Earlier today, news broke that Verizon is merging venerable tech and media brands Yahoo and AOL into a company called Oath. Since then, many people have been asking a simple question: “Why Oath?” Now, I can’t answer this question, any more than I could explain why Tribune Publishing became Tronc. But I’ve narrowed it down to two possibilities: Verizon is either launching a subtle viral ad campaign for the 2017 film adaptation of Dave Eggers’ The Circle, or it’s starting a heavy metal band. I’ll briefly lay out my case for both; believe what you will.

The case for a Circle marketing…

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