Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Marques Brownlee tech review backlash, Lil Tay comes for JoJo Siwa + Instagram releases Taylor Swift Easter eggs

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MINI SCROLL: Marques Brownlee tech review backlash, Lil Tay comes for JoJo Siwa + Instagram releases Taylor Swift Easter eggs · 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.
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  Every Monday 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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  So just a quick little scheduling update for you guys.
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  So today, this is the last mini scroll of the week, April 17th
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  on Wednesday. There will be no mini scroll
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  tomorrow because I'm actually going to Noosa on a brand trip
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  with Shark Beauty. So this all just came up last
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  week and I was so excited because you guys know if you've
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  listened to the podcast for a while.
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  I went to Noosa last year with my family and it's a literally
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  one of my favorite places I've ever been in Australia.
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  I loved it so much so I am so excited.
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  I opted for the earlier flight so I could have like a full day
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  there and just to chill out and hang out.
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  I really considered if I should do the afternoon flight so I
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  could do mini scroll in the morning and then everyone around
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  me like my husband, my team, they were all just like go and
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  take this free day and like take a vacation day.
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  So that's what I'm going to do. So there will still be a deep
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  dive on Friday as always, but tomorrow there will be no mini
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  scroll. All right, let's just jump right
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  into it. So the first story that I have
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  for you guys is that Marquis Brownlee has been facing
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  backlash for giving a negative product review on the Humane AI
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  pin. So Tech YouTube Marquis Brownlee
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  is being called out by tech Bros on Twitter for calling the
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  humane AI pin quote the worst product he has ever reviewed.
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  For anyone that doesn't know, Marquis is one of the biggest
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  tech Youtubers on the platform, with over 18,000,000
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  subscribers. His entire job is to review tech
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  products and he has given many negative reviews in his career.
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  So the Humane AI pin is like a wearable computer.
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  It's basically a brooch that you clip onto your shirt that can
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  answer questions, take photos, take videos and send messages.
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  Allegedly, And it cost $700.00. So the pin is new, and many tech
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  journalists and creators have been trying this and giving
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  reviews, and the vast majority of these reviews have been
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  negative. Most say that the pin just
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  basically doesn't do what it claims it can do, at least not
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  yet, and it's basically nowhere near perfected enough to be on
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  the market. One example is from The Verge,
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  where they showed that the pin actually can't play Beyoncé
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  songs because it can't compute with the accent at the end of
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  her last name. So when you ask the pin to play
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  a Beyoncé song, it basically says we don't know what that
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  means. We can't do that.
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  Please pick a different artist or playlist or song.
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  The review for the Wall Street Journal also shows that the pin
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  overheats really easily. It doesn't properly frame photos
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  or videos and you can't use the projecting screen element
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  outside because it's too bright. So I guess part of the feature
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  is that it like will project a screen onto your palm if you
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  hold it in front of it and you can like do things like that.
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  You can't really do that outside because it's too bright outside
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  so you can't see anything on your palm.
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  And they also said that the the PIN doesn't actually have an app
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  connected to it. So if you want to like get the
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  media that you've taken like the videos, photos, whatever, you
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  actually have to like log into a website, which is just a bit
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  like archaic. Though Marquis was certainly not
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  the only one to make a negative review about the product, he is
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  highly visible and incredibly influential.
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  So as a result his review has faced a ton of criticism.
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  The most viral criticism he received was from a popular ex
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  user named Daniel Vassallo, who said I find it distasteful,
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  almost unethical to say this as in to critique the product when
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  you have 18,000,000 subscribers. Hard to explain why, but with
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  great reach comes great responsibility.
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  Potentially killing someone else's nascent project reeks of
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  carelessness. First, do no harm.
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  And the marquees actually responded to this and said we
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  disagree on what my job is. So several creators have come to
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  his defense, noting how important it is that influencers
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  and journalists provide honest reviews, especially for a tech
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  product that cost so much money. Philip Defranco called
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  Vassallo's tweet quote one of the dumbest brain dead takes he
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  has ever seen. This story is so interesting to
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  me because it's like we've come full circle with influencer
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  culture almost. I mean, if you guys know
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  anything about the history of Centennial World, we actually
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  started as Centennial Beauty and the whole point was that we were
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  reporting on the YouTube beauty community, like the online
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  beauty community. And so I am well versed in the
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  review space and we've not really seen anything of this
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  scale in the beauty review space.
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  I think one of the biggest criticisms over the years for
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  influencer culture has been that they don't give honest reviews
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  and they basically just kiss the ass of every brand because they
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  don't want to lose out on sponsorship opportunities, they
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  don't want to get kicked off the PR list, whatever it is.
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  So for Marquis Brownlee who is highly influential, who has so
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  many followers to be posting a review basically saying save
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  your money, this product isn't quite ready yet And then to be
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  getting so much backlash for saying that for trying to
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  protect his followers and the consumer dollar basically is a
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  wild like it's it's this wild full circle moment like we
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  should not be out here trying to protect the tech Bros and their
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  business. Like as a business owner myself
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  I can imagine that this review would have been very crushing to
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  receive. But at the end of the day like
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  asking consumers to buy a product that is clearly just not
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  ready yet has a lot of issues is also unethical.
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  So it's really wild that this whole thing has blown up like
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  this. And I think that Marquis's it is
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  the perfect response to this. Like, we disagree on what my job
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  is. His job is to give honest tech
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  reviews. That's it, end of story.
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  Doesn't matter if you know he's hurting the feelings of the
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  founders. Doesn't matter if his review
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  plummets the stock price, doesn't matter how that impacts
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  the company. That's not his issue.
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  Plus, at the end of the day, now everybody is talking about this
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  product. So I don't know.
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  I think this is just such a wild story.
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  It's like we've come full circle and now we're asking influencers
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  to give fake positive reviews to protect the interests of
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  founders. I don't know, All right, The
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  next story that I have for you guys is that Lil Tay has gone
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  off on JoJo. Siwa, claiming that she has
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  purchased, bought Spotify listens on her new song.
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  So in the latest installment of JoJo Siwa's Rebrand Gone wrong,
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  influencer Lil Tay is calling JoJo out on X Little Tay is an
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  Internet personality who was a prominent child influencer with
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  an account run by her family. She is now 14 and she re emerged
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  on social media after her family spread rumors that she had died
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  last year. This was a big story.
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  We covered it last year, I'm sure you guys remember.
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  But Little Tay is now back online and she is putting out
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  her own new music. So basically there was this joke
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  tweet that drama YouTube. Adam McIntyre posted where he
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  compared in like a joking way, Little Tay and JoJo Siwa.
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  Little Tay saw this and she said wish I didn't just find out who
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  that is. I wrote Sucker for Green myself.
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  Sucker for Green is her new song.
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  Didn't buy the song or hire a ghost writer.
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  Please don't mention me and her in the same sentence.
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  And then in response to some people in the comments she wrote
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  after some research I found out she, as in JoJo, associates with
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  pedophiles, buys her songs and doesn't write her music.
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  And I take my music very seriously and don't want to be
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  compared to frauds. OK, so TMZ wrote an article
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  about this whole situation on Twitter and then some or sorry X
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  and then some ex user quote tweeted the TMZ article and
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  wrote quote. There's literally no comparison
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  between JoJo and Lil Tay. Anyway, JoJo Siwa has a Lil Tay
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  is just a meme, and a pathetic one at that.
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  So then JoJo Siwa allegedly liked that tweet reminder.
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  Lil Tay is 14 years old and I know that Jojo's young and I
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  think that you know, out of a lot of people online, I give
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  JoJo a lot of grace because she was also a child star and I
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  think she has absolutely not unpacked what has happened to
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  her. And I think a lot of what she
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  puts out there is like projection and like just having
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  not dealt with anything properly yet.
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  But Lil Tay is 14 and her whole story, the story around Lil Tay
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  is so dark, we all know it. I mean maybe JoJo isn't super
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  familiar with it but either way like it's so dark, it's so sad.
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  She is just such a product of like her parents greed and just
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  how insidious the online world can become for child
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  influencers. And JoJo of all people should
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  understand that and relate to that and and have empathy and
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  sympathy for Lil Tay. So to be liking a tweet like
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  that is so messed up. So Lil Tay has now retaliated,
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  she wrote on X today at its JoJo Siwa.
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  You're a scary ass bitch. If you think you have something
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  to say about me, say it. And this time don't delete your
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  comment. Or unlike shady tweets, don't
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  let those paid YouTube views and bought it Spotify streams.
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  Get to your head. Madonna from Dollar Tree Ass
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  bitch. So savage.
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  So JoJo actually has unliked the tweet since then, all right?
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  And the last word that I have for you guys is that Instagram
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  has joined in on the Taylor Swift Easter egg frenzy to
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  celebrate the Tortured Poets department.
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  Taylor's 11th studio album, the Tortured Poets Department, is
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  set to release this Friday, April 19th in celebration.
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  Instagram and Threads have hidden Easter eggs on the
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  platforms for Swifties to find. First, a secret album countdown
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  is hidden on Taylor's Instagram page.
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  So if you go to her account on the app and you pull down on her
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  profile like you're going to refresh it, you will see at the
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  top a fades in a countdown for the Tortured Poets Department.
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  Second Threads has two Easter eggs as well.
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  So conversations on threads that are using the hashtag #ttpd,
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  hashtag the Tortured Poets Department #tortured Poets,
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  hashtag TSTTPD #swifties, and hashtag tag Taylor Swift.
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  They all trigger this special like shimmer effect when you
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  post it, and celebratory hearts appear on screen when someone
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  likes to post with those hashtags.
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  And Instagram has also said that there is more to come to
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  celebrate. So I think this is pretty fun
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  and cute. I don't know.
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  I'm assuming that this was like in collaboration with Taylor.
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  I don't know if Meta is just doing this themselves.
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  I mean, I wouldn't be surprised. But yeah, I feel like this is
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  kind of fun. It's cool for the Swifties.
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  And you know, I'm sure that all next week my stories will be
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  about this album and all the Easter eggs and uncoating
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  everything. So just get ready for that.
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  Anyways, guys, that's it for today.
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  Thank you so much for listening to Mini Scroll.
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  Please remember to rate, review and subscribe.
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  It helps me so much. It helps me grow and makes my
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  day. And I will talk to you guys next
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  week, but there will still be an episode on Friday that I
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  recorded yesterday for you guys. All right, talk to you then.
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  Bye.