#internetculture — Public Fediverse posts

TechCrunch: Judge blocks X rival from using Twitter name, but allows ‘Tweet’ for now. “The story of the Virginia-based startup isn’t really about building something unique; it’s about a company trying to get its hands on abandoned trademarks that X relinquished. Even the homepage for the company clearly states its purpose is to go back and pick up what Elon Musk dropped when he renamed […]

Retail Gazette: Lush launches campaign highlighting harm caused by social media. “Lush is looking to spotlight the harm caused by big social media platforms in its new campaign, which is now live across all of its stores in the UK, EU, USA and Canada. The retailer left the major social media platforms, Snapchat, X, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook almost five years ago. And since then, the […]

Spotted in my RSS feeds: a Chrome extension called Retake the Lake. (This link goes to a GitHub repository. Here is the extension in the Chrome Web store.) “This is a (hopefully temporary) extension for Chrome browsers that corrects ‘Lake America’ to ‘Lake Ontario’ in two ways.”

Gothamist: TikTok is the new 311: New Yorkers tag Mayor Mamdani on social media for help. “Mamdani is being inundated with online requests for IRL fixes. The videos, which have become a meme on TikTok, show people begging Mamdani to take action on everything from mundane nuisances — like potholes and leaky subway stations — to more existential challenges like finding love. The requests have […]

if you call yourself a golden retriever, people may say sit

https://tacobout.online/2026/09/05/golden-retriever-boyfriend-dating-profile-archetype/

CNBC: South Korea’s AI rally is reshaping romance, reality shows and academic preferences. “South Korea’s AI stock rally is rapidly transforming different corners of the country’s society ranging all the way from romance to academics. In Korea’s dating scene, professionals such as physicians, lawyers and judges, have traditionally been the most sought-after. Now the preferences are […]

I sometimes think that some executive came up with the idea of getting perfectly reasonable people to behave like imbeciles as a wager — and then everyone forgot to remove the requirement.

#YouTube #Clickbait #YouTubeCreators #ContentCreators #CreatorEconomy #SocialMedia #DigitalMedia #OnlineContent #MediaCriticism #InternetCulture #YouTubeThumbnails #ContentMarketing #Humour #Satire #TTMO

Government not planning import ban for smart glasses, attorney-general says
By Erin Handley

The federal government unveils a draft of sweeping new privacy laws designed to bolster protections including the "right to erasure" as well as address risks related to artificial intelligence.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-31/attorney-general-says-no-ban-on-smart-glasses-draft-privacy-laws/107097852

#GovernmentandPolitics #FederalGovernment #FederalParliament #Internet #InformationandCommunication #ScienceandTechnology #InternetCulture #ErinHandley

Ed Circuit: How High School Media Programs Prepare Future Creators. “From newspapers and radio stations to podcasts, livestreams, AI, and digital storytelling, today’s high school media programs are preparing students for careers that didn’t exist just a decade ago.”

Roblox to face external audits to prove it's safe for Australian children

Australia's eSafety Commissioner will be able to take the gaming platform to court if it finds Roblox is not honouring its commitments to keep Australian children safe.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-20/roblox-esafety-court-enforceable-undertaking/107056294

#ConsumerProtection #ChildCare #Children #InformationandCommunication #InternetCulture #LawCrimeandJustice

How much longer should Australia wait for the social media ban to work?
By Cam Wilson

If the prime minister is right and there's no time to waste, how much more of it can we spend just waiting for the teen social media ban to work?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-17/teen-social-media-ban-efficacy-sharks-tech-companies/107044990

#GovernmentandPolitics #SocialMedia #InformationandCommunication #FederalGovernment #CommunityandSociety #InternetCulture #Internet #YoungPeople #Health #BusinessEconomicsandFinance #CamWilson

Associated Press: YouTube sensation Ms. Rachel announces debut album with Mr. Aron, ‘I’m So Happy’. “Parents of toddlers everywhere, prepare yourselves. YouTube sensation and music teacher Ms. Rachel and her husband, Aron Accurso, will release their debut album, the 23-track ‘I’m So Happy,’ on Sept. 25…. Ms. Rachel launched her mega popular YouTube channel in 2019 with her husband, […]

Associated Press: As AI grips world, the thrill of collecting vintage computers is growing. “While Silicon Valley has since moved on to shaping the future of artificial intelligence, these hardware enthusiasts are intent on saving the Atari, Commodore and IBM machines that are ancestors to today’s laptops, wearable devices and smart phones. Where others see junk, people like [Josh] Dersch see […]

AI just had its Sarah Connor moment. Is Australia ready?
By Cam Wilson

Far-fetched scenarios about artificial intelligence became more realistic last week when an OpenAI model hacked another company.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-28/openai-artificial-intelligence-terminator-safety-hugging-face/106965400

#ScienceandTechnology #ComputerScience #CyberCrime #Robotics #Internet #InformationandCommunication #InformationTechnologyIndustry #BusinessEconomicsandFinance #VideoGames #InternetCulture #AI #CamWilson

Has AI changed your life in unexpected ways? The ABC wants to hear from you

Most of us never chose to live in an artificial intelligence (AI) world. Yet over the past few years, it has become part of everyday life, changing how we think, learn and communicate.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-20/ai-artificial-intelligence-audience-change/106935112

#AI #CommunityandSociety #ScienceandTechnology #ComputerScience #InformationandCommunication #Internet #InternetCulture #Robotics #InformationTechnologyIndustry #SocialMedia #Health

Before Algorithms Took Over Everything
Which outdated technology do you miss the most, and why? The piece of outdated technology I miss the most isn’t a gadget. It’s the old Internet. Back before every website wanted your email address, your firstborn child, and permis
#dailyprompt #Dailyprompt2826 #internet #InternetCulture #nostalgia #OldInternet #Retro #technology #WebDesign #WebHistory

Read The Whole Post By Clicking The Link Below:
https://ericfoltin.com/2026/07/18/before-algorithms-took-over-everything/

Hey, Dumbass — You’re Supposed to Be Paying Attention

By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News
Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — June 6, 2026, 07:00 PHST

This Is Not Subtle, and It Isn’t New

Let’s dispense with politeness. What’s happening right now is not complicated, mysterious, or “algorithmic fate.” It is willful inattention trained into people over years.

For more than two years, WPS News has published sustained, sourced, historically grounded analysis on authoritarian drift, economic precarity, geopolitics, and institutional failure. The work is not fringe. It is not speculative. It is not vibes. And yet it is routinely ignored—across the United States, the EU, and even here in the Philippines.

That isn’t an accident. It’s learned behavior.

The Internet Trained You to Stop Thinking

The modern internet does not exist to inform you. It exists to manage you.

Platforms reward:

• emotional reflex instead of judgment
• speed instead of accuracy
• tribal signaling instead of synthesis
• repetition instead of memory

Anything that requires sustained attention, historical context, or second-order thinking is quietly pushed aside. Not banned. Not censored. Just ignored.

That’s worse.

Silence Is Not Neutral — It’s Cowardice with a UX

When peers, professionals, or “informed” readers say nothing, it’s tempting to assume disagreement. Most of the time, it’s simpler than that: they don’t want the responsibility that comes with understanding.

Engaging seriously with analysis means:

• admitting prior assumptions were wrong
• acknowledging complicity
• accepting that problems are structural, not personal
• recognizing that fixes are costly and uncomfortable

So people scroll. Silence becomes a lifestyle choice.

Younger Generations Aren’t Stupid — They’re Drowned

This is not a generational insult. It’s an observation.

Many younger readers are trapped in survival mode: debt, insecure work, housing stress, constant alerts, infinite feeds. When life feels unstable, long-range analysis feels abstract—even when it directly explains why life is unstable.

That doesn’t make the analysis wrong. It means the system is hostile to understanding.

The Death of Judgment as a Social Skill

Once upon a time, judgment was learned—through mentorship, institutions, and consequence. That pipeline is gone.

The internet flattened authority but replaced it with volatility. Experience is treated as irrelevance. Memory is framed as nostalgia. Long-view thinking is labeled elitism.

The result is a culture that reacts constantly and understands nothing.

This Isn’t an American Problem. It’s a Human One.

The same disengagement appears everywhere: the U.S., Europe, Southeast Asia, the Philippines. Different politics, same pattern.

If information doesn’t flatter, reassure, or entertain, it is filtered out—not by governments alone, but by habits cultivated over years of platform design.

People will later claim they “never saw this coming.” The archive will prove otherwise.

Being Ignored Does Not Mean Being Wrong

History is unkind to the argument that relevance equals immediacy.

Work that documents corruption, names power honestly, and refuses spectacle is often ignored until events force recognition. Archives exist for that reason.

WPS News is not built for dopamine. It is built for record.

Read or Don’t — But Stop Pretending This Is Invisible

The information is there. The connections are there. The patterns are obvious to anyone willing to look longer than a scroll.

If you choose not to pay attention, that’s your right. But stop pretending ignorance is imposed on you.

You were warned. Repeatedly.

For more social commentary, please see Occupy 2.5 at https://Occupy25.com

This article will be archived as part of the ongoing WPS News Monthly Brief Series available through Amazon.

References

Carr, N. (2020). The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. W. W. Norton & Company.
Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. PublicAffairs.
Postman, N. (1985). Amusing Ourselves to Death. Viking Penguin.

Backrooms' Biggest Scare Is Capitalism

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://aftermath.site/backrooms-movie-parsons-youtube/

CNN: YouTubers are setting box office records. It could change the future of moviemaking. “The biggest two movies in America right now, ‘Backrooms’ and ‘Obsession,’ come from twentysomething filmmakers who honed their craft on YouTube. Their films were made with relatively low budgets and were marketed online. Now that they’re filling theaters with teens and young adults who rarely show up at […]

The Guardian: Colbert launches YouTube channel less than a week after late-night show ends. “Stephen Colbert hasn’t even been off the air for a week, but is already causing some hubbub with the launch of a new YouTube channel that has garnered more than 120,000 subscribers.”

In today's installment of "Blame a Meme for Global Chaos," we learn that DOGE coin isn't just for Reddit bros anymore—it's apparently the root cause of violence across an entire continent. 😱✨ Who knew digital dog tokens were more destabilizing than actual political policies? 🙄
https://www.404media.co/doge-cuts-unleashed-a-deadly-wave-of-violence-across-africa-study-finds/ #BlameAMeme #GlobalChaos #DOGEcoin #DigitalCurrency #InternetCulture #HackerNews #ngated

Rotten Dot Com

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2026/05/06/rotten-dot-com/

#HackerNews #RottenDotCom #internetCulture #webHistory #digitalMedia #darkWeb

Associated Press: Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny top Spotify’s first all-time most streamed artists list. “It’s her, hi! Taylor Swift has topped Spotify’s first ever list of the most streamed artists of all time, published Thursday morning. She’s followed by Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny. That comes as no surprise: In 2025 the artist born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio was named the […]

Tubefilter: On new channel, Technoblade’s dad will sustain his son’s lasting impact. “To meet the ongoing demand for more content, Alex’s father is taking ‘Technoblade never dies’ literally. The man known as Technodad has launched a new channel called Team Technoblade, which he will use ‘as a way of keeping my boy’s memory alive.'”

Mashable: Who is Clavicular, and why is he everywhere right now?. “Some methods men discuss online to looksmax include going to the gym and ‘mewing,’ or sticking one’s tongue on the roof of his mouth to give the appearance of a sharper jawline. But men have gone to drastic lengths to looksmax. This includes surgery (jaw surgery, leg-lengthening surgery), bonesmashing (using objects like hammers […]

Some mods use DARVO tactics—triggering users, exploiting impulsive reactions, then justifying bans while escaping accountability. This cycle of manipulation not only silences voices but also protects those abusing their power in online spaces.

#DARVO #onlinemoderation #accountability #toxicmods #internetculture #socialmediajustice #powerabuse #digitalethics #communitymanagement #manipulationtactics #truthonline #banpower #userprotection #digitalrights #onlineaccountability #internetfreedom

Some mods use DARVO tactics—triggering users, exploiting impulsive reactions, then justifying bans while escaping accountability. This cycle of manipulation not only silences voices but also protects those abusing their power in online spaces.

#DARVO #onlinemoderation #accountability #toxicmods #internetculture #socialmediajustice #powerabuse #digitalethics #communitymanagement #manipulationtactics #truthonline #banpower #userprotection #digitalrights #onlineaccountability #internetfreedom

Mashable: AI-generated animals in fake surveillance videos are fooling the internet. “You might’ve seen a recent viral video featuring bunnies jumping on a trampoline, seemingly captured via a home surveillance camera. It’s adorable. And fake. Completely and totally fabricated via artificial intelligence.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/08/04/mashable-ai-generated-animals-in-fake-surveillance-videos-are-fooling-the-internet/

#onlinefriends #internetfriends #virtualfriends #friendshipgoals #bondedthroughsin #sinfulfriends #onlinecommunity #relatablememe #comedy #animememe #animefriends #weirdfriends #closefriends #truefriends #internetculture #darkhumor #quirkyfriends #mypeople #makingmemories #partnerincrime #goodtimes #badinfluences #IYKYK #friendshiphumor #sinfullyclose #besties #onlinebesties #meme #memes #funnyimage #funnyimages #funnymemes #funnymeme #funnypicture #funnypictures #funnypic #funnypics #funny

I sometimes fantasize about having #SpaceKaren or some other #bigot read my #books, so he hates them and campaigns against them and they find new #readers. 😜
People like him should have their #platforms used against them, for #GoodCauses, on a regular basis.

#CurrentEvents #Wikipedia #ElonMusk #internet #InternetCulture #personal

Discord buys Sentropy, which makes AI moderation software to fight online hate and abuse - The online chat platform Discord is buying Sentropy, a company that makes AI-power... - http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/uLOmXTbvLlM/ #artificialintelligence #initializedcapital #horizonsventures #kingrivercapital #onlineharassment #playgroundglobal #internetculture #alexisohanian #johnredgrave #sentropy #software #discord #social #reddit #tc

Can you teach yourself to be a farmer by watching YouTube? This man did Forget about having to be born into a farming family, the internet is paving the way for this truck driver to get into the industry. https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2020-06-25/vertical-farming-ideas-for-peter-anderson-came-from-youtube/12383942 #SustainableandAlternativeFarming #Fishing,Aquaculture #AgriculturalCrops #InternetCulture #Hydroponics #RuralMedia #FruitCrops #Rural