Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI TECH SCROLL: Minecraft movie, U.S. TikTok ban delayed + YouTube removes gender identity from hate speech policy

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MINI TECH SCROLL: Minecraft movie, U.S. TikTok ban delayed + YouTube removes gender identity from hate speech policy · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  Two weeks ago we celebrated a huge milestone, the launch of
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  the Centennial World Podcast Network, and we couldn't have
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  done it without Tempest 1, the exclusive drinks partner for
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  this new era of the brand. Tempest One's Prosecco Spritzes
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  A massive thank you to Tempest One for keeping the support
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  going and for sponsoring this week of Mini Scroll.
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  If you haven't tried Tempest 1 yet, consider this your sign.
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  And as always, drink responsibly.
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  Hey everyone, and welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
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  culture podcast bring you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy, and the digital space every Monday
• 0:47
  through Thursday. My name is Annabelle and I am
• 0:50
  your Wednesday Mini Scroll host and also the deputy editor of
• 0:53
  the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
• 0:56
  Welcome back to Mini Tech Scroll everyone.
• 0:58
  I hope you had a lovely week since I last spoke to you guys.
• 1:02
  I have spent the first half of this week deep in all the White
• 1:07
  Lotus Reddit threads since the finale so I am very curious to
• 1:11
  hear if you guys were watching and if you had any thoughts so
• 1:14
  please let me know if you are. I just love talking about this
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  season. Also, Speaking of Reddit, I just
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  want to say that I am literally always sleuthing through that
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  platform to find any of you guys who have recommended Infinite
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  Scroll and Mini Scroll on various podcast recommendation
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  threads, so that is always much appreciated by me.
• 1:34
  We also loved when one of you guys created the subreddit for
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  the Infinite Scroll podcast, although I will say there hasn't
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  been so much discourse in there yet, but I love whenever someone
• 1:45
  leaves a nice comment in there. Other than that, Please remember
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  to rate, review and subscribe to Infinite Scroll.
• 1:53
  We are trying to get one KA Spotify star reviews.
• 1:56
  We are still on that journey and it's a long one.
• 1:58
  But anyway, let's get into the content for this week.
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  So the first story I wanted to quickly touch on today
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  definitely feels a little bit random in the context of this
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  episode, but I am trying to include something a little bit
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  fun and less depressing each week.
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  So with that being said, I wanted to touch on the response
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  to the Minecraft movie that recently came out.
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  I will just say to begin, I haven't seen the movie so this
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  isn't going to be review or anything.
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  I also didn't want to include any spoilers or too much about
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  the plot in case you guys were infested.
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  But the movie has honestly made such waves in the Internet
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  culture and film space, so I didn't want to ignore this
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  entirely. But let's start from the
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  beginning. So a Minecraft movie was
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  officially released last week and has already been super,
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  super successful. According to The Hollywood
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  Reporter, the film has broken box office records, opening with
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  160 million domestically in the US and 313 million globally.
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  It is now the most successful video game adaptation film,
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  beating out the Super Mario Bros Movie And as the best selling
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  video game of all time, which I actually didn't realize, it has
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  over 300 million sales and over 140 million players per month.
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  It is honestly no surprise that this movie did well, but there
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  were also such high expectations.
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  The movie version had also been in development for quite a
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  while, I've read since 2014, but it only started shooting last
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  year, which is 10 years later. So the premise of the movie
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  though is that four people end up in the Minecraft overwhelmed
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  after going through a portal. Obviously, the cast is extremely
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  star-studded with the likes of Jason Momoa, who is obviously
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  Trisha Paytas's one true love, Jack Black, and even Jennifer
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  Coolidge appears. But from what I've read about
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  the film, it's not the plot that has really gotten people
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  invested in the film. It's actually the cinematic
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  atmosphere and the viewing experience.
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  From what I've seen on TikTok and also just general reporting
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  about the film, it has been very fun for those attending with
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  many viewers, mostly teenagers and children, yelling out the
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  memeable lines that were included in the trailer.
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  It's honestly giving cult classic already.
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  I'm sure we've all heard of those participatory movies like
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  The Rocky Horror Picture Show or even The Room.
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  If you know, you know, but they have all built in traditions.
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  While viewing the film, my immediate thought after reading
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  about the success of a Minecraft movie was I think that this
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  movie shows just how adaptable Internet culture and gaming can
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  be in what is typically considered mainstream spaces,
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  reinforcing just how important the digital world is to Gen.
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  Z and especially Gen. Alpha.
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  But I'm sure I feel listening to this podcast, you are well
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  aware. I don't know why, but my
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  immediate thought as well was about the Skippity toilet movie
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  and TV franchise that was coming up.
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  I know this is a bit different, but I kind of think this bodes
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  well, especially if the production can lean into the
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  Skippity law. Sorry, I just can't take myself
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  seriously. I can't believe I'm talking
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  about this on the podcast, but this is definitely the place to
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  do it. And also, we are Skippity toilet
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  enthusiasts here at Infinite Scroll.
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  Last year we had a meme expert on to discuss all the hidden
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  meanings behind Skippity toilet and just how powerful, for lack
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  of a better word, that series actually is.
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  But I was also listening to to the Big Picture podcast on my
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  way in to work this morning and they were talking about the
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  success of the Minecraft movie and had some pretty interesting
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  points that I think relates to these video game and Internet
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  culture film adaptations. They first noted that kids
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  movies over the past few years haven't actually been specific
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  to this generation. Like even the Sonic movie and
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  the Super Mario Bros have roots in older generations where
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  Minecraft is uniquely Gen. Z and Gen.
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  Alpha. The host described this as
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  returning kids movies to kids, which I thought was so true.
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  And I think the Skippity toilet movie and perhaps other video
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  game adaptations can definitely fall into this category for
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  sure. But if any of you have seen the
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  movie, please sound out in the comments.
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  I want to know did you like it? Was a good did the cinematic
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  atmosphere live up to the high? I am curious.
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  OK so my next story as I alluded to last week is a quick update
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  on the TikTok ban in the United States and how it has been
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  extended. Once again, this is a bit of a
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  whiplash from the last story, but one thing about me is that I
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  have range. So let's just get into this.
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  But I will just say as a preface, I am honestly tired of
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  covering this. I feel like how Lauren feels
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  whenever she has to cover Mr. Beast.
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  I feel like you are probably all sick of hearing about it, but I
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  still think it is a big tech news piece.
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  So with that being said, I don't want to go into all the details
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  of what has gone down, but as a quick reminder, TikTok has been
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  facing a potential nationwide ban in the US for what feels
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  like decades at this point. Talk about the ban has been
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  around since 2020, but it obviously went up a notch in
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  2024 when a bill was signed into law in April which required Byte
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  Dance to divest from TikTok or face a ban in the United States.
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  As we all know, no deal was made by the deadline, which was
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  January 19th. Since then, when Trump took
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  office, he issued an executive order to delay the enforcement
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  of the ban for an extra 75 days, hoping that his administration
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  would be able to strike a deal with Byte Dance.
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  There have been reports that there are major companies and
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  he's in the running to help support Byte Dance from TikTok,
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  namely Amazon and Oracle. But obviously no official deal
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  has been made yet. And that was the problem because
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  the extension expired on April 5th.
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  But over the weekend, Trump took to Truth Social to share that he
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  would be extending the deadline writing quote.
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  My administration has been working very hard on a deal to
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  save TikTok and we have made tremendous progress.
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  I can't with how often Trump says tremendous, but let's get
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  on with his post. The deal requires more work to
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  ensure all necessary approvals are signed, which is why I'm
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  signing an executive order to keep TikTok up and running for
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  an additional 75 days. We hope to continue working in
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  good faith with China, who I understand are not very happy
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  about our reciprocal tariffs. And then he kind of talks about
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  the tariffs for a little bit before saying that quote, we do
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  not want TikTok to go dark. We look forward to working with
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  TikTok in China to close the deal.
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  As with many of the actions taken by the Trump presidency so
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  far, there has been a little bit of pushback.
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  The first executive order was pretty controversial in and of
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  itself because the ban had been passed through Congress.
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  So continuing with that and allowing for another extension,
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  Trump continuing to move unilaterally has been a cause
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  for concern for lawmakers. As far as how American uses a
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  feeling about the ban, I am sure many of them are sick of hearing
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  about it. But recent polling from the Pew
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  Research Center found that, quote, public support for a
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  TikTok ban now stands at 34% among US adults.
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  That's down from 50% in March 2023.
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  I really don't know how long this will go on for, and I'm
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  kind of in two minds about it. There is a possibility that the
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  Trump administration will just continue to extend the extension
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  even though much of this is legally dubious.
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  Like I said in I think my second episode of a mini scroll, there
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  definitely are benefits for Trump being seen as the quote UN
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  quote savior of TikTok and using this platform to spread his
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  message. But as far as deal making
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  prospects, I don't know how much tariffs will play into the
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  willingness of Bite Dance as a Chinese owned company to
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  negotiate. I've actually seen reports, I
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  can't remember where it was from, but I'll include it on the
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  screen and in the description if I find the article that the
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  latest TikTok deal on the table was likely to be supported by
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  the Chinese government in exchange for tariff relief.
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  So if that is the case, in the worst case scenario, I could see
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  TikTok eventually going offline in the US because of the
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  tariffs. But I could also see Trump
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  playing it off as a way to assert dominance over China.
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  But also, I don't know how much longer TikTok will remain a
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  priority given that the likelihood of a recession is
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  seemingly increasing day by day. The vibes are good.
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  Love it. Continuing with the political
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  vibe, I guess my last story for today is quite concerning, and
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  that is that YouTube has reportedly quietly removed
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  gender identity from hate speech policy from what I've seen.
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  This was first reported by Taylor Lorenz for her Sub Stack
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  Publication user mag. In the piece, she noted that
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  this went down shortly after Trump took office, as she
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  explained. Means quote YouTube doesn't
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  allow hate speech towards a number of groups.
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  Content that promotes violence or hatred towards users over
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  their race, nationality, religion, disability, or veteran
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  status is explicitly barred. Hate speech against someone's
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  quote, gender identity and expression was also once barred,
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  but that phrase has since been removed.
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  According to a YouTube spokesperson cited in the
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  article, the removal of gender identity and expression from the
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  policy was just part of edits to the copy on the web page.
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  They maintained that this policy would still be enforced.
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  As Lorenz explains, quote, hate speech towards someone over
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  their sex, gender or sexual orientation is still bad.
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  However, critics say that gender is very different than gender
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  identity and expression. Obviously this vague language
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  and excuse comes at a time when there is more and more vitriol
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  and hatred directed towards trans people.
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  I mean, Trump from the beginning of his administration proclaimed
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  that his administration only recognizes 2 biological sexes
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  and has obviously continuously worked to scrap DEI policies as
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  a result. This is essentially given the
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  green light for transphobia, a type of discrimination that
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  we've honestly been seeing steadily increase in the United
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  States and around the world over the past few years.
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  In the US specifically, we've obviously seen this sentiment in
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  legislation around all the drag bans, which is what many kind of
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  see as a front for anti trans hatred, violence and
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  discrimination. Recently we've also seen more
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  and more public figures speak out against this increasing
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  transphobia. But I will say they are often
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  trans people themselves. But there are two notable
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  examples of public figures who I think have recently come forward
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  against the government's anti trans approach.
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  One of them is Hunter Schaeffer. She recently took to TikTok to
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  explain that her passport had been reissued and the new
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  passport said that Hunter was a male, which is obviously a
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  consequence of policies implemented during the current
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  Trump administration. This TikTok was very well
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  received, and I actually included an article in the sub
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  stack a couple weeks ago talking about why that was the case.
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  And what the author claimed was so successful about Hunter's
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  approach was that she didn't really call in her audience to
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  do anything. She just kind of shared her
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  experience showing how there were real effects to what is
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  going on in the government. On top of this, I think Hunter's
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  approach was also well received because she was very upfront
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  about her privilege as a white famous trans person.
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  Aside from Hunter, there was also Elon Musk's daughter Vivian
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  Jenna Wilson, who is also a trans woman.
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  But she spoke out publicly against her father and the
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  administration's anti trans policy in her recent viral Teen
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  Vogue profile. Anyway, with the YouTube
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  changes, this is obviously very very upsetting and concerning
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  and I don't understand why if hate speech against gender
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  identity and expression violates community guidelines, why it
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  wouldn't just say that? Unless this was some sort of
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  cheap attempt at trying to capitalize on the political
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  zeitgeist and norms at the moment.
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  But at the end of the day, the entire concept and validity of
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  protecting against hate speech and discrimination online falls
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  kind of a part in my opinion. If a platform essentially goes
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  ahead and decides that it will allow vitriol against one
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  specific group, that just completely undermines the
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  credibility of this. But anyway, that is a little bit
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  of a sad and concerning story to end on, so I am sorry about
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  that. I am glad I included the
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  Minecraft story at the top of this episode to have a little
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  bit of fun, but that is everything from me today.
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  Lauren will chat to you tomorrow and also a new episode of High
• 14:21
  Stakes will be out. But other than that, I will
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  speak to you next week and thanks for listening.
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  Hi.