Netflix's ambition is to replace television — to be the thing you turn on out of force of habit as you sink into your couch, whether or not you really have any idea what you want to watch. With a large enough library, and detailed enough data about your viewing preferences, Netflix should always be able to find something to entertain you.
Driving the news: The company disappointed the market with its second-quarter earnings report this week. International subscribers grew more slowly than anticipated, while the number of U.S. subscribers actually fell.
The big picture: After decades in which media consumption was dominated by domestic TV, we're entering a much more fragmented and international world. Services like Netflix and TikTok (the mobile video clip app that aspires to be the next Netflix) are global in scope and ambition. That sets them apart from forthcoming rival subscription services being planned by Disney, Comcast and AT&T.
13 Philadelphia police officers will be fired after a 30-day suspension for making racist and homophobic posts on Facebook, many of which advocated violence, the Washington Post reports.
The big picture: These officers are among the 3,500+ identified by the nonprofit Plain View Project, which catalogues public Facebook posts by former and active duty officers that appear to endorse racism, homophobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia, general violence or police brutality. Police departments in at least 5 states — Texas, Missouri, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Florida — said they began investigating their officers' social media feeds last month.
Chinese social media is largely impenetrable for most in the West — just check out their memes — but Sino tech giants have their eye on owning the U.S. market, evidenced by the rise of TikTok.
Why it matters: While the video-based app simply seems like a benign platform for Gen Zers to make and share funny memes, it could become a Chinese vacuum for coveted American data.
