Can MrBeast be cancelled?

+ Worldcoin’s Orb Factory, surveillance selfies, and the friendliest social network you've never heard of

For years now, MrBeast has been the king of the internet. The 26-year-old creator has the most subscribed to channel on YouTube, millions of young fans, and a new streaming deal with Amazon.

But after a string of controversies, his empire might be faltering.

How did all of this happen and what does a potential MrBeast downfall mean for the creator world? I talked to digital culture reporter Steven Asarch, who has been breaking a ton of news related to MrBeast’s challenges for Rolling Stone and Passionfruit.

We break down how the Beast backlash began, the validity of the claims, the alt-right's hand in “cancelling” MrBeast, his rabid young fandom, traditional media vs the creator economy, and how this fallout might ultimately affect the broader creator landscape.

Watch my interview below or listen to the latest episode of Power User wherever you get your podcasts!

What I’m reading

A Minion Dying on a Cross Is Going Viral.

Here's why videos featuring Minions from Despicable Me being crucified are being posted by Christian influencers looking to spread the Gospel. - Rolling Stone

Elon Musk’s Twitter Space With Donald Trump Was a Dumpster Fire

A rocky night for X—but a great night for scammy AI. - Mother Jones

NBC Sent 27 Creators to Paris. It Only Needed Snoop and Olympic Athletes

In an attempt to lure in younger viewers, NBCUniversal sent dozens of social media influencers to the 2024 Paris Olympics. But the athletes and celebs were the ones who went viral. - WIRED

Meta Partners With Koch Industries to Sponsor Event Featuring Climate Denier Barry Cooper

Chris Rufo, the far right activist who created a moral panic around ‘critical race theory,’ is headlining. - Desmog

How an Instagram-Perfect Life in the Hamptons Ended in Tragedy

Candice and Brandon Miller showed the public a world of glittering parties and vacations. The money to sustain it did not exist. - NY Times

Brands Love Influencers (Until Politics Get Involved)

Marketing firms are using artificial intelligence to help analyze influencers and predict whether they will opine about the election. - NY Times

What to Know About the 'Demure' Trend on TikTok

The word 'demure' is all anyone can say right now after creator @joolieannie made multiple videos sharing tips about how achieve that attitude. - Time

The Friendliest Social Network You’ve Never Heard Of

On Front Porch Forum, politics is fair game but unkindness is strictly prohibited. - Washington Post

Inside Worldcoin’s Orb Factory, Audacious and Absurd Defender of Humanity

The startup, co-founded by Sam Altman, is determined to verify every human on Earth, one iris at a time. - Bloomberg

Why Is My TV Saying It Hates Me?

Sometime last month, David Farrier’s TV started talking to him. And it wasn’t good. - Webworm

Elon Musk’s embrace of Trump is turning off these Tesla lovers

The entrepreneur’s provocative online posts repel some EV buyers, but he may be winning over some conservatives, analysts and consumers say. - Washington Post

He Made a Movie About Humans Rising Up Against AI. Now He's Doing the Real Thing

Mike Rianda’s The Mitchells vs. the Machines is a sci-fi comedy about a family fighting back against Silicon Valley tech. As animators gear up to battle Hollywood studios, it’s becoming a fable. - WIRED

The Podcast Shorter than Your Subway Ride, Recorded on Your Subway Ride

Kareem Rahma and Andrew Kuo devised “Subway Takes” to solicit controversial opinions on the train, like why men should sit to pee. - New Yorker

Harris campaign's Google ads rewrite news headlines

The Harris campaign is running ads with news headlines that have been edited to make articles from major publishers appear pro-Harris. - Axios

TikTok push alerts include fake news and weeks-old tsunami warning

False claims about Taylor Swift among outdated and misleading information in news-style notifications from video-sharing app. - FT

What Tweens Get from Sephora and What They Get from Us

Kids are mimicking the semi-professionals they see on their phones, imbibing ideas about beauty rooted in deep desires and capitulations. - New Yorker

The Taste of Dirt

Daisy Alioto has big ambitions for her small media empire. - NY Times

Instagram Views for Major Accounts Drop With Meta Shunning Politics

A new study found that progressive Instagram accounts saw their reach decline by 65% on average in the months following Meta’s move to downrank political content on the app. - Bloomberg

Gamergate’s Legacy Lives on in Attacks Against Kamala Harris

A decade after Gamergate launched a new, toxic era of online communication, the tactics developed and honed in 2014 are now in full view in attacks against the vice president. - WIRED

We’re Entering an AI Price-Fixing Dystopia

Algorithmic collusion appears to be spreading to more and more industries. And existing laws may not be equipped to stop it. - The Atlantic

Meet the Lawyer Taking on the Logan Paul vs Coffeezilla Lawsuit

Lawyer Bill Ogden is no stranger to the internet. Now, he's defending YouTuber Coffeezilla against a lawsuit from influencer Logan Paul. - Passionfruit

TikTok adds group chats

TikTok looks to be taking on popular messaging services like Meta's WhatsApp and Apple's Messages. -TechCrunch

Trump turns to teen son Barron and his influencer best friend to rival Harris

Barron Trump and his conservative influencer best friend Bo Loudon, 17, are hoping to help Trump secure the Gen Z vote. - Independent

Aggregation theory

The internet right now feels like it has fewer centers of gravity than it has in a long time. Instead there are many, many planets of various sizes. - One Thing

Honor Levy’s My First Book bites off more than it can chew.

What’s strangest about Levy’s approach is that it’s almost antithetical to how using the internet feels. - Alta

Gen Z Loves Cassettes. But Wait, How Do These Things Work?

The Spotify generation is buying albums on tape, getting schooled on how people listened to music in the ’80s and ’90s. - WSJ

DNC to stream vertically on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube

Democrats hope to bring in younger viewers by broadcasting the programming across platforms. - Axios

The Little Streamer That Could

Tubi has exploded in popularity over the past 18 months, outpacing some competitors with much bigger budgets. - NY Times

Child’s Pay

Entrepreneurial teens are swapping traditional after-school activities for side hustles, from content editing to crypto investing. - Airmail

Twitch rolls out video stories to challenge Instagram

The videos can be up to 60 seconds long and set to expire after one, 12, 24, or 48 hours. - TechCrunch

Now it’s Democrats who want the House to investigate X for political censorship

Surely, self-proclaimed free speech champion Jim Jordan will be even-handed. - Engadget

Other fun stuff

This website turns NYC traffic cameras into a photo booths. Take your own “surveillance selfie!”

POV: your 38 year old friend is having a Brat summer

Why the hell are all control rooms seafoam green? Something I never thought about but now can’t help but notice.

i_sodope

A post shared by @i_sodope

The girls are using ChatGPT to see if men are lying about their height on dating apps.

Behold, the most D.C. meet-cute:

I cannot believe this is legal(!!) A doctor died from anaphylaxis due to allergens at Disney restaurant after being assured the food was allergen free. His widow sued Disney, and the company responded that the couple had once signed up for a Disney+ streaming app free trial and therefore agreed to all of the company’s terms of service, therefore they can’t sue. I hope this poor widow gets $1 billion dollars.

Obama snubbed Chappell.

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