Future Media | Ricky Sutton | Substack

Is AI search reviving trust as the new ranking signal?

#432: Google is facing a US$198 billion ultimate innovator’s dilemma, leading Bauer’s Stuart Forrest to pose an AI future few have seen coming...

READ THE LATEST

Most Popular

A two-hour truth bomb just hit Meta, and OMG it didn't miss

Apr 11, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

The fearless editor leading an $8 billion fight against Google

Oct 27, 2024 • Ricky Sutton

Google's killer AI-steroid is targeting a news site near you

May 15, 2024 • Ricky Sutton

Denmark's strategy to front run Europe on Big Tech deals

Dec 29, 2025 • Ricky Sutton and Chris Duncan

Recent posts

Mail, Gannett closer to payout as Google stunt backfires

#431: A high-stakes strategy to avoid a jury has gone awry, accelerating damages claims by two major publishers...

Jan 5 • Ricky Sutton

Denmark's strategy to front run Europe on Big Tech deals

#430: Apple's been referred to the police, Meta and TikTok faces fines the size of Bahrain's GDP and OpenAI and LinkedIn are headed to court...

Dec 29, 2025 • Ricky Sutton and Chris Duncan

1:07:38

Did South Africa just crack tech publisher deals?

#429: Landmark deal sees Google prioritise publishers in search, be given permission to opt out of AI training, and YouTube will digitise the state…

Dec 22, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

55:09

Meta insiders break cover on Australia's under-16s ban

#428: Two former chiefs reveal that Zuck knows how young kids are but chooses growth over safety - and how Australia can reset the world...

Dec 15, 2025 • Ricky Sutton, Kelly Stonelake, and Brian Boland

16:12

What's behind Disney's billion-dollar stake in OpenAI?

$427: Platforms are rushing to cut licensing deals but is Disney’s OpenAI bet the moment copyright stops fighting GenAI and starts pricing it?

Dec 13, 2025 • Ricky Sutton and Peter Csathy

58:10

What's success for Oz's world first social media under-16 ban

#426: Platforms are suing and kids are dodging the rules, but the real test will be whether Australia can prove the ban actually reduces harm...

Dec 12, 2025 • Ricky Sutton and Chris Duncan

Australia's social media delay on under-16s is just the start

#425: Youngsters woke today to find themselves blocked from social apps as a world first child safety law came into effect, but this is just phase…

Dec 10, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

AIs target vulnerable toddlers on YouTube for ad revenue

#424: Hours before Australia begins a legal ban on YouTube for under-16s, a report reveals AI is targeting toddlers under two on the video platform...

Dec 9, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

49:14

Newsroom legend Marty Baron on embracing tech's new dawn

#423: The 18x Pulitzer-winning former Washington Post editor on optimism, Bezos, AI, and why journalism’s job is to chase opportunity...

Dec 8, 2025 • Ricky Sutton and Chris Duncan

50:38

Australia's news bargaining code must widen to AI, TikTok

$422: A loophole hurt the $250 million-a-year media bargaining code, now it can be plugged to bring more tech companies into the net...

Dec 1, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

35:11

eSafety chief says tech smear campaign went after her kids

#421: Australia is days from a world-first law forcing Big Tech to block under-16s, but as the net has closed, the dirty tricks have begun...

Nov 25, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

Publishers lack courage to quit Google without break-up

#420: The antitrust lawyers have been back in court. Google says it will fix ad tech if it's left alone. The DoJ says no-one trusts Google any more...

Nov 24, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

Future Media

Future Media

Reporting on the collision of Big Tech and Big Media

Newsletters

Scotch and Watch

The headlines my mates and I are sharing over a scotch...

Google on Trial

Latest from the antitrust trial that is reshaping the internet...

The DoJ's attempt to break the world's most valuable company...

Inside Zuck's brain

From social scion to AGI Caesar told in his own words...

Eye on AI Overviews

Tracking Google's shift from search to an answer engine...

Inside the FTC's probe of Meta, Instagram and WhatsApp...

Buying Google Chrome

The case for the news industry buying the gateway to the www...

Podcasts

Future Media Podcast

Did South Africa just crack tech publisher deals?

Two AIs were chatting

The creator boom is calling time on the homepage era

Recommendations

The Media Copilot

The Media Copilot

Pete Pachal

Internal Tech Emails

Internal Tech Emails

Internal Tech Emails

Ed Walker - Journalism Innovation

Ed Walker - Journalism Innovation

Ed Walker

Disruption as an enabler

Clive Dickens

SEO for Google News

SEO for Google News

Barry Adams

Subscribe now to join The NY Times, Washington Post, BBC, FT, Guardian and 600 more in the fast-growing Future Media community as we explore the collision of Big Media and Big tech

Google on Trial

Mail, Gannett closer to payout as Google stunt backfires

#431: A high-stakes strategy to avoid a jury has gone awry, accelerating damages claims by two major publishers...

Jan 5 • Ricky Sutton

Publishers lack courage to quit Google without break-up

#420: The antitrust lawyers have been back in court. Google says it will fix ad tech if it's left alone. The DoJ says no-one trusts Google any more...

Nov 24, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

Google wants its AI to get a free ride on Maps and YouTube

#394: The search giant argues the AI market is still forming and its rivals are bundling already, but the judge fears it could spawn a new monopoly...

Oct 10, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

Even infinite monkeys couldn't write Google an appy ending

#392: Epic Games just beat Google again, with the Supreme Court denying its latest attempt to stall app-store reform...

Oct 7, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

After 987 days, Google’s fate rests with one judge

#391: Judge Leonie Brinkema will now decide whether to dismantle Google or trust it to reform itself - a choice that will decide the economics of…

Oct 7, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

AI Overviews

Is AI search reviving trust as the new ranking signal?

#432: Google is facing a US$198 billion ultimate innovator’s dilemma, leading Bauer’s Stuart Forrest to pose an AI future few have seen coming...

Jan 12 • Ricky Sutton and Stuart Forrest

46:46

How publishers can profit from privacy - DuckDuckGo

#408: Plus, The Daily Mail lands one on Google, Meta plunges on wild spending, Apple hits its first $100 billion quarter, and how to ride the creator…

Oct 31, 2025 • Ricky Sutton and Alan Chapell

Nine pointers for publishers to win the next decade

#406: Plus, Apple maps its ad future, Meta discovers it can help kids, Australia backs creators, TikTok's fined over data failures, and Chinese…

Oct 29, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

After a year of tech shifts, how about this as a big idea...

#403: Plus, OpenAI launches a browser, Netflix sinks on earnings, Apple laps Disney, RayBans soar on Meta vision, and three letters that unlocked AI...

Oct 22, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

Dollars v Sense

55:09

Meta insiders break cover on Australia's under-16s ban

#428: Two former chiefs reveal that Zuck knows how young kids are but chooses growth over safety - and how Australia can reset the world...

Dec 15, 2025 • Ricky Sutton, Kelly Stonelake, and Brian Boland

1:04:17

AFP's AI chief shares how the global newsroom is adapting

#413: Sophie Huet reveals how she's retaining 1,700 heads, predicting news in 150 countries, and preparing for AIs to be her next customers...

Nov 9, 2025 • Ricky Sutton, Chris Duncan, and Sophie Huet

13:02

Social justice groups target OpenAI for "coaching suicide"

#412: Suit alleges OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman designed a product that manipulates users psychologically and contributed to four deaths...

Nov 9, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

Meta's misogynistic culture puts kids at risk, warns insider

#345: A director who worked on Zuck's Metaverse claims execs treat perverts preying on kids as "a distraction from business goals"...

Jun 14, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

Meta on trial

7:15

Meta saved from break-up - and it can thank TikTok

#418: Zuck's handed the keys to double down on his social dominance and synthetic AI dream after defeating the FTC in its antitrust case...

Nov 18, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

Q: Where are we now with the Meta antitrust case?

#354: Meta has slunk off into the shadows now its high-profile antitrust case has ended. So where are we, and what's coming next?

Jul 9, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

4:57

Ex-Meta director begs former colleagues to halt child harm

#350: "I believed the leadership and internal propaganda about our ambitions and priorities and value. I feel tremendous guilt," she says.

Jun 26, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

Meta's misogynistic culture puts kids at risk, warns insider

#345: A director who worked on Zuck's Metaverse claims execs treat perverts preying on kids as "a distraction from business goals"...

Jun 14, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

A judge will now decide the future of social - and Zuck

#337: A judge will now decide the fate of social ads, personal privacy, and define the future of the daily clicks and shares of half the global…

May 29, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

Apple on Trial

12:01

Apple's perfect storm as profit, politics and privacy collide

#405: Apple's about to hit $4 trillion for the first time ever but it's far from cookies and cream inside its Oreo-shaped headquarters in Cupertino...

Oct 28, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

Publishers due millions as Oz rules app charges illegal

#365: Breaking: Judgement opens way for publishers to sell subs directly avoiding high fees and compensation going back years...

Aug 13, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

22:12

Apple’s app stranglehold is now a political flashpoint

#348: Competition lawyer Gene Burrus reveals a landmark event that put Cupertino on a collision course with the most powerful people on Earth...

Jun 23, 2025 • Ricky Sutton

47:23

We're at peak tech, and that's why Apple looks so rotten

Yeah yeah, no-one believes me but let me share some of the very real ways that you are being hurt by Cupertino's $363 billion juggernaut...

Aug 23, 2024 • Ricky Sutton

Apple shapeshifts to use privacy creds for profit - DoJ

Antitrust enforcers allege Apple wraps itself "in a cloak of privacy, security, and consumer preferences to justify its anticompetitive conduct..."

Aug 21, 2024 • Ricky Sutton

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts