Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Youthforia addresses "black facepaint" foundation backlash, Sabrina Carpenter new album + X to allow nudity

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MINI SCROLL: Youthforia addresses "black facepaint" foundation backlash, Sabrina Carpenter new album + X to allow nudity · Mini Scroll

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  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 every Monday
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  through Thursday. I'm your host Lauren Meisner,
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  the founder of the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
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  Welcome back to Mini scroll everyone.
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  Happy Tuesday. Let's get right into the stories
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  for today because I have three stories for you guys.
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  The first story is that Euphoria has finally responded to the
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  massive backlash over their foundation shade range
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  expansion. So for a little recap, last year
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  Euphoria came under fire when it released a Skin tint serum
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  foundation with a very non inclusive shade range.
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  The foundation had 15 shades, but the darkest was a golden
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  brown. Off the back of criticism from
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  the beauty community, Euphoria founder Fiona Kochan made a
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  TikTok in October, which has since been deleted.
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  She said the brand intended to extend the shade range before
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  the launch, but wanted to test the product out with some
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  initial shades first quote. It was always my intention to
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  launch this as a proof of concept to see if people even
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  liked the base formula. She said this year the brand
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  launched 10 new shades of the foundation.
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  And people got even more mad because the darkest shade, Shade
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  600, was quite literally just jet black face paint.
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  So this turned into a huge scandal in early May after many
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  black content creators made videos about this shade, noting
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  that it didn't have an undertone, like basically at
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  all. In fact, cosmetic chemist Javon
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  Ford did a breakdown of the shades ingredients and he found
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  that it was basically just black pigment mixed with a tiny bit of
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  white. So essentially a dark Gray
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  foundation. No one's skin tone is dark Gray.
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  OK. So things really took off,
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  though, when the brand tried to almost make a light of all of
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  this feedback. They started a series on TikTok
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  where they went in search, quote UN quote, for someone who suits
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  shade 600. In one TikTok, Fiona approached
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  people on the street and put it on their skin to prove, quote,
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  UN quote, that it works on some people.
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  This was in direct contradiction, obviously, to
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  what she had said previously, which I mentioned before, which
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  is that they were requiring proof of concept that people
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  would buy their shades before releasing them.
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  So this got picked up everywhere.
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  It was all over mainstream news. Now, just over a month later,
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  Euphoria has returned with a statement addressing the
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  backlash. They posted an Instagram story
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  today. It's two slides.
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  The first slide says our commitment to providing
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  inclusive products. The second slide, we care about
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  our customers. And as we continue to drive
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  change, we are creating a new position internally dedicated to
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  examining both our current products and those in
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  development, so we can best meet your needs.
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  OK, So when you go to their website, they have like a values
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  page as they mentioned in that post.
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  So it's under our commitment section.
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  And it says over the last year, we expanded our shade range
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  based on feedback from the Euphoria community.
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  Inclusion is a lifelong pursuit and we are continuing to listen
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  to community members and industry experts to help Dr.
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  meaningful change across our industry.
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  And then they also say we have created this new role.
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  So nowhere so far in here is, you know, an apology or even
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  kind of like a direct address of what happened.
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  No explanation as to how they developed shade 600 or how they
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  developed the shade range like the shade expansion in general.
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  They really glossed over this. So then when you go to the job
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  description, OK, so they are hiring for a director of product
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  development with a strong commitment to DEI principles,
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  diversity, equity and inclusion. So one of the key
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  responsibilities it says manage the product development process
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  from concept to launch, overseeing product life cycle
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  from creating the marketing brief to delivery at the
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  warehouse, including formula development, packaging
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  development, Co GS and margin, ensuring alignment with
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  Euphorias brand values and DEI goals.
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  OK, so the number one criticism about all of this is well, the
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  first criticism is that this was not an apology or even a proper
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  address. The second I, I guess maybe they
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  don't think they need to apologize.
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  Like they released a shade that I guess they believe does suit
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  someone. I mean, they found quote UN
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  quote, found someone to suit that shade.
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  So maybe they really don't see the problem here with like the
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  lack of undertone and how they tried to play it off and all of
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  that. Maybe they don't see an issue
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  with that. But the second biggest criticism
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  is that the job posting that they're hiring for is like two
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  or three different jobs. Like being the director of
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  product development is very different than being ADEI
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  expert. So I want to read a comment on
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  Instagram. It's one of the top comments on
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  their like posting about this. It's by a user named Lytia MH.
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  They write just went to look at the job.
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  Why is this ADEI director and product development position?
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  It's like 3 jobs in one. There should be an expert
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  focused solely on product development because product
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  development should be inclusive from the jump.
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  Then there should be an internal DEI consultant with experience
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  in new media, artist relations, comms, inclusion at the
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  corporate and consumer level who works with product development
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  marketing in all departments to ensure all efforts are made for
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  continued inclusion across the brand and its identity.
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  Come on now euphoria y'all keep taking these LS because you're
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  being hard headed. I think that's exactly what it
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  is. Product development for a beauty
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  brand should be inclusive. That's should be the baseline in
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  2024. So you know, to be like our
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  product developer needs to have like DEI at the forefront.
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  That should just already be the baseline.
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  And then of course, as this person notes, there are specific
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  like consultants, like there's like full careers built around
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  how to help corporations with DEI.
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  And completely agree, there should be a specific person who
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  is like brought in as a consultant for this role who
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  works with product development. It shouldn't be like a catch all
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  job. All right, the next story that I
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  have for you guys is that Sabrina Carpenter has announced
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  her new album following the success of Espresso.
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  So Sabrina Carpenter has announced her 6th studio album,
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  Short and Sweet, to be released on August 23rd.
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  Espresso, which is, you know, the actual bop of the year, is
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  the title single. She also teased that she has a
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  surprise for fans on Thursday night.
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  Some people think, could it be another single?
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  Others are thinking maybe it's like a tour announcement.
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  But I don't know if artists release tickets before an album
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  has been released. I feel like no, I'm thinking a
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  single, but I don't know enough about Sabrina Carpenter's
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  artistry lore to have, I think, a real opinion on that.
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  But I'm very, very excited and I'm looking forward to see what
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  direction she goes in. Annabelle said to me today
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  Sabrina Carpenter is in her pop girly sell out era in a good
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  way. And I totally agree.
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  She really needed that bubble gum pop hit like Espresso to
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  just shoot her to super stardom after the era's tour 'cause she
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  was already like on that way and becoming more popular and
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  Espresso has just shot her into the stratosphere.
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  So if she brings us like a bubble gum pop bop album, that
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  will solidify her and then she can release, you know, kind of
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  those like heartier, more meaningful, more like ballad
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  type songs that she's a little bit more known for, I would say.
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  Or that at least that has been part of her discography for
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  longer. But yes, I'm so excited.
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  Espresso's amazing. She's amazing.
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  She was so good on the era's tour.
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  Oh my God. Like, she commands a stage.
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  It was unreal. She was up there with just her
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  band behind her, no backup dancers, really like, no frills.
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  And it was such a performance. Like, she is truly a performer.
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  All right. And the last way that I have for
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  you guys is that X has announced, as in Twitter has
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  announced that it will soon allow adult content on the
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  platform. So in a new blog post, X wrote
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  quote you may share consensually produced and distributed adult
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  nudity or sexual behavior provided it's properly labeled
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  and not prominently displayed. We believe that users should be
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  able to create, distribute and consume material related to
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  sexual themes as long as it is consensually produced and
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  distributed. Sexual expression, whether
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  visual are written, can be a legitimate form of artistic
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  expression. They say.
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  We balance this freedom by restricting exposure to adult
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  content for children or adult users who choose not to see it.
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  And then of course, they kind of talk about how they ban other
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  types of content that would harm minors and things like that.
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  This is so interesting. It's giving last ditch attempt
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  at bringing users back to acts because when Tumblr banned
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  nudity, that obviously just like shook the Internet and it
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  destroyed Tumblr. So I think maybe the theory here
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  is that X is open to being or trying to be somewhat of the new
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  Tumblr or like get at least some of that audience.
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  I think maybe this isn't also an attempt to, I was going to say
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  build community on X, but actually don't think that's what
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  it is. I think it's an absolute play
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  for more users. It's no surprise X is absolutely
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  floundering under Elon Musk. It's really sad to see how he's
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  completely destroyed the platform and maybe take a little
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  bit of the traffic that you know would exist on Tumblr and maybe
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  they'll go to XX is a pretty mainstream platform.
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  It's doesn't feel maybe as intimidating to express yourself
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  on that platform as it would to find different forums and things
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  like that. I think that's why Tumblr was so
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  successful with, you know, the nudity side of things is because
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  it did feel like artistic expression as X is staying here
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  and Tumblr was like a mainstream platform.
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  It didn't feel like you were really like consuming or
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  producing pornography like it. It felt like it was for a
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  different purpose. And I think that's maybe what X
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  is trying to do here based on this statement.
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  I don't think it'll work. X is literally just this
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  platform filled with illusory blue check men that are on this
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  like feedback loop with each other of talking about how great
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  they are and how Elon Musk is the best.
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  And it's just like brain rot over there times 1000.
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  It's almost unusable so yes, I feel like this is a play to get
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  people back on side. I don't think it will work.
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  I think it will further turn the platform into a completely
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  obsolete side of the Internet, but we will see anyways guys
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  that is it for mini scroll today.
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  Thank you so much for listening. Please remember to rate review
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  and subscribe. It helps me so much it helps me
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  grow and I will talk to you guys.
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  Oh my God, tomorrow. But tomorrow will be our
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  miniseries. I'm so excited.
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  So tomorrow we are launching our gaming miniseries.
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  For the next 5 weeks, every Wednesday instead of mini
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  scroll, you guys will get a 10 to 15 minute episode about a
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  topic in gaming and how it relates to women in gaming.
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  And I have an interview in each episode with different
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  streamers, journalists, even gaming scholars.
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  Very cool. Like people with doctorates in
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  gaming. So it's very cool.
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  I'm excited for you guys to hear that.
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  So the first episode will go live tomorrow.
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  Anyways guys, that's it, bye.