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  • Donald Trump Sued By Media Groups Over Sale Of Faster Access To Truth Social Posts

    Donald Trump Sued By Media Groups Over Sale Of Faster Access To Truth Social Posts

    Two media groups filed suit against Donald Trump over a new offering in which subscribers can pay up to $100,000 a month for quicker access to his announcements on Truth Social.

    The lawsuit, filed in federal court on Wednesday, the Freedom of the Press Foundation and The Intercept Media claim that the “scheme is profoundly corrupt.”

    “The President stands to gain financially by giving ‘market-moving’ government information to those who are willing and able to pay his personal company,” the lawsuit stated.

    They also contend that the service violates the First Amendment, noting that it “guarantees equal access to the President’s public announcements, and even content-neutral burdens on that access must be narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest. There is no legitimate interest, let alone a significant one, in permitting President Trump to profit from selling government information.”

    The lawsuit also claims violation of the Fifth Amendment, arguing that it prohibits “charging unreasonable sums that cannot be justified to offset the cost of the government benefit.”

    The service is called Trump API, billed as offering the fastest access to the highest-ranking accounts on Truth Social, potentially giving an advantage to traders for the market-moving information.It was pitched as a business-to-business offering for institutional customers.

    The Intercept argued that the service forces it to make an “unconstitutional choice: either subsidize and associate with the President’s private company, harming The Intercept’s finances, reputation, and legal security, or risk losing out on timely news to competing organizations, similarly harming its reputation and revenue.”

    The lawsuit seeks an injunction to halt the posting of exclusive government information on Truth Social, as well as a declaration that it is unconstitutional.

    Also named as defendants in the lawsuit are two of the president’s top aides, Natalie Harp and Dan Scavino.

    A White House spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.

    Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, has viewed Truth API as a long-term recurring revenue stream. TMTG this week reported a $238 million net loss in the most recent quarter, on revenue of $1.7 million.

    A TMTG spokesperson said, “Information from President Trump is disseminated by countless platforms and news outlets, many of which offer subscription APIs. One of those channels is Truth Social, which was founded as an uncancellable haven for free speech after the President was unjustly deplatformed. Now, left-wing activists are trying to wrongfully weaponize the courts to censor him again and harm our shareholders.”

    In an earnings call, TMTG Interim CEO Kevin McGurn told investors that they have signed more than 10 customer agreements to date, primarily to high-frequency trading firms at rates ranging from $60,000- $100,000 per month.

  • ‘SNL UK’ Sets Season 2 Return on Sky

    ‘SNL UK’ Sets Season 2 Return on Sky

    Saturday Night Live UK has set its return on Sky and NOW.

    After a well-performing inaugural season earlier this year, the live comedy sensation returns on Sept. 12 with six brand-new episodes, the trailer for which was released Wednesday. Additional episodes are planned for early 2027.

    Broadcast live each week, the U.K. spinoff of NBC’s hit sketch series will once again welcome a different celebrity host and musical guest for every episode, alongside topical sketches, live music performances and a British take on the iconic Weekend Update segment. Last season’s celebrity hosts included Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, Riz Ahmed, Jack Whitehall, Nicola Coughlan, Aimee Lou Wood, Hannah Waddingham, and Ncuti Gatwa.

    Fey’s episode was watched on Sky by over 220,000 people in Britain — though episode ratings trailed off after that — as the cast made use of our over-performing rolodex of U.K. talent. U.S. viewers were able to watch the episodes on Peacock.

    Returning for the second season are all 11 members of the inaugural cast: Hammed Animashaun, Ayoade Bamgboye, Larry Dean, Celeste Dring, George Fouracres, Ania Magliano, Annabel Marlow, Al Nash, Jack Shep, Emma Sidi and Paddy Young.

    On the production side, Laura Claxton has been promoted to co-head Writer, joining existing head writer Jonno Johnson. Liz Clare returns as director. Heather MacVean joins as costume designer and Sinead Oldnall is heading up the U.K. talent team as director of onscreen Talent.

    Lorne Michaels serves as executive producer on the show and James Longman is lead producer.

    “I’m incredibly proud of our team and the show,” said Michaels when the show was renewed. “It keeps getting better every week. I’m grateful to Dana Strong and Sky for believing in and supporting SNL U.K. I’m excited for the season ahead.”

    Watch the trailer for the new season below.

  • ‘Demons’ Explores the Russia-Ukraine Relationship via Borscht, Blood and Graves (Exclusive Trailer)

    ‘Demons’ Explores the Russia-Ukraine Relationship via Borscht, Blood and Graves (Exclusive Trailer)

    A homeless drifter from Russia with a mysterious past arrives in a remote village in central Ukraine in writer-director Natalka Vorozhbyt’s (Bad Roads) metaphorical film Demons, which world-premieres at the 79th edition of the Locarno Film Festival on Friday, Aug. 13.

    The drifter’s name is Slavik, and he seems to be the embodiment of Russia. In the village, he meets Nina, who represents post-Soviet Ukraine and the country’s independence.

    What kind of adventure and drama can the protagonists and viewers expect? “Nina, a strong and independent woman much older than Slavik, takes the stranger into her home,” teases a synopsis. “At first, their strange companionship resembles an unlikely love story. But as their relationship unfolds, love turns into betrayal, and the village begins to reveal its hidden rules.” Those rules are summarized this way: “A place where witches may live next door, and the dead sometimes speak with the living.”

    Vorozhbyt says that Demons and the relationship at its core unfolds on several levels. One is socio-political, where the relationship “becomes a metaphor for the relationship between Russia and Ukraine,” she explains.

    The cast includes Ruslana Pysanka, Aleksey Mitin, Tatiana Stepanova, Ruslan Garmash and Mykola Ponomarenko. Demons features cinematography by Volodymyr Ivanov, with editing by Milenia Fiedler and Andriy Gulyanych. Celluloid Dreams is handling international sales.

    THR can now exclusively premiere the trailer for Demons. You may want to mentally prepare for borscht, a flying vehicle, violence against a TV set blood and graves – and much more.

  • ‘SNL U.K.’ Season 2 Sets September Date

    ‘SNL U.K.’ Season 2 Sets September Date

    “Saturday Night Live U.K.” will launch its second season on Sky and Now starting Sept. 12, the broadcaster announced, kicking off a run of six new episodes following the show’s debut season earlier this year.

    A trailer for the new season has been released, and additional episodes are planned for early 2027 beyond the initial six-episode run. As in the debut season, every episode will pair a new celebrity host with a musical guest, alongside topical sketches, live musical performances and a British spin on “Weekend Update.”

    Audience tickets will open through a ballot on Aug. 14.

    The six confirmed episodes are set to air on Sept. 12, Sept. 19, Sept. 26, Oct. 10, Oct. 17 and Oct. 24.

    All 11 cast members from the inaugural season are returning: Hammed Animashaun, Ayoade Bamgboye, Larry Dean, Celeste Dring, George Fouracres, Ania Magliano, Annabel Marlow, Al Nash, Jack Shep, Emma Sidi and Paddy Young.

    There are several changes behind the scenes for the new season. Laura Claxton steps up to co-head writer alongside Jonno Johnson, who remains head writer. Director Liz Clare is back for a second season, costume designer Heather MacVean joins the team for the first time, and Sinead Oldnall takes charge of onscreen talent for the U.K. production.

    Universal Television Alternative Studio’s U.K. arm and Broadway Video produce the series for Sky and NOW, with Lorne Michaels executive producing and James Longman leading production. Helen Kruger Bratt heads UTAS U.K. Productions as managing director, with Andy Charles Smith producing for the label, Shanna Baynard overseeing production and Hannah Peddar serving as production executive.

    Phil Edgar-Jones, Sky’s executive director of unscripted originals, commissioned the series, with Alex Moody, the broadcaster’s head of comedy commissioning, handling the second-season order for Sky Studios CEO and chief content officer Cecile Frot-Coutaz.

    Watch the triler here:

  • Alex Cooper’s Unwell Receives Investment From Patrick Whitesell’s Firm at $500 Million Valuation

    Alex Cooper’s Unwell Receives Investment From Patrick Whitesell’s Firm at $500 Million Valuation

    WTSL, the Silver Lake-backed firm led by Patrick Whitesell, has made a strategic investment in Alex Cooper’s Unwell media company. 

    The exact figure was not disclosed, but the funding values the business, which includes Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast and other media, at $500 million. The plan is to use the investment to grow the company, including through acquisition. 

    “Trust has become the ultimate distribution channel and seventy million women a month tune-into Unwell,” Cooper said. “We’re scaling on all fronts, combining nimbleness, social-first premium content, and our understanding of culture to serve this highly influential audience. With WTSL’s backing, the company is now also poised to accelerate our media platform’s growth through acquisitions and investments.”

    WTSL, which is led by Whitesell and Jason Lublin with clients including Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, will also lend expertise and industry relationships. This is the first outside investment the company has taken, a person familiar with the matter tells The Hollywood Reporter. Unwell has been profitable for the past three years since it launched, this source says.

    “Alex, Matt, and the team have demonstrated an exceptional ability to anticipate where audiences are headed and create entertainment experiences that resonate deeply,” Whitesell said. “The company’s growth, audience connection, and cultural relevance set it apart, and we believe Unwell is uniquely positioned to help define the present and future of media.”

    Cooper founded Unwell with her husband, Matt Kaplan in 2023. In addition to Cooper’s top-charting show and several other podcasts, including Madeline Argy’s Pretty Lonesome, the company includes branded merchandise and beverages, live events and a film and TV production arm that includes projects such as the documentary Call Her Alex, dating reality series Love Overboard and  Let’s Marry Harry, and the Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special. All ventures are focused on a Gen Z audience. 

    Unwell has also struck a number of partnerships, including a multiyear creative and media partnership with Google, which also coincided with the launch of the company’s own advertising agency, The Unwell Creative Agency. Cooper also struck a $125 million deal with SiriusXM for Call Her Daddy and her podcast network. 

    The company has met some controversy recently, after Bloomberg and Vanity Fair both reported claims about staff turnover and uneasiness among the staff.

  • Harmony’s ONE Sinks 37% After Attacker Mints 4 Billion Tokens

    Harmony’s ONE Sinks 37% After Attacker Mints 4 Billion Tokens

    In brief

    • Harmony confirmed an exploit after an analyst reported that an attacker minted about 4 billion ONE, roughly 26% of the supply.
    • Around 97% of those tokens have already reached exchanges, on-chain analyst Juiceberg said.
    • ONE was trading at about $0.00077, down 37% on the day, after Harmony shipped a patch to stop further minting.

    Layer-1 blockchain Harmony has confirmed it was exploited after an attacker minted roughly 4 billion ONE tokens without authorisation, sending the token down 37% to about $0.00077, per CoinGecko data.

    On-chain analyst Juiceberg flagged the mint early Wednesday, putting it at close to 4 billion tokens, or about 26% of the supply, and saying the tokens had been created through empty blocks. Around 2.8 billion were funnelled onto exchanges as the price fell.

    In a follow-up tweet, the analyst said the attacker had roughly 115 million ONE left to sell on-chain, about 2.9% of the total minted. “The overwhelming majority (~97%) is already on exchanges,” Juiceberg wrote, and had either been sold or was sitting in deposit wallets.

    Harmony responded in a tweet that it was “working with our team and appropriate exchanges to stop and freeze the funds,” adding that it was preparing a patch and weighing rollback options. In a second post it named four wallets, each listed in both Harmony and hex formats, and asked exchanges to block anything traced to them.

    Just over two hours after that first statement it paused its bridge, then released a patch a minute later, telling validators to upgrade to a build it said prevents any further minting. Dealing with the tokens already created would take another update, it said. Five hours had passed since Juiceberg’s first post.

    The project has not disclosed the vulnerability, confirmed how many tokens were created, or said how much reached exchanges. One oddity Juiceberg noted is that Harmony’s totalSupply endpoint did not reflect the new tokens, and price trackers still list circulating supply at about 14.87 billion.

    Rolling back the chain

    A rollback would return the network to a state before the exploit and continue from there, erasing what followed from the accepted history. That cuts both ways, since transactions made by ordinary users after the attack would go with it.

    Harmony has been here before, with hackers draining about $100 million from its Horizon cross-chain bridge in June 2022, in an attack the FBI later attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group.

    The project’s first proposal to the 2022 hack was to reimburse victims in ONE, which would have meant minting billions of new tokens on top of the circulating supply and hard-forking the chain to allow it. The plan drew enough criticism that the team replaced it with one funded from its treasury. Four years on, an attacker has minted a comparable amount without asking.

    ONE now carries a market capitalisation of about $11.5 million, ranking it outside the top 1,000 tokens. It last traded near its October 2021 record of $0.38 more than four years ago, and is down more than 99% from that level.

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  • AI Music Generator Suno Strikes Licensing Deal With BMG as It Preps New Label-Backed Models

    AI Music Generator Suno Strikes Licensing Deal With BMG as It Preps New Label-Backed Models

    Suno, the AI music generator that’s managed to both rankle the music industry and lure some of its biggest talent to its side, has added music company BMG as its latest licensing partner as it prepares new models powered by licensed work.

    The partnership will see Suno pay for BMG’s repertoire of recordings from its artists, while also covering the use of any BMG songs to train Suno’s past models. BMG joins Warner Music Group in settling with the music-generation company, which has been the target of a series of lawsuits alleging unauthorized use of audio recordings to train its data.

    “We believe the future of music will be more participatory, creating entirely new ways for artists and fans to connect,” Suno CEO and co-founder Mikey Shulman said in a statement. “Building that future responsibly means working directly with the people who make music and the companies that represent them. Together with BMG, we can develop new experiences that give artists and songwriters real choice, generate new revenue, and make music a bigger part of people’s lives.”

    Celine Joshua, BMG’s executive vice president of global marketing and streaming, framed music’s future as one where artists and songwriters “share in the value” platforms such as Suno may create.

    “Choice is the guiding principle,” Joshua said. “This agreement establishes strong protections, clear economics, and new creative possibilities for artists and their fans. As we enter the era of creation, we look forward to shaping that future together with our creators and Suno.” 

    The settlement marks BMG’s most notable acceptance of AI’s role in music since the generative era began. It sued Anthropic in California federal court earlier this year for allegedly using its copyrighted works, including songs by the likes of Bruno Mars and the Rolling Stones, to train its models in what it called a scheme of “widespread and systematic infringement.” The case, similar to one brought by other music publishers in 2023, is ongoing.

    BMG also joined a collection of other music labels and companies last month, including WMG, Universal Music Group and Sony Music, in proposing a new set of guidelines for how AI-generated music could chart on music tracking lists, specifying that only tracks that were “substantially human made” qualify for the industry’s measure of success.

    The deal with BMG also gives Suno another layer of legitimacy as it prepares its new industry-backed models, which Suno said on Monday would come soon. Last week, Suno said it would begin watermarking songs downloaded from the platform to help signify the use of AI and limit song downloads for its three usage tiers to combat slop, efforts the company is taking to further legitimize its outputs among the music industry.

    Still, Suno is facing ongoing lawsuits from UMG and Sony Music for copyright infringement, and last month a German court found that the company was violating U.S. and German copyright laws.

     

  • Bank of England to test stablecoin, digital currency use in cross-border finance

    Bank of England to test stablecoin, digital currency use in cross-border finance

    “If these processes can become faster and more efficient, U.K. businesses could unlock working capital sooner and make it easier to finance international trade,” Jacobsson said in an interview over LinkedIn.

    The BOE named NOBO Finance, Dun & Bradstreet, a global provider of business decisioning data, analytics, and credit-rating services, and Polygon Labs, a software and blockchain company, as participants in its Digital Pound Lab.

    The project will be the first time the Digital Pound Lab tests how public stablecoins and central-bank money work in a single payment flow alongside a portable credit identity for small businesses. The lab uses no real customers or money and does not signal any decision to issue a digital pound.

    NOBO, a U.K.-based fintech building digital trade finance infrastructure that helps small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) become visible, verifiable, and bankable, was already involved in Phase 1. During the first phase, NOBO helped demonstrate conditional business-to-business escrow payments relevant to trade finance workflows.

    A first workstream will build an SME “bankable profile.” NOBO, Dun & Bradstreet and Polygon plan to combine wallet transaction data, open-finance information and business intelligence to create a reusable credit assessment. Polygon will provide smart contracts intended to record the verified outcome and manage consent.

  • Alex Cooper and Matt Kaplan’s Unwell Media Company Valued at $500 Million After Investment From Patrick Whitesell’s WTSL

    Alex Cooper and Matt Kaplan’s Unwell Media Company Valued at $500 Million After Investment From Patrick Whitesell’s WTSL

    Unwell, the media company co-founded by married couple Alex Cooper and Matt Kaplan, has landed its first outside investor: Patrick Whitesell, co-founder of WME and former executive chairman of successor company Endeavor.

    Whitesell’s WTSL, an investment firm focused on media, entertainment and sports he launched after exiting Endeavor and WME last year, has invested an undisclosed sum in Unwell that values the business at $500 million, according to Unwell. Cooper and Kaplan, who self-funded the company targeting Gen Z women audiences, retain a majority ownership stake. Formed in 2023, Unwell says it has been profitable from day one and sees the WTSL investment as growth capital.

    Unwell said that in addition to the funding, WTSL brings “deep strategic expertise, industry relationships and a proven track record of supporting some of the most innovative companies and storytellers in media,” including Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions.

    “Trust has become the ultimate distribution channel and 70 million women a month tune into Unwell,” Cooper, whose “Call Her Daddy” podcast remains the company’s tentpole franchise. “We’re scaling on all fronts, combining nimbleness, social-first premium content, and our understanding of culture to serve this highly influential audience. With WTSL’s backing, the company is now also poised to accelerate our media platform’s growth through acquisitions and investments.”

    Whitesell said in a statement, “Alex, Matt and the team have demonstrated an exceptional ability to anticipate where audiences are headed and create entertainment experiences that resonate deeply,” he said. “The company’s growth, audience connection and cultural relevance set it apart, and we believe Unwell is uniquely positioned to help define the present and future of media.”

    Alex Cooper and Patrick Whitesell

    Photo credit: Michela Pini/Unwell

    News of the funding from Whitesell’s WTSL comes after a pair of recent exposés alleging behind-the-scenes chaos at Unwell. According to a Vanity Fair story in June, one Unwell freelancer alleged that Kaplan “creates the most toxic work environment that I’ve ever seen”; anonymous sources also said Kaplan had questioned employees about their sex lives and commented on their physical appearance. In April, Bloomberg reported that Kaplan “has earned a reputation for frequently yelling at staff members” and said Unwell’s employees were “looking for the exit.”

    Cooper, in an interview at Cannes Lions this June with the Wall Street Journal, was asked about the allegations. “I will just kind of leave it at ‘Don’t believe everything that you read on the internet’ — but I think everyone knows that at this point,” she said. Cooper also said, “I think that we have done a really incredible job at Unwell, and I think if you walk the halls, there are so many people that are so happy to work at this company. … I think, unfortunately, being a woman in this industry is extremely difficult because you’re held to a completely different standard. Whether it’s a smear campaign being created for someone’s narrative, whatever it be.”

    Kaplan is the founder of ACE Entertainment, whose credits include “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” one of Netflix’s most-watched original films to date, and popular Gen Z series “XO, Kitty” (also for Netflix).

    “As the premier media company for women, we’re collaborating with some of the biggest brands in the world on creator-led strategies,” Kaplan said in a statement. “Brands realize buying paid ads or influence just isn’t enough in such a disparate media landscape. And, it’s difficult to find a platform like Unwell that meets Gen Z where they are on their terms. That’s something legacy media still hasn’t unlocked.”

    Unwell says its audience is 89% female, with 72% between the ages of 18 and 35. The company claims to have nearly 100 million followers across platforms and generated more than 1.7 trillion earned media impressions in 2025 alone. Its podcast network of more than a dozen shows is supported by a “significant” SiriusXM partnership and video engagement on YouTube. In 2024, Cooper inked a three-year deal with SiriusXM worth as much as $125 million over the course of the agreement.

    Beyond podcasting, Unwell has expanded into series for premium streaming services and YouTube as well as live events.

    The company produced the “Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special” on Disney +; partnered with Peacock on live programming from the Paris Olympics; launched reality series “Love Overboard” with Hulu, and has a slate of shows with Netflix, including “Let’s Marry Harry” and “Icebreaker,” set to shoot this fall. Unwell also has a growing portfolio of YouTube-native series announced earlier this year at the streaming giant’s Brandcast event.

    Unwell also has staged nationwide tours, spring break experiences, SXSW activations and other live events (which the company estimates have been attended by more than 150,000 fans in person). The company also has a consumer products business spanning energy drinks, hydration products and stick packs.

  • Alameda Research, a Cryptocurrency Company, Makes a Notable Move in Solana Staking! Is a Sell-Off Coming? Here Are the Details

    Alameda Research, a Cryptocurrency Company, Makes a Notable Move in Solana Staking! Is a Sell-Off Coming? Here Are the Details

    Alameda Research, the cryptocurrency arm of the bankrupt FTX, has moved a significant amount of Solana ($SOL) holdings again after nearly five years. According to information reported by the on-chain data platform Onchain Lens, Alameda unlocked 201,740 $SOL, removing it from its staking position, and then transferred a total of 201,780 $SOL to a BitGo-owned custodial wallet.

    The transfer has reinforced expectations that Alameda is preparing to divest its long-dormant $SOL holdings. On-chain data suggests the transaction may have been conducted for over-the-counter (OTC) sale via BitGo, rather than a direct sale of the tokens on exchanges.

    OTC transactions stand out as a preferred method, especially for selling large amounts of crypto assets. Since conducting large-scale transactions directly in open markets can create sudden selling pressure on prices, institutional investors and large portfolio owners often utilize OTC markets.

    Alameda’s release of $SOL assets that had been staked for approximately five years also increases the significance of the transfer. Releasing assets locked in staking transactions allows their owners to reuse or sell them.

    While it’s stated that the transfer doesn’t necessarily mean a sale, the movement to BitGo’s custodial wallet is being closely watched in the crypto market. The liquidation of assets in the Alameda and FTX bankruptcy proceedings continues to be a significant topic in the crypto market in recent years.

    Large $SOL transfers, in particular, can be interpreted by market participants as an indicator of potential selling pressure. Whether Alameda will actually sell these assets via OTC is yet to be confirmed.

    *This is not investment advice.