Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Kamala Harris x CHD, TikTok's rug & cake sagas, Demi Lovato helps child influencers + Mama Tot backlash

Transcript

MINI SCROLL: Kamala Harris x CHD, TikTok's rug & cake sagas, Demi Lovato helps child influencers + Mama Tot backlash · 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. It was a public holiday here in
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  New South Wales, Australia, where I live yesterday and
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  taking one day off a mini scroll, literally so much
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  happened. So I have, I don't know, I think
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  5 or 6 stories for you guys. So we need to just get right
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  into it because we have a lot to talk about.
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  So the first story, obviously we need to talk about how US Vice
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  President Kamala Harris was on Call Her Daddy yesterday.
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  So this is like the biggest news in podcasting in a long time.
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  It's such a huge moment for Alex and it is kind of interesting
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  how it is further positioning her.
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  I think this is kind of the strategy of her team, further
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  positioning her as like Gen. Z's Oprah or like Barbara
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  Walters. It's a very interesting move,
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  but I think it was a good one. So I listened and I thought that
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  the interview was good. Obviously Kamala is so engaging
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  and I actually personally find Alex pretty engaging.
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  I know she gets a lot of heat. I know people don't love her
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  interviewing skills and I totally get it.
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  But I think for what call her daddy is, I don't see it as, you
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  know, a platform where you're going to get like that hard
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  hitting journalism or like a truly valuable interview.
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  I mean, sometimes, sometimes that happens.
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  And I actually think this was a valuable interview, don't get me
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  wrong. But I think in terms of like,
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  you're not going to pull things out of people that other
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  journalists or other interviews haven't done before.
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  But it's just a place where celebrities, influencers and
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  obviously now politicians can go and have a platform in front of
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  millions of mostly young women. And, you know, young women, they
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  don't watch, you know, we're not like watching.
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  We're as if I'm like in that 20 something demographic.
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  I feel so old, but you know what I mean?
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  Like you're not going to reach them in TV interviews, in radio
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  interviews. So I think it makes total sense
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  that politicians would start using podcasts and call her
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  Daddy is the biggest one for young women in the US Plus,
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  Trump has done a few podcasts. He did Theo Von's podcast, He
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  did Logan Paul's podcast. Those are both like influencers,
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  you know? So I think this is really
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  showing the future of media, and it's showing that politicians
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  know that they can't rely on traditional outlets anymore to
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  reach those young voters. So I thought it was a great
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  move. And I think the interview was to
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  the point. It was short and snappy.
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  I thought it gave what it intended to give.
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  I feel like there are probably a lot of women in the US, young
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  women, particularly white young women who grew up in very
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  conservative spaces that have been like quietly questioning
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  over the last two years and are possibly on the cusp now.
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  And I mean, in general, your 20s are a time to explore things
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  outside of your family values, to form your own individual
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  identity. That is just typically like what
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  happens when you leave home, right when you're in your late
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  teens, early 20s and you enter adulthood.
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  But I think particularly everything that's been
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  happening, the kind of war on woman's bodily autonomy in the
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  US over the last couple of years, I imagine there are a lot
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  of women who are quietly questioning, especially in that
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  younger demographic. So I do feel like for those
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  women call her daddy. Is this like neutral and like
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  palatable place where they can almost privately dabble in this
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  exploration? It was definitely very high
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  level, but I think it was perfect for Alex's audience.
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  And I don't know, I genuinely enjoyed listening to it.
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  So I thought the interview was great.
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  But I would love to hear from you guys, especially if you're
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  American. I'm not American, I'm Canadian,
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  I live in Australia, so obviously these things don't
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  really impact me in the same way.
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  So I would love to hear from you guys, you know, if you are
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  American, what you thought of this interview.
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  OK, the next story that I have for you guys is we're going to
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  talk about Tik Tok's Rug Girl saga.
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  So over the weekend, a woman named Katie Santry went viral
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  when she posted a series about finding a rug buried in her
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  yard. Katie first started the series
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  by saying that she was worried her house was haunted because,
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  like, things were moving around her desk area.
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  And then she said, you guys think this has anything to do
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  with the rug that I found buried in my yard?
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  She then took viewers on this journey in real time to figure
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  out what the rug was doing buried in her yard.
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  The audience basically said, like, call the police.
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  So she did. And the police in a, you know,
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  in other words, essentially said we're not going to investigate
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  this further. So then Katie was like, OK, my
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  friends and I are going to dig up this rug.
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  We need to figure out what's going on.
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  Obviously, I should have mentioned this before, but like,
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  obviously people were like, OK, if there's like a rug, like a
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  carpet buried in your yard, it is possible that there is a body
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  wrapped up inside it, right? That's what people were
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  thinking. So Katie was going to, I guess,
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  dig it up herself with her friends.
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  And I'm not sure if it was because of the media attention
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  because I do know some articles started coming out about it and
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  stuff like that. But the police ended up
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  contacting her and we're like, never mind, we're actually going
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  to come and investigate. They brought two dogs and both
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  dogs alerted that like something suspicious was going on with the
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  rug. And she live streamed this on
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  TikTok. Like she live streamed when the
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  police were there. So then the police, you know,
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  got the rug, took it for testing and they have since confirmed, I
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  believe it was yesterday or the day before, they confirmed 2
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  various news outlets that there was actually no human or animal
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  remains that were found on the rug.
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  So now I've been seeing comments of people being like, apparently
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  there was a pond in her yard at one point.
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  And you know, when you put some infrastructure like that in a
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  lawn, there's usually that like mat or mat's probably not the
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  right word, but like the sack, I don't know.
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  I don't know, landscaping, but you know, like that goes on the
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  dirt and then you put the thing on top of it, like the pond or
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  whatever you're placing. So people were like, maybe that
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  was for the pond. Other people are now questioning
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  if this was all a hoax because apparently now she's been
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  talking about how she's like famous.
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  She went from I think she had 2000 followers to like millions
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  now within like 4 days. And apparently she's been
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  talking about how she's famous and she's been talking about the
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  money that she's been making from all of this in the Crater
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  fund. I don't think this was a hoax.
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  I don't know, maybe I'm just naive.
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  I don't think this was a hoax. I think it was just something
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  that she started, you know, like posting about.
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  And I think it kind of got really big and got away from
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  her. I do think there's some kind of
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  bizarre ethical lines that maybe were crossed when she was like
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  live streaming the police with the dogs and it felt like we
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  were following like, you know, a real life true Crime Story.
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  But the way it was presented was not, I would say in my opinion,
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  like that respectfully, especially if there was
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  obviously given we thought that there was possibly a body in
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  that rug. That being said, I don't think
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  it was a hoax, but it definitely had users captivated for like
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  four straight days. So the next right that I have
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  for you guys is another moment that went viral on TikTok.
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  It was a New York City restaurant like Cake Saga.
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  I'm sure you guys saw this one as well.
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  But creator Ryan Nordheimer went viral on the weekend when he
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  shared a story time about how he baked this beautiful cake for
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  his friend's birthday. And the restaurant that they
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  went to for his birthday dinner ate half the cake.
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  So he said that they were served really small pieces of the cake.
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  And then when they went to leave, they asked for the rest
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  of the cake. And the restaurant was like, oh,
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  there was none left. And he knew that was not true.
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  So then he basically went on TikTok and was like, the
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  restaurant obviously ate half of my cake.
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  Like the employees in the kitchen ate my cake.
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  And the restaurant saw this because it was going viral.
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  Everyone was like losing their minds.
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  And the restaurant contacted him and he didn't name the
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  restaurant, but it everybody kind of uncovered or like
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  figured out who he was talking about.
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  So then they started getting bombed, bombarded all over
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  social media. So then they contacted him and
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  said they checked security footage and the cake was not
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  eaten by any staff members. So they basically assumed that
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  what happened was like, it was a busy Saturday night.
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  Obviously working in hospitality is like absolutely crazy.
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  I'm sure a busy New York City restaurant on a Saturday night,
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  it probably doesn't get much more chaotic than that.
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  And so they assume it was just kind of like, forgotten about
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  and ended up getting, like, thrown out.
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  So he apologized essentially for, like, accusing them of
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  eating his cake. And then he also said that the
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  restaurant to make nice, offered him a meal for two for free to
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  say sorry. The next story that I have for
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  you guys is that Demi Lovato has helped pass legislation in
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  California that protects child influencers.
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  This is huge news. You guys know, I'm so passionate
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  about like, keeping your kids offline and child protection in
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  the influencer creator space. This is so exciting.
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  So Demi Lovato met with the California governor on Thursday
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  to have two bills signed that will protect child influencers
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  legally and financially. And if for some reason you have
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  no idea how Demi Lovato is involved in this, it's because,
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  you know, she's like a big advocate for child protection in
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  the entertainment industry because she was a child star.
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  And obviously, we know she's had a very tumultuous life because
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  largely because of that. Similar to like, Selena Gomez,
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  right? Like a lot of mental health
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  issues. Demi's had a lot of addiction
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  issues that she's been very open with.
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  You know, she dated Wilma Valderrama when she was, what
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  was she, like, 17 and he was 29 or maybe even younger.
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  Like, it was just, she just, like, went through it as a child
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  star. So she's passionate about
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  helping protect young people in the entertainment industry.
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  So this is obviously the next step.
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  The governor said, quote, a lot has changed since Hollywood's
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  early days. But here in California, our
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  laser focus on protecting kids from exploitation remains the
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  same. In old Hollywood, child actors
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  were exploited in 2024. It's now child influencers Today
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  that modern exploitation ends through 2 new laws to protect
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  young influencers on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and other
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  social media platforms. OK, so this is a direct quote
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  from CNN so I get the bills right.
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  So quote, One bill signed by Newsom establishes financial and
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  legal protections for minors featured and monetized online
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  content by mandating their parent or guardian set aside a
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  percentage of their earnings and trust accounts.
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  The other bill expands California's decades old Coogan
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  law to include minors who are employed as content creators on
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  online platforms. So if you guys don't know what
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  the Coogan law is, it is named after an actor called Jackie
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  Coogan, who was, I think he was Uncle Fester in the original
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  Addams Family, but he was a child star.
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  And when he turned 18, he realized that I think it was
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  like $50 million or like some crazy amount of money that he
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  was supposed to inherit had been squandered by his family.
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  This is all from memory, but I believe he sued them.
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  And then the Coogan law came into place where it is, I
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  believe 30% of the child's money that they make has to go into a
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  blocked fund, which is called the Coogan Fund.
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  OK, just fact checked, it is 15%, not 30%.
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  So I guess the Coogan law now also applies to child
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  influencers. And everyone is like, let's see
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  how long it takes for the family vloggers to flee LA.
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  We are going to get a slew of videos being like, we're moving.
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  And everyone's going to go to, like, I don't know, Tennessee or
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  something. OK.
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  And the last story that I have for you guys is that Mama Taught
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  is facing backlash on TikTok for seemingly spreading
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  misinformation about Hurricane Helene relief efforts.
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  In a now deleted video, Mama Taught, whose real name is
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  Ophelia Nichols, shared what many of her audience has deemed,
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  quote, dangerous conspiracy theories related to the
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  Hurricane Helene relief efforts. If you're not familiar, Mama
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  Taught is a beloved creator with over 14,000,000 followers across
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  her two accounts. So Mama Taught made this video
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  where she was expressing how upset and concerned she was for
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  the victims of this hurricane. And in it she basically said
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  like no one's doing anything about it.
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  So this is directly from the Daily dot.
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  They write quote. Nichol has been accused of
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  leaning into potentially dangerous conspiracy theories to
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  do with the response to the devastating storm, many of which
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  have become prevalent in particular sects of right
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  leaning Republican voters. In the wake of the storm,
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  conspiratorial thoughts like those Nichols allegedly shared
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  have been circulating online. Many seem to claim that the US
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  federal government, which is currently Democrat, is denying
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  Republican victims of Hurricane Helene relief and is diverting
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  funds to more generally Democratic areas.
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  So I think the response to Mama Taught people have a lot of
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  people have felt confused because there's a lot of videos
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  like your whole For You page is just people being like, I can't
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  believe it or like I called it or whatever.
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  Like, you know, the backlash against Mama taught, everybody's
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  kind of talking about it. And then if you are not
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  following kind of what's happening in US politics that
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  closely or if you just, I don't know, feel like you also have a
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  lot of empathy for the victims, you might see her video and be
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  like, what the fuck? Like, why is she getting, you
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  know, backlash for this video? So mom and Todd has now
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  responded to the backlash. She said in that video, I never
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  said anything about politics, FEMA, money, the government,
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  presidents. I never said anything about
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  those things. None of that.
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  I just expressed how frustrated and sad and angry I was that the
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  victims have had to go through this.
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  So yes, those are the biggest stories that happened this
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  weekend and while I was off yesterday.
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  Thank you guys so much for listening.
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  Please rate, review and subscribe.
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  Please star us on Spotify. I'm really trying to get our
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  Spotify up, our Spotify ratings up, and I'm also trying to, of
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  course, get our YouTube subscribers up.
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  So please subscribe to YouTube. I love you guys and I will talk
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  to you guys tomorrow. Bye.