Media and Telecom Sector

Warren Pandiscia, a Twitch creator who has streamed for nearly a decade, filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Twitch and its parent company Amazon in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The complaint alleges the companies used creators' videos, livestreams, chats, and other channel content to train generative artificial intelligence models without consent or compensation. The lawsuit centers on an August 12 setting introduced by Twitch that allows creators to opt out of having their channel material used for future AI training across Amazon. Because the control is enabled by default, creators must manually switch it off if they want to exclude their content. Twitch Chief Product Officer Mike Minton defended the default approach during a livestream discussion, noting that if the setting were opt-in, no one would choose to participate. The lawsuit claims that the platforms used creator material for AI development as far back as 2024, prior to disclosing the new control or updating terms of service. Plaintiffs argue that historical agreements granting Twitch rights for service and monetization did not authorize the transfer of content to Amazon's separate commercial AI business. The filing brings claims for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and violations of California's unfair competition law, seeking damages and restrictions on content use. The legal challenge highlights a central tension over whether general platform licenses cover AI model training.

MTN Group has secured conditional regulatory approval in Nigeria for its planned $2.2 billion acquisition of the remaining stake in IHS Towers, moving closer to a deal that values the tower company at an enterprise value of approximately $6.2 billion. The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and the Nigerian Communications Commission both cleared the transaction in mid-July and August, attaching conditions to prevent market dominance. Under the terms set by Nigerian regulators, MTN must sell down up to 30 percent of the Nigerian component of IHS Towers to local investors on an arm's-length basis, with proceeds earmarked to pay down IHS debt. The transaction reverses MTN's decade-old strategy of selling towers through sale-and-leaseback agreements to free up capital, bringing critical physical infrastructure back under the mobile operator's control. MTN invested R7.34 billion in its Nigerian network in the first half of 2026, outpacing the R2.64 billion deployed in its South African home market during the same period. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to final regulatory sign-offs.

Ars Technica reports that a new social media platform named Twitter has launched at twitter.now after claiming that Elon Musk’s X Corp. abandoned the trademark. Operated by Operation Bluebird, Inc., the nascent site features traditional replies and retweets alongside an automated, Gemini-based fact-checking tool called Vera. Trademark attorney Josh Gerben notes that while the founders possess a workable legal theory regarding trademark abandonment, X Corp. is expected to mount a fierce legal defense.

Flipboard is acquiring Graze, a Portland-based startup that builds tools for monetizing the open social web [1]. Techcrunch.com reports that the deal brings together two companies already collaborating on Flipboard's new Surf app, which previously integrated Graze's feed-building technology [1]. Graze allows creators to curate Bluesky feeds using the AT Protocol and monetize them through contextual advertising rather than data-tracking models [1]. The platform splits ad revenue 70/30, with the majority going to the feed creator [1]. Since launching 21 months ago, Graze has delivered over 41 billion posts to approximately 12 million people and hosts more than 7,000 feeds [1]. Post-acquisition, Flipboard will use the technology to expand feed-building capabilities across the AT Protocol and its own app [1]. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, though Graze had raised $1 million in early 2025 and employs a two-person team [1].

theverge.com reports that Apple Maps is rolling out advertisements at the top of search results and within suggested places. The ads are marked with a blue ad icon and appear based on approximate location, current search terms, or the active map view. Apple announced the initiative in March, promising that advertising data will not link to user accounts or share with third parties. Users in the US and Canada will see the ad slots expand over the coming weeks.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta canceled a scheduled Monday meeting with Paramount Skydance executives after details of confidential settlement discussions regarding the studio's proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery leaked to the press. Bonta accused Paramount of acting in bad faith and misrepresenting their Friday preparatory session, which lawyers from both sides held to set an agenda. Paramount denied being the source of the leaks and stated it remains ready to continue discussions. The antitrust lawsuit, brought by Bonta and a coalition of 12 Democratic state attorneys general alongside a parallel challenge by the Writers Guild of America, seeks to block the merger over concerns about higher consumer prices, reduced competition, and job losses. Bonta has indicated that any potential settlement would require robust structural remedies, including possible divestitures of basic cable channels and keeping the Warner Bros. movie studio separate from Paramount Pictures. Paramount faces a March trial date and must begin accruing a ticking fee of about $7 million per day owed to shareholders starting October 1 if the transaction remains unclosed.

According to theverge.com, Microsoft is launching a disc-to-digital feature that lets Xbox owners convert physical game collections into digital entitlements. Players can claim the digital version by inserting a supported disc into an Xbox One or Xbox Series X console and launching the game. The digital entitlement remains tied to the specific disc, meaning it transfers if the physical media is swapped with another user. Testing begins with Xbox Insider testers on August 31st ahead of a broader rollout. Publishers retain control over which titles are supported, though thousands of games will be available at launch. Converted games will also support Xbox Play Anywhere on PC and streaming via Xbox Cloud Gaming.

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