Twitch Will Pay Out 70% of Subscription Revenue to Qualifying Streamers Under New ‘Partner Plus’ Program

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Spotify hasn’t let new Premium subscribers pay for service using in-app purchases via Apple’s App Store since May 2016 — objecting to the tech giant’s “tax” on purchases made through the App Store. There was only about a two-year window (from June 2014 to May 2016) during which Spotify Premium subs could opt to sign up and pay through the Apple App Store. Now, Spotify is no longer letting those customers continue paying through Apple’s in-app purchases. In recent emails to those subscribers, Spotify said, “We’re contacting you because when you joined Spotify Premium you used Apple’s billing service to subscribe. Unfortunately, we no longer accept that billing method as a form of payment.”

Prince William and Prince George had a fun day out on Saturday. The Prince of Wales and his 9-year-old son took in a cricket game at the Lord's Cricket ground in London.William, 41, and George were seen sitting in a box as they watched the game. For the outing, William wore a light blue button up shirt, under gray sport coat.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor YouTube removed a video comedy podcast in which Roseanne Barr — attempting to make a sarcastic point about internet platforms enforcing disinformation policies — made extremely offensive comments about the Holocaust. YouTube determined that the video violated its policies prohibiting hate speech. On the June 14 episode of comedian Theo Von’s “This Weekend” show, Barr discussed how online platforms like YouTube have “de-platformed” people who spread lies. As an example, Barr said, “the real truth” was that President Biden won the 2020 election and said she was glad such policies were in place to remove content posted by election deniers. (Actually, YouTube earlier this month reversed its policy prohibiting misinformation about the 2020 election.)

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Snapchat is pinking out loud for Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.” Warner Bros. Pictures is launching a “Barbie” AR Lens ad campaign exclusively on the social and messaging app — meaning Snapchat is the only place where you can dress up to look like Margot Robbie’s Barbie or Ryan Gosling’s Ken in fashions based on the film. The studio’s paid campaign on Snapchat launches Friday (June 30), three weeks ahead of the movie’s wide opening on July 21. Snapchat users can access the virtual Barbie wardrobe from the app’s Lens Carousel or by scanning the QR code (left). With the debut of the new Barbie Wardrobe AR Lens, Snapchatters can see themselves wearing different outfits and accessories inspired by costumes in the upcoming film. You can share the resulting pics or videos in a Snap message or a Snapchat Story (or save it to your camera roll to share via text or on other social platforms).

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Colleen Ballinger, the YouTube creator whose awkward character Miranda Sings rose to internet fame, has publicly responded to accusations that she formed inappropriate relationships with teenagers. Ballinger posted a video Wednesday to her Colleen Vlogs channel in which she denies the “lies” and “gossip” about her — partly in song, while strumming a ukulele. “Some people are saying things about me that just aren’t true,” she said at the beginning of the 10-minute video. She continued, “Even though my team has strongly advised me not to say what I’m going to say, I realized they never said I couldn’t sing about what I want to say.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor In May 2021, after 19 years in Los Angeles, comedians and married couple Tom Segura and Christina Pazsitzky (aka Christina P), moved to Austin with their two young sons. Segura says he felt like L.A., in mid-pandemic, was falling apart. “I was like, ‘This city is turning into a shit show!'” he tells Variety. About one month after they moved, Pazsitzky suffered an injurious fall in their new home. And, as you might expect, Segura ended up turning the (non-life-threatening) accident into a bit, which is featured in “Tom Segura: Sledgehammer,” his upcoming stand-up special premiering July 4 globally on Netflix. In “Sledgehammer,” Segura recounts his uneasy 911 call that night requesting help. “I realized that, while what I’m about to say it true, it sounds… suspicious! But I gotta say it. So I’m like, ‘My wife fell down the stairs.'” Pazsitzky, who had misjudged a step when she got up in the middle of the night to check on one of the kids in their new home, broke her ankle and part of her tibia as a result of the fall. (She’s since made a full recovery.) Segura remembers being unsettled by her telling the paramedics to not assume he had hurt her. “It was a whole ordeal,” he recalls.

Helen Flanagan appeared to share a cryptic post about relationships after suffering a parenting blunder as she continues to co-parent her three children with ex-fiance Scott Sinclair.

limited-edition newspapers, featuring a full cover wrap showcasing the book’s cover. Should you not make it to newsstands before the swarm of “Team Drizzy” fans do, there is still hope for you to get your hands on a limited-edition copy of the June 24th paper.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Amy Sedaris is a comedian, actor, writer — and now, a video game designer.Sedaris helped create a custom level in “What the Car?”, an absurdist racing game exclusively available on Apple Arcade created by developers who don’t own cars (see screenshots below from the level, “Amy Sedaris Can’t Drive”). Of course, Sedaris is a New Yorker who can’t drive and doesn’t play video games.

Jason Biggs is still worried that his kids will accidentally find out about his role in American Pie — and there have already been a couple of close calls.

Prince William turns 41 years old on Wednesday, and former royal butler Grant Harrold believes he'll receive a birthday card from his estranged brother Prince Harry. As it's been well documented in the incendiary Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, and memoir Spare, the Duke of Sussex, 38, felt the need to escape The Firm with his wife Meghan Markle and their two kids back in 2020, and has since caused national controversy with his insider allegations. Although Harry was indeed present at King Charles III's recent coronation, there was no public display of brotherhood or love among the siblings.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Elon Musk, owner of Twitter, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and currently the world’s richest person, is siding with striking editorial staff members of Insider Inc. in their fight to get a new contract with the digital media outlet. “They should keep striking. Fight on, comrades!” Musk tweeted Wednesday in reply to a post about the Insider editorial strike. In May 2022, Business Insider published a story saying Musk was “accused of exposing himself during a massage and offering to buy a horse for a SpaceX flight attendant if she were willing to perform a sex act on him.” In response, Musk called the allegations “utterly untrue” and called a person who talked to Insider a “liar.”

Makers of The Crown have reportedly decided to pay tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II in the hit drama’s final season.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor At least initially, Netflix’s broad password crackdown appears to be producing the streamer’s desired results in converting freeloaders into paying customers in the U.S., according to early data from research company Antenna. On May 23, Netflix began notifying U.S. customers that users on their accounts who live outside their households would need to be added as an “extra member” (or get their own subscriptions). Since then, Netflix has had the four single largest days of U.S. user sign-ups since January 2019, when Antenna first began tracking the metric. Based on the most current Antenna data available, Netflix saw average daily sign-ups reached 73,000 from May 25-28, a 102% increase from the prior 60-day average. That was more than the spikes in subscriber sign-ups Antenna recorded during the initial U.S. COVID-19 lockdowns in March and April 2020.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor A nationally syndicated talk show host in Georgia sued artificial-intelligence company OpenAI for defamation, alleging its AI-powered chatbot fabricated legal claims against him. The lawsuit is believed to be the first defamation complaint related to ChatGPT, which was introduced in November 2022. Mark Walters, founder of Armed American Radio (whose website describes him as “the loudest voice in America fighting for gun rights”), filed the lawsuit against OpenAI in Georgia state court, seeking unspecified monetary damages. According to the complaint, journalist Fred Riehl, who is editor of AmmoLand.com, on May 4 asked ChatGPT to summarize Second Amendment Foundation v. Ferguson, a case filed in Washington federal court accusing the state’s Attorney General Bob Ferguson of abusing his power by chilling the activities of the gun rights foundation, and provided ChatGPT with a link to the lawsuit.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Twitch to creators: Oops, never mind. The Amazon-owned livestreaming platform on Wednesday revoked its new branded-content guidelines the day after putting them into place, following a backlash from creators. The changes, which were scheduled to be effective July 1, would have restricted the kinds of ads allowed on Twitch — completely banning “burned-in” (i.e., in-stream) video, audio and display ads on the platform and restricting on-screen logos to a maximum of 3% of the screen size. Twitch on Wednesday reversed course. “Yesterday, we released new Branded Content Guidelines that impacted your ability to work with sponsors to increase your income from streaming. These guidelines are bad for you and bad for Twitch, and we are removing them immediately,” Twitch said in a statement.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The Los Angeles Times, facing declining ad revenue and readership, is eliminating 74 editorial jobs, representing about 13% of the total newsroom staff. Staffers at the paper learned of the cut in a memo sent Wednesday from executive editor Kevin Merida, wrote wrote that the decision was “made more urgent by the economic climate and the unique challenges of our industry, the L.A. Times reported. The L.A. Times Guild, an affiliate of Media Guild of the West, issued a statement that it was “outraged” by the job cuts and that it was “blindsided by this news.” “We are outraged by management’s announcement this morning that it plans to lay off 57 Guild members across several departments, amounting to roughly 15% of our entire newsroom membership, including several Guild leaders,” Reed Johnson, LAT Guild Unit council chair, said in a statement. “This list of targeted layoffs is not final. Under our contract, management is required to bargain with the Guild over proposed layoffs. Management also so far has failed to offer buyouts to staff as is required by our contract.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor A software update for Apple TV devices coming this fall can turn customers’ big-screen TVs into videconferencing hubs with the addition of Apple’s FaceTime, and later Zoom and Webex. The tvOS 17 update, the next version of Apple’s operating system for Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD, also includes a feature called Enhance Dialogue, which promises to let users more clearly hear what is being said over the effects, action and music in a movie or TV show. The catch: It will work only on Apple TV 4K devices that are paired with Apple’s HomePod (second generation) smart speakers. In one handy new feature, tvOS 17 will let iPhone users locate the Apple TV’s Siri Remote if, say, it gets stuck between couch cushions or has fallen behind a cabinet. With the Apple TV remote inside the iPhone’s Control Center, an onscreen circle grows in size as users get closer to the misplaced remote.

@paramore and @falloutboy. Since Speak Now was all about my songwriting, I decided to go to the artists who I feel influenced me most… pic.twitter.com/UJOqUNfCGpOver the weekend, Swifties began to buzz about a possible feature of Williams on Swift’s rerecorded third album when one tweeted a video of the singer receiving a fan-made friendship bracelet at a meet and greet. “Let me just tell you,” Williams said.

Taylor Swift has unveiled the full tracklisting for her latest re-recorded album, Speak Now (Taylor's Version), including some very special features that will probably (definitely) make you re-enter your emo phase.