The week that was: the 10 things you need to know
Jack Dorsey, co-founder and ceo of Twitter stepped down and was succeeded by Parag Agrawal, the company´s chief technology officer. Dorsey remains member of the Board until the 2022 meeting of stockholders. Dorsey is also CEO of fintech company Square that it is changing name to Block.
Meta must sell British animated pictures platform Giphy, the British Competition and Markets Authority ruled. The authority said that Meta´s deal to buy Giphy could harm social media users and UK advertisers. Big tech companies have several times been accused of buying competing companies to secure its own market dominance.
The EU Commission will propose a European Media Freedom Act to ensure the integrity and independence of the EU media market, Commissioner Thierry Breton announced. As a background he mentioned how news media is struggling both with financing and with governments using state advertising to indirectly influence news media.
CNN fired anchor Chris Cuomo after earlier having suspended him indefinitely for how he had helped his brother Andrew Cuomo to hold on to his job as governor of New York after having been accused of sexual harassment of women, the CNN newsroom reported.
The average weekly time spent on entertainment overall has increased by five hours between 2019 and 2021. Music, gaming, and podcasts have become a larger share of consumer entertainment. People watch less TV and movies but that is compensated by more time spent on streaming services, according to media consultancy Interpret´s US study.
Travel advertising will grow two to six times faster than admarket as a whole in 13 key markets from 2021 to 2023 but still, the travel ad market will not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2023, according to advertising company Zenith´s forecast.
Cosmetics brand Lush stopped using most social media. The company – operating in 48 countries – says it is “turning its back on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Snapchat until the platforms take action to provide a safer environment for users”.
Microsoft’s shareholders voted against the management and called on the company to reveal more about its handling of sexual harassment claims. The background is the shadow of recent cases and the revelation that co-founder Bill Gates had a relationship with a company employee.
Meta removed networks in Palestine, Poland, Belarus, Italy, France, Vietnam and one that was primarily based in China and comprised more than 500 accounts. The networks were closed for spreading disinformation and mass-attacks.
Nostalgia played a role in people’s listening in 2021 as fans rediscovered old favourites—and new generations adopted them as well, Spotify said in an early summary of 2021. For the second year in a row, Puerto Rican Reggaeton star Bad Bunny was the most streamed artist followed by singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and k-pop group BTS.
Moonshot News is an independent European news website for all IT, Media and Advertising professionals, powered by women and with a focus on driving the narrative for diversity, inclusion and gender equality in the industry.
Our mission is to provide top and unbiased information for all professionals and to make sure that women get their fair share of voice in the news and in the spotlight!
We produce original content, news articles, a curated calendar of industry events and a database of women IT, Media and Advertising associations.
