Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Chiara Ferragni faces jail time, Rosie Nguyen Suno AI backlash + creators speak out on TikTok Awards

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MINI SCROLL: Chiara Ferragni faces jail time, Rosie Nguyen Suno AI backlash + creators speak out on TikTok Awards · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  Hi everyone, welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
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  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy and the digital space.
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  Every Monday through Thursday and sometimes Fridays.
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  I'm your host, Lauren Meissner, the founder of the youth digital
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  media brand Centennial World. Welcome back to Mini Scroll,
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  everyone. OK, a Friday mini scroll, here
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  we go. But before I get into it, Please
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  remember to rate, review and subscribe.
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  day. So please, please, please rate
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  US. OK, let's get into it.
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  The first right that I have for you guys, this is giving me
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  parasocial heartbreak. Kiara Ferragni is potentially
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  facing up to 20 months of jail time for a charity collaboration
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  that she did in 2022. So OG fashion influencer Kiara
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  Fragni is facing 20 months of jail time for a Christmas cake
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  collaboration that has turned fraudulent.
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  She is being charged with aggravated fraud after she did a
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  collaboration with Bolaco Foods to sell rebranded Pandora
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  Christmas cakes in 2022. And she and the brand did a
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  similar type of charity collaboration with Easter eggs
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  and I think it was that same year.
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  So specifically, the packaging and promotional materials
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  conveyed that each purchase of the cakes would benefit a
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  Children's Hospital. However, authorities found that
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  Bolacco had already made a single donation around €50,000
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  before the campaign, not a donation tied to each sale.
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  In 2023, the Italian competition authority fined Chiara over
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  €1,000,000 for misleading customers through this campaign.
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  She responded with a public apology.
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  She said it was a communications error and she actually donated
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  €1,000,000, which was her fee for this influencer campaign.
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  She donated it to the hospital and she pledged to avoid mixing
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  charity and commercial promotions in the future.
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  She also later paid additional settlements involving the Easter
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  eggs. So just a few days ago, on
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  November 25th, the Milan Prosecutor's office formally
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  requested that she be sentenced up to 20 months in prison for
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  aggravated fraud. So under Italian law, misleading
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  advertising with fraudulent charitable promotional claims
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  can qualify as aggravated fraud, which is a serious offense when
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  consumers are deceived into believing a charity benefit
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  exists within what they're purchasing.
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  And obviously that influences their purchasing decisions.
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  So yes, like I said, I have parasocial heartbreak over this.
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  I think some of you guys might know cuz I've talked about it
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  here and there over the years. But like Kiara is literally the
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  first influencer I ever followed her.
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  Peace, love, Shay and the like Alexandra something Alexandra
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  something. They were like the three that I
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  followed first and I just I have actually really enjoyed
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  following her. Like I I know that sounds kind
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  of crazy because she doesn't really do very much.
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  She did more back in the day, like she talked to camera a lot
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  back in the day. She had like a good Snapchat and
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  stuff, but I don't know, like she has been with me and I have
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  been with her. This is the definition of a
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  parasocial relationship, you know, since I got Instagram when
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  I was like probably 21, maybe at university and I don't know, I
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  actually really like her content.
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  I, I don't think that Instagram is that interesting as a
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  platform, but she is one of those people that I really
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  actually enjoy following. So I'm very upset about this.
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  And I saw in TikTok comments that someone said that there
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  were emails that exposed that Kiara was aware of the fraud
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  before the collaboration started.
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  So I looked into this and the information that I found was in
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  Italian and I had to translate it.
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  So it's not quite perfect and I obviously didn't really get the
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  full story, but this is what I gathered.
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  I think it's correct. So it seems like Chiara's team
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  or management was possibly aware that the company was doing this
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  one off donation unrelated to the sales of the cakes.
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  And then there was also this e-mail from Blacco that seemed
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  to explain to Chiara's team that they were trying to focus like
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  the messaging around the campaign.
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  They were trying to focus this on the charitable aspect effect
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  of the campaign because they wanted to get maximum sales
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  because sales will pay for her fee, which as we know was
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  €1,000,000. So is it possible that Kiara
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  just didn't know what was happening and it was like more
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  between her team and the company?
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  I guess yes. But I also feel like that's
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  parasocial delusion. If I convince myself of that,
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  I'm sad. I can't believe it.
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  Can you guys imagine if Kiara Fragni goes to jail?
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  Like, is this only big news to me?
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  I don't know. I am like, I'm actually shook by
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  this. The next way that I have for you
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  guys. This actually came from one of
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  you guys on Spotify. So thank you for that.
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  This is a bit of like tech Twitter slash X news.
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  So Rosie Wynn, who is a relatively famous tech and
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  creator economy personality is facing backlash after she posted
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  a very grim tweet promoting Suno AI.
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  For context, Rosie was the Co founder of Fanhouse.
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  She's also an influencer. So she was like an influencer
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  creator. And then she Co founded
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  Fanhouse, which was kind of like an only fans Patreon competitor
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  and they were purchased or acquired by passes a few years
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  ago. And now she is the head of
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  creators at Suno AI. So before I keep going, Suno AI
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  is a platform that generates AI music from text prompts.
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  They just raised $250 million, which now puts the company's
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  valuation at $2.45 billion. I mean, the concept of that
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  platform is obviously fucked up for so many reasons.
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  Like, I understand that from a corporate perspective, a lot of
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  people are expected to use AI in their jobs.
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  And I understand that like in some cases, you cannot be
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  categorically against AI because you need to keep your job, you
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  need to eat, you need to survive.
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  Like fair enough. But I do not think in any world
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  we should be celebrating the funding of a platform that
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  erases artists completely from art.
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  And I'm not saying artists don't use the platform or can't use
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  the platform, but it literally erases the human element of that
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  art form. Who wants to listen to music
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  that isn't written, created, designed by humans?
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  Like human emotion and human experience is literally the
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  heartbeat of music. That's like the whole point.
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  Art, music, all of that. OK, so a couple days ago Rosie
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  posted this on XI Grew up singing.
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  I sang everywhere I went. I wrote songs in my diary.
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  I told teachers that I wanted to be a singer and songwriter when
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  I grew up. But wanting to be a musician in
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  2006 required resources that a low income family didn't have.
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  My parents couldn't afford to get me any instruments.
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  They couldn't pay for my music lessons.
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  They couldn't get me into studios.
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  A dream I had became just a memory.
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  Until now. I am beyond proud and honored to
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  get to work at a company that is enabling music creation for
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  everyone. For the 13 year old kid in their
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  bedroom who dreams of being a musician, you can be 1.
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  For all the professional artists, you can do more of what
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  you love. I really wish Suno existed 20
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  years ago when I was a kid in elementary school showing
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  strangers songs I wrote with no way to produce them.
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  But I'm really really happy that it exists today for all the
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  other kids who might need it. OK so this had people mad for
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  obvious reasons. First of all, it's so deeply
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  insidious to position this platform as something that is
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  helping children realize their dreams.
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  Because fun fact, SUNO AI only paid musical artists a total of
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  $2000 to train its model. I can't.
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  OK, so this is from Gizmodo quote.
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  According to Billboard, which obtained investor presentation
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  materials from Suno, its users were generating about 7,000,000
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  songs per day over the course of two weeks.
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  Created as many songs as are currently available on Spotify.
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  Like, why do we want that? That is literally the antithesis
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  of art and music. I just can't get over this.
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  I know I already said that, but like, it's crazy.
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  Its users, mostly young men, spend more than 20 minutes per
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  day producing their own music, which is something that young
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  when could only dream of. Now anyone can become a music
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  artist, a thing that SUNO apparently doesn't value at all
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  considering the company has only paid $2000 in total on music
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  used to train its models. So Rosie's post was met with a
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  lot of backlash and this escalated after some who had
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  been following her over the years brought up the reason why
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  she actually stepped down from Fanhouse again.
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  Fanhouse was the creator platform that she Co founded.
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  So this is from Business Insider.
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  This is an interview that they did with Rosie after she left
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  Fan House quote. She recalled clashes with VCs on
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  issues like Fan House's 10% take rate, which were the fees the
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  business collected from transactions on its platform.
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  Investors wanted to increase the rate to boost the company's
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  profits. VCs also wanted Fan House to
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  experiment with technology like Web 3 and artificial
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  intelligence when pushed back against these ideas because she
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  didn't think they served the best interests of creators on
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  the platform. Reminder, she is currently the
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  head of creators at Suno AI. And then during this time when
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  she left, she told TechCrunch this.
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  It's not just about the money, it's about what platform is
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  going to take care of me. Not every platform cares about
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  its creators, and creators want to feel safe and cared for over
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  anything else. That is so insanely ironic, you
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  guys. Like, she is now the head of
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  creators at an AI company that could clearly care less about
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  taking care of the musicians, the artists and the creators
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  that they are directly profiting from, stealing their jobs,
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  taking all of their work. Like, I just can't.
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  At the time of recording, she hasn't taken down the tweet.
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  I don't think she's going to. And yeah, her mentions and her
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  quote tweets seem to be a disaster.
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  OK, the next word that I have for you guys, this is a story
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  that I would have covered regardless.
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  However, I feel like it's even more important for me to cover
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  this since I did an entire episode yesterday about the
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  TikTok Awards and our experience doing red carpet interviews
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  there and how it was relatively positive.
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  However, it was absolutely not positive for several creators,
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  especially creators of color. So there are several creators of
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  color who are speaking out right now on TikTok about the TikTok
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  Awards and how they were treated.
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  Several videos those have come out over the past basically like
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  12 to 24 hours by various black Australian creators talking
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  about how they were mistreated and some even faced racism at
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  the event by event staff. The main video that sparked this
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  discussion was by a creator named Niel who has over 400,000
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  followers. Mind you, like a huge creator,
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  especially in Australia, we are a very small country here.
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  She shared her experience trying to get photos at the media wall
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  and in her video she actually provided footage in which you
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  can hear and see how the photography event staff spoke to
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  her and her group of friends that she was with.
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  This is. This is the media they
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  definitely output. That's the information.
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  But this has nothing to do with you.
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  We didn't need your photo. We don't like they don't put up.
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  What are they going to do with your photo?
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  That's crazy. I'm saying sorry, sorry.
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  I will no longer be attending the TikTok awards because I'm
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  tired of being treated like this.
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  If you're inviting creators to be seat fillers, fill up your
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  audience so that when the TV network plays your vet that they
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  see that there's so many people there.
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  Then let the creators know that they're being invited as
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  audience members and not as content creators.
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  Don't go treating people like shit and then prioritizing
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  whoever you choose. Other creators, every year that
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  I've been to the awards, they always have two separate
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  carpets. They have a media wall which you
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  can kind of just get in fast, get your photo and then they
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  have another one where you can get interviews.
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  Then we usually have people interviewing content creators.
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  I've spoken to other creators about how they get to that
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  interview stage because me personally, I've always just
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  stayed in the background and I've never felt that I could go
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  to the media walls because to be honest, in Australia, like black
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  content creators, they don't know what's like that.
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  This year I thought I've been in the background the last three
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  years I've attended. I might as well just try to do
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  an interview. I might as well just try to be
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  more involved with the press side of things, you know,
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  because again, one of the biggest things that we struggle
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  with as black creators is being seen in Australian media.
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  How this whole thing happens is we heard that there's a media
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  war upstairs. We went upstairs again, there's
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  no security. That's like stopping you.
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  It's not bad or for anything. We line up, get to the front,
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  and one of the, I guess staff members was like, are you a
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  nominee or a presenter? And I was like, no, we're just
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  content creator. And then she goes, sorry,
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  they're only wanting to interview nominees and
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  presenters. I was just kind of like, because
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  I saw someone that I'm mutuals with, they're doing an
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  interview. They weren't a nominee, they
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  weren't a presenter. They were like me, a content
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  creator that was invited to attend.
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  So it's a bit like, oh, but anyways, the lady goes, but if
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  you guys want to take photos, you can just go over there.
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  She points at the wall where there's the photographers and
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  she's like, I can guide you guys there, but if you just want your
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  photo taken, you can go there. So we went to line up in that
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  section because we're like, oh, OK, if the press don't want to
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  do interviews with creators this year, let's go take a photo.
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  The photographer that was there, he was kind of like you're not
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  supposed to enter from this way, like the way the way we were and
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  we're just, we just told him on we were told to come here.
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  I just he was a bit confused, but he just continued taking
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  photos anyways. And then everyone else from the
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  media like that, we're doing interviews.
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  They were coming through. So there's a photographer was
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  taking their photos. So we're just standing there
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  waiting. This man approach was so much
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  aggression. The thing is, it wasn't only us
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  in the line. There was other people behind us
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  and he came directly to us that he was speaking directly to us
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  when he said that there's a medium.
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  If you just get your photo taken to yourself, go downstairs, give
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  it. This is this is quite the
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  medium. No, that's not Absolutely.
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  That's the information. This has nothing to do with you.
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  We don't need your photo. They don't put up.
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  What are they going to do with your photo?
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  It's not going to go where that's crazy.
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  I'm saying they're they're working on the price.
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  So sorry, yeah, but it's not our fault that we're getting.
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  The wrong information. You know what's that happened?
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  These photographers all work for this.
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  I don't. I work for TikTok, but they all
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  work for the dating load up and they're going to literally just
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  RIP, RIP everyone's heads off. They'll just go get out of our
• 15:23
  way. They're like they're nasty
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  pressed. On the.
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  Goose. So I mean, this is atrocious.
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  No one should ever be spoken to like this.
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  It's actually crazy. And I'm so glad she got that on
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  video. Tiktok needs to see that.
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  Anyone who was helping manage the event, who was running the
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  event, who was working the event, we needed to see that.
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  So in this specific case, when that guy says that he works for
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  Tiktok as someone who was on the red carpet, I was actually
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  working that exact red carpet on the other side.
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  He was standing with the photographers.
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  And I do believe that he was a photographer.
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  So when he says that he worked for TikTok, like I don't think
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  he works for TikTok, the company.
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  I think he was hired by TikTok as an official event
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  photographer. He is trying to say, I believe,
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  like this is my assumption. I believe he is trying to say I
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  don't work for like the Daily Telegraph or like some of the
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  media outlets where they're kind of like the photographers for
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  those outlets where then those photos will get run in those
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  outlets. He's saying, like, I am like a
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  TikTok photographer. I think that's what he was
• 16:26
  implying there. In general, it really doesn't
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  matter if he's trying to say that this media wall is for
• 16:32
  nominees because, well, the way that you presented that
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  information felt, I mean, first of all, disgusting, mean
• 16:39
  spirited and targeted. It was so unacceptable.
• 16:42
  It went so beyond just trying to explain this is where the
• 16:45
  nominees take their photos. Like if that's what the case
• 16:48
  was, if that's what he was trying to say, you said it in
• 16:51
  such an unacceptable way. So this has kicked off a full on
• 16:55
  discussion online about how creators of color are treated in
• 16:58
  Australia in general, at media events, in the influencer
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  industry at large. And I mean, as someone who is in
• 17:05
  those industries, there is a massive representation problem.
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  And this is a conversation that we need to continually bring up
• 17:13
  and continually have. And those of us who work in the
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  industry, like, need to be held accountable as well.
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  So that's also why I'm really glad she got this footage.
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  I'm just so disappointed. I'm so exhausted for these
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  creators. Like, I can't even imagine and
• 17:29
  I'm kind of embarrassed that we were on that red carpet and, you
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  know, like we were working the red carpet.
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  Like I honestly had no idea how creators, not just her, but like
• 17:39
  creators in general felt about the experience because that was
• 17:42
  not part of like what we were doing because we weren't out
• 17:45
  there with them. We were, you know, like working
• 17:47
  on the red carpet and then we went home, as I explained
• 17:50
  yesterday. So but yeah, like it's, it's
• 17:52
  horrible. I'm kind of embarrassed that I
• 17:54
  talked about how I we had a relatively positive experience
• 17:58
  yesterday. Obviously, obviously multiple
• 17:59
  things can be true at once, like we were there working in a whole
• 18:03
  different capacity. But yeah, it's really
• 18:06
  disappointing and I do hope that they address it.
• 18:09
  I'm not sure. I'll keep you guys posted.
• 18:11
  Anyways, guys, that's it for mini scroll today.
• 18:14
  Thank you so much for listening. I love you guys.
• 18:16
  Please remember to rate review and subscribe.
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  Please Spotify star rate US and I will talk to you guys on
• 18:22
  Monday. Bye.