Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI TECH SCROLL: Apple Cider Vinegar recap, US TikTok update, Mexico vs. Google, Buzzfeed to launch social platform + Netflix considers podcasts

Transcript

MINI TECH SCROLL: Apple Cider Vinegar recap, US TikTok update, Mexico vs. Google, Buzzfeed to launch social platform + Netflix considers podcasts · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  Hey everyone, and welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
• 0:02
  culture podcast bring 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'm
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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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  Before we get into this week's stories, I did see someone
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  comment asking Lauren to discuss the new Netflix show Apple Cider
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  Vinegar. And I'm obviously not Lauren,
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  but I recently watched the show and I wanted to talk about it.
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  So I'm using this as my opportunity because I'm super
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  curious to hear what you guys thought of it.
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  For those of you who aren't familiar with the show, it
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  followed the influencer named Belle Gibson who essentially
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  faked having brain cancer to build her brand.
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  I honestly had heard a little bit about the story before
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  watching the show, but I really wasn't familiar with everything
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  that went down and obviously it was partially fictionalized so
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  it wasn't all true. With that being said, I did.
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  I did really enjoy the series. I thought it was super well done
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  and super engaging, but it was such a heavy watch.
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  I don't know if I just kind of went in a little bit too blind,
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  but I feel like I did not hear people talking about how intense
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  of a show it was. Like I really just binged it so
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  it could be over because it was so heavy, but it was really
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  good. And I have seen a lot of
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  interesting analysis about the show, some about the medical
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  system, others about approaching an illness like cancer through
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  natural remedies, and of course others about the creator
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  economy. But one analysis that I found
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  specifically interesting was an essay published on Medium by a
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  film critic named Janine T Abraham.
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  And she essentially explored how different characters approaches
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  to illness reflect different norms and experiences.
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  So she did take a more critical lens, not critical in the
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  negative sense, but she analyzed the show through kind of the
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  lens of race. And I really thought it was such
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  an interesting take. I will link it in the
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  description. We did also include it in the
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  newsletter last week. So if you're hearing me
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  recycling points, no, you didn't.
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  But yeah, I would definitely recommend looking at that.
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  Aside from that, I am definitely interested to hear what you guys
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  thought of the show, if you thought it was entertaining, if
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  you thought it was heavy, if you liked it.
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  I'm so curious. Other than that, Please remember
• 2:24
  to rate, review and subscribe to Infinite Scroll.
• 2:26
  We are on the road to 1K Spotify star reviews and also 10K
• 2:30
  subscribers on YouTube so please help us out there if you can.
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  My first story today is another Tiktok US update because last
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  week Tiktok finally came back online in US app stores after
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  being unavailable since Tiktok went dark back in January.
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  According to reporting by Bloomberg, Apple and Google both
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  restored the app in their respective app stores after US
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  Attorney General Pam Bondi assured that the ban wouldn't
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  immediately be enforced, as I'm sure we all remember.
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  But last month, there was so much confusion around how the
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  ban would be instituted, along with who would be penalized when
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  it came to the January 19 deadline.
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  And with that, obviously, app stores were very cautious of how
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  they approached the ban. But as TechCrunch reported
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  earlier this week, quote, service providers like Oracle
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  restored their services to the app, but Apple and Google kept
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  the app out of the US App Store since there was some confusion
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  regarding the penalties that would be imposed given the law
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  had only been deferred. Ever since then, Tiktok users
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  who had deleted the app at the time of the ban haven't been
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  able to redownload it from the App Store.
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  I don't know how much you guys really listen to council these
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  days or how often it comes up on your For You page, but Brooke
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  Schofield is one example of a user who deleted the app when
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  TikTok went dark. She's been talking about on and
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  off how she hasn't been able to redownload the app and how she
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  just feels out of the loop because everyone else is back on
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  TikTok. Even though there are users who
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  haven't been able to redownload the app.
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  Trump since the beginning of his time, has made it clear that
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  he's working to save TikTok. And obviously we have spoken
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  about that at length on this podcast.
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  But that doesn't mean stability for the platform.
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  As we know, many users and companies still remain concerned
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  about the future of TikTok. As Mark Garman explains for
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  Bloomberg quote, the move follows weeks of uncertainty
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  about Tik Tok's future, and there's still no guarantee that
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  it will survive in the US in the long run.
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  So to stop everything that went down in January from happening
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  again, the government essentially has to make a deal
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  by early April, which is 75 days since Trump signed the executive
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  order that delayed the ban. While there have been a few
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  updates about which companies are vying for TikTok, some of
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  which I have reported on, it is still very much up in the air.
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  However, there have been some reports that the TikTok
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  portfolio and the deal making process has been passed over to
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  Vice President JD Vance. Also, I literally can't say JD
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  Vance without thinking of Jack Schlossberg being like JD.
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  It's forever in my brain. But anyway, this of course is
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  pretty significant because it has been given to the second in
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  command, signalling that the Trump administration is serious
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  about saving the platform or at least trying to save the
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  platform. According to reporting from the
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  New York Times quote, Mr. Vance's involvement ensures that
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  he and Mr. Trump, both of whom once supported banning TikTok
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  because of national security concerns, have some public
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  accountability for saving it. The New York Times reporters
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  also spoke to a former Biden White House official who worked
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  on national security, tech and economic issues, who said that
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  by putting JD Vance in charge of the negotiations, it also lends
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  some credibility to the issue. The next story is more news
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  related to the Trump administration.
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  Mini tech scroll is really becoming political, but I can't
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  help it. But anyway, Mexico is
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  threatening to sue Google over Google Maps changing the Gulf of
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  Mexico go to the Gulf of America.
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  That is honestly a crazy sentence and feels insane to
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  talk about on this podcast, but I'll give you some context
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  first. Before Trump's inauguration, he
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  announced plans to change the Gulf of Mexico's name to the
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  Gulf of America. For those unfamiliar with the
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  region, the Gulf of Mexico is a body of water bordered by parts
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  of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and
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  Texas, as well as Mexico and Cuba.
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  And on his first day in office, Trump did go on to sign an
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  executive order which changed the name of the body of water.
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  As far as the reaction to this move, many Trump supporters
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  backed the decision, while others were kind of confused
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  about the desire to change the name.
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  Nonetheless, various companies have pushed back, one such being
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  The Associated Press. After the order, the AP
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  announced that it would continue using the name Gulf of Mexico
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  and was subsequently barred from covering White House events.
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  Google, however, followed President Trump's directive with
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  Google Maps now showing the Gulf of America in place of the Gulf
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  of Mexico for users on both the web and mobile in the United
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  States. Users in Mexico, however,
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  continue to see the Gulf of Mexico while the rest of the
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  world will see the original name with Gulf of America in
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  brackets. But earlier this week, the
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  Mexican president, Claudia Scheinbaum did threaten to sue
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  Google for the name change. Mexico had already sent a letter
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  to Google contesting the name change, but with no change since
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  from the tech giant. The Mexican president did say
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  that a civil suit would be on the table if Google does not
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  correct what she described as a, quote, inaccurate designation.
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  And according to reporting from The Associated Press quote,
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  Mexico has argued that the mapping policy violates Mexican
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  sovereignty because the US only has jurisdiction over around 46%
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  of the Gulf. The rest is controlled by
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  Mexico, which controls 49%, and Cuba, which controls around 5%.
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  The name Gulf of Mexico dates back to 16/07 and is recognized
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  by the United Nations. Moving away from all that US
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  tech political drama, BuzzFeed is launching a new social media
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  platform. BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti
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  recently shared that the company is working to develop a social
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  media platform that capitalizes on creativity and connection.
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  Firstly, before we get into all this, I do just want to say that
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  it will never not wig me out that the BuzzFeed CEO is
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  siblings with Chelsea Peretti who is Gina from Brooklyn. 9/9
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  like that just feels like an insane crossover between 2
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  worlds. Anyway, the platform is set to
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  be called BuzzFeed Island, or BF Island for short, and it will
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  essentially allow users to use AI to create and share content
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  around their interests. According to reporting from
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  Axios, BuzzFeed also shared a quote UN quote manifesto behind
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  the decision to launch BF Island, pointing to the
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  algorithmic bias of other platforms and the toxic effect
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  of technology on its users. The manifesto reads quote We are
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  creating a new social media platform built specifically to
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  spread joy and enable playful creative expression.
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  This social media platform will use AI to give users agency
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  instead of stealing their agency.
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  I'm fed up with giving the platform companies advice about
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  how to fix the Internet. If we want this done right, we
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  have to do it ourselves. I will say that not much is
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  known about the platform at this current time, but it is set to
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  have a quote freemium model where simple features are
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  available for free and more advanced features are available
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  with a subscription. And it is being developed with a
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  small group of BuzzFeed employees at the moment.
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  Given the state of publishers, publishing and media kind of
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  more broadly, I do really think it's cool to see a media
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  company, obviously with a major publishing wing make moves like
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  this and experiment with new platforms and revenue streams.
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  Whatever you think of BuzzFeed, it has always kind of been a
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  trailblazer. We covered this a little bit in
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  a deep dive last year where we went into the evolution of
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  digital media, and we spoke about how BuzzFeed really
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  bridged the gap between publishers and influencer
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  culture. Along with that, BuzzFeed has
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  always kind of taken unique approaches to media.
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  For instance, when it was first launched, it didn't actually
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  employ any writers or editors, relying solely on an algorithm
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  to track stories that were on the brink of virality.
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  And now this might kind of seem obvious, but this was back in
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  2006 and a lot has obviously changed since then.
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  I am definitely excited to see where this goes, although I am a
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  little bit cynical about new social media platforms being
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  launched and whether people will actually go to them or if it
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  would just be a fad. I think it is really hard to
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  have the longevity of certain apps like TikTok, Instagram,
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  YouTube, but with that being said, I don't think it's
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  impossible. I just don't know if this will
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  be it. And finally, my last story for
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  today is that Netflix is attempting to cash in on the
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  creator economy by making a play for podcasters.
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  According to recent reporting from Business Insider, Netflix
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  is eyeing podcasters for potential deals.
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  Insiders familiar with Netflix's strategy told the publication
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  that the company has been exploring ways to bring
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  podcasting talent onto the platform.
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  According to the same article, which will be LinkedIn the
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  description. Don't worry.
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  But Netflix reportedly considered a deal with Alex
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  Cooper, who was the host of Call Her Daddy last year, but she
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  ultimately signed with SiriusXM in a deal worth up to $125
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  million. But with that being said,
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  Netflix is reportedly becoming more and more open to the idea
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  of podcasters hosting talk based video shows.
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  And the push to bring in podcasters also shows Netflix
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  brought a shift towards working with digital creators.
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  While this may seem like a little bit of a shift, and it is
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  definitely being reported as such, I'm not exactly sure if
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  that is the case. Recently Netflix did start
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  working with Miss Rachel, who is a YouTube who is very popular
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  among children, but she was by no means the first influencer
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  that Netflix has worked with. I know this is a controversial
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  example and I do not want to direct any more attention to her
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  than I should, but Colleen Ballinger did work with Netflix
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  way back in 20/16/2017 as Miranda Sings for Hey to back
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  off. So while they may be moving to
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  podcasters, and granted that is a little bit different from more
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  mainstream Youtubers and influences, it is not Netflix's
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  fast foray into the influence of realm by any means.
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  And honestly, with Netflix making a play for podcasters, it
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  isn't exactly surprising. Firstly, of course, podcasters
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  are so popular, but also because YouTube has cemented itself as
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  one of, if not the top platform for podcasts and that is a
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  competitor to Netflix. I am sure Netflix is paying
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  close attention and wanting to compete with YouTube for
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  streaming time of consumers. Anyway, that is everything from
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  me today. I really hope you enjoyed this
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  week's episode. I don't think I'll be speaking
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  to you next week because mini scrolls taking a week off
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  because Lauren will be at a conference, but I will see you
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  the week after that and Lauren will speak to you tomorrow.
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  Thanks. Bye.