Some live sports and studio shows from ESPN will start appearing on Disney+ this year. Disney CEO Bob Iger told investors on an earnings call that this follows an encouraging start for Hulu programming on the company's namesake streaming service. 

"By the end of this calendar year, we will be adding an ESPN tile to Disney+, giving all US subscribers access to select live games and studio programming within the Disney+ app," Iger said. "We see this as a first step to bringing ESPN to Disney+ viewers, as we ready the launch of our enhanced standalone ESPN streaming service in the fall of 2025." Iger also noted that ESPN+ subscribers will also be able to access content from that service through the new Disney+ tile, so Disney bundle subscribers will more or less have everything in one app.

Iger didn't reveal exactly what sports Disney would make available to everyone on Disney+, but made it clear that it would only bring a “modest” amount of programming over from ESPN. The company is also working with Fox Sports and Warner Bros. Discovery on another sports streaming service that's slated to arrive later this year and will include games from the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA. 

Meanwhile, Disney+ just had its first profitable quarter in its four and a half years of existence. The service had been expected to lose $100 million in the first three months of 2024, but it actually posted a $47 million profit — surely aided by Taylor Swift's Eras Tour concert film debuting on the platform in March.

However, Disney's streaming business as a whole (which also includes Hulu and ESPN+) lost $18 million during the quarter. That's still a vast improvement over the $659 million that side of the business lost a year earlier as Disney edges toward overall profitability in streaming.

More than anything, Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace is a fascinating cultural object. It's been 25 years since I saw the film in theaters, and over a decade since I last rewatched it (in a vain attempt to help my Trekkie wife catch up to the prequels). I've had enough time to process the initial disappointment and embarrassment of introducing my wife to Jar Jar Binks. So when Disney announced it was bringing the prequel trilogy back to theaters, I was practically giddy about revisiting them to see how George Lucas's final films compared to the onslaught of Star Wars media we've experienced over the past decade. Was The Phantom Menace as bad as I'd remembered? Well, yes and no.

Disney/Lucasfilm

Boring but full of imagination

In 1999, I knew Episode 1 would be a bit of a slog as soon as we hit the second line of the opening crawl: "The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute." Really, George? This was what Star Wars fans were waiting for since 1983's Return of the Jedi? During this rewatch, I was more tickled than annoyed by the many baffling narrative choices: The empty drama of a trade blockade; the confusing decision to establish a romance between a literal child and an older teenager; and throwing in Jar Jar Binks to appease kids amid the hideously dull dialog.

It's as if The Phantom Menace was written and directed by an alien who hadn't actually seen a movie, or engaged in any aspect of pop culture, since the early '80s. At the same time, that near-outsider perspective is part of the film's charm. Seeing a society slowly lose control of an idealistic democracy to a power-hungry dictator is a lot for a PG-rated fantasy film. Yet that also sets up the first two prequels to feel eerily-prescient beside the global response to 9/11.

By the time we reached 2005's Revenge of the Sith, the allusions to George W. Bush's Patriot Act and Global War on Terror were hard to miss. "This is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause," Padme says as her fellow Senators hand over emergency powers to Palpatine, turning Supreme Chancellor Palpatine into the Emperor, and transforming the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire.

Disney/Lucasfilm

Beyond political machinations, The Phantom Menace is filled with loads of gorgeous imagery: Naboo's lush palace and aquatic Gungan city; the designs of new ships and weapons; and, of course, every single outfit worn by Princess Amidala. It would have been nice if these visuals cohered into the narrative better, but their presence makes it clear that Lucas was surrounded by world-class talent, like renowned costume designer Trisha Biggar.

The Phantom Menace also leaps to life in its handful of action set-pieces. Sure, maybe the pod-race goes on a bit too long, but the sense of speed, scale and bombastic sound throughout is still absolutely thrilling. (The film's sound team — Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson, Shawn Murphy and John Midgley — was nominated for an Oscar, but lost out to The Matrix.)

And yes, the entire Duel of the Fates fight is still an absolute banger. There's no doubt that The Phantom Menace would have been a stronger film with less-clunky dialog and more character development shown through action. At one point in the fight, all of the participants are separated by laser barriers. Qui-Gon Jinn meditates, almost completely at peace. Darth Maul prowls like a caged lion. And Obi-Wan Kenobi is simply eager to get on with the fight, like a hot-shot student who just wants to show off. That sequence tells you more about those characters than the remaining two hours of the film.

Disney/Lucasfilm

A precursor to ubiquitous digital characters

While I didn't come around to loving Jar Jar Binks during this rewatch, his very existence as a fully-CG character felt more significant than ever. Voiced by the actor and comedian Ahmed Best, Jar Jar was roundly trashed upon release and his implementation was far from seamless. But it was also the first time we saw a motion-captured performance be transformed into a fully-realized character. Now that technology is so common in movies we practically take it for granted.

"You can’t have Gollum without Jar Jar," Best said in a recent interview for The New York Times. "You can’t have the Na’vi in ‘Avatar’ without Jar Jar. You can’t have Thanos or the Hulk without Jar Jar. I was the signal for the rest of this art form, and I’m proud of Jar Jar for that, and I’m proud to be a part of that. I’m in there!”

In 2017, Best offered an expanded version of his thoughts in a Twitter thread (via ScreenRant): "Jar Jar helped create the workflow, iteration process and litmus test for all CGI characters to this day. On some days the code was being written in real time as I was moving. To deny Jar Jar's place in film history is to deny the hundreds of VFX technicians, animators, code writers and producers their respect. People like John Knoll, Rob Coleman and scores of others who I worked with for two years after principal photography was ended to bring these movies to you."

Disney/Lucasfilm

A great story stuck in a bad film

I've learned the best way to watch The Phantom Menace is to take in the aspects that I like and replace Lucas's many baffling choices with my own head canon. The story of Anakin Skywalker being born through the sheer power of the Force and becoming the Jedi's Chosen One? That's interesting! Inventing Midi-chlorians to give people a literal Jedi power score? That's bad, to hell with you! (Midi-chlorians are still technically canon, but they've been largely ignored in recent Star Wars media.)

This time around, I couldn't help but imagine how a more natural and energetic storyteller would have tackled The Phantom Menace. Surely they wouldn't front-load trade disputes and taxation. A more skilled writer, like Andor's Tony Gilroy, could thoughtfully weave together the Republic's potential downfall. And I'd bet most people wouldn't waste Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan by keeping him off-screen for an hour, while everyone else goes on a pod-racing adventure. (It sure would be nice to have him spend more time with Anakin!)

Disney/Lucasfilm

I still haven't seen Topher Grace's fabled 85-minute edit of the Star Wars prequels, but his decision to start in the middle of Phantom Menace's climactic lightsaber battle makes sense. So much of Episode 1 feels entirely superfluous when the real story of Anakin Skywalker is about falling in love, being tempted by the Dark Side and ultimately betraying his master.

Doctor Who is famous for constantly reinventing itself while remaining more or less exactly the same. The show has had a rough few years, which has led to some dramatic changes behind the scenes. Russell T. Davies, who was behind Doctor Who’s 2005 revival, has stepped in to rescue the show. What was historically an in-house BBC production is now being handled by a Sony-owned production company. And Disney has bankrolled it, with this new revival billed outside the UK as a Disney+ Original.

The dramatic behind-the-scenes changes prompted some fundamental questions about how Doctor Who would thrive in this new world. Would Davies be able to bring the show back from the brink a second time? And would the show appeal to Zoomers in the same way it found a devoted audience of Millennials? And would Doctor Who survive intact under Disney, which is used to obsessive levels of control?

It’s that last question I can already answer, having watched the first two episodes of this new eight-episode season: Doctor Who hasn’t been watered down to suit its new paymasters or the broad international audience who will see this show pop up every Friday. In fact, Who ‘24 has doubled down on being weird, avant-garde, difficult to handle and harder to pigeonhole. It’s a little punk and a little rough around the edges which makes it all the more interesting compared to, say, some other Disney+ series I could choose to mention.

I’m not allowed to share much of what I saw, but episode one, “Space Babies,” features the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby (Millie Gibson) visiting a space station crewed by babies. As you can see in the trailer, there’s liberal use of unconvincing and creepy CGI mouths for said rugrats. “The Devil’s Chord,” meanwhile, sees the TARDIS head to Abbey Road to meet the Beatles at the dawn of their careers.

If this is your first experience of Doctor Who, please start with the Christmas Day special “The Church on Ruby Road.” These first three episodes are the jumping-on point, and form Davies standard “Present,” “Future” and “Past” trilogy he uses to open his runs. All three are sold as fun romps, but there's a spikiness that stems from Davies’ underlying cynicism. As much as he may paint in primary colors, his worldview is a lot darker than some of his colleagues.

Davies is a strong advocate for better queer representation in film and TV and is arguably one of the most powerful gay men in media. Many of his shows, including Queer as Folk, Cucumber, A Very English Scandal and It’s a Sin center on queer narratives. Davies has made it clear he wants to foreground queer experiences in this season of Doctor Who and does so, proudly. He told Variety that the Doctor “chimes with queer energy” and that he’s not a “neutered Doctor.”

Some context: In 2021, Davies called out Disney+ for its lack of real representation in some of its other shows. During a virtual panel as reported by Pink News, he pointed at Loki’s single reference to the lead character’s fluid sexuality as a warning sign. “Loki makes one reference to being bisexual once and everyone’s like ‘oh my god, it’s like a pansexual show,” he said. Adding the single spoken reference was a “a ridiculous, craven, feeble gesture towards the vital politics and the stories that should be told.”

Davies returned to the job after the failure of his immediate predecessor, Chris Chibnall, who will likely go down in infamy. Chibnall inherited a successful show and opted to broaden its horizons by hiring a far more diverse crew both in front of and behind the camera. That included writers like Malorie Blackman and Vinay Patel and casting two women, Jodie Whittaker and Jo Martin, to play the Doctor. Chibnall also refused to bow down to culture war pressure when tedious people started screaming that the show had “gone woke.”

But for all of the goodwill the show had — and which Chibnall’s early decisions helped accrue — the showrunner quickly started to burn his own legacy as he built it. The quality of his episodes were never great and he wrote episodes that were incoherent, or said some pretty awful things by implication. He then started using the show as a vehicle for his own fan theories, re-litigating niche matters of continuity so nit-picky even I rolled my eyes so hard my skull caved in.

And then he created a secret origin story for the Doctor that essentially overwrote much of the previous 60 years’ worth of character development. He turned the Doctor into some sort of Space Jesus and then set about destroying a significant amount of the series’ fictional universe. Audiences were not thrilled: 8.2 million people watched Chibnall’s first regular-season episode but, by the end of his tenure, the figure had tumbled to 3.47 million.

It would have been smart to ditch all of this and declare a fresh start but Davies took a different approach. He has opted to Yes-And Chibnall’s hamfistedness, incorporating the catastrophic events of the last season as a new backdrop for the series. The universe is now "knackered," which has led to the show’s fictional reality warping in new, weirder and more whimsical directions. Whereas before Doctor Who sat at the crossroads of science and fantasy, it has now become a soft fantasy show. Villains like the Toymaker and the Goblin King push the Doctor into a more mythic register than ever before.

BBC / Disney+

CGI baby mouths aside, Doctor Who’s slick production values don’t work unless they're tied to great writing and great acting. Ncuti Gatwa had already become a superstar thanks to his work on Sex Education and Barbie and is a magnetic presence on screen. I struggle to take your eyes off him, but he’s clearly willing to cede space and time to his co-stars. Millie Gibson has the harder role as Ruby Sunday, having to keep her character grounded and believable in this fantastic world. The role of the Doctor’s traveling companion has minted many British A-listers since the show’s return and Gibson is clearly destined for big things.

If there’s one thing that comes across too much in these opening episodes, it’s that Doctor Who isn’t the same show from one week to the next. It revels in being chaotic, freewheeling through genres and styles with the freedom its lead character so relishes. So, if this is your first time on board the TARDIS, welcome, and strap yourselves in for some silly and serious fun.

Oh, and they fixed the title sequence.

The first two episodes of Doctor Who arrive globally on Disney+ on Friday, May 10 at 7:00pm ET and in the UK on BBC iPlayer at midnight on Saturday, May 11. One episode will arrive at the same time for the following six weeks.

Parrots are innately social creatures. In captivity, where they typically don’t have a flock to interact with, that can present some real challenges for keeping them happy and healthy. But recent research suggests technology may be able to help them meet more of their social needs. A new (very small) study led by researchers at the University of Glasgow and Northeastern University compared parrots’ responses when given the option to video chat with other birds via Meta's Messenger versus watching pre-recorded videos. And it seems they’ve got a preference for real-time conversations.

The research builds on findings from a series of small studies over the last few years, including one in which the team trained pet parrots to make video calls to each other (with human assistance) and another where they were taught to play tablet games. In the latest, nine parrot owners were given tablets to set up for their pets, who were then observed over a period of six months. During that time, the parrots — who’d been introduced to each other at the beginning over video chat — were able to engage in calls amongst themselves of up to three hours long over a total of 12 sessions. Half of these sessions featured pre-recorded videos, while the other half were live Messenger video chats.

Their caregivers, who recorded the sessions, reported that the birds seemed more engaged during the live interactions. They initiated more calls in those scenarios, and spent more time on average engaging with the birds on the other end. 

In each session, the parrots were allowed to make up to two calls, and the researchers found that those chatting over Messenger hit this limit 46 percent of the time, compared to almost half that when they were watching pre-recorded videos. Overall, they spent a combined 561 minutes video-chatting on Messenger compared to just 142 minutes watching the pre-recorded videos.

“The appearance of ‘liveness’ really did seem to make a difference to the parrots’ engagement with their screens,” said Dr. Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas, though noting that further study would be needed before definite conclusions can be drawn. “Their behavior while interacting with another live bird often reflected behaviors they would engage in with other parrots in real life, which wasn’t the case in the pre-recorded sessions.” Still, the caregivers mostly reported that the live and pre-recorded calls both seemed to have a positive impact on the birds.

“The internet holds a great deal of potential for giving animals agency to interact with each other in new ways, but the systems we build to help them do that need to be designed around their specific needs and physical and mental abilities,” said Dr. Hirskyj-Douglas. “Studies like this could help to lay the foundations of a truly animal-centered internet.”

X is using Grok to publish AI-generated summaries of news and other topics that trend on the platform. The feature, which is currently only available to premium subscribers, is called “Stories on X,” according to a post from the company’s engineering account.

According to X, Grok relies on users’ posts to generate the text snippets. Some seem to be more news-focused, while others are summaries of conversations happening on the platform itself. One user posted a screenshot that showed stories about Apple’s earnings report and aid to Ukraine, as well as one for “Musk, Experts Debate National Debt,” which was a summary of a “candid online discussion” between Musk and other “prominent figures” on X.

If any of this sounds familiar, it’s also remarkably similar to Moments, the longtime Twitter feature that curated authoritative tweets about important news and cultural moments on the platform. The feature, which was overseen by a team of human staffers, was killed in 2022.

Like other generative AI tools, Grok’s summaries come with a disclaimer. “This story is a summary of posts on X and may evolve over time,” it says. “Grok can make mistakes, verify its outputs.” Grok, of course, doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to accurately interpreting current events. It previously generated a bizarre story suggesting that NBA player Klay Thompson went on a “vandalism spree” because it couldn’t understand what “throwing bricks” meant in the context of a basketball game.

Instagram just announced some new features coming to Stories, including a suite of interactive stickers. The music one is perhaps the most interesting, as it's an extension of the pre-existing Add Yours feature. The Add Yours Music sticker lets users share their favorite songs, along with a prompt for followers to get in on the fun by sharing their own related tracks. Of course, the song has to already be in Instagram’s music library to work.

To that end, Instagram has partnered with Dua Lipa to promote her new album, Radical Optimism. Many of the songs from the album are available for use in this way, and the artist herself has been posting Stories with Add Your Music stickers.

Instagram

Another nifty sticker added today is called Reveal. Opting for this sticker blurs the visuals of a story post and the only way followers can see the content is to DM the person who shared it. Direct messages have become a key factor behind Instagram’s continued growth, with site head Adam Mosseri stating that teens actually spend more time in DMs than anywhere else on the platform.

He also says that “virtually all” engagement growth over the past few years has come from DMs and Stories, according to reporting by Business Insider. So, yeah, this will most definitely be used as a hack by savvy creators looking to boost their engagement. The thirst traps will be thirstier and trappier than ever before.

Instagram

Instagram has also unveiled a sticker called Frames. This tool throws a Polaroid-esque overlay over a photo, turning it into an instant print image. To reveal the contents, followers will have to channel Andre 3000 and shake their phones like a Polaroid picture, though there’s also a button. Creators can add captions which are also revealed upon shaking. This feature was originally revealed at this year’s Coachella festival.

Instagram

Finally, there’s a feature called Cutouts. This tool turns any part of a video or photo in your camera roll into a sticker, which can then be applied to a story or reel. Once a cutout is created, it gets saved into an easily-accessible sticker tray for future uses. This also works with photos posted to Instagram, though the pictures have to be shared by public accounts.

This has been a big month of changes for Instagram. In addition to the aforementioned new sticker systems, the social media app recently overhauled its algorithm to boost original content and deemphasize aggregator accounts. The company also changed the way Reels works to give smaller accounts a chance to expand their reach, though it remains unclear how this works. Instagram has also recently made Meta’s AI chatbot available in DMs, if you want some confident, yet absolutely wrong, answers to questions.

Peloton had a great pandemic. It’s a weird thing to say, but the company’s premium exercise equipment (expanding from bikes to treadmills and even weight-training tech) were the hot workout-from-home products. That boom made some people (not normal, sensible people) suggest we were never going back to bricks-and-mortar gyms once the world reopened.

But… we went back. Now, Peloton’s latest financial numbers and statements , with further cuts, nips and tucks now on the cards. Its shares have gone from $156 in 2021 to less than $3 today. Peloton is laying off 15 percent of its workforce, shuttering more of its showrooms and getting rid of its CEO, again. It also killed Mr. Big.

The company says it’s planning to expand overseas (it’s gained a foothold in the UK), but it might just be a case of the company resizing to fit the reality of at-home fitness in 2024.

— Mat Smith 

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Microsoft’s latest Windows security updates might break your VPN

Until the company issues a fix, the only workaround is to skip or uninstall it.

Microsoft says the April security updates for Windows may break your VPN. According to its own status update: “Windows devices might face VPN connection failures after installing the April 2024 security update.” It affects Windows 11, Windows 10 and Windows Server 2008 and later. However, user reports on Reddit are mixed, with some commenters saying their VPNs still work. So you might get lucky.

Continue reading.

Olivia Rodrigo, Drake and other Universal artists return to TikTok

The companies signed a new deal.

Samir Hussein via Getty Images

TikTok and Universal Music Group (UMG) have signed a deal so Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, The Weeknd and other artists can return to the platform. Universal pulled its song back in February. Now, a key part of the deal is artist protection from generative AI. “TikTok and UMG will work together to ensure AI development across the music industry will protect human artistry and the economics that flow to those artists and songwriters,” the companies wrote. Drake, also part of UMG, has had his own recent troubles with AI tools and music.

Continue reading.

X is changing how the block button works

Blocking will no longer hide your replies.

Elon Musk is not a fan of the block button. The button (and feature) persists for now, but X is changing how it works. X is tweaking the visibility of replies in a block. Previously, a user could block someone on X and still reply to their posts. The blocked person wouldn’t be able to view that reply, but other X users could. It’s a black-belt passive-aggressive X move. Now, users see direct replies even if the person posting has blocked them.

Continue reading.

TikTok and Universal Music Group (UMG) have signed a deal that will allow Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, The Weeknd and other artists to return to the platform, the companies announced in a press release. Universal pulled songs from its roster of performers back in February and with some exceptions, its music hasn't been there since. Both sides are now "working expeditiously" to get content back on the platform that's home to a billion-plus users. 

A key part of the deal is artist protection from generative AI. "TikTok and UMG will work together to ensure AI development across the music industry will protect human artistry and the economics that flow to those artists and songwriters," the companies wrote. "TikTok is also committed to working with UMG to remove unauthorized AI-generated music from the platform, as well as tools to improve artist and songwriter attribution."

Also part of the deal are "new monetization opportunities" from TikTok's recent expansion into e-commerce. TikTok will reportedly also assist artists by providing tools around analytics, integrated ticketing, an "Add to Music App" and more. 

Universal took the drastic move of pulling music earlier this year, forcing the platform to mute videos or replace tracks with options from other labels. "As our negotiations continued, TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth," UMG said at the time. 

Last month, Taylor Swift's songs returned to TikTok, likely because she has full control of her own catalogue and was able to strike a separate deal. Some songs by other UMG artists, including Ariana Grande, also started appearing on the platform.

The dispute appears to be water under the bridge, but it's the least of TikTok's problems at the moment. US Congress recently voted in favor of a bill that would see TikTok banned in a year unless owner ByteDance sells the app. 

Facebook’s News Feed algorithm has long been at the center of debates about some of Meta’s biggest problems. It’s also been a near constant source of complaints from users. But, if a newly filed lawsuit is successful, Facebook users may be able to use the social network with a vastly different feed. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University is suing Meta on behalf of a researcher who wants to release a browser extension that would allow people to “effectively turn off” their algorithmic feeds.

The extension was created by Ethan Zuckerman, a researcher and professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He argues that Facebook users would be better off with more control over their feeds. “The tool, called Unfollow Everything 2.0, would allow users to unfollow their friends, groups, and pages, and, in doing so, to effectively turn off their newsfeed—the endless scroll of posts that users see when they log into Facebook,” the lawsuit explains. “Users who download the tool would be free to use the platform without the feed, or to curate the feed by refollowing only those friends and groups whose posts they really want to see.” (Meta officially renamed the News Feed to “Feed” in 2022.)

Zuckerman isn’t the first to come up with such a tool. He was inspired by a similar project, also called “Unfollow Everything,” from 2021. Facebook sued the U.K man who created that extension and permanently disabled his account. Zuckerman is trying to avoid a similar fate with his lawsuit. The suit, filed in San Francisco federal court Wednesday, asks the court “to recognize that Section 230 protects the development of tools designed to empower people to better control their social media experiences.”

The case could be a novel test of Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which is mostly known as the law that shields online platforms from legal liability for the actions of their users. But unlike recent Supreme Court cases involving the statute, Zuckerman’s case “relies on a separate provision protecting the developers of third-party tools that allow people to curate what they see online, including by blocking content they consider objectionable.”

A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment on the lawsuit. The company has a history of heavy-handed tactics when it comes to independent researchers. In addition to shutting down the earlier version “Unfollow Everything,” the company disabled the Facebook accounts of a group of NYU researchers attempting to study political ad targeting in 2021. Those types of tactics have led to some researchers pursuing “data donation” programs, which recruit volunteers to “donate” their own browsing data for academic studies.

If released, Zuckerman’s browser extension would also have a data donation component, allowing users to opt-in to sharing “anonymized data about their Facebook usage.” The data would then be used for research into the effects of Facebook’s feed algorithm.

Sony just announced an interesting feature coming to the PS5 that should streamline the whole process of wrangling people into a multiplayer game. The new tool will let you invite people into a game even when they aren’t at a console or using the PlayStation app. The system generates a link, via the app, that can be shared anywhere online. When the recipient clicks the link, they will be able to hop into a multiplayer session. You don’t even have to be friends. Easy peasy. That sure beats having to send out a lengthy numerical code (side-eyes Nintendo.)

The obvious use case scenario here? You meet some people online via social media and want to jump into a game quickly, without having to pass usernames back and forth. Sony says you’ll be able to “start playing together right away.” The tool will also generate a QR code along with the link, which is something PS5 owners are already familiar with when it comes to multiplayer games. 

There are some caveats. This feature isn’t coming until later in the year and it’s only for PS5 games. Sony also warns that some titles may require an update before everything works seamlessly. Of course, most PS5 games require a PlayStation Plus subscription to use multiplayer, and those subscriptions went up in price last year.

Sony has even developed a custom live widget for multiplayer invites in Discord. When you share a link via Discord, the widget automatically refreshes to show whether or not a multiplayer session is active or not, so you won’t jump into an empty lobby to watch tumbleweeds roll by. Just like the forthcoming invite tool, the Discord widget is only available for PS5 games.

Sony

Finally, the company’s working on a related tool that will let people share their PlayStation Network profile on any messaging or social app by generating a link on the PlayStation app, similar to how the aforementioned feature will work. This is also coming later this year.