• Meta Platforms Inc. will lay off thousands more employees as early as this week, according to people familiar with the matter. In November, the social media giant eliminated more than 11,000 positions, or 13% of its total workforce, kicking off an effort to flatten its organizational structure and become more efficient. (Bloomberg) 
• California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state will no longer do business with Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. over the company’s decision not to offer abortion pills in 20 Republican-led states. It’s the latest example of state government leadership applying pressure to companies in response to politically-charged issues. (Reuters) 
• Twitter Inc. experienced another outage on Monday, marking the second major service disruption in less than a week, the third in under a month and one of the bigger technical mishaps since Elon Musk took ownership of the platform in October. Some users had trouble viewing photos or clicking through posted links, while others were unable to access the platform altogether. (CNN) 
• The Biden Administration is reportedly urging Congress to give it more authority to police technology services and social media platforms — including ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok — that could expose Americans’ sensitive data to China. The plea represents a significant shift for President Biden and his team, who for nearly two years have been privately negotiating a deal to allow TikTok to operate in the United States while mitigating national security risks. (The New York Times)

A Brand’s Guide to Gen Alpha

Morning Consult

A year on, The Trade Desk’s Open Path is moving toward its goals, but challenges persist

Seb Joseph et al., Digiday

When it launched OpenPath, the company’s line that this would be a programmatic pipe to new money for publishers got clouded by the fear that it would give The Trade Desk even more influence over the flow of ad dollars.

U.S. Joint Industry Committee Reveals Currency Criteria for Premium Cross-Platform Video

Bill Bradley, Adweek

The assembly looks to establish the suitability of measurement solutions ahead of the 2024 upfront.

Global Ad/Marketing Spend Decelerating, Macroeconomic Challenges Cited

Joe Mandese, MediaPost

Global advertising and marketing spending continued to rebound in 2022 — rising 7.9% to $1.568 trillion in 2022 — but it will decelerate slightly this year due to macroeconomic challenges, according to the 2023 edition of PQ Media’s annual forecast.

How social fragmentation is creating more opportunities for advertisers

Kimeko McCoy, Digiday

Brands over the last few years, especially DTC brands, have tried to further diversify their ad spends across alternative social media platforms to become less reliant on Meta as costs increase, ad space becomes saturated and data privacy measures muddy targeting capabilities.

Microsoft Introduces AI Assistant for Marketing, Customer Service 

Ad Age

Bot can help marketers get creative, making suggestions for email campaigns based on topics and requested tone.

Leo Messi Animated Series In The Works With Sony Music Entertainment

Peter White, Deadline

The Argentinean soccer captain has teamed up with Sony Music Entertainment to develop a new animated series after winning the World Cup in Qatar.

Tyler Perry Expressed Interest in Buying Majority Stake of BET Media Group From Paramount Global

Jessica Toonkel and Joe Flint, The Wall Street Journal

Potential sale of part of parent of BET and VH1 would help Paramount shore up resources for streaming.

Netflix Co-CEO Greg Peters: “Member Satisfaction and Profit” Guide Company Decisions

Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter

The new co-CEO and executive chairman Reed Hastings spoke at the global streamer’s European headquarters in Amsterdam on Monday in a session moderated by Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands.

Vox Retires Recode and The Goods Branding, Absorbs Into Technology and Culture Coverage

Vox Communications

Today, Vox announced it will retire the branding for Recode and The Goods. You can still find all the same great work by the same reporters you know and love via Vox’s technology section for Recode, and Vox’s culture and money sections for The Goods.

Why TikTokers are turning to YouTube, email newsletters, and other ways of earning money

Shriya Bhattacharya, Insider

Some TikTok influencers are turning their time and energy to other platforms to earn more money, grow their audiences, and create permanent homes for the content.

Fox News stands in legal peril. It says defamation loss would harm all media

David Folkenflik, NPR News

Outside legal observers say the Fox News Channel finds itself in real legal jeopardy in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit brought by an election tech company over lies broadcast about the 2020 presidential race.

Elon Musk Documentary Set From Oscar Winner Alex Gibney

Matt Donnelly, Variety

Already months into production, Gibney announced the project on Monday saying he was “hugely excited” about tackling Musk on film. It is described as a “definitive and unvarnished examination of multi-billionaire tech entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter.”

Elon Musk says Twitter is ‘aiming’ to roll out encrypted DMs this month

Ivan Mehta, TechCrunch

Amongst a ton of product changes to make Twitter a more attractive platform, Elon Musk has mentioned multiple times his desire to make direct messages better and more secure. So much so that he wants DMs to “superset Signal” — the encrypted messaging app.

Medium launches a ‘premium’ Mastodon instance as a membership perk

Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

Publishing platform Medium is opening up its debut Mastodon instance, me.dm, to its members, the company announced today.

Amazon closing some of its cashier-free stores

Chris Isidore, CNN

Amazon is permanently closing eight of its 29 Amazon Go convenience stores that offer customers the ability to shop without any kind of checkout process.

The generative AI arms race is just starting

Dan Primack, Axios

Venture capitalists are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into generative AI startups.

TikTok Rolls Out ‘Project Clover’ to Assure Europeans on Data

Stu Woo, The Wall Street Journal

Video-sharing app launches effort in U.K. amid wave of other governments restricting its use.

Kohler Revisits 1981 ‘Toilet in the Road’ Ad as it Artfully Looks to Future

Tim Nudd, Ad Age

Photographer Douglas Friedman recreated the iconic image, this time with the Numi 2.0 smart toilet.

Marlboro maker Altria agrees to buy e-cigarette startup NJOY for nearly $2.8 billion

Stefan Sykes, CNBC 

Altria, which makes Marlboro cigarettes, will have full global ownership of NJOY’s e-vapor product portfolio, including NJOY ACE, the only pod-based e-vapor product with market authorizations from the FDA.

HelloFresh drops coconut milk from Thailand over monkey labor allegations

Kelly Tyko, Axios 

Under pressure from animal rights activists, HelloFresh will stop selling coconut milk sourced from Thailand in its meal kits in the coming months over monkey labor allegations, the company confirmed to Axios.

Nissan brings TikTok’s BeReal lookalike to March Madness

Sara Karlovitch, Marketing Dive

Nissan is returning as an official sponsor of the NCAA March Madness basketball tournaments with a refresh of its “Road 2” campaign, according to details shared with Marketing Dive. The Nissan Ariya, its all-electric vehicle (EV), will serve as the official EV of the tournament.

Royal Caribbean reveals what will be the world’s largest cruise ship early – on Fortnite

Chris Sutcliffe, The Drum

Fortnite is one of the most popular and ever-evolving multiplayer games of the decade. Can Royal Caribbean use it to introduce cruises to a new generation?

Lowe’s New Marketing Approach Leans Into the Color Red

Adrianne Pasquarelli, Ad Age

Lowe’s is turning red. As it strives to give customers a reason to shop its brand amid an overall slowing in retail, the home improvement retailer is highlighting its red-vested employees as the experts shoppers need.

JetBlue, Spirit Brace for Justice Department Lawsuit to Block Airlines’ Merger

Andrew Tangel, The Wall Street Journal

Airlines’ CEOs say combining their operations will ultimately benefit consumers.

Best Buy will set up in-home hospital care through a new deal with Atrium Health

Melissa Repko, CNBC

The consumer electronics retailer said Tuesday it has struck a three-year deal with Atrium Health, a North Carolina-based health-care system, to help enable a hospital-at-home program. Atrium Health is part of Advocate Health, one of the country’s largest health-care nonprofits.

With Gucci and Balenciaga Struggling, Kering Aims for a Reset

Angelina Rascouet, Bloomberg

The French luxury group is seeking to rekindle interest as it falls further behind rival LVMH.

SiriusXM Laying Off 475 Employees, Cutting 8% of Workforce

Todd Spangler, Variety

In a wide-ranging restructuring, SiriusXM is eliminating 475 jobs — or about 8% of its headcount — with CEO Jennifer Witz citing economic uncertainty and a need to operate with “greater agility and efficiency.”

Google tells employees that fewer of them will get promotions to senior roles

Jennifer Elias, CNBC

Google told employees in an email on Monday that fewer of them will be receiving promotions in the upcoming performance review cycle.

When it comes to office buildings, it’s survival of the fanciest

Emily Peck, Axios

Some companies are going all out to entice workers back to the office, and, as new data on New York City shows, a super-fancy office might help do the trick.

How executives can balance employee wellness and high productivity

Paolo Confino, Fortune

Annual average productivity—as measured by the economic output per hour worked—decreased by 1.7% from 2021 to 2022, the largest annual decline since 1978, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

You’re Now a ‘Manager.’ Forget About Overtime Pay.

Noam Scheiber, The New York Times

New evidence shows that many employers are mislabeling rank-and-file workers as managers to avoid paying them overtime.