By Joanne Cleaver
If news-aggregation app Tonic protects users from unwanted commercial attention, will its users be abandoned to the mercies of the market now that its parent company, Canopy, has been acquired by CNN?
Announced Tuesday, the acquisition of Canopy’s privacy-driven platform and 15-member team is a major step toward building a new platform to address “ever-evolving user needs,” according to a CNN statement.
Canopy, founded in 2018, delivers to its users via Tonic customized news feeds curated by human decisions and artificial intelligence, framed by “differential privacy,” in the company’s terms.
WarnerMedia, corporate parent of CNN, did not respond to requests for comment from Digital Privacy News. WarnerMedia is an operating unit of AT&T. Terms were not disclosed.
But the real question with the deal is whether CNN can resist the temptation to dismantle the privacy mission, posed Yang Cheng, an assistant professor of communications at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.
“How will they gain revenue?” she asked. “Will people have to start paying for privacy?”
Continue reading “Will Canopy Still Protect User Privacy After CNN Purchase?”