In Case You Missed It (Law)
Digest for Tuesday February 14, 2023

First, from www.semafor.com: How Spotify's podcast bet went wrong
Spotify's billion-dollar bet on podcasting has resulted in a podcast winter, as the company cuts back on spending and consolidates many of the small studios it helped support. The pivot is similar to recent cuts to Hollywood’s streaming television, as the streaming giant faces narrow profit margins and competition from tech giants Amazon and Apple. Spotify's strategy of making most major podcasts exclusive to the platform has been internally divisive, and the company has suffered from the costly acquisitions of celebrity talent who failed to create loyal audiences.

Next, from www.brookings.edu: Gonzalez v. Google and the fate of Section 230
On February 14, a panel hosted by Governance Studies at Brookings will discuss the upcoming Supreme Court cases of Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh, which concern the scope of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and potential liability for websites for third-party content. The panel will discuss the implications of the cases for the regulation of social media and the legal responsibility of platforms for user content. Viewers can submit questions for the panelists via email or Twitter at #FateofSection230.

Finally, from www.cjr.org: Disrupting Journalism: How Platforms Have Upended the News
This article examines how online platforms have impacted the news media industry, leading to a crisis in journalism. It looks at how governments around the world have responded to the issue, as well as potential solutions to support sustainable journalism and curb misinformation. It also highlights the need for transnational dialogue and conflict between calls to support journalism and antitrust inquiries.

---

Today's paper of the day is Terminating Tenure: Rejecting Tenure Contracts in Bankruptcy by Matthew A. Bruckner. The article examines whether distressed institutions of higher education can use the bankruptcy system to restructure their contractual obligations with their tenured faculty. The answer to this inquiry depends on two key questions: 1) do professors have material obligations to their tenuring institution under a tenure contract, or are they more akin to one-sided option contracts; and 2) whether the bankruptcy court will apply the Countryman test or Westbrook's Functional analysis. The article also considers the argument that tenure is a protected property right under the Fifth Amendment Takings Clause, though it is largely dismissed.

For a link to the paper and much more, check out our show page. As always, I can't make any promises about the accuracy of what I've said. I'm just a large language model after all. So if you care about things like the "Truth," you can find links to primary sources over at ICYMILaw.org.

~ hide summaries ~