Big Tech companies that began to walk back content moderation ahead of the 2024 election are now starting to implement new rules amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Why it matters: The level of mis- and disinformation flooding the internet is forcing tech firms to take tougher positions at a time when they're trying to prove they don't bow to political pressure.

What's happening: Meta on Friday said it's developed a "special operations center" staffed with experts, including fluent Hebrew and Arabic speakers.

• TikTok says it will add more content moderators who speak Arabic and Hebrew. It plans misinformation warnings for users searching for certain keywords in Hebrew, Arabic and English.
• X CEO Linda Yaccarino sent the EU a letter detailing the firm's efforts to tackle war-related disinformation, including "redistributing resources" and "refocused internal teams."
• A YouTube spokesperson said the firm has removed "tens of thousands of harmful videos and terminated hundreds of channels."

Between the lines: Telegram continues to host Hamas channels, which have ballooned in followers and engagement since the war broke out, according to the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab.

• Content from Telegram often makes its way onto bigger tech platforms that are then forced to try to stop it from spreading further.

⚡ Startling stat: CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon told Axios last week that the network has sifted through more than 1,000 videos of the Israel-Hamas war — and only 10% are usable.

🌐 What to watch: Governments have become major targets of wartime mis- and disinformation.

• A slew of fake diplomatic responses circulating online about the war between Hamas and Israel are amplifying political divisions globally.

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At least 15 journalists have been killed in the first 10 days of the Hamas-Israel war, according to the latest tally from the Committee to Protect Journalists. Many others have been reported missing or injured.

The big picture: It's a staggering number of deaths to be documented across such a short period of time.

• For context, a total of 15 journalists have been killed in Ukraine between 2022 and 2023, per CPJ.

Details: Most of the 11 Palestinians killed during the Hamas-Israeli war died during Israeli bombardments in Gaza, per CPJ.

• Three Israeli journalists were killed in Hamas attacks, and one Lebanese journalist has also been killed in an attack Lebanon's government blamed on an Israeli missile strike.
• Nearly half of the journalists killed were working as photojournalists or videographers, trying to document the crisis unfolding on the ground.

Between the lines: A Beirut-based Reuters videographer died during an attack in southern Lebanon Friday that also wounded six other journalists, including two other Reuters journalists and journalists from AFP and Al Jazeera.

• 🔎 Reuters editor-in-chief Alessandra Galloni on Monday called on Israeli authorities to conduct an investigation into his death, noting, "Eyewitnesses at the scene said the shell that killed Issam came from Israel."

The big picture: Journalists are considered civilians under international humanitarian law and should not be directly targeted in attacks.

• 🇮🇱 Press freedom advocates are beginning to put pressure on Israel, and all parties involved in the war, to end military practices that impact civilian lives, including journalists.

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Activist investor Starboard Value has taken an increased stake in News Corp. to demand that the media giant separate its digital real estate group from its publishing assets, Axios' Michael Flaherty writes.

Why it matters: It's the second activist campaign that the company has faced in the past year around this issue.

• 🏡 Activist investor Irenic Capital last year demanded the company spin off its real estate business instead of merging with its sister company Fox Corp.

Be smart: News Corp. was in talks to sell Realtor.com parent company Move Inc. to CoStar Group for more than $3 billion earlier this year.

• ✂️ Irenic's campaign fizzled after News Corp. abandoned both the Fox Corp. merger plan and the Move Inc. sale process.

Details: Starboard Value CEO Jeff Smith told investors and corporate advisers Tuesday that Dow Jones was undervalued, especially compared to the New York Times.

• 📈 A move to separate its real estate business — which includes a stake in Australian online property firm REA Group plus Move Inc. — would significantly boost the rest of the company's value, he argued.

By the numbers: News Corp.'s overall market value is more than $12 billion. Smith pointed out that News Corp's stake in REA alone is worth $8 billion.

• Smith estimates that taking out the real estate business, the rest of News Corp's business portfolio is worth around $4 billion.
• "It just doesn't make sense," he said.

The big picture: More activists are coming for big media.

• Activist hedge fund Legion Partners is pushing Clear Channel Outdoor to explore a range of options, including the sale of the entire company.
• "Good luck finding a buyer," Flaherty writes.

Puck, the buzzy media startup, is launching its first-ever live conference event this fall, its co-founder Jon Kelly told Axios.

• The big picture: More digital media companies are leaning into big conferences and event series as advertising revenue tapers off.

"The Powers That Be: Live" conference series is formatted as a multiday event that will take place in New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.

How it works: Each event will feature one private, off-the-record conversation between a high-profile speaker and a Puck journalist that will be accompanied by a highly curated, invitation-only cocktail reception.

• The first event will be on Oct. 23 in Washington, D.C. Puck's Peter Hamby will speak with former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain.
• The second event, featuring Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria in conversation with Puck's Matt Belloni, will be held in Los Angeles this November.
• The third event will be held early next year in New York and will feature Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon in conversation with Puck's William D. Cohan.

Between the lines: Puck has done nearly 15 commercial events in 2023 and plans to grow its events footprint next year, Kelly said.

• The firm raised over $10 million in a Series B growth round in August, two years after launching with an initial $7 million seed round.

Patreon, which connects creators with fans so creators get paid directly, has acquired Moment, a livestream platform for events and ticketed experiences, Patreon CEO Jack Conte tells Axios.

Why it matters: Livestreaming is one of the top requested features from Patreon's creators, Conte says.

• 💰Live events serve as "yet another form of revenue" for creators, in addition to memberships and commerce.

The big picture: The deal is part of a broader push by Patreon to provide services that strengthen creators' connections with their communities beyond paid memberships, Conte says.

• 💬 In the past few years, the firm has introduced new commercial features, including commerce products and community chat spaces.

What to watch: Patreon's $155 million raise in 2021 valued the company at $4 billion. The 10-year-old startup has raised more than $400 million to date.

• After rapid growth during the pandemic. Patreon laid off 80 employees, roughly 17% of its workforce in September 2022.

👀 Asked whether the firm is eyeing an IPO anytime soon, Conte said he thinks it makes sense for Patreon one day to become a public company, but "We have no plans to do that right now."

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The Washington Post is offering voluntary buyouts to employees across its organization in an effort to eliminate 240 jobs, its interim CEO Patty Stonesifer said in a note to staff last week.

Why it matters: The news comes as the Post tries to strengthen its financial position ahead of bringing on a new, full-time CEO.

• In a note to staff, Stonesifer said that prior projections for traffic, subscriptions and advertising growth for the past two years and heading into next year were overly optimistic.
• She said the company is working to develop a plan to bring the business to a better place in the next year and that the buyouts are designed to reduce its workforce in the hopes of avoiding layoffs.

📉 By the numbers: The Post is on track to lose more than $100 million this year, according to a source familiar with the company's financial situation.

• The company has also lost roughly 500 million subscribers from its peak of 3 million subscribers during the Trump era.

Details: Around 700 of the Post's 2,500 employees have been offered buyouts, the Post's media team reports.

• Some packages are very generous, including 24 months paid severance for employees who have worked at the Post for over 15 years.

The Daily Wire, a conservative media brand known for its popular podcast "The Ben Shapiro Show," has debuted a new subscription streaming app exclusively for kids entertainment content called Bentkey.

Why it matters: The new platform, launching on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Walt Disney Company, was built in response to Disney's positioning on Florida's Parental Rights in Education bill, known as the "Don't Say Gay" bill.

• The Daily Wire told Axios last year that it planned to invest "a minimum of $100 million" in the new app over the next three years.

Details: The new app will be available for $99 per year, beginning yesterday in the U.S. and Wednesday globally, a Daily Wire executive told Axios.

• Subscribers to Daily Wire's general entertainment streaming service, DailyWire+, will automatically get access to Bentkey.
• The app launches with over 150 episodes across 18 shows, four of which are original. The rest of the content is licensed.

Yes, but: The firm decided to keep its branding separate from Daily Wire's to signal a departure from Daily Wire's focus on politics and hot-button issues.

• Bentkey is about "childhood and wonder and adventure," Daily Wire co-founder Jeremy Boreing said. The app, he added, is "about values and all of the things on which politics are built later."

The big picture: When the Daily Wire was founded in 2015, its business was mostly ad-supported and focused on podcasts and Facebook traffic.

• In 2020, as it began to eye a foray into entertainment, its annual revenues were less than $100 million.
• Last year, it projected nearly $200 million in revenue for 2022.

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Concert and performance movies have made up a higher percentage of box office revenues so far in 2023 than at any point in the past two decades.

Driving the news: "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" grossed $95 million–$97 million at the box office and was the highest-grossing concert film in North America for an opening weekend on record, Axios' Rebecca Falconer writes.

• It's also the most any concert movie has made in its entire run in the past 50 years.

Why it matters: Theaters, desperate for revenue as the Hollywood actors continue to strike, see live events and classics showings as a way to sell seats.

What to watch: AMC acted as both an exhibitor and a distributor of the film, which allowed it to earn significantly more money than with a traditional release, Axios' Tim Baysinger writes.

• Swift wasn't a one-off for AMC. The theater chain is also distributing Beyoncé's upcoming film version of her Renaissance tour in December.

Sign up for Axios Pro Media Deals authored by Tim Baysinger and Kerry Flynn.