Media News Daily: Top Stories for 10/21/2025

Meta Loses MRC Brand-Safety Accreditation for Facebook and Instagram

The Media Rating Council (MRC) has revoked Meta’s brand-safety accreditation after the company opted out of annual audits, ending the recognition it received in June for content safety on Facebook and Instagram feeds. Meta still retains MRC approval for other ad metrics and is shifting focus to third-party verification tools, recently expanding coverage to Threads ads. Critics say the move reflects Meta’s evolving stance on brand safety, particularly after replacing its fact-checking program with a user-based moderation system. (Read More) (MediaPost Rating)

Local News Closures Surge, Especially Among Independent Papers

A new report from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism reveals that 136 U.S. newspapers closed in the past year, most owned by independent publishers, leaving 50 million Americans in news deserts with limited access to local news. The report notes the decline is driven by rising costs, loss of ad revenue, and the lack of succession plans for aging owners, with fewer than 1,000 dailies now remaining nationwide. While metro-area digital startups are increasing, rural areas remain underserved, and recent cuts to public broadcasting may further erode access in low-income regions. (Read More) (Poynter Rating)

AWS Outage Takes Down Major Websites and Services Across the Internet

Amazon Web Services (AWS) suffered a large-scale outage on Monday morning that disrupted over 70 services, impacting sites like Reddit, Prime Video, ChatGPT, and parts of Gmail and Instagram due to its role as a key internet backbone. The issue originated in the US-EAST-1 region, where AWS says recovery is now underway, though some services remained intermittently affected. The disruption reignited concerns over the risks of over-centralization in cloud infrastructure. (Read More) (MediaPost Rating)