FTC Seeks to Ban Meta From Monetizing Data of Kids Under 18; Company Slams Move as ‘Political Stunt’

Picketers gathered outside Warner Bros. in Burbank today found themselves buoyed by a unique presence: Flavor Flav. The hip-hop icon-turned-reality star showed up to cheers from the assembled WGA supporters.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Directors Guild of America is disputing a Writers Guild of America strike rule that forbids writer-directors from making minor script changes. The conflict revives a decades-old battle — which went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1978 — over the WGA’s jurisdiction. Though the Supreme Court ruled against the WGA, the guild has continued to argue that “hyphenate” members are prohibited from making minor script modifications during a strike. The dispute turns on eight types of activities — including cutting material for time, making adjustments in dialogue, and changing stage directions — that the WGA sees as writing work under its jurisdiction.

University students have hit out after being BANNED from studying at a univerity-owned cafe during peak hours - including all day on weekends.

It was a tale of two coasts today, as WGA picketers and their allies targeted Disney’s upfront presentation in New York and also the company’s Burbank lot in Los Angeles. And the two scenes were very different.

Apple Original Films on Tuesday unveiled the theatrical and streaming release dates, as well as first-look photos for its true-life dramedy The Beanie Bubble, starring Zach Galifianakis (Baskets), Elizabeth Banks (Call Jane), Sarah Snook (Succession) and Geraldine Viswanathan (Cat Person). The film marking the feature directorial debut of Emmy nominee Kristin Gore and Damian Kulash, Jr. will premiere in select theaters on July 21st before bowing globally on Apple TV+ on July 28th.

Looking to the future. Hailey Bieber (née Baldwin) opened up about the pros and cons of possibly raising children with Justin Bieber in the public eye.

Luke Combs is on daddy duty!ET spoke to the  singer at the 2023 ACM Awards Thursday night, where he opened up about fatherhood and his plans for tackling two tots under two.«Two under two is gonna be interesting,» Combs, who is already a dad to 10-month-old Tex with his wife, Nicole Hocking, shared. «We got it though. I'm excited.»As for how the couple, who announced that they'd be welcoming a second in September, are preparing Combs said they're just focusing on raising Tex for now.«And the one day it'll be two of 'em, right?» He quipped.

EXCLUSIVE: Frankie Muniz (Malcolm in the Middle) and Violett Beane (The Flash) have signed on to star in Renner, a new sci-fi thriller from filmmaker Robert Rippberger (Those Who Walk Away). Production will kick off this summer at the newly formed Ascent Studios in Spring Hope, NC, where Rippberger is a founding partner.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Fans of “The Voice” will soon be able to jump into a new immersive virtual world where they can create music, show off their dancing skills, compete in battles, win digital merch — and even audition to be on an upcoming season of the reality-competition series. “The Voice Studios,” from ITV Studios and metaverse developer Virtual Brand Group, is set to debut May 12. The global launch of the Roblox-style virtual world is timed for the final weeks of Season 23 of “The Voice” on NBC. Free for anyone to access, “The Voice Studios” will be located in Vegas City, the entertainment destination in metaverse platform Decentraland (at this link). Its launch follows a virtual pop-up event for “The Voice” last year at the Decentraland Metaverse Music Festival that also was created by VBG.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor BuzzFeed’s revenue was down substantially in the first three months of 2023, dropping 27% in the period — and the company projected sales would be off as much as 29% for Q2. Given the decline, last month BuzzFeed announced it was shuttering its unprofitable BuzzFeed News division and laying off about 180 people across the organization, about 15% of its employee base. “We have reached an inflection point in digital media. Over the last few months, we have made significant strategic and organizational changes to position the business for long-term growth. Peretti continued, “By leaning into Creators and AI, I believe we can unlock new opportunities across our portfolio of trusted brands — including Tasty, First we Feast, Complex, HuffPost and BuzzFeed,” Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed founder and CEO, said in announcing the Q1 results.

EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based sales company Charades has finalized a raft of deals with international buyers for its upcoming comedy Northern Comfort, which debuted at SXSW in March.

on the red carpet over the years, but nothing has nailed the under-the-sea vibe quite as perfectly as the figure-skimming liquid look gown on May 8. As the actor who plays the titular mermaid in the live-action Disney remake, Bailey clearly understands how to bring that magical underwater energy to life.The dress's metallic blue fabric recalled the glimmering reflective surface of a body of water, while the shell-shaped detailing at the bust completed the oceanic princess aesthetic.

The cause of Ray Liotta’s death has reportedly been revealed.

Lior Phillips There’s no formula to emerging from the seemingly endless sea of available music in the past twenty or so years — and yet from kwaito on, South African electronic music has done just that, both directly and indirectly. In the past five to ten years, two offshoots of house music have dominated South African airwaves: gqom and amapiano. The former, pronounced by replacing the “gq” with a Zulu tongue click, was born in the clubs of Durban and embraces a darkness buried in house music’s repetition. The name itself translates to something akin to “bang,” but the Zulu pronunciation demonstrates the more direct, aggressive tone. One of the foremost proprietors is DJ Lag, a producer from Clermont township who blends Zulu chants with eerie, slow-burning synth patches, hard-hitting bass, and rough-hewn rhythms. Tracks like “Ice Drop” (2017) and the 2021 single “Raptor” are still clearly designed to get crowds moving at the club, but there’s a wide-eyed intensity and weight there as well.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Twenty emerging producers from across Europe have been selected to take part in European Film Promotion’s promotion and networking platform Producers on the Move before and during the Cannes Film Festival. The producers who were selected for the program from nominations submitted by EFP’s member organizations are Gentian Koçi (Albania), David Bohun (Austria), Julie Esparbes (Belgium), Vanya Rainova (Bulgaria), Miljenka Čogelja (Croatia), Stelana Kliris (Cyprus), Alice Tabery (Czech Republic), Emile Hertling Péronard (Denmark), Emilia Haukka (Finland), Silvana Santamaria (Germany), Vicky Miha (Greece), Júlia Berkes (Hungary), Kathryn Kennedy (Ireland), Valon Bajgora (Kosovo), Dominiks Jarmakovičs (Latvia), Erik Glijnis (The Netherlands), Elisa Fernanda Pirir (Norway), Radu Stancu (Romania), Juraj Krasnohorský (Slovak Republic), and Julia Gebauer (Sweden).

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Patrick Harris, after nearly 12 years at Meta and Facebook, has joined Snap as senior VP of partnerships, leading both ad-agency and partnership teams at the company. Harris, who most recently served as Meta’s VP of global channels, is based in New York and reports to COO Jerry Hunter, who previously was Snap’s SVP of engineering. “We are so excited to welcome Patrick to Snap to help us scale our global agency and partnerships businesses. His experiences across both advertising and partnerships made him the perfect candidate to unify and scale Snap’s impact in these areas.” In addition, Snap has hired David Sommer as head of verticals, overseeing the consumer packaged goods (CPG) vertical for the U.S. Also based in New York, Sommer hails from shopping app Fetch, where he was chief commercial officer, following almost 11 years at Meta as head of industry for CPG, retail partnerships and shopper marketing.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Dubai-based podcast company Kerning Cultures Network is producing “The Lebanon Heist,” an original investigative probe into the root causes of Lebanon’s devastating financial crisis. Launching in October, the six-part podcast will be produced in English and Arabic, delving into the crash that led to millions of Lebanese citizens being robbed of their life savings, and exploring the role of Riad Salamah, the country’s current central bank governor, who is considered to be at heart of the collapse. He is accused of having embezzled and laundered hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds. Salameh, who denies wrongdoing, is being investigated in Lebanon and several European countries for allegedly siphoning off more than $300 million from the central bank with his brother throughout more than a decade.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Amid broad cost-cutting moves, Meta is shuttering the Facebook Watch originals group, whose small slate of shows included the hit “Red Table Talk” hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith, Variety has confirmed. A Meta representative confirmed that the company is shuttering its originals group but declined to provide further comment. The news was first reported by Deadline. With the shutdown of Facebook Watch originals, Mina Lefevre, head of development and programing for the group, is leaving the company. Lefevre joined Meta (then called Facebook) in 2017, after serving as MTV’s head of scripted development. At Meta, Lefevre reported to Ricky Van Veen, VP of creative strategy.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Meta, parent of Facebook and Instagram, turned in better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter of 2023 — even as net income dropped sharply on a year-over-year basis. Overall, the company reported revenue of $28.65 billion, up 3% from the year prior, and net income of $5.7 billion (or $2.20 per share), down 24%. Analysts on average expected Meta to post revenue of $27.65 billion and EPS of $2.03, according to Refinitiv. Click here to sign up for Variety’s free Strictly Business newsletter covering earnings, financial news and more. In announcing Q1 results, the company said Facebook averaged 2.04 billion daily active users in March, up from 2.0 billion the prior quarter. Across all its apps, Meta reported daily active users of 3.02 billion on average for March 2023, an increase of 5% year-over-year.

EXCLUSIVE: Audible has revealed a new slate of UK comedy podcasts, including new series from comedians Daisy May Cooper, Lolly Adefope, Mo Gilligan and Dara Ó Briain.