Jambands: Neil Young Leaves X Following Musk’s Antisemitic Sentiments. “Two years after Neil Young took his music off Spotify following COVID-19 vaccine misinformation by Joe Rogan on the platform, the artist has once again used his absence from a digital platform as a form of protest, this time stepping off X due to Elon Musk’s antisemitic sentiments.”
New York Times: Martin and Francesca Scorsese, TikTok’s Dynamic Duo. “Step aside, Leonardo DiCaprio. Martin Scorsese seems to have found a new muse: Oscar, his daughter Francesca Scorsese’s aptly named miniature schnauzer. In a playful video posted to her TikTok last week, the director — just days before the release of his latest epic, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ — conducted a very important, very serious audition with Oscar.”
Engadget: TikTok’s first live ‘global music event’ will feature Cardi B and Charlie Puth. “Dubbed as the platform’s first ‘live global music event,’ TikTok In The Mix will take place in Mesa, Arizona on December 10. The headliners are Cardi B, Niall Horan, Anitta and Charlie Puth, all of whom are popular figures on TikTok. The service says there will be surprise guests and performances by emerging artists, some of whom are involved in the TikTok Elevate program for up and coming musicians.”
New York Times: Cameo to the Moon, and Back. “A start-up that offers fans a way to buy personalized videos from celebrities was supercharged by pandemic boredom and venture capital. All it had to do was grow forever.”
Bellingcat: X’s Community Notes is Spreading False Information About Taylor Swift’s Bodyguard. “Social media platform X’s Community Notes is spreading false information about Taylor Swift’s Bodyguard. On Tuesday October 17, Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported that an Israeli bodyguard who worked for Swift returned to his home country to volunteer as a reservist in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) as it prepares for a ground invasion of Gaza.”
New York Times: ‘A.I. Obama’ and Fake Newscasters: How A.I. Audio Is Swarming TikTok. “Disinformation watchdogs have noticed the number of videos containing A.I. voices has increased as content producers and misinformation peddlers adopt the novel tools. Social platforms like TikTok are scrambling to flag and label such content.”
Variety: Paris Hilton Inks Content and Commerce Deal With Elon Musk’s X/Twitter, Will Host Videos Featuring Live Shopping. “Paris Hilton is getting her X on. The influencer and entrepreneur — who has 16.6 million followers on X, formerly known as Twitter — announced a deal with the social platform owned by Elon Musk for an array of content and commerce initiatives.”
New York Times: Tom Hanks Warns of Dental Ad Using A.I. Version of Him. “Mr. Hanks and the CBS anchor Gayle King both said their likenesses were used in unauthorized advertisements, as worries have grown over the unregulated use of artificial intelligence.”
Deadline: Star BBC Presenters Should Avoid “Political Campaigning” On Social Media, New Rules State. “While presenters should be allowed to enjoy freedom of expression on social media, they should not be involved in ‘party political campaigning, support for or attacks on political parties, individual politicians, governments or activist organisations,’ the report states. Furthermore, the BBC should should ‘be prescriptive’ in what is not acceptable to help presenters find the line.”
Variety: Stephen Fry ‘Shocked’ to Discover AI Stole His Voice From ‘Harry Potter’ Audiobooks and Replicated It Without Consent, Says His Agents ‘Went Ballistic’. “Stephen Fry recently revealed at the CogX Festival (via Forbes) that his voice from the ‘Harry Potter’ audiobooks was taken by AI software and replicated without his consent, much to the horror of both himself and his agents.”
CoinDesk: NFL Quarterback Trevor Lawrence and 2 YouTube Influencers Settle FTX Case . “As Sam Bankman-Fried prepares for a trial defense in Manhattan next month, three celebrity promoters of his failed FTX cryptocurrency exchange have opted to settle the case, according to court filings. NFL team Jacksonville Jaguars’ quarterback Trevor Lawrence and YouTube influencers Kevin Paffrath and Tom Nash agreed to settle the case on undisclosed terms. The final court order acknowledging the settlement and removing them from the case is awaiting a sign-off from U.S. Judge K. Michael Moore.”
Interview Magazine: Meet Mark Kerrigan, the Man
Who Finds Famous People. “As the managing director of Celebrity Service, the online database that most magazines use to find the details of any talent they’re looking to feature, Mark has worked for nearly three decades making the most inaccessible people a little more accessible. We thanked him for his service with some sangria at Sevilla, where he arrived with a briefcase of pre-internet Celebrity Service artifacts, and some stories about his years of seeking out the stars.”
Radar Online: Family Ties: Cardi B Drags Husband of Blogger Who Owes Her $4 Million to Court, Rapper to Examine Couple’s Bank Statements. “Cardi B’s efforts to collect the nearly $4 million owed to her by blogger Tasha K have ramped up in federal court, RadarOnline.com has learned. According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, Cardi and her legal team have scheduled a videotaped examination of Tasha for this week.”
Rolling Stone: Dionne Warwick Wants a Word With ‘Young Man’ Elon Musk About Changes to X. “DIONNE WARWICK IS not totally impressed with Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, now known as X. Earlier this week, People asked the singer what she thought of Musk’s plan to remove the social media platform’s blocking feature. ‘I have yet to speak to that young man and I intend to because I am not quite sure what he’s doing or if he knows what he’s doing,’ Warwick replied. ‘So until that happens, I’ll reserve my answer to that question.'”
The Real Deal: Celeb names rise in brick-and-mortar retail game . “Celebrities are translating their brands’ e-commerce success to deals for physical retail spaces. Stores for brands connected to big names account for more than 300,000 square feet of retail space nationally, according to JLL data reported by the Commercial Observer.”
