Creators

Brazilian fans of musicians, actors, and other celebrities play a huge role in cultivating fandoms online — and it’s unclear what will happen to stan Twitter (X) now that a judge in Brazil has ordered a ban on platform. A Timothée Chalamet updates account has already announced it’ll cease operations, and I bet this won’t be the only unexpected collateral damage.

You can grab your QR code from the YouTube app. Big year for QR codes!

A reader asked the Denver Post why it hadn’t covered a grisly and salacious 2014 murder in Littleton, CO. It hadn’t, because the crime never happened.

But there it is on YouTube and Spotify, accumulating millions of views with seemingly AI-generated voiceovers and faces. True crime fans say they reported the videos months ago after YouTube recommended them, but they aren’t being removed.

The platform’s Search Visibility Page tells sellers what they should update in their product listings to improve their position in the on-platform search — an important way for sellers to get in front of buyers. That might mean adding a return policy, swapping out a product image, or changing shipping cost.

I have said before, and still firmly believe, that Every Frame a Painting is the best YouTube series of all time. And now, after eight years of silence, it’s back! (Apparently the folks at XOXO this weekend got a preview of the duo’s short film, too, which fills me jealousy.)

BRB watching all the EFAP videos again for the 9,326th time.

Kamala Harris is the latest participant on Track Star, a TikTok game show where players identify a song for money.

Internet shows like Track Star are a new kind of media circuit for public figures. Democrats want these viral moments — and they’re trying hard to make them happen.

It’s year two for NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube, and it appears there’s not a ton of new stuff, but the combination of Yahoo Fantasy integration and a build-your-own-multiview feature is right up my alley. Sunday Ticket is expensive, but might be worth it.

Oh, and PSA: do not under any circumstances subscribe through the App Store. That price is highway robbery.

Chris Klimas funds his Twine game engine through a per-release model on Patreon, getting paid only when he’s actively developing Twine. Unlike a flat monthly subscription, it’s a “simple and guilt-free” way to work part-time. But Patreon’s phasing out that model so Apple won’t kick it off the App Store — and Klimas is mulling whether it’s still worth staying.

Sophia Tung, who runs a 24/7 livestream of a Waymo parking lot, says on Reddit she’ll interview the director, Vishay Nihalani on the stream on Monday at 2:30PM PT / 5:30PM ET.

Tung plans to discuss the robotaxis’ 4AM honking and Waymo’s subsequent fix. She’s taking suggestions, like asking about highway testing or odd parking lot behavior. (There’s a spreadsheet.)

Correction: Nihalani is Waymo’s director of product management and operations, not the operations boss.

In a new filing, DOJ says it’s “not trying to litigate in secret,” but that the court should be able to review classified information that led Congress to determine the divest-or-ban bill was necessary. In its own filing, TikTok says the government’s arguments for the bill are riddled with errors and omissions.

You can pay to see if your partner will respond to a stranger’s flirty DM — and TikTok has turned this into a thriving subculture.

“On one hand, it’s like, fuck yeah, we got this guy,” Monzon told me. “But on the other hand, it’s like, ‘Fuck.’ This girl’s life is…she’s heartbroken now.”

Wired has a cool interactive piece highlighting some of the content creators on the right and left who drive political discourse and change. The size of the bubbles corresponds to the number of followers the individual has on their social media platform of choice. Check out the full story for details on each person.

Opting out of Google’s generative AI overviews means you become invisible in search — a no-go for most publishers. But keeping content in search means it can be scraped for AI Overviews. As one publisher puts it:

You drop out and you die immediately, or you partner with them and you probably just die slowly, because eventually they’re not going to need you either.”