Creators

A report by Gudea, which tracks online conversations, describes how accusations of white supremacy and Nazism spread following Swift’s album release this fall. According to the report, just 3.77 percent of users accounted for more than a quarter of the conversation; it also found overlap between the users driving the Swift discourse and users active in an “astroturf campaign attacking Blake Lively.” Naturally, the inauthentic discourse then prompted real backlash and responses, making it an even bigger discussion.

After the Trump administration used Carpenter’s song “Juno” in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) propaganda video, the pop star responded, calling it “evil and disgusting.” The White House account has since deleted the post — but they’ve picked this fight with musicians before.

His latest work, “Regular Animals,” features Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, and Beeple himself (aka Mike Winkelmann) as robot dogs that walk around taking photos and poop out stylized images, 256 of which are NFTs. Beeple told Page Six that the piece represents how we now “see the world through their eyes.” Eurgh.

Fans of Adobe’s experimental camera app can finally use it with the front camera on the latest iPhones. Project Indigo was slow to support the iPhone Air and 17 series, at least partly due to problems with the new selfie camera those devices employ. Adobe finally rolled out support for those phones in late October with the selfie camera disabled. Now, selfies are back on the menu with an update that arrived yesterday.

Boing Boing plunged the depths of Etsy to find this 3D-printed replica of the Chernobyl power plant, complete with a ruined reactor that lights up and spews “smoke” when you use it as a diffuser or humidifier.

Nearly a year ago, I wrote that impending tariff policies seemed poised to turn American consumerism upside down. In the months since, many people have said that Donald Trump’s tariffs — and the higher costs passed on to shoppers — could force people to buy less stuff they didn’t need in the first place. But as the Wall Street Journal reports, even sky high tariffs might not be enough to break the habit for good.

Now, creators can use an upgraded AI-powered website-building tool to construct their Beehiiv site, sell digital products without commission, embed podcasts into their site, as well as access website analytics. You can view all the updates to the platform in the video below.

TikTok is partnering with iHeartMedia to launch a podcast network featuring up to 25 shows hosted by TikTok creators. Additionally, a new TikTok Radio station will pair TikTokers with iHeartRadio hosts, broadcasting shows nationwide “where listeners will feel like they are scrolling on TikTok, but with their ears.”

Coca-Cola’s new AI Christmas ad looks pretty terrible, quite frankly. But what if that was the point?

The outlet will move under Vogue.com, and editor-in-chief Versha Sharma will depart the company. Teen Vogue has carved out a niche in recent years as a youth-focused news outlet with a progressive/leftist perspective. It’s not clear whether the outlet will keep that identity, but leadership says Teen Vogue will focus on “career development, cultural leadership and other issues that matter most to young people.”

While no cause of death has been announced yet, Naroditsky’s passing is being investigated as a possible suicide. Many have pointed their fingers at disgraced former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, who has waged an online bullying campaign against Naroditsky. Defector has a detailed report of Kramnik’s behavior and its effect on Naroditsky:

The survey offers a fascinating look at the modern landscape of news creators and influencers. It offers a taxonomy of news creators, breaking them down into four types of content: commentary, news/investigation, explanation, and specialism. Unsurprisingly, it also found that younger generations have shifted away from traditional media, towards creators and personalities, and that partisan content often outflanks more balanced approaches.

61-year-old Larry Bushart is out of jail after a month for posting a meme on Facebook. In the wake of Kirk’s killing, ordinary people were doxed, harassed, and even jailed for comments made online about the right wing influencer. According to the Washington Post, Bushart is now celebrating his freedom and building his legal case — and is back to posting.

The same day we had Cory Doctorow on Decoder to talk enshittification, the tech industry delivered a real-life example. New Affinity owner Canva is launching an all-in-one editing app, and best of all, it’s free! Why do we get a bad feeling about this?

This amusing “ad” ribbing Adobe’s widely detested subscription model is a good reminder that The Onion offers physical printed newspapers again, and that good satire is worth supporting.

The platform is testing a way for users to indicate what topics they want to see in content, beginning with Reels. Instagram said previously that this was in the works. The topics appear to be extremely specific — things like Bad Bunny, “Japanese artisan menswear,” “vintage Patek,” and so on. In other words: help Instagram improve its algorithm.