long-stalled merger with Paramount is approved.  The discussions are in the early stages, a source close to [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/skydance-reportedly-in-early-talks-to-buy-bari-weiss-the-free-press/">Skydance reportedly in early talks to buy Bari Weiss&#8217; The Free Press</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.ourstoryinsight.com">Our Story Insight</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Skydance CEO David Ellison has reportedly held talks with Bari Weiss to buy her online news site The Free Press — fueling growing speculation that he is wooing the right-of-center voice to join CBS News once his company’s long-stalled merger with Paramount is approved. </p>
<p>The discussions are in the early stages, a source close to the situation told The Post on Friday.</p>
<p>Ellison and Weiss — an opinion writer who started The Free Press in 2021 after a public falling out with the left-leaning New York Times — were both spotted attending this week’s Allen &#038; Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. The annual “summer camp for billionaires” has historically been a deal-making hotbed. </p>
<p>The Free Press founder Bari Weiss, who was spotted in Sun Valley, is in sale talks with Skydance boss David Ellison. <span class="credit">Getty Images</span></p>
<p>Allen &#038; Co. is a shareholder in The Free Press, along with more than 30 other investors that include venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and David Sacks, and the former Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz, according to the Times, which first reported deal talks.</p>
<p>Ellison and Weiss have discussed several potential collaborations, including a role for Weiss in shaping CBS News’ editorial direction, though not in a managerial capacity, the Times added, citing two sources.</p>
<p>Skydance declined to comment. Weiss did not immediately return requests for comment.</p>
<p>Ellison has reportedly “quietly courted” Weiss to bring her on board at CBS News in some high-profile capacity for months. The duo reportedly met in New York City last year, with news of the meeting ruffling feathers at “60 Minutes,” the Status newsletter reported last month</p>
<p>Ellison, who is poised to take over CBS-parent Paramount Global, has been tipped to take a major role reshaping CBS News. <span class="credit">AFP via Getty Images</span></p>
<p>The latest talks come as Skydance awaits approval from the Federal Communications Commission on its $8 billion merger with CBS News parent  Paramount Global. </p>
<p>The deal has been throttled by President Trump-nominated FCC Chair Brendan Carr as the agency  investigates the network’s alleged liberal media bias, as well as its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives.</p>
<p>Last week, CBS News agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Trump for allegedly deceptively editing a “60 Minutes” interview with his Democratic challenger Kamala Harris shortly before the election.</p>
<p>A CBS News source told The Post that bringing on Weiss won’t change that network’s “woke” drift, citing its culture of pushing back on authority.</p>
<p>“What Ellison needs to understand is that the anchors and the show executives think they can outlast any executive choice,” the source said, citing a revolving door of news executives and news presidents in the last few years. </p>
<p>The person descibed a “drag-your-feet” culture, in which new executives try to make bold moves, but they are ultimately ignored by the staff, who pays lip-service to them and wait until they’re pushed out. </p>
<p>Weiss (left) and her wife, Nellie Bowles in Sun Valley. <span class="credit">Andrew H. Walker/Shutterstock</span></p>
<p>“Bari Weiss will have an axe in her head in three minutes,” the person concluded.</p>
<p>In the spring, longtime “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens quit in protest, citing a lack of editorial freedoms. His boss, CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon, followed suit.</p>
<p>Weiss quit the Times opinions sections because she felt that the Gray Lady’s left-wing culture was hostile to moderate and conservative voices.</p>
<p>Paramount recently settled its lawsuit with President Trump over its Kamala Harris sitdown, to the dismay of “60 Minutes” staffers. <span class="credit">60 Minutes</span></p>
<p>She launched The Free Press with her wife, former Times journalist Nellie Bowles, and Weiss’ sister Suzy Weiss, a former New York Post reporter.</p>
<p>The trio started the publication as an alternative to left-leaning outlets and sought to cover current events with a “common sense” point of view, tackling subjects such as anti-Semitism on college campuses, the debate over transgender rights in women’s sports, media bias and wokism.</p>
<p>Weiss has championed stories that shed a light on antisemitism across America and Europe following Hamas’ October 7 massacre in Israel, as well as developing a podcast series called “The Witch Trials of J. K. Rowling,” featuring interviews with the “Harry Potter” author, and others, over her controversial views on transgender people.</p>
<p>FCC chair Brendan Carr is responsible for greenlighting the Skydance-Paramount merger.  <span class="credit">Michael Brochstein/ZUMA / SplashNews.com</span></p>
<p>She also hired veteran NPR journalist Uri Berliner, who resigned from the liberal outlet after being suspended for criticizing how the mainstream media — and his employer — had lost the public’s trust by approaching stories with a progressive bend.</p>
<p>It also hosts a series of live events that dig into hot topics such as immrigration and crime.</p>
<p>As of last summer, The Free Press had more than 50 employees and offices on both coasts. </p>
<p>The site has more than 136,000 subscribers paying around $8 a month,  Axios reported in late December. The Times estimated that the site has roughly 1.5 million free and paid subscribers in total.</p>
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		<title>Frontier digs at Southwest with its own free bag check promotion</title>
		<link>https://www.ourstoryinsight.com/frontier-digs-at-southwest-with-its-own-free-bag-check-promotion/</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 18 Mar 2025 15:32:35 +0000</pubDate>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>Frontier Airlines on Tuesday unveiled a free bag check promotion in a dig at Southwest, exactly one week after the rival budget carrier ended its own decades-old policy. The rival budget airline announced a new promotion bundling a seat assignment, free carry-on bag and free flight changes for customers who book Tuesday through March 24 [&#8230;]</p>
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]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Frontier Airlines on Tuesday unveiled a free bag check promotion in a dig at Southwest, exactly one week after the rival budget carrier ended its own decades-old policy.</p>
<p>The rival budget airline announced a new promotion bundling a seat assignment, free carry-on bag and free flight changes for customers who book Tuesday through March 24 for flights through Aug. 18.</p>
<p>Frontier is also throwing in a free checked bag for flights departing May 28 through Aug. 18.</p>
<p>Frontier Airlines is launching a free bag check promotion in a dig at rival Southwest, which is ending the beloved perk. <span class="credit">AP</span></p>
<p>Last week, Southwest broke from its beloved free bag check policy, saying the fees would click into place on May 28.</p>
<p>“We’ve always had heart,” Frontier CEO Barry Biffle said in a statement – an apparent swipe at Southwest’s heart-shaped logo, Dallas Love Field home airport and LUV stock ticker.</p>
<p>“Some airlines are walking away from what travelers love, but we’re running towards it. Think of this as the ultimate ‘divorce your old airline’ deal,” Biffle added. “If travelers show us the love, we’ll make these perks permanent.”</p>
<p>Southwest did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p>
<p>The free bag check policy was a major draw for Southwest customers, making it a stand-out in the industry.</p>
<p>Now, Southwest is hoping the bag fare will boost its revenues.</p>
<p>The major change followed a monthslong campaign from Elliott Investment Management, which took a stake in Southwest last year, won five board seats and unsuccessfully fought to oust CEO Bob Jordan.</p>
<p>The free bag check policy was a major draw for Southwest customers, making the airline a stand-out in the industry. <span class="credit">AP</span></p>
<p>The Dallas-based airline also made major capitulations last month when it ended its iconic pick-any-seat policy and implemented a standard assigned seating process.</p>
<p>Southwest’s promise to sunset the perk came as a shock to customers, since the airline had long pledged to hold onto the rare policy.</p>
<p>CEO Bob Jordan has bragged that, aside from costs and schedule, Southwest’s “bags fly free” policy is often cited as the top reason why customers choose the airline.</p>
<p>Frontier Airlines is offering a temporary free bag check promotion.  <span class="credit">Getty Images</span></p>
<p>During an investor day in September, Southwest said “rigorous research” defended the benefits of the free-bag policy.</p>
<p>The airline claimed it would gain between $1 billion and $1.5 billion from bag fees, but lose $1.8 billion of market share from rolling back the perk.</p>
<p>“What’s changed is that we’ve come to realize that we need more revenue to cover our costs,” COO Andrew Watterson previously told CNBC. “We think that these changes that we’re announcing today will lead to less of that share shift than would have been the case otherwise.”</p>
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