For over two decades, “Google it” has been the default way to find answers online. Now that dominance is being tested by a new wave of AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and upstarts such as Perplexity, which deliver conversational answers instead of a list of links. These disruptors are being cast as a mortal threat […]
The Hashtag That Shows Trump Is Losing Control of MAGA
President Donald Trump is navigating one of the most perilous periods of his two combined terms as a firestorm of controversy over the so-called “Epstein Files” divides his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement and fuels an unprecedented online rebellion against him. The president, a master of online communication, now finds himself on the defensive […]
The Casino Social Media Platform That Wants to ‘Kill’ Facebook and TikTok
Pump.fun, a viral crypto launchpad built on Solana, says it wants to “kill Facebook, TikTok, and Twitch.” If that sounds like meme-fueled madness, it might be, but it also just pulled off one of the most astonishing fundraising feats in recent memory, raking in an eye-watering $600 million in 12 minutes through a public token […]
Trump Is Losing His Army of Internet Alpha Males Over the Epstein Files
“Cover-up.” That’s the word ricocheting through the manosphere, echoing across X feeds and podcast episodes after the Trump administration released the so-called Epstein files, and declared the case closed. The backlash was instant and fierce. These were Donald Trump’s most vocal defenders in the 2024 campaign: tradcons, alpha bros, influencers, and masculine revivalists who painted […]
The New Internet Sheriff Takes a Shot at Google
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince didn’t make his biggest AI announcement in a press release or earnings call. He made it one X reply at a time. Earlier this month, Cloudflare launched what it called “Content Independence Day,” a policy change that blocks AI companies from scraping the websites it protects unless they compensate content creators. […]
Trump Says “Very Wealthy People” Are Ready to Buy TikTok
Just weeks after extending the deadline for its sale for a third time, President Donald Trump announced Sunday that he has found a buyer for TikTok’s U.S. operations. The popular social media app has been under intense pressure due to a law passed in 2024 that requires its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the […]
Trump and His Online Alpha Males Have a Meltdown Over NYC’s Newest Socialist Star
Zohran Mamdani has managed to do something rare in today’s fractured political climate: he has united a faction of the Democratic establishment with an army of online alpha males in shared outrage. Since his victory in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York on June 24, the socialist assemblyman has been subjected to a […]
Only 22 U.S. States Met Bare-Minimum Broadband Internet Speeds in 2024
Sometimes, people assume that solving the digital divide begins and ends at giving everyone internet access. But what good is a connection if it’s too slow for you to actually do anything? That’s why taking broadband speeds into account is critical. Unfortunately, a new report found that the digital divide increased in 32 states as […]
A Populist Influencer Is Running for Congress, and She Actually Understands YouTube
Journalist and influencer Kat Abughazaleh announced she’s running for Congress in a YouTube video. In a video that looked more like a livestream than an announcement of a bid for office, Abughazaleh promised to run a transparent campaign, fight for affordable groceries, and stand up to authoritarians. Abughazaleh is running in Illinois’ 9th district, which […]
Notes on a Meme: The Grotesque Pleasure of Bloated JD Vance Pictures
Like many of you, I spend a lot of time texting back and forth with friends. Many of those text chains are now inundated with pictures of JD Vance. Maybe you’ve seen them. There are new ones every day. The bearded Vice President bloats, his eyes grow huge, he’s a carnival grotesque, his chin widening, […]