Read all about it… somewhere else. Meta's text-based app Threads won't "amplify" news on the platform, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said. Threads, which hasn't been shy about saying it doesn't want to be a news hub, got 100M users in five days when it launched this summer (some saw it as an alternative to X). Now, its daily user count has plunged 80% from its peak — and some blame Threads' lack of news.

• Moderation snare: This week the EU warned Meta that failing to remove pro-Hamas content could violate the bloc's new moderation rules, resulting in heavy fines. Users looking for war updates on social have had to navigate through loads of misinfo, old footage, and video-game clips.

• Ad squeeze: Mark Zuckerberg's vision for Threads was to be a positive space. By remaining mostly brand-safe with less real (and "fake") news, Meta could pull more ad revenue away from flailing rival X.

• Searching: Last month, Threads blocked searches for keywords like "Covid" and "vaccines" as cases rose in the US.

Social's Thanksgiving-dinner moment… Social giants are starting to find that news isn't worth the hassle, even though it can drive engagement. Last week, X stripped headlines from news links (though not for paid ads). Meta pulled news from Instagram and Facebook in Canada this summer (after the country passed a media-content-fee law) and it axed its Facebook News tab in the UK, France, and Germany. With the exception of TikTok and Insta, social media has broadly declined as a regular news source for American adults.

When the going gets tough, bail… Meta and some of its rivals are leaving news behind as regulators worldwide crack down on misinfo and pressure Big Tech to pay publishers for content. Plus, as social ad spend wavers, tech titans are searching for ways to make their platforms more advertiser-friendly (read: less toxic).

Biscoff cookies FTW… Delta unloaded strong earnings for the summer quarter, with profit rising nearly 60% thanks to sizzlin' travel demand. International vacays were hot, with transatlantic-flight sales up 34% as Americans tried to live out "White Lotus"-style Italian summers. The Atlanta-based carrier said its planes were nearly 90% full during the quarter (but you already knew that after being sandwiched in). Still, Delta's annual earnings forecast was at the lower end of its initial guidance as fuel prices spiked. 

• Clear skies: Delta boss Ed Bastian said he expects the strong tailwinds will continue into the holiday quarter. FYI: United and Alaska report next week.

• Full bar carts: Bastian added that Delta's premium-class offering has been doing "very, very well," especially in the States. Business-class travel was back to 80%+ of prepandemic levels. But the Hollywood and auto-industry strikes put a damper on business demand last q.

The airplane tables have turned… Budget airlines like Spirit and Ryan Air thrived during the pandemic, posting records as stimulus-laden consumers took to "revenge travel." But now premium offerings like Delta's business class may be coming out on top. For Q2, Spirit's loss widened to $2.3M, even though it reported record revenue. The budget carrier also predicted "softer" summer demand (it reports this month), and Spirit and Frontier have had to slash prices to fuel bookings, despite rising costs.

First class can be a hedge against the economy… As airplane fuel prices rise and lower-income consumers start tightening belts, it's harder for budget carriers to churn out a profit (even with all those add-ons like charging for water). At the same time, wealthier consumers and corporate execs still have thousands to spend on luxury reclining seats for NYC meetings. Business class has the highest margins for airlines, helping them offset rising costs like fuel.

🎱 Shakeout… Yuga Labs, the biz behind Bored Ape NFTs, said it's laying off employees. Its revenue took a hit with the rise of Blur, a marketplace that offered lower per-transaction royalty fees to NFT creators than competitor OpenSea. 

🤔 Sus… Caroline Ellison, prosecutors' star witness in Sam Bankman-Fried's trial, took the stand. She said that SBF directed her to commit crimes and that Alameda Research