Media
Armytage-Today rumours ramp up
The long-running chatter around Samantha Armytage joining Today isn’t going anywhere – and now, The Australian’s Steve Jackson says Nine insiders are adding more fuel to the fire.
According to sources, Armytage will return in December to co-host alongside Dan Anstey, just as she did last summer.
The timing only adds weight to the speculation, keeping Armytage front and centre at Nine, and perhaps edging closer to Today’s main desk.
Trump’s Pentagon memo warns media off leaks
Reporters covering the Pentagon have been hit with new restrictions as the Trump administration ramps up its crackdown on the press.
According to Crikey’s Daanyal Saeed, a fresh memo warns against “unauthorised disclosures”, a move media outlets say criminalises standard reporting.
Agencies
Accenture Song boss says marketers are missing the point on AI
The company’s new global CEO, Ndidi Oteh, says marketers are too focused on AI are having “the wrong conversation.”
The Australian’s Danielle Long reports Oteh made the comments while speaking at SXSW Sydney, arguing CMOs should prioritise growth and brand outcomes, not how many AI tools they can build.
Companies
AWS outage sends internet into chaos
Amazon’s cloud arm, AWS, suffered a major outage that took down thousands of sites and apps, including Snapchat and Reddit.
The Australian Financial Review’s Amelia McGuire writes the disruption caused global headaches for businesses and users alike.
Meanwhile…
The BBC has done an explainer on what caused the outage. Apparently, the chaos came down to something incredibly ordinary: a DNS error.
And if you’re keen to follow Alice into the rabbit hole and learn more about internet outages, the BBC has compiled this panic-inducing article.
Ticketmaster cracks down on multiple accounts and scalpers
In today’s edition of About Time, Ticketmaster is cleaning house.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Ethan Millman writes the ticketing giant told US lawmakers it will soon block users from holding multiple accounts on its platform, a move prompted by an FTC lawsuit accusing the company of colluding with scalpers and breaching the BOTS Act.
Social Media
Meta study finds Instagram fuels teen body image issues
Meta’s own research shows teens who feel worse about their bodies after using Instagram see far more “eating disorder-adjacent” content than others.
As Jeff Horwitz reports for Reuters, across 1,100 teens surveyed, those who felt bad after scrolling saw this type of content 10% of the time, triple that of their peers.