1 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:11,400 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it could happen. Here the only podcast that 2 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 1: is on right now in your ears where you can 3 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:18,280 Speaker 1: listen to us talk about things falling apart and occasionally 4 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:22,320 Speaker 1: more optimistic stuff. Garrison, is this one of the more 5 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: optimistic stuff days? Not really, Oh great, it's it's things 6 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:29,760 Speaker 1: falling apart, but in a slightly amusing way. Oh well 7 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 1: that's fine too. Yeah, it's it's it's gonna be fine. 8 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:37,560 Speaker 1: So have is any is any of y'all's familiar with 9 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:44,320 Speaker 1: the Devious Licks? Vaguely? Yeah, so all of all of 10 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: I'm sure all of the I'm sure all of the 11 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:48,479 Speaker 1: Lick fans are gonna be really excited about today's episode 12 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:51,400 Speaker 1: because the first half will be we'll be talking about 13 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:55,720 Speaker 1: all of the all of the Licks. So for for 14 00:00:55,880 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: those unfamiliar the Devious Licks meme challenge. Things started with 15 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: this video by a kid who had stolen quote unquote 16 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: stolen a bunch of like COVID masks from his school 17 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:13,119 Speaker 1: and then was showing off his uh his harvest on 18 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,319 Speaker 1: TikTok played over you know, played over a song or 19 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:20,000 Speaker 1: something as as you do on the tiktoks. So they 20 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:23,080 Speaker 1: posted the video with this caption. A month into school 21 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: absolutely devious lick and lick. I think lick just means 22 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:31,840 Speaker 1: like stealing, like like you like stole something and like 23 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 1: that's like that is a lick. I was so sad 24 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:37,280 Speaker 1: when I first heard about this. I heard I heard 25 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: someone say devious licks, and I was like, they're like, oh, 26 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:42,680 Speaker 1: the TikTok challenge, and I was like, oh shit, people 27 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:45,120 Speaker 1: are like walking up to like like they're gonna like 28 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:47,120 Speaker 1: lick the under side of a bridge or something. And 29 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 1: then it was not that unfortunately, unfortunately not. Yeah, it is, 30 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 1: it is. It is a real loss. So this this 31 00:01:55,200 --> 00:02:00,240 Speaker 1: video went very very viral on TikTok very very quickly 32 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:03,880 Speaker 1: among kids whom's like they're in person. School had just 33 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: had just started. This was this thing in like late August, 34 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 1: early September of last year, uh, you know, first with 35 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:15,920 Speaker 1: you know, the initial video then subsequently inspired a bunch 36 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 1: of copycat school related heists that then posted into TikTok's 37 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: first People just stealing like small, mostly low stakes things, 38 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:28,560 Speaker 1: usually inside the bathrooms, you know, stuff like toilet paper rolls, 39 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 1: paper tower rolls, soap from soap dispensers, light bulbs, you know, 40 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 1: like like floor tiles, just like just like small things. 41 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:43,240 Speaker 1: But after a while the small fry wasn't was not 42 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: enough anymore. People started to get more brazen, uh more, 43 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 1: more more devious, you might say, Yeah, they were. They 44 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:57,440 Speaker 1: moved on to like full on toilet heists and you know, 45 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:02,760 Speaker 1: electric hand tryers. They stole a teacher's entire desk and 46 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:09,359 Speaker 1: a whole bathroom sink. So yeah, and eventually they kind 47 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:12,320 Speaker 1: of dropped all pretense of this being hoisting and just 48 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:17,639 Speaker 1: started just like destroying the bathrooms, not even stealing things anymore. Yeah, Garrison, 49 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:19,160 Speaker 1: you and I have a friend who works at a 50 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:21,280 Speaker 1: school where this has been We got accused of like 51 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:24,960 Speaker 1: pushing disinformation when we talked about this on Worst Year, 52 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 1: but it's like, no, we know people who work at 53 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:30,160 Speaker 1: a school that has not had functional student bathrooms. Happened, 54 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 1: and it's very funny, as just just just to clarify 55 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: my opinion on it, very funny. Yes, it's yes, they 56 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: but yeah, just just it started. It started with stealing 57 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: and then just Scott turned into let's just destroy the bathrooms, 58 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: which is pretty funny. Kids rock, Kids rock. So obviously, schools, 59 00:03:53,240 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 1: teachers and principles were scrambling their confusion only upseeded, uh 60 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:04,240 Speaker 1: by their being upset because obviously they shouldn't have allowed 61 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: children to be born into a world where TikTok could exist. 62 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:09,760 Speaker 1: Really is on them, And you know, all of the 63 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: upsettedness by teachers and schools only like contributed to the 64 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: meme with like kids posting their principles reactions to it. 65 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,359 Speaker 1: You know, like like people like like announcing over the intercom, 66 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:24,160 Speaker 1: like like new rules about how to prevent the bathroom destruction. 67 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:28,400 Speaker 1: Schools are having to like station staff members outside of 68 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:31,400 Speaker 1: bathrooms to like like check and hopefully like ward off 69 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: any possible destructive shenanigans. It was, it was this, It 70 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 1: was it was this entire thing. Uh. And it got 71 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: to the point where TikTok actually had to step in 72 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: to kind of curb this meme. They banned the hashtag 73 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 1: dvos slick. They took down any content that had anything 74 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:49,560 Speaker 1: to do with the trend, and this seemed to work. 75 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:53,360 Speaker 1: After a few weeks, the meme kind of reached the 76 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:57,320 Speaker 1: end of its virality cycle. Teachers got to breathe a 77 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:00,680 Speaker 1: sigh of relief. Maybe there would be no more smashed 78 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:08,840 Speaker 1: bathrooms or stolen desks, you fools, But their calumn did 79 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: not last long. By the end of September, there were 80 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:18,840 Speaker 1: rumors perculating around that Devious Slicks did. Yeah, I got 81 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:25,800 Speaker 1: perculating percolating. Come on, I don't know, but it was. 82 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:27,719 Speaker 1: It was, It was, it was. It was said that 83 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 1: the Davious Slicks may not have a wooden stick through 84 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: its heart, and we may have only witnessed the first wave. 85 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:37,719 Speaker 1: With something much darker lurking around the corner. On Facebook, 86 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:42,040 Speaker 1: various parent, teacher and law enforcement groups started circulating some 87 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 1: purported sorry started circulating some purported Shenanigan plans from the kids. 88 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:53,760 Speaker 1: On TikTok, there was this month by month calendar detailing 89 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:56,920 Speaker 1: two kids what sick pranks they should play on their 90 00:05:56,920 --> 00:05:59,599 Speaker 1: school for the for the entire rest of the year, 91 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:03,760 Speaker 1: and a few versions of this calendar were spread around, 92 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: but they all shared the same basic overall structure and 93 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:09,960 Speaker 1: prank ideas, just some like wording and phrasing changed. And 94 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:14,360 Speaker 1: the first upcoming challenge for the month of October was 95 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:20,120 Speaker 1: slap a teacher Sorry. This spread beyond Facebook and including 96 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:24,880 Speaker 1: to local news. Now another TikTok challenge getting a lot 97 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:28,520 Speaker 1: of attention tonight, and it's a violent one. Targeting teachers. 98 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:32,280 Speaker 1: That Nevada Joint Union superintendent asking parents now to tell 99 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:35,479 Speaker 1: their kids not to participate in this challenge. It encourages 100 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 1: students to actually slap their teachers. So although the smack 101 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:41,360 Speaker 1: a teacher line was what really got this thing to 102 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:46,200 Speaker 1: go viral on Facebook, the main screenshotted calendar that was 103 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 1: being circulated, the actual October challenge was listed as a 104 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:54,200 Speaker 1: smack of staff member on the backside. That was that 105 00:06:54,279 --> 00:06:58,280 Speaker 1: was the actual phrasing, which is a little, a little 106 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:03,720 Speaker 1: bizarre smack of staffer on the backside. Uh. November is 107 00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 1: kiss your friend's girlfriend at school, So again weird, weird phrasing. 108 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:14,720 Speaker 1: December is deck the halls and show your balls in 109 00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 1: school halls, which that one was probably written by a child. 110 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:25,080 Speaker 1: But then we get other stuff like January is jab abreast, 111 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:30,640 Speaker 1: uh so more more sexual assault jokes. February we have 112 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: a mess up school signs. March is make a mess 113 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:38,760 Speaker 1: in the courtyarder cafeteria. April this one's weird. April is 114 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 1: a grab some eggs, but eggs is in quotation marks 115 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:46,960 Speaker 1: with his z at the end. May is ditch day. 116 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: That's fine. June is flip off the front office, Okay, 117 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:54,160 Speaker 1: who cares? And July is spray and April's fence wow 118 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:58,120 Speaker 1: graffiti scary. So yeah, that is that is that is 119 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:03,800 Speaker 1: the calendar of challenges. Some of these seem more I mean, 120 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:06,560 Speaker 1: we talked about this a couple of months ago, and 121 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:09,960 Speaker 1: my feeling was that this started as something real, just 122 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,720 Speaker 1: like m yeah and and this this ship was where 123 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:16,600 Speaker 1: it was. It became nonsense. Was just like people sharing 124 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:19,200 Speaker 1: things that were going to anger boomers. This and we 125 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:23,280 Speaker 1: will we will get into this. So yeah. As as 126 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:26,360 Speaker 1: news about the TikTok challenges spread on Facebook, media, orgs 127 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:28,720 Speaker 1: picked up on the trend and started showting out headlines 128 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:33,280 Speaker 1: like TikTok's shocking school Challenges list twenty twenty one revealed 129 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:38,120 Speaker 1: and devious licks asks students via TikTok to smack a 130 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:43,040 Speaker 1: staff member that nation's teachers are feeling burnt out. So great, 131 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: great headlines there. So all of that sounds so obviously 132 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:50,439 Speaker 1: very scary. If if if teens around the country are 133 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: all united in this, in this, in this planned destruction 134 00:08:56,280 --> 00:08:59,680 Speaker 1: of our entire civilization, that that you know, we could 135 00:08:59,679 --> 00:09:03,840 Speaker 1: all be brought onto the brink of via teens destroying 136 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:06,199 Speaker 1: their schools was so that would be that would be 137 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:09,000 Speaker 1: kind of fun. But if you stop and think about 138 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:11,319 Speaker 1: the wording of that list for a sec, you might 139 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:14,320 Speaker 1: notice some things that just seem off, Like no Gen 140 00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:18,000 Speaker 1: Z kids are saying uh smack a staff member on 141 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:23,320 Speaker 1: the backside. That is not like you are the first 142 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:28,880 Speaker 1: member of Generation Z to say backside, backside. And like 143 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:32,920 Speaker 1: the challenge for April is grab some eggs and eggs 144 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:35,240 Speaker 1: in quotation arcs with a Z at the end, because yeah, 145 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:37,640 Speaker 1: all of all of the cool kids today uses Z 146 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:40,920 Speaker 1: at the end of words to make themselves. Again, it's 147 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:45,720 Speaker 1: some like fucking gen X or maybe elder millennial piece 148 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:48,240 Speaker 1: of shit trying to make people angry on the internet. 149 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:56,160 Speaker 1: And he's just like April, what goes with April? April eggs? Eggs? Yeah, 150 00:09:56,240 --> 00:09:59,000 Speaker 1: I don't know. Something like all of the language feels 151 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:02,160 Speaker 1: like what's what someone would write if they were trying 152 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:04,720 Speaker 1: to imitate what a cool nineties kid would talk like 153 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:07,679 Speaker 1: on TV. Yeah, it's a lot of people trying to 154 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:13,319 Speaker 1: write John Hughes movies. Yeah, but so, but all this 155 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:15,920 Speaker 1: was very viral for like it was the end of September. 156 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:17,839 Speaker 1: This was this was all massive and we we will. 157 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:20,320 Speaker 1: Don't worry. I will explain why we're talking about this 158 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:22,439 Speaker 1: now because this does this, this will circle back to 159 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:25,480 Speaker 1: actually current events. I'm not not just talking about a 160 00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:28,559 Speaker 1: September twenty twenty one trend. This, this does, this does 161 00:10:28,679 --> 00:10:33,640 Speaker 1: relate to stuff happening currently. But yeah, like suspicious language aside. 162 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:37,160 Speaker 1: The idea that the youths are purposely plotting on the 163 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:40,400 Speaker 1: tiktoks to assault teachers and we havoc all year long 164 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:43,959 Speaker 1: frightened many an adult, especially those that work in the 165 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:47,520 Speaker 1: education sector, who might have to face the possibility of 166 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:51,040 Speaker 1: a coordinated zoom er wrath. And you know, the past 167 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:52,880 Speaker 1: two years had already been kind of a ship show 168 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:55,480 Speaker 1: for schools, with switching to remote learning then back to 169 00:10:55,559 --> 00:10:58,240 Speaker 1: in person. Well, there's all all debate, all the debate 170 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:01,520 Speaker 1: around masks and vaccinations and the risk of being inside 171 00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:05,200 Speaker 1: around densely packed you know, groups of filthy, germ written children. 172 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:08,000 Speaker 1: Plus there's all these kids that got used to being 173 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:10,720 Speaker 1: home alone for so long learning half to like having 174 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:13,080 Speaker 1: to learn now how to like socialize in the class environment, 175 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:16,520 Speaker 1: all while dealing with the same mental trauma that we've 176 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:20,240 Speaker 1: all been dealing with around around the plague. So so, 177 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:24,600 Speaker 1: just having faced the actual, very real September devious licks, 178 00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:28,120 Speaker 1: the promise of a year lowing TikTok wave of destruction 179 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:32,240 Speaker 1: obviously frightened many parents and teachers, with educators on Facebook, 180 00:11:32,679 --> 00:11:35,160 Speaker 1: you know, starting to take this list as a very 181 00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:39,160 Speaker 1: real threat, with school districts you know, issuing warnings and 182 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:42,480 Speaker 1: parents were you know informed, like in mass about this 183 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:47,680 Speaker 1: very very real, very real threat. Educators be aware. That's 184 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:51,160 Speaker 1: the warning from the California Teachers Association. The group sent 185 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:54,600 Speaker 1: this message to educators letting them know about a potential 186 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:58,120 Speaker 1: TikTok trend calling for students to slap a staff member. 187 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:01,720 Speaker 1: Seminole County Schools just sent this letter to principles warning 188 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:05,559 Speaker 1: them of TikTok's October challenge, saying, quote, in the latest 189 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:09,200 Speaker 1: TikTok trend, students are asked to calmly walk up to 190 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:12,280 Speaker 1: their teachers, slap them, and then run off, making sure 191 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:25,680 Speaker 1: they capture the whole thing on camera. Okay, and we 192 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:30,320 Speaker 1: are back. So yeah, sure enough. News of teachers getting 193 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:35,160 Speaker 1: slapped began to circulate from local media into the national sphere, 194 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:40,280 Speaker 1: alongside headlines like TikTok inspired slap a Teacher challenge assault 195 00:12:40,559 --> 00:12:45,200 Speaker 1: reported at Braintree's East Middle School and Covington police say 196 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:53,319 Speaker 1: disabled teacher injured and suspected TikTok challenge assault by student. Uh. Yeah, 197 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:55,439 Speaker 1: so there was there was, There was a There was 198 00:12:55,480 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 1: a few slapping incidents reported onto mainstream onto mainstream news 199 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:03,600 Speaker 1: was all all tied to the to the TikTok assault. 200 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:08,040 Speaker 1: A teacher things as student in Louisiana was arrested and 201 00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:11,160 Speaker 1: faced felony charges, with police saying the assault was prompted 202 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:14,719 Speaker 1: by a quote prompted by a viral social media application 203 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:21,079 Speaker 1: known as TikTok. Sorry we've done the notorious hacker for 204 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:29,280 Speaker 1: chat again. Everything circles back application known as TikTok. So yeah, 205 00:13:29,559 --> 00:13:32,320 Speaker 1: in October, there were definitely incidents of students hitting teachers, 206 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:36,599 Speaker 1: But it's like that that in and of itself is 207 00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:40,559 Speaker 1: not up for debate. This, yes, uh, but the actual 208 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:44,640 Speaker 1: scale of content spreading this list and the subsequent slapping 209 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:49,160 Speaker 1: videos on the TikTok platform is something to question because 210 00:13:49,280 --> 00:13:52,240 Speaker 1: writing writing off of the September Davious licks trend, almost 211 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:56,880 Speaker 1: all media, police, parents, educators were super quick to link 212 00:13:56,960 --> 00:14:01,400 Speaker 1: this list and these few teachers kings to the social 213 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:05,840 Speaker 1: media platform used by gen Z, the application known as TikTok. 214 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:08,760 Speaker 1: And so we we have we have all this talk 215 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:11,320 Speaker 1: on the news and on Facebook. But the thing is, 216 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:14,920 Speaker 1: if you check TikTok or at like if if if, 217 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:17,640 Speaker 1: if you're actually on TikTok around this time, you wouldn't 218 00:14:17,679 --> 00:14:21,480 Speaker 1: find any viral videos. So teachers getting slapped or anything 219 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:25,800 Speaker 1: about this TikTok list of challenges at all. It wasn't 220 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:28,080 Speaker 1: actually there, like, it wasn't actually on TikTok. This this 221 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:32,000 Speaker 1: wasn't actually a thing. H So you know, then you know, 222 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:34,120 Speaker 1: you might be thinking, well, maybe TikTok's doing what they 223 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:37,840 Speaker 1: did previously just to shut down the original organic deviously challenge. 224 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:40,640 Speaker 1: What if they're just doing this like preemptively to taking 225 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:45,520 Speaker 1: down any content related to the list, any like corresponding hashtags, etcetera, etcetera. 226 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:48,680 Speaker 1: But when journalists asked TikTok if this was the case, 227 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:51,680 Speaker 1: they denied this, saying that we have not seen anything 228 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:55,920 Speaker 1: of this nature on our app. They said the first 229 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:58,280 Speaker 1: time they TikTok said, the first time they saw the 230 00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:01,800 Speaker 1: list was of screenshot of it on other websites. It 231 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:04,240 Speaker 1: was not it was not from TikTok. It wasn't actually there. 232 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:08,320 Speaker 1: So as more and more news circulated and Blaine was 233 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:11,200 Speaker 1: continuing to be put on TikTok for propagating this list 234 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:16,440 Speaker 1: of challenges and you know, encouraging teacher assaults, the social 235 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:19,800 Speaker 1: media platform made a public statement addressing the issue, saying, quote, 236 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:22,360 Speaker 1: the rumored slap a teacher dare is an insult to 237 00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:25,800 Speaker 1: educators everywhere, and while this is not a trend on TikTok, 238 00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:28,920 Speaker 1: if at any point it shows up, content will be removed. 239 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:32,000 Speaker 1: So as as much as you would search online on 240 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 1: TikTok or you know, wherever, you wouldn't find any evidence 241 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:38,080 Speaker 1: of this list actually being spread through TikTok at all. 242 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:41,080 Speaker 1: The only thing that you would find about this on 243 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:45,520 Speaker 1: TikTok is either kids reacting to news clips talking about this, 244 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:49,320 Speaker 1: or teachers on TikTok complain anywo this as well. It 245 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:54,720 Speaker 1: wasn't actually a trend. The list was being shared online 246 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:58,800 Speaker 1: a lot like it was very viral, but almost exclusively 247 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:03,880 Speaker 1: in Facebook groups for boomers or adults or teachers or police. 248 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 1: But people seemed real scared of all those groups. Boomers Garrison, Okay, 249 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:12,600 Speaker 1: that good not died. Yeah, it's it's it's it's like 250 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:22,440 Speaker 1: a mental ethnicity. Now people, people seem really scared. You know, 251 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:25,840 Speaker 1: schools were scared. News media loves turning this list into 252 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:30,200 Speaker 1: like a looming looming Bilgeeman. But it wasn't. It wasn't 253 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:33,200 Speaker 1: kids actually spreading it or turning into a challenge, which 254 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:35,360 Speaker 1: leads you to wonder where did this even come from 255 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:39,600 Speaker 1: and how did it actually get so viral. So multiple 256 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:43,480 Speaker 1: and multiple fully separate investigative kind of ordeals into the 257 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:48,160 Speaker 1: alleged TikTok list of challenges placed its original point of 258 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:51,600 Speaker 1: virality in the hands of of wait, wait for it, 259 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:56,960 Speaker 1: wait for it, I'm waiting a police officer. So Officer 260 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:01,240 Speaker 1: David Gometz, a school resource cause up who runs a 261 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:05,639 Speaker 1: popular Facebook page under the banner of quote the Truth 262 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:11,560 Speaker 1: about Youth, which is oh boy, pretty cool. So Gomez 263 00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:15,960 Speaker 1: works at a school in Idaho, Big shocker, and back 264 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:19,600 Speaker 1: in September, his Facebook page had over thirty three thousand followers. 265 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:23,680 Speaker 1: Now it has over sixty six thousand, and he uses 266 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:27,240 Speaker 1: it as a sort of information hub for parents, educators, 267 00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:31,680 Speaker 1: and concerned citizens to talk about the dangers of kids 268 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:34,879 Speaker 1: on the Internet and all of that jazz. You know, 269 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:37,600 Speaker 1: Gomez basically tries to be like a kind of like 270 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:41,920 Speaker 1: influencer for this whole like concerned adult corner of the Internet. 271 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:45,760 Speaker 1: He writes these long, long posts about like school life 272 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:49,240 Speaker 1: and digital safety, touching on many topics from like how 273 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:53,000 Speaker 1: your kids are secretly buying weed and vape pens, or 274 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:54,920 Speaker 1: like how to tell if your kid is looking at 275 00:17:54,960 --> 00:18:01,040 Speaker 1: pornographic materials, you know, stuff of this nature like here, here's, 276 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:03,639 Speaker 1: here's here's a few posts from him from from just 277 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:07,800 Speaker 1: from just a few days ago. Lots of inappropriate behaviors 278 00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:14,560 Speaker 1: pushed on Snapchat desensitize kids to reality. Nude photos, drugs, parties, crimes, 279 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:19,840 Speaker 1: et cetera. Kids can order almost any illegal drug and 280 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:23,120 Speaker 1: have it delivered to them on most any place on Snapchat. 281 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:28,240 Speaker 1: If only only so, He's like, he's like one of 282 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:33,840 Speaker 1: these types of guys, like you know, you know who, Yeah, yeah, yeah, God, 283 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:35,920 Speaker 1: if we only lived in that world, I would be 284 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:40,439 Speaker 1: on Snapchat so hard I would be. I love I 285 00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:45,359 Speaker 1: love idea that Snapchat desensitizes kids to reality by telling 286 00:18:45,359 --> 00:18:51,520 Speaker 1: them about parties and well, I mean any time I look, 287 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:54,560 Speaker 1: I have a profound negative mental health reaction whenever someone 288 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:57,560 Speaker 1: tells me about a party. So I would why wouldn't children? 289 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:03,200 Speaker 1: So so the original devious licks challenge was dying down 290 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:06,840 Speaker 1: near the end of September. On September twenty second, Officer 291 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:10,960 Speaker 1: Gomez posted this list of challenges to his thousands of followers. 292 00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:13,879 Speaker 1: In the next few days, the challenge list from his 293 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:18,399 Speaker 1: page circulated around the web, prompting many nervous school emails, 294 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:22,199 Speaker 1: terrified newscasts, and ending up actually making the list of 295 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:26,080 Speaker 1: challenges go completely viral. When asked about the origin of 296 00:19:26,119 --> 00:19:28,520 Speaker 1: the list, he said the first place that he had 297 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:31,919 Speaker 1: seen it is in a smaller private Facebook group for 298 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:36,359 Speaker 1: people working in drug and alcohol enforcement and education. He 299 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 1: called it a drug recognition group. It's like a group 300 00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:42,040 Speaker 1: of like cops and stuff, where like, I found this 301 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:45,960 Speaker 1: bag of leaves, what is it? Can I can I 302 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:48,680 Speaker 1: arrest this person? It's like it's it's it's these people 303 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:51,840 Speaker 1: who like, yeah, post random stuff to figure out what 304 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:55,400 Speaker 1: drugs they're looking at. So he claims he first saw 305 00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:59,080 Speaker 1: it in this Facebook group, but admitted that he was 306 00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:02,400 Speaker 1: unsure if it'd actually alternated from kids or not let 307 00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:05,760 Speaker 1: let alone on TikTok. He just posted it because he thought, 308 00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:10,720 Speaker 1: you know, better safe than sorry, But you know, it's 309 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:14,120 Speaker 1: it's funny because Officer Gomez's intention may just have been 310 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:16,119 Speaker 1: to spread the word about this because he thought it 311 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:18,400 Speaker 1: was an actual threat, but it turns out that he 312 00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:20,240 Speaker 1: was just the one that gave it online life in 313 00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:24,679 Speaker 1: the first place. So so yeah, But for like the 314 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:27,080 Speaker 1: actual origin of it, like like for it actually came up, 315 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:30,119 Speaker 1: as best as we can tell, it seems to. It 316 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:34,320 Speaker 1: seems to have stem from a school in California. A 317 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:38,680 Speaker 1: principal claims that a student sent them this list, albeit 318 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:41,879 Speaker 1: a slightly more a vulgar version, more in line with 319 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:44,920 Speaker 1: how kids kind of talk now. The teacher then uploaded 320 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 1: it to a teacher Facebook group. It was then shared 321 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:50,400 Speaker 1: to this drug recognition group of Officer Gomez, and then 322 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:54,080 Speaker 1: Gomez or someone along this process rewrote it to add 323 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:57,720 Speaker 1: the weird like boomer Jen's like like like a nineties 324 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:01,720 Speaker 1: cool kid language, and then go has posted it, and 325 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:05,440 Speaker 1: then that results in like the cool kid's attitude, and 326 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:08,679 Speaker 1: then he posts it, it goes viral. But there's no 327 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:10,680 Speaker 1: evidence that it was ever on TikTok like at all, 328 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:13,439 Speaker 1: Like this, we just don't I think it's not actually 329 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:17,800 Speaker 1: ever on TikTok until the cop posts it So the 330 00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:20,760 Speaker 1: other funny thing is that all of these slapping incidents 331 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:23,600 Speaker 1: reported on the news, including the one that resulted in 332 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:26,439 Speaker 1: an arrest, also turns out to have nothing to do 333 00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:28,399 Speaker 1: with the challenge list or TikTok. It was just a 334 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:31,240 Speaker 1: regular like interpersonal conflict between a student and a teacher, 335 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:34,920 Speaker 1: because like that happens, like that happens just like every 336 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:38,200 Speaker 1: once in a while like that. But it had nothing 337 00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:41,600 Speaker 1: to do with TikTok. According to the school and according 338 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:45,800 Speaker 1: to the police, we had an investigation. A substitute teacher 339 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:47,800 Speaker 1: choke slam one of the kids in my class, and 340 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:50,320 Speaker 1: we didn't even have a TikTok. We barely had the 341 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:53,720 Speaker 1: internet back then. It was a pretty good day at school. 342 00:21:54,359 --> 00:21:56,359 Speaker 1: The principle had to come in and apologize. It was 343 00:21:56,440 --> 00:22:02,800 Speaker 1: very fun. That sounds great. It was yeah, so uh 344 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:07,440 Speaker 1: so yeah, Like in the end, we're gonna the full 345 00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: arc of this right starts in September with the actual 346 00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:13,000 Speaker 1: real devious licks that that that that did, that did exist. 347 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:15,359 Speaker 1: It was on TikTok, but it was just you know, 348 00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:19,440 Speaker 1: stealing stuff from bathrooms. Uh. It breaks off and and 349 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:22,000 Speaker 1: and then eventually kind of just like making bathrooms into 350 00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:27,280 Speaker 1: a mess. So but this this, this takes off. It's 351 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:30,680 Speaker 1: it goes, it goes, it goes pretty pretty viral. Then 352 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:33,359 Speaker 1: TikTok starts to crack down on it, and after like 353 00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:36,600 Speaker 1: three to four weeks, the meme dies. It's it's you know, people, 354 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:39,240 Speaker 1: people are bored. There's too much enforcement. It's not fun. 355 00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:42,360 Speaker 1: It's not fun anymore. And then we have this calendar 356 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:45,600 Speaker 1: list of challenges, right, possibly trying to spin off of 357 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:48,960 Speaker 1: like the devious licks thing and Gloman from the previous trend, 358 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:52,040 Speaker 1: or it was perhaps just written as like, uh, like 359 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:54,920 Speaker 1: a non serious joke. But the thing is like, it's 360 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:57,080 Speaker 1: not actually found on TikTok. Right, So, even if this 361 00:22:57,119 --> 00:22:59,840 Speaker 1: list was originally made by a kid, uh, it's it 362 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:03,320 Speaker 1: was not known by other kids on a national level, 363 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 1: either online or in person. But where it does get 364 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:08,679 Speaker 1: a visibility is through adults, and not on TikTok, but 365 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:11,639 Speaker 1: on Facebook. Initially being passed around by teachers and school 366 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:15,280 Speaker 1: administrators and other adults, ran on the Facebook platform and 367 00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:18,879 Speaker 1: really accelerating from there. Right, we have we have, we 368 00:23:19,119 --> 00:23:22,280 Speaker 1: have Gomez and then it's all over Facebook, It's all 369 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 1: over Instagram, it's all over news articles, TV stations, and 370 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,080 Speaker 1: eventually does go. It eventually does get to TikTok, but 371 00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:30,080 Speaker 1: not with kids talking about it instead of with teachers 372 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:33,479 Speaker 1: talking about it. But at this point, the story of 373 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:37,359 Speaker 1: the TikTok slap a teacher challenge was just tuned like 374 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:40,760 Speaker 1: enticing right. It had like enough of a grain of 375 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:44,320 Speaker 1: truth by piggybacking off of the real devious licks. But 376 00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:46,320 Speaker 1: it was able to grow into this like entire false 377 00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:49,919 Speaker 1: reality because there were enough ingredients for a good story. 378 00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:53,239 Speaker 1: And that's where like perceptions of truth really flourishing, is 379 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:58,600 Speaker 1: good stories. And then we found out a few weeks 380 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:03,000 Speaker 1: ago there was there was this article by Taylor Lawrence 381 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:07,359 Speaker 1: Uh in the Washington Post that there there actually may 382 00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:09,919 Speaker 1: have been some kind of behind the scenes fuckory making 383 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:13,000 Speaker 1: this trend to go as viral as it did. And 384 00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:15,680 Speaker 1: we will we will get into that after after this, 385 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:19,119 Speaker 1: after this ad break. So have fun listening to these ads, 386 00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:23,480 Speaker 1: and then we will talk about the behind the seams 387 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:39,120 Speaker 1: of making these these false online trends. Hello, we are back. 388 00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:42,760 Speaker 1: So turns out lots of lots of there's lots of 389 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:46,160 Speaker 1: lots of fuckory happening. H to make to make, to make, 390 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:49,480 Speaker 1: to make narratives to make stories right. It's a all 391 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:53,000 Speaker 1: you know, turns out that not everything you read on 392 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:57,800 Speaker 1: the internet is true. Uh, pretty pretty shocking revelation here. 393 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:02,399 Speaker 1: So it came out a few weeks ago that Facebook 394 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:06,679 Speaker 1: was actually paying one of the biggest Republican consulting firms 395 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,240 Speaker 1: in the country to orchestrate a national campaign to turn 396 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:16,919 Speaker 1: the public opinion negatively towards TikTok. The campaign was it 397 00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:20,800 Speaker 1: was placing it include placing like op eds and letters, 398 00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:25,680 Speaker 1: two editors of like, you know, major major news outlets, 399 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:32,080 Speaker 1: promoting of false, false stories about about like the growth 400 00:25:32,119 --> 00:25:35,000 Speaker 1: of alleged TikTok trends that actually had started on Facebook, 401 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:38,440 Speaker 1: and then you know, trying to push reporters and politicians 402 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:42,080 Speaker 1: into helping them, you know, damage the perception of TikTok 403 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:45,280 Speaker 1: on like a nationwide level. Eventually. You know, Facebook was 404 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:48,239 Speaker 1: obviously funding this because it you know, TikTok is their 405 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:53,080 Speaker 1: biggest competitor at the moment. So it's a it's actually 406 00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:55,680 Speaker 1: pretty interesting. It's so it's it's it's it's with this 407 00:25:55,800 --> 00:26:01,440 Speaker 1: Republican digital uh consulting firm called Targeted Victory. So this 408 00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:05,639 Speaker 1: was the thing that Facebook was actually paying for to 409 00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:09,600 Speaker 1: to to prompt these false stories. Uh targeted Victory has 410 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:14,879 Speaker 1: been routinely working for Facebook for over the years. You know, 411 00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:18,680 Speaker 1: they were they were involved in the twenty sixteen congressional 412 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:24,560 Speaker 1: hearings around Facebook doing stuff like with like election Medley stuff, 413 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:27,280 Speaker 1: you know, all the stuff related to like Cambridge Analytica. 414 00:26:27,359 --> 00:26:29,520 Speaker 1: They were, they were had a small part to play 415 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:32,120 Speaker 1: in that kind of thing as well. So they also 416 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:35,960 Speaker 1: receive a lot of Republican funding. They got a thing 417 00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:39,159 Speaker 1: over over a two hundred and thirty seven million dollars 418 00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:42,800 Speaker 1: in twenty twenty, according to data compiled by open Secrets, 419 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:46,479 Speaker 1: which is uh yeah, it's uh that biggest biggest payments 420 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:50,879 Speaker 1: came from a national GOP Congressional Committee and America First Action, 421 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:55,159 Speaker 1: which is of a superPAC ran by pro Trump folks. 422 00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:58,560 Speaker 1: So that this is this is the group that was 423 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:00,119 Speaker 1: that was doing a lot of the behind this and 424 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:06,760 Speaker 1: stuff to specifically tie tiktokoto making it look bad, to 425 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:10,520 Speaker 1: specifically make Facebook look good and push people more onto Facebook. 426 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:13,760 Speaker 1: When this article first dropped, I know, Robert you said that, hey, 427 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:16,600 Speaker 1: this is a interesting, interesting little thing that is probably 428 00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:19,600 Speaker 1: worth talking about in terms of how it affects politics 429 00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:23,240 Speaker 1: and social media and like the intersection thereof yeah, maybe 430 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:25,639 Speaker 1: a little bit, so a lot of a lot of 431 00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:30,160 Speaker 1: the news dropped about this because of employees with the firm. 432 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:33,360 Speaker 1: We're tasked to undermine TikTok through nationwide media and while 433 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:36,760 Speaker 1: being campaign and then lots of their internal emails for 434 00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:39,600 Speaker 1: this effort were shared with Washington Post. So this is 435 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:41,159 Speaker 1: this is how we kind of fed out about this. 436 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:45,199 Speaker 1: More recently, their task was to quote get the message 437 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:48,639 Speaker 1: out that while meta Facebook is the current punching bag, 438 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:51,640 Speaker 1: TikTok is the real threat, especially as a four non 439 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:54,120 Speaker 1: app that is number one and sharing data that young 440 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:56,840 Speaker 1: teens are using, according to the director of the firm. 441 00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:58,440 Speaker 1: So this is that's the type of stuff they're talking 442 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:01,160 Speaker 1: about behind the scenes in terms of how they're trying 443 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:05,120 Speaker 1: to push push stuff to get people stopped talking about 444 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:07,480 Speaker 1: how bad Facebook is. Because this was also right after 445 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:09,960 Speaker 1: all of like the Facebook Bright part stuff was happening 446 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:14,480 Speaker 1: in terms of how much Facebook pushes extremist content to 447 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:18,639 Speaker 1: you know, boomers and stuff. And then the other thing 448 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:22,320 Speaker 1: that they were doing was specifically trying to craft messaging 449 00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:28,240 Speaker 1: to get bills past and try to get attorneys general 450 00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:34,520 Speaker 1: to focus on to focus on this to launch investigations 451 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:38,760 Speaker 1: into how like TikTok harms children and teens, and that 452 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:41,040 Speaker 1: part actually was successful, so you can you can look 453 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:44,080 Speaker 1: at the emails talking about this plan, and then soon 454 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:46,640 Speaker 1: after there was actually a coalition of a state attorneys 455 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:49,680 Speaker 1: general to launch a probe into whether TikTok is harmful 456 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:51,959 Speaker 1: to children and teens, So you can actually look at 457 00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:53,480 Speaker 1: the behind the scenes stuff that they were trying to 458 00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:55,720 Speaker 1: do and then see how fast they were successful in 459 00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:58,800 Speaker 1: doing this stuff. And all this also comes at the 460 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:03,360 Speaker 1: point that Facebook was for the first time actually losing users, 461 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:07,040 Speaker 1: and as soon as TikTok was launched and got so 462 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:09,760 Speaker 1: much more popular, it also took down a whole bunch 463 00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:12,440 Speaker 1: of users from from Instagram, which was also owned by 464 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:16,560 Speaker 1: Facebook obviously, so there's there's a Facebook. Researchers said that 465 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:18,840 Speaker 1: teens were spending about three times there's more time on 466 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:22,160 Speaker 1: TikTok than Instagram, and this is this was all part 467 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:24,440 Speaker 1: of the same kind of overall effort to both like 468 00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:27,880 Speaker 1: do stuff to influence elections and politics, but also just 469 00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:31,520 Speaker 1: do stuff to make kids think Facebook is cool, which 470 00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:37,120 Speaker 1: good good luck with that one. Then, in terms of 471 00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:40,480 Speaker 1: like the devious licks stuff. Uh. In other emails that 472 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:43,160 Speaker 1: that were that that were leaked, Uh, we got we 473 00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:47,640 Speaker 1: got a targeted victory. People urging their partners to push 474 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:50,480 Speaker 1: false stories to look or you know, stories that are 475 00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:54,920 Speaker 1: sometimes tied in truth, but amplifying them, tying TikTok to 476 00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:59,120 Speaker 1: various like dangerous, dangerous trends, you know, in terms of 477 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:01,920 Speaker 1: like save the children and rhetoric. Right, this idea that 478 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:04,600 Speaker 1: face that that TikTok is harmful to the well being 479 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:07,920 Speaker 1: of kids. One of the emails has has a line 480 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:10,480 Speaker 1: here saying that the dream would be to get stories 481 00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:14,280 Speaker 1: with headlines like from dances to danger how TikTok has 482 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:17,520 Speaker 1: become the most harmful social media's face for kids. So 483 00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:23,080 Speaker 1: that's the type of headlines they're like trying to push. Yeah, 484 00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:27,240 Speaker 1: it's one of the things that they do is trying 485 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:30,480 Speaker 1: to amplify negative TikTok coverage. They have the Scoogle document 486 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:35,440 Speaker 1: titled bad TikTok Clips, which was shared internally and included 487 00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:39,080 Speaker 1: links to dubious news stories setting TikTok as the original 488 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:45,440 Speaker 1: point of various like dangerous teen trends, and they were 489 00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:47,440 Speaker 1: they were trying to like take these stories and push 490 00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:49,760 Speaker 1: them out through other means, you know, so on Facebook 491 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:52,120 Speaker 1: and stuff. Right to take any instance of this and 492 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:55,560 Speaker 1: boost it like inorganically. Right, it's people's jobs to use 493 00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:59,120 Speaker 1: social media to affect public opinion. So one trend that 494 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:03,600 Speaker 1: target Victory specifically was enhancing was the devious licks challenge, 495 00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:08,600 Speaker 1: including the initial one to vandalize the school property. Through 496 00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:13,120 Speaker 1: the bad TikTok Clips document, the firm was pushing stories 497 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:18,400 Speaker 1: about the devious les challenge across in local media across Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, 498 00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:21,480 Speaker 1: Rhode Island, and Washington DC. I do find it interesting 499 00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:23,880 Speaker 1: that they have a lot of these ones closer to Washington, 500 00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:27,800 Speaker 1: DC to specifically affect politicians, Like they're doing stuff to 501 00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:33,760 Speaker 1: amplify stuff to convince politicians specifically to start making political changes. 502 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:39,800 Speaker 1: And this actually led Senator Richard Bluementhal, a Democrat from Connecticut, 503 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:42,800 Speaker 1: to write a letter in September calling on TikTok executives 504 00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:46,240 Speaker 1: to testify in front of a Senate committee, saying that 505 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:48,920 Speaker 1: the app has been repeatedly misused and abused to promote 506 00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:53,200 Speaker 1: behavior and actions that encourage harmful and destructive acts. So yeah, 507 00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:56,520 Speaker 1: like it worked, like they're specifically targeting the type of 508 00:31:56,560 --> 00:31:59,560 Speaker 1: news that politicians will see in areas that politicians live, 509 00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:02,760 Speaker 1: to get them to start trying to affect change around 510 00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:06,120 Speaker 1: social media, specifically the social media that kids use, and 511 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:10,000 Speaker 1: amplifying the social media that boomers use. Facebook, which is 512 00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:13,800 Speaker 1: already is like a cesspool of spreading conservative disinformation. That's 513 00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:15,920 Speaker 1: like the entire that's the entire bit that they're trying 514 00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:20,080 Speaker 1: to do here, And so they were working on the 515 00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:24,520 Speaker 1: original September challenge. Also in October, Targeted Victory was working 516 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:27,200 Speaker 1: to spread the rumors of the slap a teacher TikTok challenge, 517 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:29,920 Speaker 1: which as we know, was not actually a TikTok challenge, 518 00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:34,080 Speaker 1: but they they were doing. They were also contributing to 519 00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:39,040 Speaker 1: inflating this this this trend, which is funny because obviously 520 00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:41,600 Speaker 1: they were being paid by Facebook, they were being paid 521 00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:45,760 Speaker 1: by the GOP and you know, Facebook is the place 522 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:50,280 Speaker 1: where this actually started. Yeah, so you know, but like 523 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:52,480 Speaker 1: again with every if you can tie anything to like 524 00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:54,320 Speaker 1: a little bit of truth, it makes whatever story you're 525 00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:58,680 Speaker 1: trying to make so much more impactful. Right, The firm 526 00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:01,920 Speaker 1: was careful to you both like genuine concerns and then 527 00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:05,920 Speaker 1: just amplify them or exaggerate them into like unfounded anxieties 528 00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:09,600 Speaker 1: to to you know, get people to start questioning the 529 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:14,720 Speaker 1: safety of these of these applications. So it's a it's 530 00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:16,280 Speaker 1: a it's actually it's actually it's like a it's a 531 00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:18,280 Speaker 1: pretty clever setup that they have they have going here, 532 00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:21,360 Speaker 1: and they've been really successful. Like it's it's like, you know, 533 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:25,320 Speaker 1: the the the October Davious lex trend with like this 534 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:30,160 Speaker 1: with slap teacher was extremely extremely, extremely success successful in 535 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:33,680 Speaker 1: terms of how they affect what is seen as truth 536 00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:36,360 Speaker 1: and how and how how much news stories and how 537 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,840 Speaker 1: much news coverage was just kind of unconsciously and just 538 00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:44,600 Speaker 1: mindlessly repeating the stuff that they've heard. The other funny 539 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:50,200 Speaker 1: thing that that target Targeted Victory does is, uh, they 540 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:54,480 Speaker 1: they help write letters that are from concerned parents quote 541 00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:57,760 Speaker 1: unquote that gets sent out to newspapers to be published 542 00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:00,640 Speaker 1: in their like letters to the editor section. Yeah there 543 00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:06,280 Speaker 1: we go. Yeah, So they specifically try to write off 544 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:09,240 Speaker 1: eds targeting TikTok and then place them in around the country, 545 00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:13,640 Speaker 1: especially in key congressional districts. On March twelfth, a letter 546 00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:17,359 Speaker 1: to the editor that targeted Victory officials helped write ran 547 00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:20,600 Speaker 1: in the in the Denver Post The letter said it 548 00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:24,440 Speaker 1: was from a concerned new Parrot, and it claimed that 549 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:28,000 Speaker 1: TikTok was harmful to children's mental health, raising concerns over 550 00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:30,800 Speaker 1: it's like, you know, data privacy, and that many people 551 00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:35,680 Speaker 1: suspect that China is deliberately collecting behavioral data on our kids. 552 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:40,879 Speaker 1: They're trying to hack our children's brains. The letter also 553 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:47,040 Speaker 1: issued support for Colorado Attorney General Phil Wiser weight Wheezers. 554 00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:50,360 Speaker 1: I'm gonna say Weezer Yep, yep, yep, yep, Phil Weezer's 555 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:56,600 Speaker 1: famed founder of the band Weezer. They were, yeah, but 556 00:34:56,680 --> 00:35:00,399 Speaker 1: the letter issued support for him, including his is to 557 00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:04,440 Speaker 1: join a coalition of attorney general investigating TikTok's impact on 558 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:09,560 Speaker 1: American youths. So yeah. There was a very similar letter, uh, 559 00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:13,439 Speaker 1: drafted by Targeted Victory again that ran in in other 560 00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:16,760 Speaker 1: other kind of smaller local papers throughout the country trying 561 00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:20,280 Speaker 1: to link negative news stories about TikTok that Targeted Victory 562 00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:23,320 Speaker 1: had specifically sought to amplify. Some of the letters that 563 00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:25,680 Speaker 1: were getting circulated were signed by like members at the 564 00:35:25,719 --> 00:35:28,640 Speaker 1: Democratic Party. They were they were They were signed by 565 00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:31,719 Speaker 1: various politicians in terms of like no trying to create 566 00:35:31,719 --> 00:35:34,000 Speaker 1: this thing that looks grassroots to this prenator out and 567 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:36,120 Speaker 1: be like, hey, we have these concerns. Do you want 568 00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:38,680 Speaker 1: to do you endorse our concerns so then they can 569 00:35:38,719 --> 00:35:41,120 Speaker 1: then make it seem way more legit than just like 570 00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:47,400 Speaker 1: a concerned parent. Uh, it's it's pretty good, you know. 571 00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:50,880 Speaker 1: An email sent a few weeks ago targeted Victory asked 572 00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:53,520 Speaker 1: their teams to be prepared to share the opense that 573 00:35:53,560 --> 00:35:56,640 Speaker 1: you're working on right now. Uh, Colorado and Iowa, can 574 00:35:56,640 --> 00:35:58,520 Speaker 1: you talk? Can you talk about the TikTok opens you 575 00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:00,719 Speaker 1: got you you you both but you both got. So 576 00:36:00,719 --> 00:36:06,000 Speaker 1: they're specifically targeting districts where the Senate Senate like challenges 577 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:09,359 Speaker 1: are actually more of a more more of a toss up. 578 00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:13,200 Speaker 1: So specifically trying to do this whole TikTok is dangerous 579 00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:16,359 Speaker 1: to the kids thing in these in these places, it's 580 00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:20,239 Speaker 1: uh yeah, it's a it's it's it's pretty it's pretty fun. 581 00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:22,719 Speaker 1: Because none of these letters, none of these op eds, 582 00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:25,680 Speaker 1: if you read them, there's no indication that Facebook is 583 00:36:25,680 --> 00:36:29,399 Speaker 1: funding them. There's no indication that the GOP is funding them. Right, 584 00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:31,040 Speaker 1: It's that is the it is the whole like astro 585 00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:33,439 Speaker 1: AstroTurf thing, right, that is, that is the entire idea 586 00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:37,200 Speaker 1: is that they look they look totally legit. So anyway, 587 00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:40,640 Speaker 1: that was that was my my, my, those those were 588 00:36:40,719 --> 00:36:44,160 Speaker 1: right notes in terms of the what the DV slicks 589 00:36:44,239 --> 00:36:46,799 Speaker 1: and the SABA teacher thing actually was, and then how 590 00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:49,120 Speaker 1: there was all this behind the scenes fuckery trying to 591 00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:52,680 Speaker 1: inflate it, and how it's specifically getting inflated to tie 592 00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:57,640 Speaker 1: into like local elections that are happening in the mid terms. Yeah, 593 00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:00,120 Speaker 1: what what thoughts, what thoughts do y'all have on on 594 00:37:00,200 --> 00:37:05,399 Speaker 1: these on these fun, fun little disinformation rackets they have 595 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:09,279 Speaker 1: they have going on. We might do like another full 596 00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:10,839 Speaker 1: episode on this at some point. But there's there's an 597 00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:14,520 Speaker 1: interesting angle here where Facebook's one sort of taking the 598 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:16,399 Speaker 1: China angle on this a lot, and it's like, yeah, 599 00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:18,640 Speaker 1: it comes at less in this, but yeah, you in this. 600 00:37:18,719 --> 00:37:22,839 Speaker 1: They they founded this, uh, they founded this advocacy group 601 00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:26,440 Speaker 1: called I think it's American Edge, where they have all 602 00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:29,320 Speaker 1: these things that are like, uh, that's like them in 603 00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:31,919 Speaker 1: a bunch of weapons manufacturers, like, founded this lobbying group 604 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:35,600 Speaker 1: and they keep saying things like, oh, China's threatening our 605 00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:39,319 Speaker 1: competitive edge. So we can't do anti trust legislation. If 606 00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:42,080 Speaker 1: we do anti trust legislation, the Russia China alliance will 607 00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:44,160 Speaker 1: like defeat the US. And so it's interesting. That's like 608 00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:47,799 Speaker 1: they're I don't know if Facebook seems to have like 609 00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:51,160 Speaker 1: well okay, so so they have this problem where like 610 00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:55,640 Speaker 1: the metaphorse stuff just flops and they're like, oh no, 611 00:37:55,680 --> 00:37:58,360 Speaker 1: we need to make money. And it's like, well, okay, 612 00:37:58,400 --> 00:38:02,640 Speaker 1: so you know there's the the two ways to make money, 613 00:38:02,760 --> 00:38:05,000 Speaker 1: or you create something that people want to use, and 614 00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:09,040 Speaker 1: that's hard. That's hard. They did that once and then 615 00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:13,200 Speaker 1: they accidentally turned it into an engine that breaks democracy 616 00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:16,400 Speaker 1: and accelerates ethnic cleansings. So yeah, you don't want them. 617 00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:19,359 Speaker 1: You don't want them trying to make another new thing. Yeah. Well, 618 00:38:19,960 --> 00:38:22,440 Speaker 1: the other thing Targeted Victory was doing was specifically amplifying 619 00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:26,920 Speaker 1: pro Facebook content. Yeah, but like how Facebook is supporting 620 00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:29,520 Speaker 1: local black owned businesses and like all all all that 621 00:38:29,680 --> 00:38:31,640 Speaker 1: sort of thing. Yeah. Yeah, so you know you have 622 00:38:31,640 --> 00:38:32,920 Speaker 1: that on the one hand, or it's like yeah, they're 623 00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:35,080 Speaker 1: not they're not doing anything else. And the second way 624 00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:37,920 Speaker 1: they that you do this stuff is by strategic sabotage 625 00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:40,239 Speaker 1: of your competition. And this is what Facebook is doing 626 00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:43,000 Speaker 1: right now is and they've launched basically full on in 627 00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:46,920 Speaker 1: strategic sabotage angle. They've launched into this this sort of 628 00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:50,680 Speaker 1: like preemptive defense stuff about anti trust being like, ah, hey, 629 00:38:50,719 --> 00:38:54,279 Speaker 1: look at China. If we yeah, if we don't have 630 00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:59,440 Speaker 1: tech monopolies doing genocides, China will have tech monopolies doing genocides. 631 00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:01,239 Speaker 1: And it's like That's the other funny thing is that 632 00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:04,640 Speaker 1: whenever Zuckerberg gets accused of trying to create monopolies around 633 00:39:04,680 --> 00:39:11,239 Speaker 1: social media, he's always like, but TikTok exists, But no, 634 00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:14,200 Speaker 1: it's great because yeah, like they they like specifically say this. 635 00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:16,840 Speaker 1: They their quote is, we need to get that message 636 00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:20,200 Speaker 1: out that while Facebook is the current punching bag, TikTok 637 00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:23,320 Speaker 1: is the real threat, especially as a foreign owned app 638 00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:27,000 Speaker 1: like that. That is that is the actual quote. That's like, yeah, 639 00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:30,239 Speaker 1: they're specifically doing that exact thing. Yeah, they're the leading 640 00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:32,960 Speaker 1: youth is nfobiaing institution because you can watch them sort 641 00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:36,120 Speaker 1: of pushing all of the like the political buttons of 642 00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:37,839 Speaker 1: the last few years. It's like they're they're they're they're 643 00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:42,120 Speaker 1: basically replaying like the Trump like the Trump right stuff, right, 644 00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:44,359 Speaker 1: Like they figure out that rhetoric works. So they're doing Okay, 645 00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:47,080 Speaker 1: they're doing this sort of like uh like they're doing 646 00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:50,759 Speaker 1: sort of anti China's cenophobia. They're doing save the children. Yep, 647 00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:53,279 Speaker 1: they're doing like they're doing all of this like your 648 00:39:53,320 --> 00:39:56,759 Speaker 1: kids are unsafe stuff and yeah it's it's working great 649 00:39:56,800 --> 00:40:02,000 Speaker 1: for them. So this is this is fun U. Yeah, yeah, no, 650 00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:05,319 Speaker 1: it's yeah, they're they're they're definitely trying yep. I mean, 651 00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:08,960 Speaker 1: and the specific things that targeted Victory tries to do 652 00:40:09,160 --> 00:40:11,840 Speaker 1: the place that's funded by both Facebook and the GOP 653 00:40:12,320 --> 00:40:16,520 Speaker 1: is that they specialize in Uh. Well, they they say 654 00:40:16,520 --> 00:40:20,320 Speaker 1: they do. They do crisis practice and corporate affairs offerings, 655 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:24,880 Speaker 1: uh for for their clients growing need for the issues 656 00:40:24,920 --> 00:40:29,200 Speaker 1: of management and executive positioning, saying that it wants to 657 00:40:29,239 --> 00:40:33,719 Speaker 1: focus on efforts to move toward authentic storytelling with a 658 00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:37,839 Speaker 1: hyperlocal approach. So that is that's all the words they 659 00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:41,800 Speaker 1: used to talk about how they do grassroots disinformation authentic 660 00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:47,360 Speaker 1: storytelling with a hyperlocal approach. Yeah, faking letters from parents 661 00:40:47,400 --> 00:40:50,200 Speaker 1: to local news sites who are hungry for content in 662 00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:53,839 Speaker 1: order to cause a moral panic about TikTok. Yeah, I mean, 663 00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:56,400 Speaker 1: on average people trust their local news way more than 664 00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:58,880 Speaker 1: they trust their national news. So they shouldn't because they 665 00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:02,279 Speaker 1: should not because it's all read by like two companies. 666 00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:06,600 Speaker 1: Yeah uh so yeah, I mean, but like they have 667 00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:08,200 Speaker 1: they have a lot of money. They've they have a 668 00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:11,040 Speaker 1: lot of money. It's there. It's the they're they're one 669 00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:16,520 Speaker 1: of the biggest recipients of Republican campaigns spending. Now they're 670 00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:18,920 Speaker 1: receiving money from Facebook. They happen for a while, but 671 00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:23,880 Speaker 1: they're spending, They're they're spending more money now. Uh yeah, 672 00:41:23,920 --> 00:41:25,680 Speaker 1: And I think this is a it's really important to 673 00:41:25,680 --> 00:41:29,480 Speaker 1: be skeptical of online trends because turns out online trends 674 00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:32,279 Speaker 1: can be pretty astroturfed. I mean, we can look right 675 00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:34,960 Speaker 1: now at all of the all of like the groomer stuff. Right. 676 00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:38,040 Speaker 1: Online trends do not need to be organic. Uh they're 677 00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:41,359 Speaker 1: like I always say, the next time you feel like 678 00:41:41,440 --> 00:41:44,200 Speaker 1: you see something on Facebook or Twitter and you feel 679 00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:47,480 Speaker 1: like you want to share it because it's outrageous, instead 680 00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:52,239 Speaker 1: just go set off a bomb at a power substation. Okay, 681 00:41:52,960 --> 00:41:57,759 Speaker 1: just simple ethical behavior. That'll that that won't play into 682 00:41:57,800 --> 00:41:59,759 Speaker 1: these people's hands. And in terms of all of the 683 00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:04,040 Speaker 1: stuff that like with Facebook, trying to specifically demonize kids 684 00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:08,640 Speaker 1: demonized TikTok to influence elections. Like, if you're interested in 685 00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:13,000 Speaker 1: what trends kids are actually into, just just like ask them, 686 00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:16,120 Speaker 1: like you could talk to them like with like words 687 00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:20,080 Speaker 1: and like with your mouth and use your like human ears. Uh, 688 00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:23,120 Speaker 1: because it turns out they will actually explain it. Because yeah, 689 00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:25,399 Speaker 1: and if just if anyone asked a kid about this 690 00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:29,960 Speaker 1: list of challenges in like October, they would say, No, 691 00:42:30,160 --> 00:42:32,560 Speaker 1: that's that's not a thing. That's that's not that seems 692 00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:35,200 Speaker 1: something like adults are really interested in. But nope, that's 693 00:42:35,200 --> 00:42:38,399 Speaker 1: not actually a thing. Just assume they're basically the same 694 00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:44,600 Speaker 1: that kids always are, but with different like technology and shit. 695 00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:47,720 Speaker 1: Like when I was a kid and our senior class, 696 00:42:47,719 --> 00:42:50,399 Speaker 1: a bunch of kids conspired to crash a car into 697 00:42:50,440 --> 00:42:52,680 Speaker 1: the little pond that was on campus because it was 698 00:42:52,719 --> 00:42:56,480 Speaker 1: destructive and funny. Kids like to do destructive funny things. 699 00:42:56,760 --> 00:42:59,680 Speaker 1: Kids don't like to do whatever April egg bullshit or 700 00:42:59,719 --> 00:43:03,120 Speaker 1: grip takes. That's all of the challenges that are just 701 00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:06,600 Speaker 1: like sexual assaults. You're like, that's actually not something that 702 00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:09,880 Speaker 1: a lot of kids are into. It turns out just 703 00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:12,759 Speaker 1: like kind of things back to being in like like 704 00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:15,719 Speaker 1: tenth grade and would you have giggled at this If so, 705 00:43:16,160 --> 00:43:19,279 Speaker 1: it's probably a thing some kids have done. Like it's 706 00:43:19,320 --> 00:43:23,160 Speaker 1: as simple as that. So anyway, with this is the 707 00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:25,400 Speaker 1: episode we wanted to do specifically on how just like 708 00:43:26,239 --> 00:43:29,520 Speaker 1: social media disacformation is trying to affect elections, leading to 709 00:43:29,640 --> 00:43:32,840 Speaker 1: leading to leading into the midterms, and then tomorrow we 710 00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:36,000 Speaker 1: will discuss more midterm related stuff with all of this 711 00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:38,480 Speaker 1: kind of stuff with with all of this like disafformation stuff, 712 00:43:38,520 --> 00:43:40,960 Speaker 1: TikTok and Facebook stuff, all kind of just like floating 713 00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:43,200 Speaker 1: in the back of our minds as we move on 714 00:43:43,320 --> 00:43:46,719 Speaker 1: to talking about the mid terms and why and how 715 00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:50,960 Speaker 1: they might you know, affect politics going forward, and you 716 00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:53,160 Speaker 1: know how they might affect you know stuff or unclimate 717 00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:57,279 Speaker 1: change stuff around different you know, mini collapses, all of that, 718 00:43:57,400 --> 00:44:00,520 Speaker 1: all that good stuff. So but I think as it 719 00:44:00,600 --> 00:44:02,360 Speaker 1: looks like we have we have reached the time that 720 00:44:02,440 --> 00:44:05,720 Speaker 1: we need to do today. So I believe that doesn't 721 00:44:05,760 --> 00:44:07,279 Speaker 1: for us this week if you want to if you 722 00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:09,040 Speaker 1: want to do the social media is because hey, after 723 00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:11,919 Speaker 1: we talked about social media for like fifty minutes, Yeah, 724 00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:16,160 Speaker 1: let's let's let's let's plug our social media Twitter and Instagram, 725 00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:19,240 Speaker 1: Instagram and by Facebook at cool Zone Media and Happened 726 00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:24,800 Speaker 1: Here pod Yeah anyway, Uh, listen to the kids and 727 00:44:24,920 --> 00:44:32,600 Speaker 1: don't believe trends. Bye. It could Happen here as a 728 00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:35,480 Speaker 1: production of cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from cool 729 00:44:35,560 --> 00:44:38,360 Speaker 1: Zone Media, visit our website cool zonemedia dot com or 730 00:44:38,480 --> 00:44:41,080 Speaker 1: check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 731 00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:44,120 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources for 732 00:44:44,200 --> 00:44:47,200 Speaker 1: it could Happen Here, Updated monthly at cool zonemedia dot 733 00:44:47,280 --> 00:44:49,400 Speaker 1: com slash sources. Thanks for listening.