Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI TECH SCROLL: TumblrTV, TikTok ban update, TikTok's 'Cute Winter Boots' trend + DeepSeek breakdown

Transcript

MINI TECH SCROLL: TumblrTV, TikTok ban update, TikTok's 'Cute Winter Boots' trend + DeepSeek breakdown · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  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
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  through Thursday. My name is Annabelle, and I am
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  your Wednesday Mini Scroll host and also the deputy editor of
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  the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
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  So before we get into the stories today, I do have a
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  little anecdote that I wanted to share with you guys at the
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  request of Lauren and Alex, who works on Centennial World's
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  partnerships. So if you aren't interested in
• 0:28
  that, feel free to skip ahead. There are time stamps in the
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  description, but for those of you who are interested, last
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  Friday I actually had a belated birthday dinner with my family
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  because my birthday was earlier this month and my mom decided
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  that it would be a fun idea to order cupcakes for everyone.
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  And since it was my birthday, she thought it would be fun to
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  ask the bakery to screen print some pictures of me on the
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  cupcakes. She didn't ask the bakery to
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  just print a photo from my Instagram.
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  No, instead she prints the thumbnail of the first mini
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  scroll episode that I did a couple weeks ago.
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  I'll include a picture for those of you who are watching.
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  She also did ask the bakery to print goats on the cupcake
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  because I am a Capricorn. So that's just a little bit of
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  an insight into my life and that my mom is enjoying all of your
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  comments so please continue leaving them.
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  She loves reading them as do I. Other than that, Please remember
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  to rate, review, and subscribe to Infinite Scroll.
• 1:24
  As Lauren is saying, we are on the road to 1K Spotify star
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  reviews, so if you haven't already, leave a review.
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  Thank you so my first story is a little bit of news coming out of
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  Tumblr in that the platform launched Tumblr TV.
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  So last week we spoke about how meta launched edit, which is
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  essentially a cap Cut Copy and how X introduced a tab in the
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  bottom bar of the platform to make short form video easier to
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  access to US users. Obviously, this is all very
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  suspicious timing given the United States is still settling
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  from the TikTok ban, but Tumblr, with this new launch has also
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  joined in and is possibly part of the race to take TikTok spot.
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  So if Tumblr TV sounds familiar to you, you aren't entirely
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  wrong. 10 years ago, Tumblr launched a GIF search engine
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  with the same name. But it wasn't just a search
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  engine, it also allowed users to view GIFs in full screen mode.
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  Quote The TV part of the feature title refers to the fact that
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  the interface offers player controls like pause, play,
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  forward, and backwards. Sarah Perez wrote for Tech
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  Crunch at the time. However, it was announced last
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  week that Tumblr TV will now be rolled out on a more extensive
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  scale. According to support.tumblr.com,
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  new users will have this tab enabled by default, while
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  existing users will have it available in the Dashboard tabs
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  configuration if not already enabled.
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  Obviously, we can't separate this from everything that's
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  going down with TikTok, especially because, according to
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  recent reporting from TechCrunch, Tumblr had a surge
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  of users joining the platform on the day of January 19th, which
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  is of course the day TikTok was meant to be banned.
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  The blogging service saw roughly a 35% increase in app installs
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  and a 70% increase in new users joining communities, which is a
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  feature that allows users to join groups focused on specific
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  interests. Think of it like a subreddit or
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  maybe a Discord server. We did do a deep dive covering
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  Tumblr last year, which covered the rise and the fall of the
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  platform, so if you are interested in that, definitely
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  feel free to check it out. But part of the conclusion we
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  came to in that episode was that Tumblr was having a little bit
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  of resurgence among Gen. Z.
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  According to a 2022 article for The New Yorker, Internet culture
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  Journalist Kyle Chaker highlighted that quote, 48% of
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  Tumblr's active users and 61% of its new ones are Generation Z.
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  And this, of course, came at a time when many major social
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  media platforms were worried about how to keep this
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  generation engaged. And what we thought
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  distinguished Tumblr from other platforms at this time was its
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  departure from the typical trend of platforms copying each
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  other's features. Obviously, that has changed a
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  little bit since then with this update.
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  But as Chaker noted, Tumblr appeared to focus on the unusual
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  pursuit of preservation of its original form.
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  Like I've said before, I am not entirely sure if anything will
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  actually replace TikTok. I don't think we can expect an
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  app to just fully take its place in terms of short form video.
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  But that doesn't mean there won't be another culture driving
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  platform. I'm not sure if that platform
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  will be Tumblr. I would kind of love if it was.
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  I mean, Tumblr definitely had its issues, but there is a sense
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  of nostalgia there for older genders.
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  And on top of this, a sense of anonymity on the platform is
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  definitely refreshing to those of us who have been online our
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  whole lives. That being said though, Perez
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  for TechCrunch maintained that it isn't a true contender for a
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  TikTok replacement quote. Though the company made many
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  improvements while the service was a labs feature, including
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  the addition of lightbox support, improved scrubbing and
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  video support, the final product doesn't feel all that much like
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  TikTok, where the original creative content dominates.
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  Speaking of TikTok, I do have a quick TikTok update as far as
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  what is going on in the United States regarding the sale.
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  It was reported earlier this week that AUS based search
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  engine startup called Perplexity AI presented a new proposal to
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  Byte Dance, which is obviously Tik Tok's parent company.
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  And apparently this proposal aligns closer with what the
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  Trump administration requested for a sale.
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  From what I could find, this was first reported by CNBC and in
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  the document which was reviewed by the media company, the
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  proposal detailed the creation of a new US holding company
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  called New Co. The proposal would allow the US
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  government to own up to half of that new structure once it has
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  made an initial public offering of at least $300 billion.
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  I will remind you that Trump did mention in a Truth so post that
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  he would like to see a joint venture with at least 50% U.S.
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  government ownership. And while there have been many
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  bids for TikTok, this is a little bit different because
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  this is a merger rather than a purchase.
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  Given that By Dance has made it clear time and time again that
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  they will not sell the platform, journalists seem to think that
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  there's a better chance this time around.
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  On top of this, the proposal would also exclude TikTok score
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  recommendation algorithm, which By Dance would keep.
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  The algorithm has been a key reason why the company has been
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  hesitant to sell the platform, with reports describing the
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  algorithm as quote one of the platform's most valuable assets
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  and the quote secret source, according to reporting by the
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  New York Times around what would get by dance to sell.
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  They do note that any sale or divestiture of TikTok would have
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  to comply with China's rules on technology exports, and that
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  means that the Chinese government has to approve
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  certain technologies. Quote Beijing claimed the last
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  word in any deal involving TikTok when it updated the list
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  of restricted technologies in 2020 to include systems like the
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  Apps algorithm, which recommends a constant stream of short
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  videos targeted to keep people scrolling.
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  To be honest, the algorithm is definitely what makes the app
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  valuable and the reason why so many people love TikTok.
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  So who's to know what a sale without the algorithm would do
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  to the app in the US? Nevertheless, perplexity is one
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  of multiple entities and individuals buying to save
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  TikTok. Lauren already covered that
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  Mister Beast is among them, but some other companies have thrown
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  their hat in the ring, reportedly including Microsoft
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  and Oracle. President Trump does seem pretty
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  confident. He did mention on the weekend
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  that he would likely have a decision on the app's future in
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  the next 30 days. The next story is actually a
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  trend that I've been seeing making the rounds on TikTok, and
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  this is all the discourse around cute winter boots.
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  So many TikTok users are making videos talking about their
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  quote, cute winter boots. But spoiler alert, they actually
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  aren't talking about boots. This phrase has become A to
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  discuss any resistance or frustration with the newly
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  inaugurated Trump administration.
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  There seems to be a mix of themes popping up in the videos
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  around cute winter boots. Some feature people diving into
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  the details about protests, often with scraps of paper in
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  hand to show the details. Others are discussing ways to
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  keep people safe from ICE, which is short for US Immigration and
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  Customs Enforcement, by referring to ice as ice cream
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  trucks. So there is really a little bit
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  of everything. But the reason I wanted to talk
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  about this is because it's just the latest example of algo speak
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  that we are seeing taking over the platform.
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  I am sure you guys are familiar with the term algo speak, but if
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  you aren't, it is generally understood as code words that
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  are used to avoid content moderation tools that might flag
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  user content that violate community guidelines or might be
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  seen as sensitive in nature. Some of the most popular words
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  in algo speak include phrases like unalive for kill or at the
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  beginning of COVID when everyone was talking about the pandemic,
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  but they would use any word that started with P like Panini or
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  panorama. There are a lot of mixed
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  opinions about algo speak online.
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  Some people believe that it is a savvy way to get around the
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  algorithm and talk about certain important topics, while others
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  say that this sort of language can lead to miscommunication,
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  undermine important issues, and just become too confusing for
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  people who aren't totally invested in the space.
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  I mean, you can see this in the comment sections under videos
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  talking about cute winter boots. I even saw one comment that was
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  like, I'm employed. What does this mean?
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  Nevertheless, we have seen seen algo speak before, obviously,
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  and I can't help but wondering if this is poised to become even
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  more popular, especially as social media platforms and their
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  executive increasingly aligned with specific political agendas.
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  I wouldn't be surprised if this is the case.
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  I also wouldn't be surprised if content moderation tools become
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  more sophisticated and able to target popular forms of algo
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  speak. But one thing that I found
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  interesting to this episode of Algo speak specifically is a
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  point that I saw in a Fast Company article which noted that
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  quote. The cute winter boots trend also
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  exploits the platform's algorithm which favours product
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  focused content to maximize visibility.
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  While part of this is definitely the phrasing and the choice of
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  using cute winter boots as the code word, I've also seen it in
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  the way that creators are linking to TikTok shop.
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  They obviously aren't linking boots, but they are linking
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  various educational items like books.
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  So I wonder if this is what we'll see more and more of if
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  content moderation tools become more sophisticated to this form
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  of discourse online. The last thing I wanted to
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  quickly mention was Deepseek. Now this story might be a little
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  bit tech bro vibes for mini scroll, but I thought I would
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  just mention it because it has literally been everywhere over
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  the past few days. And also I will just note that
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  this is quite a high level summary because this is a
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  complicated story. What has gone down is that
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  global tech stocks have taken a tumble after Chinese AI company
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  Deepseek revealed it can develop powerful AI tools that challenge
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  market leaders like ChatGPT, but at a way lower cost.
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  Deepseek was founded in 2023 and recently released a new AI model
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  which is open source, meaning the code is designed to be
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  publicly accessible. As reported by Fast Company
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  Quote, the latest version of Deepseek called Deepseek V3,
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  appears to rival and in many cases outperform Open AI's
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  ChatGPT. Deepseek can also be used for
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  free online, and if you give it a search, you'll see that its
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  interface looks very similar to other large language models like
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  ChatGPT. For context, Deepseek has
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  claimed that it took just two months and cost under $6 million
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  to build an AI model. For a point of comparison, in
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  training ChatGPT 4 Open AI reportedly spent $100 million
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  alone, which is according to Wired in 2023.
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  And why this was such a game changer is obviously the low
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  cost, but also that Deep Seek used far fewer of the high cost
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  AI chips that companies have typically used in the past.
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  In the Garbage day newsletter by Ryan Broderick.
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  This podcast is literally going to become a Ryan Broderick
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  update account at this point because he is just always saying
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  what I want to say but better. But he kind of positioned deep
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  seek in a bigger picture and also made a comparison to TikTok
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  quote. If the 2000 and 10s was the
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  story of American tech platforms eating the world, then the
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  twenty 20s has been the story of Chinese platforms biting back in
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  a big way. Not just because users have in
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  the case of TikTok, like them better or found them more
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  addictive, but because they're also much cheaper.
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  With that being said though, there is a lot of skepticism
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  around the model, but on the whole American tech giants are
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  very stressed. So much so that there have even
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  been comparisons to the space race in that who is going to
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  create the best AI model. Anyway, that is everything from
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  me today. I am definitely glad to have a
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  more normal episode this week because last week was just
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  everything TikTok ban. And while we can't ignore the
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  TikTok ban full, I'm glad that we could talk about other
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  things. Anyway, I will see you next
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  Wednesday. Thanks.
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  Bye.