Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI TECH SCROLL: Reddit x Sam Altman's Orb, Australian teen social media ban update + BeReal's comeback

Transcript

MINI TECH SCROLL: Reddit x Sam Altman's Orb, Australian teen social media ban update + BeReal's comeback · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  Hey everyone, and welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
• 0:03
  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 and sometimes Fridays.
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  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 another week of
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  Mini Tech Scroll, everyone. I really don't have too much to
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  say at the top of this week's episode or really any updates,
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  so let's just get right into the stories.
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  But before that quick reminder, Please remember to rate, review,
• 0:34
  and subscribe because we are so, so close to 10K on YouTube.
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  OK, now let's get into it. To start off this week I have
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  some Reddit news and that is that Reddit is reportedly in
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  talks to consider using Sam Altman's Iris scanning orb tool.
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  That sounds crazy but let me break it down for you guys.
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  Before we fully get into it though, I do want to say that
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  I'm always stalking the Reddit threads and seeing where you
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  guys are recommending infinite scroll and mini scroll and I
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  know I've said it before but I will say it again.
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  It is all so much appreciated. But anyway, with this iris
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  scanning of tool that we are talking about, Lauren did cover
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  this when I was away in a mini tech scroll episode.
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  I would honestly recommend going back to listen to it because it
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  was both informative and quite funny.
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  Lauren's delivery was very passionate.
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  But for those of you who may have not caught the episode, Sam
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  Altman has a company called World and the main product is
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  Org, which is essentially a device that scans a person's
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  irises to generate a unique ID and then that is stored.
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  So it's ultimately a way that a person can prove that they are a
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  real human and not AI. But to make things even weirder
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  slash more confusing, when Weld ID uses to scan their irises by
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  one of the company's orgs, they actually get Free World Coins,
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  which is a cryptocurrency. The original incentive behind
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  this was to get people to actually scan their irises, but
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  it was also built with the intention of creating an AI
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  funded universal basic income, which is honestly a really
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  interesting concept. But as Reed Alba Gotti points
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  out for semaphore quote, these days it's not the crypto
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  component that makes World Coin a potentially important part of
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  the AI industry, it's the technology that can verify
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  whether someone is a unique individual.
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  Having said that though, as Lauren so rightly pointed out in
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  the episode where she covered all of this, this feels very
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  hypocritical slash ironic coming from Sam Altman giving that he
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  is really driving the AI era as the CEO of Open AI.
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  So it kind of just seems like he is finding a solution to a
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  problem that he created. Okay, so now that we've got that
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  covered, Reddit is reportedly considering incorporating World
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  ID into the platform. So continuing on from the
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  Semaphore article, quote Weld ID could soon become a way for
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  Reddit users to verify that they are unique individuals while
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  remaining anonymous on the platform.
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  So this kind of verification is obviously something that is
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  becoming more and more important online, especially as we are
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  entering this unknown AI error. But this does seem to be a
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  specific concern to Reddit. Firstly, because the platform is
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  so anonymous, it makes it harder to tell the difference between
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  AI bots and people. But second, it is because of
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  everything that has gone down between Reddit and the
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  University of Zurich over the past few months.
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  For a brief refresher, we did cover this on a previous mini
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  text scroll episode as well, but a team of researchers from the
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  University of Zurich reportedly used AI bots on the R slash
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  Change My View subreddit to test whether these bots could
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  actually change people's minds. These bots ended up making
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  thousands of comments without being disclosed to the Reddit
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  uses. This was obviously a huge
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  privacy breach and was completely unethical, as neither
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  the Reddit users or mods could consent to being involved in
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  this study. As the Semaphore article
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  continues. Quote.
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  As a result, there's no urgency to find ways to verify some
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  information about people online while also providing privacy and
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  anonymity. That has become a cherished
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  characteristic of the web, and one that is especially cherished
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  on Reddit. So whether World ID should be
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  that verification tool of choice is another question.
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  At the end of the day, I do think people will always be
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  hesitant to verify accounts and hand over biometric data.
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  And I don't think it helps that Sam Altman is associated with
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  the company. But one thing is for sure, I do
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  think that verification is important, especially as AI
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  agents multiply and spread across the Internet.
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  My next story is actually Australia based.
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  I feel like we get a fair amount of comments on Lauren's mini
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  scroll episodes, particularly to talk about Australian influences
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  and trends, so I am leaning into that request as well.
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  I'm actually shocked though that I haven't brought this up in
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  Minitech scroll yet, but I wanted to quickly share an
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  update on the Australian governments plan to ban quote UN
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  quote social media for under 16 year olds.
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  For those of you who aren't Australian or who haven't heard
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  about this so-called ban, I will quickly explain.
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  So last year legislation passed through Australian Parliament
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  that would set a minimum age for social media and this included
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  platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and X.
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  There was a lot of conversation around this legislation, but to
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  boil it down, some people thought it was a great idea and
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  a necessary step to protect youth mental health.
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  Meanwhile, others felt like it was taking away an important
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  socialization and community building tool from young people.
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  And obviously there were questions about infringing on
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  freedom. There have also been a lot of
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  concern and questioning about whether this is even
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  technologically possible to ban under 16 year olds.
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  I will say though, the government doesn't necessarily
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  view this as a blanket ban because under 16 year olds won't
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  necessarily be fined or penalized for being on social
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  media, but rather as a means to encourage young people to get on
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  social media later by raising the minimum age.
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  But from when it passed, which was the end of last year, social
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  media platforms have been given 12 months to roll out systems
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  that would essentially be able to enforce the age restriction.
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  Here in Australia. The updates and analysis of this
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  move by the government has been continuously debated as you
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  could imagine. So obviously I can't cover
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  everything to do with this story, but one update of note is
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  that Julie Inman Grant, who is Australia's E Safety
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  Commissioner, which is Australia's independent
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  regulator for online safety, is pushing to add YouTube to the
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  ban. So originally YouTube was exempt
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  from the ban, but it is looking like that might change.
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  And this push is coming from recent research that found that
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  many young people have come across harmful content on
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  YouTube. So this is coming from a report
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  that was advice to the Minister for Communications from the E
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  safety commissioner quote among a subset of children who have
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  ever seen or heard potentially harmful content online, 37%
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  reported their most recent or impactful experience with this
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  content occurred on YouTube. In a recent address, Julie
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  Immigrant also commented on how dangerous the algorithms are on
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  the platform where they can drive quote uses down rabbit
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  holes that they are powerless to fight against, which I feel like
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  it's kind of true anyway. YouTube has since published a
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  statement responding to this announcement slash
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  recommendation. The statement started by noting
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  how frequently YouTube is used in classrooms before arguing
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  that quote. This recommendation is in direct
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  contradiction to the government's decision to exempt
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  YouTube from the ban. The government's own research
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  confirmed there was a broad agreement that YouTube is
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  suitable for younger users. YouTube is not a social media
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  platform. It is a video streaming platform
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  with the library of free high quality content, and TV screens
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  are increasingly the most popular place to watch.
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  Obviously if YouTube was included in the band, this would
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  be a huge move because YouTube definitely has so many
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  educational uses. Like I remember when I was in
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  high school I would sometimes search up how to answer math
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  questions and I found that really useful.
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  But I will say though, I think if this was included in the
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  band, under sixteens would probably still be able to watch
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  content because you don't need an account to watch videos on
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  YouTube. But who really knows how this
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  ban is going to be instituted at this stage.
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  On the flip though, there is definitely something to be said
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  about the power of YouTube algorithms and how you can just
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  easily fall down rabbit holes. And this is definitely a problem
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  with the rise of the manosphere, as we have mentioned time and
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  time again on this podcast. And algorithms are definitely
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  becoming more influential on YouTube, at least for me
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  personally. I feel like I often forget to
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  subscribe to my favorite creatives because I'm just
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  waiting for them to come up with my recommended.
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  On top of this, the fact that shorts is becoming more
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  prominent is another algorithm driven way to consume content.
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  At the end of the day, though, when it comes to the social
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  media quote UN quote ban, there are still a lot of questions
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  around the logistics and, like I said earlier, whether it's
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  actually feasible. I do think, though, that this
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  would be an especially interesting story to include
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  alongside the world ID one because it kind of shows another
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  use for verification technology in that it would be able to
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  potentially verify ages. I've seen commentary from
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  various Australian media talking about possible tools that could
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  be used to identify ages once this quote, UN quote ban comes
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  to fruition. And this is ranging from facial
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  recognition to hand movement recognition.
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  But there is definitely a lot of unanswered questions about how
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  this will be instituted. Like I said, even though there
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  are ongoing trials. But yeah, I just thought that
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  this would be an interesting story to include.
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  OK, my last story for today is that Be Real is trying to make a
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  comeback. So I put this story in today's
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  episode for personal reasons that were funny to me because
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  one of my friends who is a frequent listener of mini tech
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  Scroll, you know who you are, is trying to bring back Be Real and
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  has been telling me to stop posting on the app again.
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  Anyway, let's backtrack a little bit though.
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  I'm assuming we all know what Be Real is, but for a brief
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  reminder, if you somehow missed this giant viral moment of 2022,
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  this was an app where users would get a notification one
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  moment of the day and have to take a picture of themselves and
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  their surroundings. I feel like the appeal of Be
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  Real was, you know, stepping away from the highlight reel
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  that is typically associated with social media and just
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  seeing what people are doing on that day-to-day.
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  While this was refreshing, I do think people got bored of this
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  quite quickly. When doing research for this
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  episode, I actually went back to reporting at the time to see
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  what people were saying about Be Real to kind of gauge how viral
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  it actually was. And as reported by Lori Clark
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  for the Guardian quote, currently the number one social
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  networking app in the Apple App Store in the US, Be Real is
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  growing rapidly. The vast majority of its
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  lifetime 28,000,000 downloads happened this year, according to
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  The Business of Apps. Its popularity is radiating out
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  beyond the colored students that first jumped on board thanks in
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  part to an ambassador program and payments for signing up.
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  Obviously there has been many downloads since then.
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  I have seen reports of 100 million plus downloads.
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  But nevertheless, the appeal and demand for burial has definitely
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  tapered. But Be Real is reportedly hoping
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  to change that. Speaking to Business Insider, Be
• 11:56
  Reels Managing director Ben Moore said the app is adding new
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  features and ramping up marketing to build momentum, as
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  Moore told the publication. Quote, we have people that are
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  committed to building the next big thing with Be Real.
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  We can make something that really answers the demands of
• 12:11
  Gen. Z who are sick and tired of the
• 12:13
  filters, of the lenses, of the social pressure of posting
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  something that's not going to get them the level of views and
• 12:19
  likes they would want. So how Be Real is planning on
• 12:22
  doing this is multifaceted. First, they are planning on
• 12:26
  investing more in advertising, which would involve maybe
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  leaning into college ambassadors and sponsoring events that might
• 12:33
  require guests to download the app to gain entry.
• 12:36
  This is definitely an extension of what they were doing when the
• 12:39
  app kind of first became popular because university students were
• 12:43
  definitely a major group using the app anyway.
• 12:46
  Next they are adding new features like Nearby, which lets
• 12:50
  people discover other users local to them.
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  And even though I don't really use Be Real anymore, who knows,
• 12:57
  maybe I'll pick it back up. I'm not sure if this is
• 12:59
  something I would have wanted from the app because I feel like
• 13:03
  it was more about just seeing your close knit circle of
• 13:05
  friends and what they were doing.
• 13:07
  And also like the Be Real could go off at like 6:00 AM and I am
• 13:11
  not my best person at 6:00 AM so do I want random people to see
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  me at 6:00 AM? Not necessarily.
• 13:17
  Aside from that though, Be Real has also introduced ads, which
• 13:21
  is definitely helpful for them on the commercial side of the
• 13:24
  business because there was a lot of questions at Be Real's peak
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  how they were going to effectively monetize.
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  To kind of conclude this story, I am really not sure if Be Real
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  can ever come back to the way that it was just because we're
• 13:36
  so viral. So it's popularity and use was
• 13:39
  kind of skewed and even though it was kind of gimmicky, I can't
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  see a world where Be Real is continued to be used, maybe by
• 13:47
  smaller groups of people. Like I said, it is important to
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  prioritize real life, even though like I said, people do
• 13:53
  get bored of it pretty quick. But who knows, if Snapchat has
• 13:56
  managed to make it all these years, there might be a place
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  for be real. Anyway, I think that is
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  everything from me today. I hope you all enjoyed this
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  week's episode and Lauren will speak to you tomorrow.
• 14:09
  Thanks. Bye.