Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI TECH SCROLL: Roblox adds short-form video, online age verification breakdown + creators hype the Miu Miu mic

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MINI TECH SCROLL: Roblox adds short-form video, online age verification breakdown + creators hype the Miu Miu mic · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  This episode of Mini Tech Scroll is brought to you by Blackbird,
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  a venture capital firm investing in Aussie and Kiwi startups.
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  From the very beginning, Blackbird invests in all kinds
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  of technology, so if you're working on a passion project and
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  Applications are currently open and closed on September 14th, so
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  if you're looking for funding, community and support, check out
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  the link to apply in our show notes.
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  Hey everyone, and 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
• 0:42
  through Thursday and sometimes Fridays.
• 0:44
  My name is Annabelle and I'm your Wednesday Mini Tech Scroll
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  host and also the deputy editor of the youth digital media brand
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  Centennial World. Welcome back to mini tech
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  scroll. I would just like to preface for
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  this week's episode. If I look or seem tired, there
• 1:00
  is in fact a reason for that, and that is that I woke up for
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  3:00 AM this morning to participate in the Ticketmaster
• 1:09
  wall for Ariana Grande presale tickets.
• 1:12
  No, she isn't coming to Australia and no, I do not have
• 1:15
  any plans to go overseas next year.
• 1:18
  But I am extremely delusional when it comes to Ariana Grande
• 1:22
  and I will make it happen. I am so delusional in fact, that
• 1:25
  I have a group like crowd selfie with her from way back in 2014.
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  You can just see me. I am right in the corner.
• 1:33
  I'll actually go look through my camera roll while I'm editing
• 1:36
  and see if I can find the photo so I can insert it on screen
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  because it's honestly so funny. But even though I did get up at
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  3:00 AM, I did not win the Ticketmaster war.
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  I am so upset. I mean I'm going to try again
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  obviously because the parasocial power cannot be stopped and
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  stifled. If you have any tips please drop
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  them in the comments I will appreciate it.
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  Or if like you guys want to give me tickets, like would love that
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  too. I'm kidding, actually, I'm not.
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  OK, sorry for a little bit of a ramble, but before we get into
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  the stories today, Please remember to rate, review and
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  subscribe. Lauren keeps asking you guys to
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  star rate US on Spotify, so I'm also reiterating that here.
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  We also have a buy me a coffee link in the description if you
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  are so inclined. So yeah, let's get into the
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  content. The first story I wanted to talk
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  about today is a little bit of an update on Roblox, and that is
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  that the platform is officially rolling out short form video.
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  So these short form videos are called Roblox Moments, and it's
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  essentially another way for users to share clips of their
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  gameplay. This, alongside other
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  announcements were shared at the Roblox Developers Conference,
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  where Roblox Moments is meant to improve discoverability on the
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  platform as well as offer creators new tools for content
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  creation, according to the blog published on the website.
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  There are also built in safety measures where quote all capture
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  content for publication is proactively moderated and we
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  make it easy for users to report any inappropriate content.
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  Roblox Moments is available to users 13 or older at launch, so
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  it's currently in beta for reference.
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  But from the explanatory videos that the platform has uploaded,
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  it looks pretty easy to use where you can essentially just
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  start screen recording by clicking on an option in the
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  drop down menu during gameplay. And to discover content, you can
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  search moments in the search bar on Roblox where clicking through
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  will kind of bring you to a for you page style feed and you can
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  just scroll through. And I think the videos are under
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  30 seconds long at this point. Roblox will also be rolling out
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  creator APIs down the track that will allow creators to build
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  their own in game moments and uploads as well as their own
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  discovery feed. So I guess the bigger question
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  is why would Roblox pursue this? So I think this is clearly an
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  effort from within Roblox to capitalize on the amount of
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  clips that are going viral across various games across
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  different platforms. This is something they actually
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  included in the blog quote. For years users have been doing
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  this off platform, creating a massive presence with Roblox
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  related content, garnering over 1 trillion video views on
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  YouTube. We are building on the momentum
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  we've seen directly on Roblox, where users have already
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  captured over 930 million screenshots and in the short
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  time since we've launched video captures in July, over 240
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  million videos in experiences. So there is clearly a demand for
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  this kind of content where I don't think it's a surprise that
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  Roblox would want to cash in. I have seen a bit of a mixed
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  response to this update. Some users are excited about it
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  given that they already tend to watch short form Roblox content
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  on other platforms, whereas others are not so impressed,
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  saying that there are so many other problems on Roblox that
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  should be fixed within the platform first.
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  Of course, we always know that there is work to be done on
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  Roblox when it comes to keeping children safe, so I definitely
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  think that is a fair response. But also at this point, do we
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  really need another short form video feed?
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  Every app is just simply obsessed with going down this
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  path because of the popularity of TikTok, and frankly, Roblox
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  does feel a little late to the game.
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  Like it's 2025. I don't know how this hasn't
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  happened already, even though Roblox is like 5 years late.
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  Arguably, Roblox is definitely trying to do a little bit of
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  everything. So it seems like we reported on
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  earlier this year that the Roblox CEO was pretty keen on
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  incorporating dating, which is something that is considered
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  widely inappropriate and questionable since the platform
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  is predominantly used by children.
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  As I explained last time we reported on this, I I kind of
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  think that this attempt to move into dating is to keep current
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  Roblox users on the platform as they grow older and potentially
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  grow out of the reasons why they use Roblox.
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  Now that doesn't mean though that it is OK, but also Speaking
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  of the Roblox dating of it all, this is especially controversial
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  at the moment because of everything going on between
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  Roblox and Schlep, which I haven't actually gone into on
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  mini text scroll. So this is a little bit of a
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  tangent, but just quickly. Schlep is a Texas based YouTube
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  who has posed as a young gamer on Roblox to catch predators,
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  claiming that his efforts have led to at least six arrests.
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  He started doing this because he himself had been groomed on
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  Roblox, leading to a suicide attempt.
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  Schlep had been very vocal about his work on the platform, where
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  Roblox was eventually pressured to issue a statement about how
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  it combats safety online. It also ended up addressing how
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  the platform deals with vigilantes quote UN quote of
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  which they see Schlep as a part of.
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  So it seems the YouTube later received a cease and desist
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  notice from Roblox informing that his account would be closed
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  for violations related to his efforts to catch these
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  predators. He alleged that he had received
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  no prior warnings before this point.
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  Since then, though, Schlep has been kicked from the platform
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  where thousands of his supporters went with him.
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  So I just think that's a little bit of important context that we
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  should be considering when we're talking about Roblox at the
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  moment, especially as Roblox is rolling out new functions that
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  people may have or may have not asked for.
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  All that to say though, obviously updates are welcome on
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  Roblox, but it is clear that they have some pretty important
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  safety issues that need to be addressed and prioritized.
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  OK, so that brings us to our second story for today, which is
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  also related to safety measures. I thought it was important that
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  we talk about all the age verification discourse that has
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  been going on online. Now this has been the topic of
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  conversations for weeks. I just haven't had a chance to
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  fully get into it with you guys. So I thought I would give a
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  quick overview of the conversation and the commentary
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  around it in this week's episode.
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  Granted, I will not be able to get into everything, so I
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  consider this as a a little bit of a primer to the broader
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  conversation. We have touched on age
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  verification before, specifically in the Australian
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  context when we were talking about the impending social media
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  ban for under sixteens. But if you're wondering what the
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  big deal around age verification is, it's not just putting your
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  birthday in or ticking a box to prove that you're above a
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  certain age. These days it's often involving
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  uploading your ID or sharing biometric data, whether that be
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  your face or your hands, to prove that you are an adult or
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  of a certain age. Like I said, this has been a
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  topic of conversation online for weeks now, but it really speed
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  up since the UK rolled out new online safety measures at the
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  end of July. On July 25th it was expected
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  that social media platforms, adult websites and search
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  engines put certain measures in place to prevent children from
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  accessing non safer work content or messaging that encourages
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  self harm, eating disorders and so on.
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  I'm sure we can all agree that the premise of this is positive.
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  We need to protect children online.
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  This is the first time that we have really seen children and
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  adults all kind of being in the same room, but it is the
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  execution of age verification that have had many people
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  worried. There was an edition of User Mag
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  that I thought explained the fears and worries around age
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  verification very well, so I will just read a quote from that
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  now. Quote proponents claim this will
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  protect children, but in practice it restricts young
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  people's ability to learn, express themselves and connect,
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  creates A pretext for censoring political dissent, and
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  concentrates more power in the tech industry.
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  Within a week, the rollout triggered unprecedented
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  censorship, novel surveillance concerns, and a wave of
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  workarounds. Expressing how easily safety
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  rhetoric can be weaponized to discriminate and control those
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  harms will not just impact minors, but also adults whose
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  access to lawful information will be curtailed, community
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  subject to political oppression, and anyone forced to hand over
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  sensitive data to participate online will also become
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  vulnerable. So clearly there are both
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  censorship concerns but also privacy concerns with the way
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  age verification is operating currently.
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  And these privacy concerns are especially prominent when you
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  have third party data verification tools that may be
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  used here. There are a lot of problems with
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  data storage and the security of sensitive information.
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  Probably one of the most obvious examples of this that happened
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  recently is the T app breach that we also covered a few weeks
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  ago. If you didn't catch that
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  episode, there was a pretty extensive data breach that left
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  thousands of woman's IDs exposed that were used during the
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  verification process to join the app, and these IDs were
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  subsequently available on 4 Chan.
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  Because of this, T has reportedly been hit with two
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  class action lawsuits since the breach.
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  So with that kind of context, many argue that age gating is a
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  quick and inefficient fix to a much bigger problem.
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  And these age verification measures aren't just unique to
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  the UK, even though that's what really kicked off the
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  conversation this year. Of course, Australia's under 16
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  ban is significant as we've discussed before, but there are
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  also more and more states in the US that are implementing new age
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  gating rules. From what I've seen, around 22
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  states have laws in effect. Well, three more states have
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  laws passed, but they aren't in effect at this current time.
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  Now that we have all of that covered, I wanted to touch on
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  how these changes will affect the creator economy or what
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  people are saying about that at the very least, since this is an
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  Internet culture podcast at its core.
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  This is actually what prompted me to cover this topic today
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  because I came across an article speaking about how LGBTQIA Plus
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  created specifically would be impacted, and I thought this was
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  an important and interesting angle to cover this from.
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  So as the Internet moves in a more conservative direction,
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  which has been well documented by this point, there's
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  unfortunately more hatred, discrimination, and vitriol
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  directed to LGBTQIA Plus creators and users.
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  With that being said, various activists have noted that these
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  age gating laws, especially those in reference to sexual
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  content, may be wrongfully used against the LGBTQIA Plus
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  community. In a conversation with CT Jones
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  for Rolling Stone, Shoshana Wiseman, who is a digital
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  director and fellow at the policy think tank R St.
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  Institute, explained how some of the language in the age
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  verification bills in the US specifically are very vague and
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  how this will ultimately restrict educational or medical
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  content around information relating to the queer community,
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  safer sex or gender affirming care.
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  As CT Jones writes in the article quote, for most laws,
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  there is little to no guidance on what exactly constitutes as
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  harmful content. To mine is the lack of nuance in
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  the legislative language means that anything from LGBTQ
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  centered information to diverse authors could be considered
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  explicit. One article I came across while
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  researching for this episode actually specifically spoke to
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  how aid verification and age gating is putting the queer
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  adult industry and their work is at risk.
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  Obviously this is a little bit of a different point because not
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  safe for work content is being prioritized when it comes to age
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  gating, but I do think our articles like this show how
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  queer spaces, LGBTQIA plus spaces, content or creators may
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  be hit harder by these moves. But yes, I definitely think this
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  is just scratching the service and we probably will be talking
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  about this more and more moving forward.
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  But I am really curious to hear what you guys think about the
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  moves towards age verification across the world.
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  I find it a really complicated issue because I think at its
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  core, I agree children shouldn't have unfettered access to the
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  Internet. You never know what they're
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  going to come across. But I definitely understand the
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  concerns with how age verification is set to be
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  implemented. But I'm curious, do you think it
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  is a genuine attempt to protect children from adult material?
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  Do you think it has bigger risks around freedom of speech and
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  access to information? Are both of these things true at
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  once? Let me know because I feel like
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  I am still wrapping my head around this myself.
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  OK, and lastly we have a bit of a shorter story to end off on.
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  I wanted to talk about this PR package that has been making the
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  rounds. So MU MU has been gaining some
• 14:07
  traction online after they sent creators APR box with the new
• 14:10
  mutine fragrance. The box came locked and creators
• 14:14
  unlocked it to find the fragrance.
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  Some cards as well as little Mimi branded Mike.
• 14:20
  Here is the tech element. Lauren actually sent this story
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  for me to cover after seeing a threads post that read quote
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  Mimi branded Mike's landing with creators and this is what can
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  only be referred to as a massive flex as APR item.
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  I did some digging myself. You can search up Mutine PR box
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  on TikTok and you can see the videos, but I saw quite a few
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  creators post about this PR box, including the of Luna Montana
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  who I used to watch a lot when I was a bit younger.
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  This is obviously a little bit more of an industry specific
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  story, but I think it's still interesting to talk about
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  because it feels like an example of PR that is actually useful
• 14:57
  and more socially acceptable. We all know that viewers have
• 15:01
  become so so tired of seeing wasteful packaging and excessive
• 15:05
  products. NPR.
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  It just doesn't land well with the lifestyle gap, the privilege
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  gap between viewers and creators, as well as
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  overconsumption that has become second nature to the digital
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  world. I don't know if you guys
• 15:18
  remember but I think it was last year the TikTok creator Darcy
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  Mcqueeney did this a massive hole.
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  I think it was like 4 days of unboxing and she received so
• 15:27
  much backlash. I remember discussing this with
• 15:30
  Lauren, and we point a couple of reasons as to why this hole was
• 15:35
  not well received. Obviously, it's completely
• 15:38
  excessive, but it wasn't the first time that we've seen this
• 15:41
  kind of content go viral online. Look back at 2016, that type of
• 15:46
  content ruled the Internet, and we kind of came to the
• 15:49
  conclusion that people were upset with Darcy Mcqueeney
• 15:52
  because they hadn't built the same level of a parasocial
• 15:55
  relationship that people did with the OG beauty Youtubers,
• 15:59
  where they were happy to see them receive PR even though it
• 16:02
  was also in excess. On top of this, the digital
• 16:05
  space has just changed so much since that time.
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  Excessive packaging is just not going to be well received by the
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  audience. So this kind of mic, I think was
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  really, really smart because it's useful, but also if
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  creators do end up using this mic for other content, it's
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  continued advertising and I feel like that's obviously the goal.
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  But anyway, that's a bit of a ride of story to end off on, but
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  it's always on to incorporate a little bit more of an Internet
• 16:32
  culture heavy story in a mini tech scroll every once in a
• 16:34
  while. Well, that is everything from
• 16:37
  mini tech scroll today. I hope you guys enjoyed this
• 16:41
  week's episode. Please remember to rate, review
• 16:44
  and subscribe and wish me luck for the Ticketmaster Ball.
• 16:49
  But yes, Lauren will speak to you guys tomorrow and I will see
• 16:52
  you next week. Thanks for listening.
• 16:54
  Bye.