It’s Friday, and have you ever wondered how expensive it is for Amazon to put movies like Project Hail Mary in theaters? We have, and Ankler’s got the deets.

RAISING AWARENESS

The mission: In August 2024, YouTube's former longtime CEO, Susan Wojcicki, passed away at age 56. She battled non-small-cell lung cancer for two years and left behind one heck of a legacy.

Now Susan's husband Dennis Troper and her sisters, Dr. Janet Wojcicki and Anne Wojcicki, have teamed up with professionals in clinical research, AI, diagnostics, and early detection to launch the Susan Wojcicki Foundation, which wants to "change the conversation" around lung cancer and help more people access screening, early detection, and prevention.

And, fittingly, the SWF is marking Lung Cancer Awareness Month by telling people about its mission on YouTube—with the help of creators.

MrBeast, Mark Rober, Hank Green, Lilly Singh, Cassey Ho, Marina Mogilko, Cleo Abram, Mark Vins, Jake Roper, sWooZie, Mat & Stephanie Patrick, Dr. Mike, Stephanie Chuang, and Rhett & Link all joined the SWF's first YouTube video to support its efforts.

The conversation: “The channel and its contents will address the fact that anyone with lungs can get lung cancer, and nobody deserves it," Audrey Eatherly, the SWF's Head of Creator and Community Partnerships, tells Tubefilter. "Early detection and prevention are key. But stigma and confusion keep too many people from talking about it or asking about a screening."

The SWF hopes its YouTube channel can help spark more progressive discussions with educational and informative content, some of which will feature YouTubers. You can read more about its creator partnerships here.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

IT’S THE LAW

The law: This past September, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 1709, which prevents social media platforms from being able to employ features like recommendation algorithms, infinite scroll, and video autoplay on accounts of users under the age of 16.

Because of how Google, TikTok, and Meta have designed their platforms, it effectively bans kids under 16 from having accounts at all on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.

They, of course, are not happy about this.

Each has filed a separate lawsuit against California to block enforcement of the law—and they’re all citing Section 230 and free speech provisions as reasons the court should side with them.

The claims: “We are challenging this law because it violates the First Amendment by letting the government dictate how ideas are organized, displayed or shared with Californians,” a Meta spokesperson told Courthouse News. “Under the law, we would be forced to either remove features that keep teens’ experiences age-appropriate, or cut thousands of California teens off from family, friends and their communities.”

Meanwhile Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda told Reuters that “Parents ‌are best ⁠positioned to make the right decisions for their families. Overly broad laws like this actually break the systems we’ve built to help kids find high-quality, age-appropriate videos.”

TikTok’s complaint? “AB 1709 is a blatantly unconstitutional restriction on free expression that erodes the long-standing and protected practice of curating content based on user preferences, which book stores, TV networks and streaming services all use,” a spokesperson said. “Beyond disregarding real progress in making teens safer online, this law limits free speech and takes away parents’ rights to determine what’s appropriate for their kids.”

The defendant in all three suits is California Attorney General Rob Bonta. His office said it’s reviewing the claims, and that he is “committed to defending California’s commonsense laws to protect kids online.”

IT’S SCROLLIN’ TIME

The issue: Platforms like YouTube have become ubiquitous in classrooms, in large part because—as Gallup noted in a recent report—96% of students are equipped with devices meant to enhance their learning.

Of course, that doesn’t mean those devices are actually being used for learning. In the most extreme cases, kids and teens watch thousands of non-educational videos each semester. With those behaviors, classroom devices become distractions, not academic aids.

A report from NBC News found one Wisconsin sixth grader viewed more than 2,200 videos during the school year, but only 21 were deemed educational. Meanwhile an eighth grader in Pennsylvania watched a whopping 4,700 videos over the same period, and only a small fraction suited the intended use of his classroom device.

Those findings echo a recent report published by the Wall Street Journal that told the story of a student who watched 13,000 videos on a school-issued device over three months.

The potential solution: YouTube could claim that it does offer various forms of regulation. Its Player for Education is meant to deliver a distraction-free viewing environment that can keep students from getting off track.

“Our tools allow administrators to block the platform entirely or restrict access to teacher-assigned videos only, with no ads, recommendations, or browsing,” Google spokesperson Jack Malon said in a statement provided to NBC News. “If schools choose to enable browsing for students, we require them to get permission from parents first.”

Of course, YouTube can go even further to combat addictive viewership patterns among students, but educators, students, youth advocates, and YouTube execs all seem to have different ideas about the course the platform should take.

At this point, YouTube’s presence in classrooms may be inevitable, even if stronger rules are put into place. In that environment, adding positive resources to the platform could help students get the most out of their classroom devices.

WATCH THIS 👀

The shipside stream: When Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers sang about “Islands in the Stream,” we don’t think they were talking about Twitch, but Carnival Cruise Line has other ideas.

The Florida-based travel company will stream on the open seas with Play Carnival, an initiative that will show viewers how much fun they can have aboard its ship Celebration.

Play Carnival kicks off Nov. 15 on the cruise line’s official Twitch account. Carnival Fleet Cruise Director Erin Weigand will be joined by veteran creator iJustine, who’ll become a “player” as she takes on various challenges aboard Celebration.

But in case anyone’s hankering for a little shipside content now, Bright Sun Travels is always ready to critique the faux marble in cruise line cabins.

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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen.