Media News Daily: Top Stories for 08/03/2026

Lincoln Project Loses Ground as Anti-Trump Media Expands

The Lincoln Project is entering the 2026 midterms with far less financial strength than it had during the 2020 cycle. Federal Election Commission filings show the anti-Trump super PAC raised about $9.2 million from January 2025 through June 2026 but spent about $9.35 million, ending June with just over $95,000 on hand and nearly $642,000 in debt. The group says it is launching an effort to help Democrats win 26 congressional seats, but faces a more crowded anti-Trump media environment, including competition from right-leaning outlets such as The Bulwark. The Lincoln Project also continues to face reputational damage from the John Weaver sexual-misconduct scandal and the departure of most original founders. (Read More) (Washington Examiner Rating)

ISBNdb Removes AI Book-Sourcing Pitch After Report

ISBNdb removed website pages advertising printed-book sourcing services for AI training after 404 Media reported on the company’s claims. The company said the page was a “test of market interest” and denied that it had purchased, scanned, or sold books for AI training. ISBNdb had previously promoted pre-2022 printed books as valuable AI training material because they are less likely to contain AI-generated text. The report also noted broader concerns about AI firms acquiring and scanning physical books, including rare and foreign-language titles, and potentially destroying them during digitization. (Read More) (404 Media Rating)

Reddit Scraping Claims Against Perplexity Can Proceed

Reddit can move forward with key claims in its lawsuit alleging that Perplexity and data scraper SerpApi improperly obtained copyrighted Reddit posts from Google search results. Reddit claims SerpApi bypassed Google’s anti-scraping protections and supplied Reddit content to Perplexity, while also alleging that scraping undermines user privacy by interfering with Reddit’s ability to honor deletion requests. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer rejected early dismissal arguments for now, finding that Reddit’s allegations could support claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act if proven. Reddit said it intends to protect the human conversations created by its users. (Read More) (Mediapost Rating)