Do I really have write about this?

Three topics I didn’t want to cover but knew I needed to write about

Author

Cameron Huppertz
March 15, 2024

On the TikTok Ban Bill, I Guess

This week, the House passed a bill that would force TikTok parent company, Bytedance, to divest from the app or see it banned in the US. long sigh Here we go. 

Listen, I’m not a big fan of Bytedance. I do think there’s reason to be concerned about how much data TikTok collects about its users. There have been documented cases of TikTok abusing this access to spy journalists. Which, you know, is not good. I just think it wouldn’t be good if an America-based company did it, either. 

My best guess is that this bill will get stalled in the Senate because Congress generally doesn’t seem interested in passing bills these days, which is a shame because we actually need industry-wide privacy regulation. Set a level playing field of standards for protecting user data and privacy and a standard set of penalties for failing to comply. Then, if they don’t follow the law, by all means, ban the TikTok, or Meta, or Amazon, or Nextdoor, or whoever. 

In the unlikely event this bill passes and is signed into law and clears all of the inevitable legal challenges, I’ll see you on YouTube Shots.

Platform Updates

Instagram & Threads

The Rest of Meta 

TikTok

YouTube

Apple

Discord

Reddit

LinkedIn 

Pinterest (disclosure: I’m currently working as a contractor with Pinterest) 

Bluesky 

Twitter, Sorry X

The Product 

The Dumpster Fire

Twitter Alts 

  • Programming Note: I’m retiring this section. When I started curating news on Mastodon, Bluesky, and the fediverse, it felt like the scramble to replace Twitter was the most important aspect of these platforms. Now that the platforms are maturing and X keeps trying harder and harder to be less like Twitter of yore, I think it’s worth organizing things differently. 

RIP Akira Toriyama

Like many millennial nerds, one of my first experiences with Japanese media arrived during Cartoon Network’s Toonami afternoon programming block. Despite picking up several chapters into an ongoing story, serious edits to make it appropriate for American kids' programming, and a, let’s say, a questionable-quality dub, Dragon Ball Z captivated me. Along with shows like Sailor Moon, and films like Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro, Dragon Ball set little Cameron up for a lifelong love of anime and manga. So, like many others, I was devastated last week to learn that Akira Toriyama had passed away.

About a year ago, I decided to read all of Toriyama’s Dragon Ball manga, which ran from 1984 to 1995 in Shōnen Jump magazine. In just a few weeks, I devoured almost a decade of Toriyama’s work, observing the development of his storytelling, panel composition, art style, character development, and worldbuilding. It more than lives up to the hype, and I highly recommend anyone interested in Dragon Ball, comics/manga/graphics novels, or Toriyama’s work do the full read, too. 

If you don’t have the time to embark on that reading journey or aren’t sure, this is for you. Please watch this video. You’ll get Toriyama’s genius and immense influence on so many other artists. 

RIP Toriyama. I hope you and King Kai are looking out for the rest of us here on Earth. I hope every little nerd or aspiring artist who needs the inspiration you brought me and so many others finds Dragon Ball, too. Thank you.

Culture Movers 

Pipes & Tubes 

Music 

Creator Economy 

Gaming 

AI 

On Kategate

In honor of St Patrick’s Day, a holiday used in the United States to celebrate Irish-American heritage and culture, I’d just like to say I truly do not give a crap about what’s happening with English royal family’s Photoshop skills. 

PS

I’m not a doll gay, but I kinda want this one.

*I’m very dyslexic, and this is a largely free project/hobby. I do not set aside the same time for proofreading that I do for other professional work. If you spot a typo that would cause a communication error, please reach out to gently let me know.