Why is Instagram Reels so unhinged?

+ OnlyFans is making billions, IG photo dumps are over, Moo Deng, and a livestream w/ Ken Klippenstein

You’d think that a social media algorithm would focus on the things that you like and serve you as much of that content as possible. TikTok and YouTube seem to have mastered this concept, but there’s one place online where the conventional rules of social media don’t seem to apply: Instagram Reels.

On Instagram Reels, the weirdest stuff and the most random people will pop into your feed with no rhyme or reason. I’ve become obsessed with Reels in recent months, as has my guest on Power User this week, Business Insider correspondent Katie Notopolous.

Together, we dive deep into the world of Instagram Reels and unpack how it became home to some of the most cursed content on the web.

LISTEN: How Instagram Reels became the weirdest place on the internet

Join me on Substack Live w/ Ken Klippenstein

Tomorrow at 12:00pm ET, my good friend Ken Klippenstein, an independent national security and U.S. political reporter, and I will be doing a livestream on Substack!

Ken and I will be chatting about independent vs legacy media, tech policy and civil liberties, the impending TikTok ban and more. To RSVP, click accept invitation below and download the app.

Unpacking the Kamala microphone earring conspiracy

Some of the dumbest people alive are still debating whether or not Harris wore secret microphone earrings at the debate. She did not. This rumor was started by users on X and quickly spread across Instagram and other social platforms.

When it became clear that there were major visual differences between the Tiffany & Co. earrings Harris was likely wearing and the alleged Nova H1 Audio Earrings that she was definitely not wearing, conspiracy theorists pivoted again.

Right wing podcaster Bret Weinstein and some of his supporters are now claiming that it was all an intentional 4d chess move to “trap” them into believing a falsehood, which, of course, he’s careful to say that he’s not even sure is false (it is false). "We are now being targeted in order to make us jump at things that aren't real,” he tells his followers.

What Weinstein is doing here is a tactic that conspiracy theorists are relying more and more on. When easily disprovable conspiracies are proved false, they pivot to claiming that their confusion was intentional, it was manufactured as part of some secretive grand plan to distract the masses. These sorts of beliefs were always core to the QAnon movement, but I feel like we’re seeing them more and more as real time fact checking ramps up and people wall themselves off and build their own realities online.

What I’m reading

Breaking Down OnlyFans’ Stunning Economics

Over the past five years, OnlyFans creators have collected over $15 billion, with $5.3 billion paid in 2023, a 19% increase year-over-year. - Matthew Ball

Confessions of a Hinge Power User

“It’s gonna sound wild, but I’ve probably been on close to 200 dates in the last year and a half.” - WIRED

The Desperation of the Instagram Photo Dump

On today’s social media, the only way to counteract the overflow of online content is to put out an overflow of your own. - New Yorker

Do Animals Know That They Will Die?

An existential mystery. (Everything Ross Andersen writes is worth reading) - The Atlantic

Celebrity Number Six and the unreal power of crowdsourced investigations

“Empowered with new generative AI and facial recognition tools that make their work more effective, and armed with far more free time than experts could ever muster, these sleuths have raised significant questions about privacy, vigilantism and the so-called wisdom of crowds.” - Links I Would Gchat You If We Were Friends

Sausage rolls and Oasis: ‘Britishcore’

TikTok trend drives interest in UK culture From crummy pubs to a ‘cheeky Tesco run’, some of the most mundane aspects of British life are going viral. - Guardian

Conspiracy Theories Are No Longer as Useful as Trump Thinks They Are

For the first time in almost a decade, writes Ryan Broderick, misinformation has become a political liability. - GQ

How 9/11 Became One of the Internet’s Most Popular Memes

“It's hard not to find the absurdity in it," says one college student whose joke went viral. - Rolling Stone

Twilight of the Emoji

The usefulness of these formerly fun discourse pictures is on the wane. - The Atlantic

America Is Primed for an AI Election Backlash

Whichever candidate loses in November will have an easy scapegoat. - The Atlantic

The War Crimes That the Military Buried

The largest known database of possible American war crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan shows that the military-justice system rarely punishes perpetrators. - New Yorker

More fun stuff

I love the adorable Thai baby pygmy hippo Moo Deng, who always looks slightly terrified. I don’t know what it is about Moo Deng but it’s been a minute since we’ve had a good, adorable viral animal.

Google AI search results are now suggesting that parents smear human feces on balloons to help potty train them.

Gen Z teachers are making their classrooms ~aesthetic~.

Cool website full of old Casio wrist camera photos.

The Verge spoke with writer Max Wolf Friedlich about his Broadway play that confronts the horrifying work of online content moderation.

I predict the forthcoming face with bags under eyes emoji will get heavy use.

PS: I’m on vacation this week and traveling internationally the next two weeks. I’m going to TRY to be as offline as possible. So you won’t see me as much in your inbox. 🇮🇹

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