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Tag: influencer

  • The newest trend in L.A. office space: In-house studios for traveling influencers

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    For the trendiest tenants in Hollywood office buildings, it’s the latest fad that goes way beyond designer furniture and art: mini studios

    To capitalize on the never-ending flow of stars and influencers who come through Los Angeles, a growing number of companies are building bright little corners for content creators to try products and shoot short videos. Athletic apparel maker Puma, Kim Kardashian’s Skims and cheeky cosmetics retailer e.l.f. have spaces specifically designed to give people a place to experience and broadcast about their brands.

    Hollywood, which hasn’t historically been home to apparel companies, is now attracting the offices of fashion retailers, says CIM Group, one of the neighborhood’s largest commercial property landlords.

    “When we’re touring a space, one of the first items they bring up is, ‘Where can I build a studio?’” said Blake Eckert, who leases CIM offices in L.A.

    Their studio offices also serve as marketing centers, with showrooms and meeting spaces where brands can host proprietary events not open to the public.

    “For companies where brand visibility is really important, there is a trend of creating spaces that don’t just function as offices,” said real estate broker Nicole Mahalka of CBRE, who puts together entertainment property leases and sales.

    Puma’s global entertainment marketing team is based in its new Hollywood offices, which works with such musical celebrity partners as Rihanna, ASAP Rocky, Dua Lipa, Skepta and Rosé, said Allyssa Rapp, head of Puma Studio L.A.

    Allyssa Rapp, director of entertainment marketing at Puma, is shown in the Puma Studio L.A. The company keeps a closet full of Puma products on hand to give VIP guests. Visits to the studio sanctum are by invitation only, though.

    (Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

    Hollywood is a central location, she said, for meeting with celebrities, stylists and outside designers, most of whom are based in Los Angeles.

    The office is a “creation hub,” she said, where influencers can record Puma’s design prototyping lab supported by libraries of materials and equipment used to create Puma apparel. The company, founded in 1948, is known for its emblematic sneakers such as the Speedcat and its lunging feline logo, and makes athletic wear, accessories and equipment.

    Puma’s entertainment marketing team also occupies the office and sometimes uses it for exclusive events.

    “We use the space as a showroom, as a social space that transforms from a traditional workplace into more of an experiential space,” Rapp said.

    Nontraditional uses include content creation, sit-down dinners, product launches, album listening parties and workshops.

    “Inviting people into our space and being able to give them high-touch brand experiences is something tangible and important for them,” she said. “The cultural layer is really important for us.”

    The company keeps a closet full of Puma products on hand to give VIP guests. Visits to the studio sanctum are by invitation only, though. There’s no retail portal to the exclusive Hollywood offices.

    Puma shoes are on display in the Puma Studio L.A.

    Puma shoes are on display in the Puma Studio L.A.

    (Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

    Puma is also positioning its L.A studio as a connection point for major upcoming sporting events coming to Los Angeles, including the World Cup this summer, the 2027 Super Bowl and 2028 Olympics.

    In-office studios don’t need to be big to be impactful, Mahalka said. “These are smaller stages, closer to green screen than a massive soundstage.”

    Social media is the key driver of content created by most businesses, which may set up small booth-like stages where influencers can hawk hot products while offering discounts to people watching them perform.

    Bigger, elevated stages can accommodate multiple performers for extended discussions in front of small audiences, with towering screens behind them to set the mood or illustrate products.

    Among the tricked-out offices, she said, is Skims. The company, which is valued at $5 billion, is based in a glass-and-steel office building near the fabled intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street.

    The fashion retailer declined to comment on the studio uses in its headquarters, but according to architecture firm Odaa, it has open and private offices, meeting rooms, collaboration zones, photo studios, sample libraries, prototype showrooms, an executive lounge and a commissary for 400 people.

    Pieces of a shoe sit on a workbench in the Puma Studio L.A.

    Pieces of a shoe sit on a workbench in the Puma Studio L.A.

    (Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

    The brands building studios typically want to find the darkest spot on the premises to put their content creation or podcast spaces, Eckert said, where they can limit outside light and sound. That’s commonly near the center of the office floor, far from windows and close to permanent shear walls that limit sound intrusion.

    They also need space for green rooms and restrooms dedicated to the talent.

    Spotify recently built a fancy podcast studio in a CIM office building on trendy Sycamore Avenue that is open by invitation-only to video creators in Spotify’s partner program.

    “Ambitious shows need spaces that support big ideas,” Bill Simmons, head of talk strategy at Spotify, said in a statement. “These studios give teams room to experiment and keep pushing what’s possible.”

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    Roger Vincent

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  • How Meta’s Link Limit in Facebook Posts Will Cost Small Business Marketers

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    Marketing products on Facebook is about to become more expensive for influencers, content creators, and companies. The social platform’s parent company, Meta, informed members with business accounts that they’ll have to start paying if they want to send more than two links per month to customers and followers through the site.

    The good news for entrepreneurs and small companies promoting their businesses on Facebook is that Meta’s move to limit links on organic posts is currently just a test. The bad news is there’s a better than fair chance the tech giant will not only make the two-free-monthly-links-policy permanent, but possibly extend it to its other social platforms like Instagram. The reason? The trial restriction reflects Meta’s ongoing efforts to wring as much profit from its various business units as possible.

    The alert sent to Facebook business account holders noted that the only way to avoid the link limitation is to “(s)ubscribe to Meta Verified” for the monthly fee of $14.99. That premium option already offers users a badge vouching for their company’s legitimacy, and also provides protective measures against fraudsters impersonating them.

    Several media reports have quoted Meta officials stressing the trial nature of the link limitation. Social media expert Matt Navarra was among the first people to alert other business account holders to the change, and offered Meta’s reasoning behind it.

    “This is a limited test to understand whether the ability to publish an increased volume of posts with links add additional value for Meta Verified subscribers,” Navarra wrote in a Facebook post, in which he initially seemed to try calming any fears the expensive update will remain in place for good. “This isn’t enforcement or a platform-wide rule change — it’s a small, controlled test.”

    But in subsequent posts, Navarra changed his tone, noting Meta’s continued quest to monetize as many aspects of its social media platforms as possible. Those reminders were unlikely to have allayed his readers’ fears that the current trial forcing Facebook business account holders to subscribe to Meta Verified isn’t the next step in the company’s profit-enhancing process.

    “(I)t does reinforce a broader direction,” Navarra acknowledged. “Meta Verified is increasingly being treated as a trust layer, not just a badge. If this expands, it would mark a meaningful shift.”

    In some ways, it already does.

    Not only will Facebook business account holders be limited to two monthly free links in their messages — which most use to drive followers or customers to their content. In its restriction notice, meanwhile, Meta underlined that those two freebies should be used on the very first day of each month, because “unused posts won’t be rolled over” for use later on.

    Even in the restriction’s current test, Navarra noted, creators and small business marketers are effectively watching their unlimited link publishing capabilities being placed behind the Meta Verified paywall.

    “This isn’t really about verification as much as about bundling survival features behind a subscription,” Navarra told the BBC. “If you’re a creator or a business, I think the message is essentially if Facebook is a part of your growth or traffic strategy, that access now has a price tag attached to it… And that’s new in its explicitness, even if it’s been the direction of travel for a while.”

    In other words, don’t be shocked if the current test becomes a permanent rule — and starts migrating to other Meta social platforms. Anticipating that, Navarra offered affected entrepreneurs a valuable communications reminder.

    “Tests like this underline why building a business that’s overly dependent on any one platform’s goodwill is incredibly risky,” he told the broadcaster, saying this kind of squeezing will likely increase over time. “For creators it reinforces a pretty brutal reality that Facebook is no longer a reliable traffic engine and Meta is increasingly nudging it away from people trying to use it as one.”

    Go inside one interesting founder-led company each day to find out how its strategy works, and what risk factors it faces. Sign up for 1 Smart Business Story from Inc. on Beehiiv.

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    Bruce Crumley

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  • 22-year-old Latin musician and influencer is killed as she sits in a parked car in Northridge

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    A 22-year-old influencer and Latin musician was killed in an ambush-style shooting in Northridge in the early hours of Saturday morning, authorities said.

    Maria de la Rosa was fatally shot when multiple rounds were fired at several people sitting in a car parked on Bryant Street near Tampa Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

    Witnesses described seeing two men approach the vehicle around 1:25 a.m. Saturday, police said. De la Rosa was transported to a hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries.

    No further information was available on the suspects or whether the others inside the car were wounded.

    De la Rosa released her first song, “No me llames” (“Don’t Call Me”) in August under the name DELAROSA. The most recent post on her Instagram account, which has more than 40,000 followers, shows her with an electric guitar in a recording studio and is captioned “Ocupada cocinando en el Stu,” meaning “Busy cooking in the Stu[dio],” alluding to the upcoming release of more music.

    Many people left messages expressing grief for the loss of the young performer in the comments, including several figures in the Latin music community such as music producer Jimmy Humilde and Juan Moises, the lead singer of Los Gemelos de Sinaloa.

    In a message in Spanish, music producer and engineer Times J Martinez wrote that she was a young and talented musician.

    “Me duele que alla sido con violencia,” he wrote, or “It hurts that it happened with violence.”

    The motive for De la Rosa’s shooting is unknown, and so far no arrests have been made, police said. Anyone with information is asked to contact Valley Bureau homicide detectives at (818) 374-9550. Anonymous tips can be left at (800) 222-8477 or at the Crime Stoppers website.

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    Clara Harter

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  • MrBeast Might Launch a Financial Services App. Is the World’s Biggest YouTuber Diversifying?

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    Would you spend 100 days locked in a windowless room to get relief on your student loans?

    It’s the kind of extreme endurance challenge that MrBeast—also known as Jimmy Donaldson, currently the most popular YouTuber in the world—has built a social media empire around. But the world in which it’s also a serious route to debt relief may be inching closer, following reports that the web content impresario could be gearing up to launch a financial services app called MrBeast Financial.

    To be clear, it’s unlikely that MrBeast Financial would incorporate the same type of reality-show-on-steroids gimmickery that has made the MrBeast YouTube channel a hit. Indeed, we know very little about what the personal finance app would look like, period—or whether it will even happen.

    But a trademark application for MrBeast Financial that, according to data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, was filed on October 13 under Beast Holdings—an umbrella company owned by the eponymous YouTuber—indicates that the name could be used for a mobile app that might do anything from banking services to short-term cash advances to crypto trading.

    Also on that list are investment banking and management services; microfinance lending; insurance; financial advice; financial planning; and financial education. The trademark application makes additional reference to issuing credit and debit cards, as well as the “provision and financial administration of a debit card savings program.”

    It’s not clear whether any eventual app would offer all of those services or just a subset of them. A spokesperson for Donaldson declined to comment, and the legal team cited in the trademark application did not respond to a request for details.

    In addition to the trademark application, which is public, Business Insider reported in March that it had reviewed a pitch deck indicating that Donaldson had plans to get into financial services. The proposed service was at the time called a slightly different name—“Beast Financial”—but included a similar bevy of services, including student loans, insurance, credit cards, banking services, and financial literacy support.

    The pitch deck indicated that MrBeast’s team had “engaged with leading fintech companies to white label their products,” Business Insider reported, “while avoiding regulatory, credit risk, and capital requirements.”

    A parallel pitch had to do with creating a new platform for web content creators.

    Financial services are a tightly regulated industry, especially compared to the wild west that is online content creation. But legal complexities aside, it wouldn’t be an entirely out-of-left-field move by Donaldson, whose videos tend to be built around eye-popping cash prizes (an exemplary title: “Survive 100 Days in Prison, Win $500,000”) and who’s already stretched his brand across various other verticals, including Feastables chocolate bars, Lunchly packaged meals, and the MrBeast Burger fast food concept.

    Business Insider reported last month that the YouTube titan is also thinking about launching a mobile-phone service, seemingly in the same vein as the Ryan Reynolds-backed Mint Mobile—although a source close to the company said that there’s no specific timeline for the telecom project, and that it isn’t a top priority.

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    Brian Contreras

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  • No One Knows What ‘Terminally Online’ Means Anymore

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    “No one person owns a meme, they’re a universal template,” says Matthew Kriner, executive director of the Institute for Countering Digital Extremism. “We do not see a meme itself as an indication of what the ideology behind it is.” This hasn’t stopped people from attempting to use the memes as proof that Robinson was part of a certain political groups. Some completely misunderstood the memes, such as the BBC’s Mike Wendling, who suggested in a post that a gaming reference, which was later attributed to Helldivers 2, might be linked to antifa. Others, like the Telegraph analyzed purported connections between Robinson and the Groypers.

    Sadly, Groypers aren’t the only online group that uses the language and practices of memes to advocate and commit acts of political violence. As far-right movements have gained significant political power worldwide, the irony seems to have been replaced by nihilism. The past few years have seen new internet movements like the Com network and 764. These groups, made up largely of isolated underage people, are centered around criminal acts such as committing abusive, violent, and exploitative practices like sextortion in the name of creating the most chaos and fear possible, with no other ideological or political agenda. The FBI has categorized these groups as NVE (nihilistic violent extremism), and they operate in much the same ways, and along the same vectors, as more benign online communities.

    “In the 2010s, radicalization was about being the underdog, using grievance culture to shift narratives,” says Jamie Cohen, professor of media studies at Queens College. “Today, the institutions are fully captured by far-right narratives. The culture is shifted, so radicalization is stochastic incidents designed to sow chaos.”

    There’s no indication Robinson was a member of any of these NVE groups, though they offer context into how these crimes can often lack any political intent or meaning. “We often research individual perpetrators to understand how memetic elements fit into the larger data and history of their lives,” says Kriner. “[With Robinson] we have little to no public information, so making inferences is challenging, if not impossible, based on what we have in the public eye right now.”

    New details have emerged that give some further grounding without anything definitive. Some reports claimed that Robinson was not registered with either political party, but that both his parents were registered Republicans; according to court docs, his mother said he became more invested in “pro-gay and trans rights” in recent months.

    In the aforementioned text exchange, Robinson allegedly said “I had enough of his hatred” in reference to Kirk. Independent reporter Ken Klippenstein, meanwhile, investigated a Discord server frequented by Robinson and reported that Robinson virtually never mentioned politics, focusing instead on games like Helldivers 2, which is directly referred to by one of the engraved memes.

    Robinson’s Discord server seems to have been a conventionally silly and friendly internet community. The exact kind of space that still exists and flourishes on the internet alongside the more violent and chaotic groups. Similarly, the memes cited by law enforcement that were inscribed on the bullets started out as harmless in-jokes before they were given a new, deadly context last week.

    “We often use memes as indicators, as guideposts of where to look deeper,” said Kriner. “They can be a helpful tool, but they can also be a distraction.” And without a clear understanding of the context and culture surrounding these memes, they seem to have been a distraction for most people looking for meaning.

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    Adam Bumas

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  • WIRED Roundup: How Charlie Kirk Changed Conservative Media

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    Zoë Schiffer: So where does that leave traditional right-wing media, like Fox News, for example? Is this a replacement of that or is it working in tandem?

    Jake Lahut: I think it’s more in tandem. Fox’s programming was dominated by Kirk’s assassination last night. I think that for a lot of the mainstay Fox personalities, people like Charlie Kirk, and I guess in the Turning Point USA broader cinematic universe, these younger figures are really important, actually, for I think a lot of the more established conservative media TV hosts to build that audience and start to introduce themselves to people who are not throwing on the old-school tube on the couch at home every night. And this is also just something interesting, because Democrats have been trying to do versions of this for a while, and like we mentioned earlier, the conventional wisdom had held that Democrats would always have this advantage of younger voters. So I think it’s very interesting to see what Turning Point USA is going to become after this; and then to what extent this door that he opened could be taken up by just a figure with a different kind of profile, a different kind of charisma, maybe more extreme on some issues. So there is a very legitimate, almost a power vacuum that is opened here because he was such a singular figure in this aspect of conservative politics.

    Zoë Schiffer: Absolutely. So creating a new branch of right-wing media geared toward a younger audience is definitely a key part of Kirk’s legacy. And there’s also the legacy that he left in politics at large, like his rhetoric toward trans people, immigrants, his rhetoric on abortion rights. These things really stick out to me. Talk to me about that, that imprint that he might’ve left.

    Jake Lahut: Yeah, I think the imprint has some contradictions that we’re seeing in the aftermath of this horrific incident. There’s certainly this almost saintly way that he’s being painted after his death, and I think part of that is that he was an organizer and not a candidate, so he never got the kind of scrutiny or had to really make hard choices on policy. He was always more in the attention economy realm, the fundraising realm, and the voter turnout area. So I think right now he’s being mostly remembered for his genuine commitment to freedom of debate and wanting to actually have uncomfortable in-person interactions with people who may otherwise never talk to each other or disagree about politics. But then you have a lot of the things that he said about gun control, for example, that effectively it is worth having some amount of gun deaths, to paraphrase what he said here, in order to protect the Second Amendment. He was asked one time if one of his daughters, who at the time was 10 years old, that if she were sexually assaulted and became pregnant, would he want her to carry the pregnancy to term? And he basically said yes, that there would have to be a baby there. The other area where I think he may have made the biggest impact, to add real quickly, is that his view of what college and what young adulthood is for, very different than what we’ve generally heard from younger people involved in politics. He painted a positive vision of going to college for young people. Now, that vision was effectively for women, like you should go to college just to find a husband, and that’s pretty much it. But he was offering this view of like, “Hey, actually you’re told in America that your career and hustling and grinding is most important. I’m actually here to tell you that just have a family and have kids.” And we’ve seen polling that came out recently from NBC News where Gen Z men ranked having children as their number one priority, and no other demographic did. Whereas Gen Z women listed a litany of other issues ahead of that in terms of having a stable career, mental well-being, all those things. So that’s a thread of his legacy that I think is worth keeping track of, because he really was just this one man sensation on the college campuses. And I don’t think anyone’s going to replace that role right away, but if we want to understand how he really changed our politics beyond looking at one election or a series of quotes he gave, I would look to that, that there are a lot of young people who really admire this guy, who you may know a lot of them, but you just haven’t heard from them about it until this happened, and that could very well end up being what the long-term memory of Charlie Kirk is.

    Zoë Schiffer: Jake, thank you so much for joining me today.

    Jake Lahut: Zoë, thanks so much.

    Zoë Schiffer: That’s our show for today. We’ll link to all the stories we spoke about in the show notes. Adriana Tapia produced this episode. Amar Lal at Macrosound mixed this episode. Kate Osborn is our executive producer. Condé Nast head of global audio is Chris Bannon, and Katie Drummond is WIRED’s global editorial director.

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    Zoë Schiffer, Jake Lahut

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  • Right-Wing Activists Are Targeting People for Allegedly Celebrating Charlie Kirk’s Death

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    Far-right influencers and violent extremists are posting identifying details about people they view as celebrating or glorifying the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. The campaign has been swift and widespread and has already led to at least one person losing their job and others receiving death threats.

    The people posting the identifying information include Chaya Raichik, who runs the hugely influential, hate-filled LibsofTikTok account on X, Trump-whisperer Laura Loomer, and former Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio.

    A central hub of this activity is a website called Charlie’s Murderers, which was registered in the early evening on the day Kirk was shot and is revealing certain personal information, such as social media usernames and email addresses, of individuals the operators believe were celebrating the horrific murder.

    One of the first names listed on the sites was Rachel Gilmore, an independent journalist at Bubble Pop Media who wrote on X that she was “terrified to think of how far-right fans of Kirk, aching for more violence, could very well turn this into an even more radicalizing moment. Will they now believe their fears have been proven right and feel they have a right to ‘retaliate,’ regardless of who actually was behind the initial shooting?”

    As WIRED reported, this is exactly how much of the far right—along with Republican lawmakers including President Donald Trump—did respond to the news, even though no suspect had been arrested and no motive had been revealed.

    For Gilmore, the impact of her inclusion on the website was instant and terrifying.

    “This website has me genuinely afraid for my safety,” Gilmore tells WIRED. “I feel awful for anyone whose name is on it. It’s clear that the purpose of the website is to do exactly what the post that landed me on there warned Kirk’s supporters might do: retaliate.”

    Gilmore has received multiple death and rape threats since the site went live on Wednesday evening. (WIRED reviewed screenshots of emails and direct messages Gilmore has received to verify the threats.) She has not reported the threats to the police yet, she says.

    “I’ve gotten emails and DMs promising to find out where I live,” Gilmore says. “I have folks claiming my information is all over 4chan telling me in the same breath that they hope I get ‘raped and killed’ and telling me to ‘have fun walking the streets of’ my city, which they name.”

    At the time of publication, two dozen people were listed on the site, with many entries including full names, employment details, location, and social media accounts. The site’s operators, who are anonymous, claim to have received “thousands” of submissions. “All of them will be reviewed and uploaded shortly,” a note on the website reads. “This is a permanent archive and will soon contain a search feature.”

    “Most likely, we’d be happy to answer your questions,” the people controlling the website told WIRED in an email. Subsequent emails, though, went unanswered.

    The website asks people to submit a potential target’s full name, location, and employer information, as well as screenshots of incriminating social media posts, via email. An About section on the website, added on Thursday morning, says: “This is not a doxxing website. This website is a lawful data aggregator of publicly-available information. It has been created for the purposes of public education.”

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    David Gilbert

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  • Right-Wing Influencers Are Turning to Foreign Affairs

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    These trips have seemingly influenced the way traditional politicians spread diplomatic messages on their own social media accounts. When the Trump administration first partnered with the Nayib Bukele government this spring to send migrants detained in the US to the El Salvadoran megaprison Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), government officials traveled to the prison, and images of the visits were blasted online. Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem stood in front of dozens of CECOT’s prisoners who were lined up behind the prison’s bars where she took photos and videos warning immigrants that this prison could be “one of the consequences” they face if they’re caught unlawfully entering the US.

    The strategy hasn’t been confined to explicitly political influencers either. In July, Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined popular YouTuber group the Nelk Boys for their Full Send Podcast. The more than an hourlong podcast provided Netanyahu with a new audience composed primarily of young men who rarely tune into traditional news, allowing the world leader to reach a coveted demographic credited with helping Trump win reelection in 2024. Netanyahu’s team reached out to Full Send to schedule the interview, John Shahidi, who manages the Nelk brand, tells WIRED.

    “We are so not qualified to do this,” Kyle Forgeard said at the beginning of the podcast, shortly before Netanyahu joined. “That’s what’s interesting about this.”

    The podcast also showed how these kinds of political collaborations could blow up in the creators’ faces. Clips of Nelk’s interview with Netanyahu drew fierce criticism from both the right and left online, with critics accusing the Full Send crew of trivializing Israel’s war on Gaza and extending Netanyahu a platform to spread propaganda.

    “Asking him if he prefers Burger King or McDonald’s … while people are starving … this is insane,” one YouTube commenter wrote. (After going on the Israel365 trip and getting some similar blowback, Zirkle “parted ways” with Bannon’s War Room, Axios reported.)

    For foreign governments seeking approval from the MAGA base, meeting with these creators provides them with insight on US voters and a platform to speak directly to them.

    “If you want to understand MAGA, you have to understand the online ecosystem that fuels our movement. That’s why it’s no surprise countries around the world are eager to engage with creators who have the ear of the administration and finger on the pulse,” says CJ Pearson, a MAGA-aligned creator.

    Conducting diplomacy via influencer may in some cases have the additional advantage of falling into blind spots in social media regulation and existing laws governing lobbying, allowing creators to operate on behalf of foreign governments without traditional disclosures.

    “Part of the challenge with political influencers is that it’s unclear the extent to which they’re being paid by various competing interest groups and organizations,” says Samuel Woolley, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh who studies digital propaganda. “Political influencers exist in this liminal space where they’re one part campaign mouthpiece and another part independent actor.”

    This points to what’s new—not trips and conferences for potentially sympathetic and influential people but rather using them to establish a new type of diplomatic messenger. Partisan influencers with millions of followers can amplify foreign policy talking points on behalf of the MAGA movement and any foreign governments eager to access their platforms—all beyond existing rules and oversight.

    “It makes them very valuable,” says Woolley, “given discrepancies and extant holes in the law to political organizations that are hoping to do things a little more under the table and in a little bit more of a casual or less trackable manner.”

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    Makena Kelly

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  • Issa Future Athlete? Ari Fletcher Gives Football Mom Energy As Yosohn Runs The Field (PHOTOS)

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    Ari Fletcher and her son, Yosohn, are once again proving they’re a whole vibe—this time, trading luxury fits for football cleats. While Ari’s known to pop out with a look, sis also knows when to play the proud mama role, and fans are loving this new side of her. Let’s just say… the sidelines have never looked so stylish.

    RELATED: Ari Fletcher Sparks Reactions After Saying Instagram Should Have A “Weigh Limit On People Who Can Do Mukbangs”

    Ari’s On The Sidelines, But Yosohn’s Running The Field!

    Ari took to Instagram with a photo dump that had her followers in their feelings and in her comments. The pics and clips featured Yosohn hitting the field, making plays, and letting everybody know who’s really boss out there. Whether it was him flexing his game or Ari cheering from the sidelines, iced-out and locked in, one thing’s clear—this moment was giving football mom energy with flair. She even rocked a shirt that read, “Somebody’s Loud Mouth Football Mama” — because of course, Ari’s gonna make a statement! While it’s unclear if this was Yosohn’s official flag football debut, it’s safe to say he already got the people talking like he’s a pro!

    The Comment Section Doesn’t Play ‘Bout Yosohn

    Ari’s and The Shade Room’s comment section lit up fast, with fans giving Yosohn all his flowers. Folks are already saying he’s good at everything he does, predicting an NFL career like it’s written in the stars. One thing they all agreed on? Lil man tore everybody up on that field—periodt!

    One Instagram user @shanejustin said, “Aries Baby 🔥 we good at anything we do 💪🏾”

    This Instagram user @yazmiinnee added, “Yea, he going to the NFL and gone rap on the side 😂😍”

    And, Instagram user @leswervo wrote, “Why yoshon out there lookin like he already pro😭❤️”

    Instagram user @dominiquechinn shared, “Love seeing kids doing sports!!! It keeps them iff them iPads and phones too👏🔥”

    Meanwhile, Instagram user @hoop_dreams commented, “Footwork looks really good for his age 💪”

    While, Instagram user @_dan_da_great said, “Young Rising Star 🔥🔥”

    Finally, Instagram user @itskylesisterari aded, “Aaaaye!!!! He finna tear everybody up on the field! Go Yosohn!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥”

    Football Mom, But Make It Fashion!

    Ari Fletcher is stepping into her football mom era, and she’s making it very clear—she’s here for all of it! But of course, Ari had to put her signature spin on things. She shared a video showing off her custom bedazzled football cup, because baybeee, Ari doesn’t do basic! Even Yosohn chimed in, joking that they did her dirty for not including a straw—and honestly, he had a point!

    @arithedonfanpage_1

    Ari fletcher just recently Became a football mom an decided to get her a custom cup but of course yosohn had his own opinion 🤣🤣 it really be your own kids 🤣 #momsoftiktok

    ♬ original sound – arithedonfanpage_1

    RELATED: Dinner Served! Moneybagg Yo Sparks Reactions After Flexing Ari Fletcher’s Home-Cooked Meal (PHOTO)

    What Do You Think Roomies?

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    Desjah

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  • Dozens charged after influencers broke into Kentucky Speedway, posted videos

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    More than 30 people have been arrested after officials say “influencers” broke into the Kentucky Speedway and posted videos to social media.Gallatin County Sheriff Bud Webster says it’s been happening since June, when the first video was posted to social media. Video above: Kentucky Speedway treats seniors to victory lap around racetrack”It’s been quite the ordeal since then,” Webster said. “When they post to social media, it’s my understanding that they get paid if they get so many followers or hits, so that’s what the purpose of it is.”He said they’ve been getting into the speedway by jumping the fence or even cutting through.”There’s been vandalism and damage to the property,” Webster said.While the speedway no longer hosts NASCAR or IndyCar races, it’s still used for smaller events. Parts of the property are also rented out to companies.”I’m not sure what the future holds for the speedway, but they still maintain the property, they still operate, and they have staff on hand,” Webster said.He said videos have prompted others to go inside.”Those gentlemen had posted to social media about an abandoned speedway and since then, it’s been one group after another coming in there from all over,” Webster said. The sheriff emphasized that the Kentucky Speedway is private property and is not abandoned.The Kentucky Speedway opened in June 2000 and is owned by Speedway Motorsports.

    More than 30 people have been arrested after officials say “influencers” broke into the Kentucky Speedway and posted videos to social media.

    Gallatin County Sheriff Bud Webster says it’s been happening since June, when the first video was posted to social media.

    Video above: Kentucky Speedway treats seniors to victory lap around racetrack

    “It’s been quite the ordeal since then,” Webster said. “When they post to social media, it’s my understanding that they get paid if they get so many followers or hits, so that’s what the purpose of it is.”

    He said they’ve been getting into the speedway by jumping the fence or even cutting through.

    “There’s been vandalism and damage to the property,” Webster said.

    While the speedway no longer hosts NASCAR or IndyCar races, it’s still used for smaller events. Parts of the property are also rented out to companies.

    “I’m not sure what the future holds for the speedway, but they still maintain the property, they still operate, and they have staff on hand,” Webster said.

    He said videos have prompted others to go inside.

    “Those gentlemen had posted to social media about an abandoned speedway and since then, it’s been one group after another coming in there from all over,” Webster said.

    The sheriff emphasized that the Kentucky Speedway is private property and is not abandoned.

    The Kentucky Speedway opened in June 2000 and is owned by Speedway Motorsports.

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  • Book explores NYC through the eyes of New York Nico

    Book explores NYC through the eyes of New York Nico

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    NEW YORK — In a city of 8 million characters, one New Yorker has made it his mission to document as many as possible.

    Nicolas Heller, better known as New York Nico, has captured the heart and soul of the Big Apple through his lens, one character at a time.

    Now, he’s turning his viral social media success into a different kind of story.

    Heller made a guidebook to the city that he calls home.

    In the book, Heller captures what locals have always known: it’s not just the skyline that makes New York special, it’s the stories behind every storefront and the characters on every corner.

    If you know New York, you likely know New York Nico.

    For the past decade he’s roamed the city in search of its quirks and characters, reminding his millions of followers what makes New York — New York.

    “Most of these businesses have been around forever, but it really is about the people who make these businesses,” Heller said.

    Born and bred in the Big Apple, Heller saw the city through a unique lens early on.

    “I know when you were a little kid, your parents said that you were dubbed the mayor of 16th Street,” Joelle Garguilo said.

    “There was just this one stretch where I would just like walk down the street and like the vendors would all say, ‘Hey what’s up Nick.’ I was friends with all the security guards,” Heller said.

    From Union Square to becoming the “unofficial talent scout of New York,” his journey is as colorful as the characters he documents.

    “In 2013 I was like, I’m gonna start posting the same people that I’ve been documenting for Know Your City, but I’m just gonna do it on my phone,” Heller said.

    His social media blew up, and then the pandemic hit.

    “So I was like, what can I do in the confines of my own home?” Heller said.

    As his platform grew, so did he. Heller’s page became a digital lifeline for struggling small businesses.

    “Yeah. I mean the first instance was with Henry from Army Navy Bag,” Heller said.

    “We raised all this money and I was like, well I want to like, keep trying to do this. So I think the next one I did was for Punjabi Deli, which was down the street. And then you know, I did one for Village Revival. If I have the power to help, I’m gonna do the best I can,” Heller said.

    John Stratidis, owner of Cozy Soup ‘n’ Burger said, “He has helped me during my difficult struggles during COVID and still today going on. And he’s an amazing person. He is a true New Yorker.”

    Now, he has distilled his love for the city into a new book — New York Nico”s Guide To NYC.

    From the last kosher deli in the Bronx to a barbershop that doubles as an art gallery, his guide is more than just a list of places to visit. It’s an ode to the local flavor, but also a way to preserve it.

    In a city that’s forever changing, New York Nico is a reminder of what remains constant: the spirit of its people.

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    CCG

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  • Influencers Get Their Final Marching Orders for the Election

    Influencers Get Their Final Marching Orders for the Election

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    Guerrero said that possible opportunities would be jumping on a campaign bus touring Las Vegas and speaking to voters about reproductive rights or to go door-knocking in battleground states. It sounds like the details are still shaking out, but I reached out to the Harris campaign for more information.

    “At the very least, creators should at least be telling our audiences and asking our audiences to vote. I know we feel overwhelmed with the presidential election, but there’s so much more on the ballot in every state and every city too,” says Jeremy Jacobowitz, a NYC food influencer who has worked with the Harris campaign in the past. “I’m still planning a few posts coming up explaining why I’m making the decision that I am for Kamala.”

    On Wednesday and Thursday this week, the Harris campaign set up action hubs in New York City and Los Angeles to create a space for influencers to make get-out-the-vote content and phone-bank from the studios. The creators are supposed to sign up for specific shifts, and they will be given interview spaces outfitted with mics, backgrounds, and on-site production teams to turn around content quickly.

    In an email to those who signed up, the campaign outlined some of its top-performing GOTV content to provide examples for the creators, like voting day reminders, making plans to vote, specific battleground callouts, and videos explaining “what voting means” to the creators.

    Meanwhile, the Heritage Foundation met with a group of conservative influencers last week at the Influence America event, including Emily Wilson from Emily Save America, Savannah Chrisley, Sean Mike Kelly, and John McEntee, the founder of the Peter Thiel–backed Right Stuff dating app. CJ Pearson, a 22-year-old conservative creator, hosted the event, where creators strategized how to synchronize their content over the next few weeks, focusing on some of the Republican Party’s favorite policy issues like immigration and the economy.

    “We convened 30 of the most impactful emerging young conservative voices in our movement, with a combined audience of nearly 50 million people, to strategize about how we can actually reach America’s young people where they are,” Pearson told the Daily Mail last week.

    In Instagram stories, the Influence America creators toured the Fox News studios and attended panels led by some of the most popular conservative creators on the internet, including Isabel Brown and Xaviaer DuRousseau. Pearson told me he was developing the event as a “Ycombinator” of conservative creators that was bringing in a variety of speakers to educate the group of around 30 influencers, like a former DHS worker who will talk about how to speak effectively on issues like immigration to their combined 50 million followers up until Election Day.

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    Makena Kelly

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  • Who are the 10 most “influential” artists? – ReverbNation Blog

    Who are the 10 most “influential” artists? – ReverbNation Blog

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    Who are the most influential artists right now? We don’t have to wonder anymore. Luminate has the data!

    Which is good news for businesses, because this question about influence is one they’ll ask whenever considering some form of paid partnership with an artist. They want to spend money wisely, and having reliable data to justify the expense is helpful.

    Enter the music-data experts at Luminate, who have developed a new scoring system to measure artist “influence.”

    Let’s take a look at how it works (and the top-ranked artists).

    How does influence scoring work for artists?

    According to Billboard, the scoring system:

    “… was developed to allow brands, agencies, labels & others to help evaluate artists in terms of partnerships, endorsements, marketing campaigns, creative integration and more.”

    Artists are ranked on this “Luminate Index” according to five areas:

    1. Music streaming footprint
    2. Social media footprint
    3. Public awareness
    4. Public appeal
    5. Fan engagement in relation to live shows & other events

    Which artists ranked highest on the influence index?

    Interesting to note: Not a single emerging artist hit the Top 10. 

    That also makes sense though, since the scoring criteria favors metrics & attributes that strengthen with time (such as public notoriety). 

    So it probably won’t surprise you who came in 1st place!

    The 10 highest artist scores for Q3 2024’s Luminate Index are (out of 100):

    1. Taylor Swift, 100
    2. Adele, 92
    3. Beyoncé, 91
    4. Elton John, 90
    5. Rihanna, 90
    6. Eminem, 89
    7. Shakira, 88
    8. Ariana Grande, 88
    9. Lady Gaga, 88
    10. Dolly Parton, 87

    What do artist influence rankings mean?

    Well, don’t be shocked if these top-ranked artists continue to dominate near-term when it comes to appearances, commercials, sponsorships, placements, & Batman films (looking at you, Gaga!).

    ‘Cause the data now supports their continued influence. Which, of course, indicates ROI for businesses.

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    Chris Robley

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  • Inside the Anti-Vax Facebook Group Pushing a Bogus Cure for Autism

    Inside the Anti-Vax Facebook Group Pushing a Bogus Cure for Autism

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    Czelazewicz is just one of many affiliates who sell Pure Body Extra online, including Larry Cook, one of the best known US anti-vax influencers. Cook and his Stop Mandatory Vaccination group was kicked off Facebook in 2020, but only after it had amassed a following of around 200,000. Today, Cook sells Pure Body Extra as a cure for autism via his Detox for Autism website.

    Pure Body Extra is manufactured by a company called Touchstone Essentials, which was founded in 2012 by Eddie Stone and is based in Raleigh, North Carolina.

    The company sells a variety of other health and wellness products. On the product page for Pure Body Extra on the Touchstone Essentials website, the company says the product is safe “for all ages,” and in a section labeled “science,” the company states that the product’s “capacity to capture toxins, heavy metals, and environmental pollutants is evidenced by more than 300 studies documented on PubMed.”

    However, when WIRED analyzed the 300 studies, it emerged that many were nonhuman trials, including numerous tests on animals. Indeed, over the course of the last 10 years, just seven medical trials on clinoptilolite, the particular type of zeolite used in PBX, had been conducted on humans, all of which were conducted on adults, and some of which didn’t concern detoxification.

    “This is a broader trope in alternative health where [anti-vaxxers] rail against the medical establishment, saying they don’t have your best interests at heart and that you can’t trust ordinary doctors or ordinary medical science, but they do love to cherry-pick studies that seem to show favorable results for some cure that they offer,” says Calum Hood, head of research at the Center for Countering Digital Hate. “They’re then misapplying that science to try and sell people on the idea that a bit of zeolite is going to cure their child’s autism.”

    When asked to provide proof that clinoptilolite was safe for use in children, Touchstone Essentials did not provide a response, but Sonia O’Farrell, the company’s chief marketing officer, told WIRED that the company “does not claim that Pure Body Extra (PBX) can cure or treat autism, or any medical condition for that matter. Pure Body Extra is a dietary supplement featuring natural zeolite to support the body’s detoxification systems. By definition, dietary supplements may not claim to treat, cure, diagnose, or prevent any disease.”

    O’Farrell added that the company does not endorse any individuals who sell its products or how they promote them. “Upon becoming aware of an Affiliate making any medical claims, our compliance team will advise an Affiliate to remove any such materials,” O’Farrell added.

    A statement written in small text at the bottom of the Touchstone Essentials website states: “These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Our products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.”

    The FDA did not respond to a request for comment about the way Pure Body Extra is being promoted online.

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    David Gilbert

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  • Bobbi Althoff on Exactly How She Got Rich—and How Rich, Exactly

    Bobbi Althoff on Exactly How She Got Rich—and How Rich, Exactly

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    Well actually WIRED shares a parent company with Reddit.

    Good. Get rid of it.

    What’s the part of all of it that feels the weirdest to you still? Is it weird to have something happen in your life and have to issue a statement about it on Instagram?

    It’s weird that if I say anything, it’s going to get press. And sometimes I don’t think about that. So when I decided to post an Instagram Story two weeks ago and be like, “I have never slept with someone I interviewed,” I did not expect to wake up to an email from my PR team being like, “Here’s all the news, the press you got from this.” Or when I got a divorce, having paparazzi show up at my house, I was like: “A. How did they figure out where I live? B. Why do they need to take photos of me walking without a wedding ring on?”

    It is kind of crazy. Are you in a good place in all of that personal stuff?

    A lot of people still really give me a hard time because I’m no longer with my children’s father. I was 22 when I got married.

    I didn’t know if we were going to talk about this. But I got married when I was 21.

    Did you?

    And I got divorced. I was going to offer to tell you about my divorce if it would help you talk about yours. Because I married an abolitionist vegan in college. Special. And I was also vegan and then was seeing a doctor. I was vegan because I was starving myself.

    Oh my god.

    I went to see a doctor and the doctor was like, “You have to start eating dairy. Katie, you have to start eating some sort of animal product. You have to gain weight.” So I started eating yogurt, and I called my husband, because we were living in different cities at the time, and I said, “There are two things I need to tell you. One is that I started smoking.” And he was like, “That’s hilarious. I never would’ve pictured you as a smoker.” And I said, “And the other thing is that I started eating yogurt.” And he was like, “I’m done.”

    No way. Your husband.

    My husband. And we got divorced because I ate—

    Yogurt.

    A Fage 0 percent plain.

    It’s so easy to look at the future and be like, you get married and you stay married forever. We had kids immediately. I got pregnant 10 months after knowing him, maybe 11 months. And then at a year marker we’re getting married. We got married in the courthouse.

    As a kid, I saw my parents being horrible together. Horrible. Truly, truly, truly. The worst possible couple that could be together.

    Are they still married?

    No. And I remember the day that my mom told us they were getting divorced was the best day of my life.

    I read online that the best time to get a divorce and for it to have the least impact on your kids is before they turn 3. When my daughter was 3 I remember it was just, if we are going to do this, it needs to be now, because our kids won’t know. It wasn’t like my parents, but we weren’t in love.

    And by then you must’ve had some financial independence.

    The timing lined up perfectly with me getting a lot of money. Once I knew my career was going to take off, I was OK. And we had the conversation and it was a joint conversation of, “this isn’t good anyway.”

    Do you want to get married again?

    I would love to get married and have all of the things that I never got. I want to meet someone, date them for a while, have them surprise me with an engagement ring, and then get married and have a big wedding and lots of family and friends there. I want to be disgustingly in love one day.

    Well, I’m sure all your fans on Reddit will read this interview and take notes.

    Oh, they will.


    Let us know what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor at mail@wired.com.

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    Katie Drummond

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  • Find More Pictures of Her Here>>

    Find More Pictures of Her Here>>

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    Find More Pictures of Her Here>>

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  • What Right-Wing Influencers Actually Said in Those Tenet Media Videos

    What Right-Wing Influencers Actually Said in Those Tenet Media Videos

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    In hundreds of videos since taken down by YouTube, right-wing influencers working for Tenet Media—a company the US Department of Justice alleges was financed and guided by a state-backed Russian news network—showed interest in a highly specific set of topics, according to a WIRED analysis.

    Using closed captioning of the videos we downloaded before the videos were removed, we’ve compiled lists of terms frequently mentioned in them, along with a searchable database:

    The content of these videos was described by prosecutors as “consistent” with Russia’s aim of sowing political discord in the US. Among the areas covered: free speech, illegal immigrants, diversity in video games, supposed racism toward white people, and Elon Musk.

    While an indictment unsealed earlier this week does not name Tenet, WIRED and other outlets were able to identify it because prosecutors gave its motto as that of a business identified as “U.S. Company-1.” Prosecutors allege that two employees of the state-backed Russian network RT, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, who are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, paid Tenet and its parent company $9.7 million to produce and distribute videos supporting Russian aims. The vast majority of that money allegedly went to Tenet’s network of popular influencers, which included Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Lauren Southern.

    The influencers are not accused by the government of wrongdoing. Johnson, Pool, Rubin, and fellow talents Tayler Hansen and Matt Christiansen issued statements denying awareness of the alleged Russian influence scheme and portraying themselves as its victims. (They have not responded to requests for comment.) Prosecutors say that right-wing personality Lauren Chen and her husband Liam Donovan, Canadian nationals who founded Tenet—the two, who have not been charged with any crime, go unnamed in the indictment but are tied to the business through corporate records—were aware they were working with Russians and failed to register “as an agent of a foreign principal, as required by law.” The indictment alleges that the pair, who were not indicted, did not inform the influencers or other Tenet employees about the source of their funding.

    Nonetheless, Afanasyeva, using fake personae, “edited, posted, and directed the posting by [Tenet] of hundreds of videos,” the indictment says. The indictment does not identify specific videos as allegedly influenced by the RT employees, but prosecutors say they were intimately involved in Tenet’s editorial process: “While the views expressed in the videos are not uniform, the subject matter and content of the videos are often consistent with the Government of Russia’s interest in amplifying US domestic divisions in order to weaken US opposition to core Government of Russia interests, such as its ongoing war in Ukraine.”

    To determine what specifically the Russian government is alleged to have funded, WIRED downloaded the closed captioning transcripts from 405 long-form videos posted on Tenet’s YouTube channel—you can access the file here—and used natural language processing to identify common themes. These 405 video transcripts represent nearly every long-form video available on the channel. We were not able to analyze approximately 1,600 YouTube shorts before the channel was removed from the site. We analyzed the data looking for the most frequently occurring two-, three-, and four-word phrases in each video, excluding words like “um” that don’t carry much meaning. (“Um” appears in the dataset 2,340 times.)

    This analysis does not show that in these videos the influencers were particularly fixated on the Ukraine war—the word “Ukraine” appears in the transcripts 67 times, about as often as “misinformation,” “Christianity,” and “Clinton.” It does show the influencers stressing highly divisive culture war topics in the videos, which carried titles like “Trans Widows Are a Thing and It’s Getting OUT OF HAND” and “Race Is Biological But Gender Isn’t???” The word “trans” appears 152 times, and “transgender” 98.

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    Tim Marchman, Dhruv Mehrotra

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  • Influencers Are Racing to Profit From the Trump Shooting

    Influencers Are Racing to Profit From the Trump Shooting

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    Pro-Trump influencers and supporters raced to put out merchandise featuring the image of Trump with blood on his face and a fist in the air just hours after the deadly shooting and assassination attempt on Saturday.

    By Sunday afternoon, right-wing activist Candace Owens and former Trump administration official Sebastian Gorka had released shirts with the image. “For God and Country,” Owens’s read. “The President of America,” said Gorka’s.

    Neither Owens or Gorka immediately responded to requests for comment from WIRED asking if they would donate their proceeds to Trump’s reelection campaign or to the families of those who were shot at the rally.

    David Portnoy, founder and owner of Barstool Sports, linked to a similar shirt on X made by the Southern fraternity brand Old Row, which was acquired by Barstool in 2016. “If you come at the king you best not miss,” it read.

    “Dam you guys already making money off the shooting?” one X user said in a reply to Portnoy. By Sunday afternoon, it appeared as though Old Row removed the shirt listing. The company did not immediately respond to requests from WIRED to confirm that the shirt was removed after backlash.

    Popular YouTubers and influencers launched their own related merch as well. The Hodge Twins, a pair of influencers with more than three million subscribers on YouTube who host The Twins podcast, released a shirt featuring the image with the words “FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!” on Saturday night.

    “100% of profits from this shirt go to Trump’s campaign,” they said in a post.

    Dozens of TikTok users were also hawking shirts featuring the infamous image on TikTok Shop over the weekend. Some hosted livestreams where they encouraged viewers to purchase their shooting-related merch as if they were hosting a television shopping show.

    “Ohhh look another Trump shirt selling today!! 100th one,” one user wrote on a livestream where shirts were being sold.

    Richard “FaZe Banks” Bengston, CEO of the esports brand FaZe Clan, appeared to endorse Trump shortly after the shooting, writing “TRUMP 2024” on X. Bengston has more than five million subscribers on YouTube. Later, FaZe Clan advertised red MAGA-style hats that read “MAKE FAZE GREAT AGAIN.” FaZe Clan did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WIRED asking if the posts from Bengston and his company were official endorsements.

    The incident prompted a number of influencers to endorse Trump. “I pray for peace and prosperity for the world and I believe Trump gives us the best chance at that,” wrote Jake Paul, YouTuber and pro boxer, on Saturday. “When you try and kill God’s angels and saviors of the world it just makes them bigger.” In April, Paul invited Trump to attend his upcoming fight against Mike Tyson. At the time, a Trump official told WIRED that the former president was “seriously” considering attending. Tyson was later injured and the fight was canceled.

    Logan Paul, Jake’s older brother, stopped short of endorsing Trump on Saturday, but did write, “To survive an assassination attempt by mere millimeters then stop your security so you can raise your fist in defiance of death is the most badass thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

    “Voting for the bulletproof outlaw,” Tristan Tate, misogynist influencer and alleged human trafficker, wrote on X on Saturday. Andrew Tate, Tristan’s brother who was also charged with human trafficking in Romania, also posted messages in support of Trump.

    Less than two hours after Trump had his mugshot taken at a Fulton County, George jail last year, his campaign had already released merch featuring the image. While the campaign has issued multiple fundraising texts and emails following the shooting, they have not put out any related merch.

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    Makena Kelly

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  • Unveiling the Indie Spirit: The Pre-Launch Story of Roberto Boligans’ Favor Games

    Unveiling the Indie Spirit: The Pre-Launch Story of Roberto Boligans’ Favor Games

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    Forging Gaming Legends: Roberto Boligan’s Favor Games Prepares to Make Waves With ‘Deepest Trench’ – A Tale of Innovation and Passion

    Step into the universe of Favor Games, an independent studio led by Roberto Boligan, where commitment and novelty are not only ideas but the forces driving their work. 

    As the studio prepares for an upcoming release, it’s important to point out that Favor Games stands on the edge of redefining the gaming world with an experience that promises to create unforgettable moments in gaming history. This article highlights their unwavering commitment to producing outstanding games. Let’s embark on an examination of their fascinating pre-release journey.

    Favor Games: A Dream Transformed Into Reality

    Favor Games’ roots can be traced back to a shared dream among passionate gamers, led by the company’s CEO, Roberto Boligan. United by their love for video games, the company emerged as a collective effort to contribute a unique narrative to the ever-evolving gaming industry. The upcoming release, “Deepest Trench,” is a testament to this humble beginning and the profound journey that followed.

    Core Values: The Heartbeat of Favor Games

    Central to Favor Games‘ ethos are values that shape their game development process and the essence of the games they create. With ‘Deepest Trench,’ these values manifest in an underwater co-op adventure that seamlessly blends immersive storytelling, stunning visuals, and dynamic gameplay. The commitment to creating meaningful connections between players and characters underscores the very fabric of their games.

    Road to Launch: Favor Games’ Pre-launch Chronicles

    The launch of ‘Deepest Trench’ has been highly anticipated, and the journey leading up to it has been filled with challenges, milestones, and invaluable lessons. Favor Games has put a lot of effort into fine-tuning every aspect of the game, from crafting intricate puzzles to ensuring replicability with alternate endings.

    Their focus has been on creating a triple AAA IP, which is evident in the attention given to visual and sound effects, as well as fostering a strong relationship between players and the characters in the game.

    Beyond Gaming: Favor Games’ Commitment to the Indie Spirit

    Favor Games CEO Roberto Boligan has gamers eagerly anticipating the future. However, one thing that can be certain is their dedication to the independent spirit that fuels their journey remains unwavering. “Deepest Trench” is more than just a game; it’s an opportunity to explore the depths of immersive storytelling, inventive gameplay, and uncharted territories in the gaming industry.

    Favor Games has pledged to maintain the indie spirit by offering gaming experiences that will resonate with players and profoundly impact them. With the guidance of Roberto Boligan, Favor Games is at the forefront of a new era of gaming, creating unparalleled experiences that surpass the norm.

    Source: Surf Lifters Media

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