Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI TECH SCROLL: Roblox turns to virtual dating, YouTube deletes propaganda channels + TikTok promotes songwriters

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MINI TECH SCROLL: Roblox turns to virtual dating, YouTube deletes propaganda channels + TikTok promotes songwriters · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  Hey everyone, and welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
• 0:03
  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy, and the digital space every Monday
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  through Thursday and sometimes Fridays.
• 0:10
  My name is Annabelle and I'm your Wednesday Mini Tech Scroll
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  host and also the deputy editor of the youth digital media brand
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  Centennial World. Welcome back to Mini Tech
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  Scroll, everyone. I hope you guys have had a nice
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  first half to your week. I don't really have too much to
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  say at the top of this week's episode, apart from the fact
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  that Trisha Payton this revealed the name of baby #3 Aquaman.
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  I'm sure Lauren will be discussing more about that
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  tomorrow, which I am excited to hear about.
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  But yes, apart from that, Please remember to rate, review and
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  subscribe. And if you want to support
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  Centennial in other ways, feel free to check out the Buy Me a
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  Coffee link in the description if you are so inclined.
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  Last week we started with a Roblox story and this week I
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  have another one. Roblox CEO and founder David
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  Bizuki wants to make the platform a place for dating.
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  On July High 9th, David's interview with the Tech Stuff
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  podcast was published. In the episode, David discussed
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  Roblox's popularity, how they ensure safety, among a variety
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  of other topics. During their conversation,
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  though, the interviewer noted how David has historically
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  described Roblox as a quote Wellness platform.
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  He then asked David to clarify what this means to him.
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  So the Roblox CEO then went on to reference the loneliness
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  epidemic, noting how the gaming platform can help children and
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  users find friendships online. He then wanted to mention
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  dating. I will insert the quote for you
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  now from the podcast, but if you want to listen to the podcast,
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  it is also LinkedIn. The description and this quote
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  was around 32 minutes into the episode.
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  You've described Roblox as a Wellness platform, even more so
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  than it is a gaming platform. What do you mean by Roblox as a
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  Wellness platform? Young people who've gotten
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  disconnected at school, young people going through a mental
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  health crisis, Young people who are going through something,
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  finding people on Roblox to connect with.
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  I mean, it sounds gratuitous for me to say it, but parents saying
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  like my kid is alive because they found people on Roblox.
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  So, So I think there's a loneliness epidemic going on in
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  the world. I think I mean I'll go out on a
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  limb and I'll say for like in quotes 21 and up ID verified
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  opted in. Someday we'll have dating on
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  Roblox and I think a lot of people who might be afraid to go
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  on a real life date might find it easier to have a virtual date
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  to start and then if they connect, move to the physical
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  world. So I think, you know, in a
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  Wellness platform, I think of as a platform to help loneliness
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  and help bring connection. I will say though, as a little
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  offshoot to this Roblox dating story, the platform recently
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  announced that it is introducing a way for users above the age of
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  13 to chat more freely with friends on the platform.
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  So this will involve a age verification process.
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  And to verify the ages of these users, Roblox will ask the user
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  to quote, take a video selfie which is analyzed against a
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  large and diverse data set to estimate their age.
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  And that was from the Roblox website.
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  If they don't pass this test though, and they are over 13,
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  they will have to share their government issued ID and in the
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  future they should be able to get parental permission
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  according to the website. So it definitely seems that
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  Roblox is putting in more structures to verify ages on the
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  platform, perhaps so they can introduce these quote UN quote
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  more adult functions in the future.
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  But also I do think we are kind of just seeing a general trend
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  towards age verification and human verification, partly
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  because of AI. But here in Australia, I also
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  think it is because of the government issued ban on under
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  16 year olds for social media. Anyway, back to the dating of it
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  all. This isn't actually the first
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  time that David has referenced dating on Roblox.
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  At the 2023 Roblox Blocks Developers Conference, David in
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  the keynote speech said that thousands of adults will meet
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  and form real life of relationships in dating
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  experiences on the platform over the next five years.
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  And I feel like there is a lot to unpack here.
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  First of all, this is clearly an attempt by the platform to
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  maintain its current user base in the longer term.
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  I know we've talked about it before, but Roblox's user base
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  is predominantly children. Out of the 82.9 million average
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  daily active users as reported in 2024, approximately 42% of
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  players are under the age of 13. And like many tech companies,
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  Roblox is constantly seeking to grow its user base.
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  And to do this, they would need to introduce features that
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  appeal to demographics beyond children.
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  But also they would need to find a way, in theory, to stop their
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  current user base from aging out of the platform.
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  And dating seems to be part of that strategy for them.
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  I think this is quite a bold move because there are already
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  so many safety concerns about children on Roblox, so
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  introducing dating into the mix, even with AID verification,
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  feels like quite a few steps above where Roblox is currently
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  at when it comes to safety and security.
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  On this podcast, we always talk about the struggles of adults
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  and children's being quote UN quote in the same room online,
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  and this just seems like another example.
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  But in this instance, it's obviously not just about
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  conversation. On top of all this, I don't know
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  how much online dating on Roblox would actually help fix anything
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  to do with the loneliness epidemic.
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  I mean, there is already so much conversation online about
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  whether this quote UN quote, loneliness epidemic, especially
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  when it comes to young men is actually a thing or I don't
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  know, they just refuse to respect women.
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  But that is definitely too much discourse to get into this
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  episode. But no matter what you really
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  think about that and we take the loneliness epidemic as reality
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  and a real issue to Gen. Z when it comes to trying to
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  build connections and community. Sure, I do think a virtual date
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  may help lower the barrier for some people, but I don't know
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  how much that would actually solve things.
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  Because online dating apps have definitely been around for quite
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  a while now and Gen. Z has virtually grown up with
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  them. And its impact on the loneliness
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  epidemic has been negative according to some research,
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  where being on these apps lead to feelings of loneliness.
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  So to me, at the end of the day, it kind of just feels like this
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  is a way for Roblox to caught new users under the guise of
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  doing something positive. But I don't know, I'm definitely
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  pessimistic when it comes to such intentions.
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  But I am definitely curious what you guys think and whether you
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  would intentionally use Roblox as a way to date people or as a
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  dating platform. My next story is quite a pivot,
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  but we really do a little bit of everything here.
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  Mini tech scroll and that is that YouTube has reportedly
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  removed thousands of channels that are seemingly linked to
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  propaganda networks from around the world.
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  On July 21st, Googles Threat Analysis Group released a Q2
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  update detailing any actions that have been taken to limit
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  quote coordinated influence operation campaigns.
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  Before we get into what this group found, I thought it would
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  be useful to describe what exactly it is that they do.
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  So. Googles Threat Analysis Group or
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  TAG as it is known for short quote works to counter targeted
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  and government backed hacking against Google and the people
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  who use our products. So this group essentially seeks
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  to identify malicious actors or groups and identify any
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  dangerous behavior that would impact Internet users.
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  This could range from disinformation campaigns to
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  cybercrime to financial threats. So obviously this group is very
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  important to general cyber safety online.
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  I should also probably take a moment here to explain what a
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  coordinated influence operation campaign even means.
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  So there are different tools that can be used, but at the end
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  of the day these campaigns are essentially large scale attempts
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  to alter public opinion or push disinformation or an agenda to
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  ultimately change behaviors and attitudes among the public.
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  This is a technique that has historically been used by
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  governments, but in more recent years this has been embraced by
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  non state actors as well. Anyway, the update from TAG,
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  detailed actions taken and threats identified from April,
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  May and June of this year. Now, I obviously don't have time
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  to read out everything that has been identified, but I will give
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  you a brief synopsis. So TAG reportedly removed nearly
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  11,000 YouTube channels and other accounts over Q2.
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  This included anything from YouTube channels, like I
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  mentioned, to add accounts and other tools across the Google
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  suite that were sympathetic to causes pushed by various
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  countries. And some of the countries on the
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  list included Russia, China, Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan,
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  Israel, and more. According to reporting from
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  CNBC, 7700 YouTube channels were linked to China, while over 2000
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  of the removed YouTube channels were linked to Russia.
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  These campaigns aren't a new phenomenon by any means.
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  A prime example of foreign initiated campaigns of influence
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  was the reported effort to interfere in the 2016 U.S.
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  presidential election by Russia, as I'm sure we have all heard of
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  by this point. On top of this, TAG has been
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  releasing updates about various threats and quote coordinated
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  influence operations campaigns that the group comes across.
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  Q 1/20/25 was a similar story to the update that they just
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  released where the TAG blog post from the time revealed that
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  accounts and channels had been taken down across operations
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  linked to places like Russia, China, Nigeria, Iran,
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  Azerbaijan, Germany, Romania and more.
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  Some of these of course, were more sinister than others.
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  On top of this, some of these were not necessarily related to
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  foreign intervention when it comes to influence, but domestic
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  political campaigns pushing a certain agenda.
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  Even though this is definitely something that has been going on
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  for a while now, I wanted to talk about this story because
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  while it is something that we may be aware of, I don't know if
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  these campaigns are something that we actively think of when
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  we are consuming content. If we take a moment to look at
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  this from a more analytical perspective rather than the
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  effects that these information campaigns can result in, I just
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  find it very interesting how social media is being used as a
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  soft power tool by both governments and non state actors
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  are like. I think this is especially
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  impactful in our current era. Obviously it is very chaotic in
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  the world at the moment. There are wars going on and the
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  countries involved can use these influence campaigns to sway
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  public favor, which is something the tag group has identified in
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  various instances and they have listed in the update.
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  And you know, in my research for this episode, I even came across
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  a journal article that characterized these coordinated
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  influence campaigns and the actors within them as cyber
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  troopers, which I think is very telling for how governments, non
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  state actors, companies are choosing to exercise their
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  influence and where they are deciding to do so.
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  With that being said though, it is definitely clear that these
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  campaigns are a way to carry favor among the public.
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  And I think the rise of these campaigns also reveal how much
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  power the platforms hold. I know we all know this, but at
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  the end of the day, it is the groups like tagging Google and
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  other platforms and big tech companies that are the ones
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  driving what gets taken down. While government and civil
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  society organizations also play a role alongside these
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  platforms, the big tech companies are the ones that are
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  taking charge. And I do think that this kind of
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  decentralized approach can make things probably a little bit
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  difficult when it comes to collaboration and even agreeing
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  upon common definitions of what should be taken down and what
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  constitutes as these influence campaigns.
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  Unfortunately, I do think with the rise of AI though as well,
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  that these coordinated influence campaigns will only become more
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  common and harder to manage. I know it's a little bit
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  different and we've already touched on this a couple times
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  in mini tech scroll this year, but everything we've been seeing
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  between the University of Zurich and Reddit, how these
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  researchers used bots to infiltrate spaces and change
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  minds, it's clear that these kind of tools can be powerful in
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  these coordinated campaigns. And obviously, AI might make
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  these campaigns cheaper, more efficient, which is unfortunate
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  for the state of the digital space, I will say.
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  And while these accounts can be taken down, I couldn't find much
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  information on whether this exists.
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  But I do feel like there probably needs to be some kind
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  of way to identify and reach out to the people that have been
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  consuming this content, whether they sorted out or it had been
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  served to them and informed them that they had been consuming
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  content from these influence campaigns.
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  I don't know if this is realistic, but I think it is
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  probably something that needs to happen.
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  I think this is something that is especially important when it
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  comes to being just served up certain content by the algorithm
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  because oftentimes we might come across one account and then
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  never see it again. So I definitely think it's
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  important for companies like Google to inform their users
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  about these kind of developments.
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  My last story for today is a little bit of a lighter one.
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  It is once again a pivot, but TikTok is allowing some writers
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  to include songs that they've worked on on their profile.
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  I'm sure we've all noticed that when you go to a singers profile
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  on TikTok that they have a music toggle at the top of their
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  profile where you can often see their most recently released
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  song that is available on the platform.
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  Now, songwriters will be able to have songs that they have
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  written included in that list. Users who register as
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  songwriters will also get a quote UN quote songwriter label
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  underneath their account name, as Emma Roth writes for the
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  Vonage quote. These new features build upon
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  some of Tik Tok's existing tools for songwriters, including the
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  new tag that appears on newly released music and the ability
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  for users to save a song on music streaming services.
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  TikTok also rolled out a Behind the Song Hub in 2023 where
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  songwriters, artists and producers can share more about
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  the making of their music. So this update is being rolled
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  out to a specific group of Quote UN Quote Publisher partners, but
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  songwriters can sign up for a wait list to gain access to the
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  feature down the line. I think this is a really good
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  move by the platform. We've spoken about this on
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  Infinite Scroll before, but TikTok has literally become a
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  music discovery platform, and there are a number of reasons
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  why this happened. First, I think we can credit to
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  TikTok dances because the popularity of these dances
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  coincided with the apps rise to success back in 2020.
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  Second, the way that the For You page operates allows us to be
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  constantly exposed to new artists, new songs all the time.
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  So that has obviously helped us find new artists that we enjoy.
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  This constant exposure has definitely cultivated a culture
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  of kind of collective creation. We're remixing songs have become
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  a major part of the culture and audio generation on the app,
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  which I'm sure we are all experiencing at the moment with
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  the Nothing Beat, the Jet 2 holiday audio that is living
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  rent free in my brain right now. So with TikTok operating as a
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  music discovery platform of sorts, I really like the idea of
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  songwriters being credited for their work in this way.
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  I feel like this is also becoming more and more common
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  across other streaming platforms, like on Spotify for
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  example. I know if you look at the
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  credits of a song, you can see the songwriters and sometimes
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  you can click out and it takes you to a web page which shows
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  the other songs that they have written.
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  For me though, I have never actually been a lyrics girl,
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  which I kind of feel like is a red flag, but I have always just
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  prioritized the vibes of a song. But I definitely appreciate this
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  renewed focus on the behind the scenes work that is done when it
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  comes to music production and songwriting.
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  I feel like with Jen said literally being raised by
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  artists like Taylor Swift, it makes sense that it would be
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  something that this demographic would care about and that their
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  favorite social media platform, streaming platforms would lean
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  into. OK, well I guess that is
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  everything from me today. Lauren Will speak to you
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  tomorrow and I will chat to you next week.
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  Thanks for listening. Bye.