Guess I gotta talk about UFOs and X

Programming Note

Next week’s newsletter will drop later in the day on Friday or early Saturday morning due to my travel schedule. 

Aliens I Guess 

Apparently, there were congressional hearings about UFOs, um sorry, I mean UAPs, this week. 

Only vaguely related: Eddy Burback has recently become one of my favorite YouTubers. I think his media analysis is really shrewd. But he’s also done some fun stunty videos that I actually enjoy. Last year he did a road trip to eat at every Rainforest Cafe in the country. This year he visited every Margaritaville. At one point, they stop at a roadside attraction that I’ve decided I must see because it has a diorama about what would happen if aliens visited Earth during the time of the dinosaurs. 

Platform Updates

Instagram & Threads

• Threads Adds ‘Following’ Feed, a Key Update for Meta’s Twitter-Like App

• Meta’s Threads Isn’t Labeling Propaganda Accounts From Russia, China State Media

TikTok

• TikTok Adds Text-Based Posts to Expand Your Content Options

• TikTok Announces New Post-Purchase Survey Partners to Help Inform Strategic Decisions 

YouTube

• The price of YouTube Premium is going up by $2 per month

Reddit

• Reddit Tests its Own Verification Markers with ‘Official’ Profile Tags

Twitter

The Product 

• X Offers 50% Discounts on Ad Packages as it Seeks to Reignite Advertiser Interest (if that sounds like a good deal to you please read the rest of this section) 

• X tells advertisers to spend $1,000 per month or risk losing verification status 

The Dumpster Fire

• Twitter's rebrand to X has its website looking like a mess

• Twitter removed half its HQ sign — then the police arrived (Elon’s done the impossible: made me side with SFPD and landlords) 

• Meta, Microsoft, hundreds more own trademarks to new Twitter name 

• Musk's app reinstates user who posted 'child exploitation photos' (I can’t even begin to explain how disgusting and legally troubling this handling of CSAM is) 

Twitter Alts 

• Stanford researchers find Mastodon has a massive child abuse material problem 

• As Twitter destroys its brand by renaming itself X, Mastodon user numbers are again soaring

• Mastodon is launching merch to help fund its development efforts

Culture Movers 

Laws

• Senate panel advances bills to childproof the internet

  • I haven’t read these bills or the coverage of development in detail, and I feel like policy reporting is a little outside my wheelhouse, but the conversation around them feels a lot like FOSTA-SESTA, which was used to shut down a lot of the legitimate outlets for consensual sex work and adult content online and drive more of the industry towards relying on fringe systems where abusive practices are more common. So I’m nervous. 

Film & TV

• Netflix rolls out ‘My Netflix,’ a new tab for trailers, reminders and more

• Sony's growing exposure to anime content makes it a top stock to buy, according to Goldman Sachs (basically, Crunchyroll has been very good for business)  

• A Stunt Performer Set Himself on Fire on the SAG-AFTRA Picket Line

• Studios Quietly Go on Hiring Spree for AI Specialist Jobs Amid Picket Line Anxiety

Music 

• Spotify Plans to Raise Price of Premium Plan in U.S.

AI 

• AP strikes news-sharing and tech deal with OpenAI 

• OpenAI Quietly Shuts Down Its AI Detection Tool

• OpenAI's head of trust and safety steps down

• Meta, Google, and OpenAI promise the White House they’ll develop AI responsibly

Scams

• Tesla created secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints

There’s Nothing to X 

The Twitter to X rebrand is very stupid. Like almost every other move Elon has made since buying the company, it’s a poorly managed mess that only makes sense when viewed through the lens of Elon’s petty cultural project of remaking his one source of dopamine into a tool better optimized for stroking his own fragile ego. His obsession with X as a brand only makes sense after accepting that motivation. It’s an empty variable. A malleable equation he can tinker with to suit his whims that ultimately means nothing. 

X = (Elon’s whims) + (the current scam he can sell to fanboys and investors)

“It will be a super app like WeChat,” that’s consistently losing users and advertisers. “It will pay creators,” who happen to be of interest to Elon at the moment. “It will be a free speech town square,” that blocks links to competitors and amplifies far-right bigots. “It will be a banking platform,” that can’t even comply with laws around CSAM and likely won’t ever be able to meet the security standards required for a real financial app. 

I resent how much time and attention this man takes up in my life. I don’t enjoy it when he makes business moves so colossally stupid we all feel compelled to yell about the emperor’s lack of clothes. Because no matter how many times we point out he’s parading around without any good ideas on, he’s rich enough; it doesn’t matter. I hate the shadow he’s cast over my city and industry. My only hope now is that X is a vacant enough idea that more people will get bored talking it. 

I Like Turtles 

I’m just glad the zombie kid is getting work.