Internet Culture

A Department of Corrections officer at the Pennsylvania prison where Mangione was held after his arrest told the court that he and Mangione discussed how traditional media and social media was reacting to the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The corrections officer told Mangione that from his perspective, mainstream media focused on the crime, whereas social media users discussed the wrongdoings of the healthcare industry.

The state has called two witnesses today: the deputy commissioner of public information at the NYPD and an employee at a surveillance system company in Pennsylvania. It’s part of the vast surveillance network that led to Mangione’s arrest: NYPD releasing several photos and videos of the shooting suspect which were then published by countless news outlets, as well as the video surveillance system in the Pennsylvania McDonald’s where Mangione was arrested.

We’re more than an hour and a half behind the scheduled start time for the hearing in New York. Mangione was allowed to wear street clothes today, which elicited wall-to-wall news coverage last month. He’s wearing a gray suit and light dress shirt.

Just when you thought you had heard the last of Labubus, Tim Cook gets a custom one. Kasing Lung, the artist responsible for the viral sensation, gifted Cook a doll wearing glasses and holding an iPhone. But is it really a Labubu if you didn’t spend hours trying to buy one?

In a private meeting with members of media, the pope condemned clickbait news as a “degrading practice,” The Guardian reports. Pope Leo XIV is clearly thinking about the digital information ecosystem: he said he chose his papal name in part due to developments in AI “that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor.” Will the pope weigh in on SEO next?

To support their suits against OPM and DOGE, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is selling a retro-looking ringer t-shirt, and honestly it’s kind of a banger. I think I am going to buy one, hem it into a crop top and wear it when I go rock climbing. At $25 it’s a steal.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) sent a letter to the Wikimedia Foundation accusing the site of “left-wing bias.” As I wrote in a feature about the site last month, there is a growing campaign by the Trump administration and other powerful actors around the world to influence the encyclopedia.

The Internet darling valued at $100 billion in 2001 when it merged with Time Warner is for sale by Apollo Global Management for about 1 percent of that. Italy’s Bending Spoons is said to be interested, owner of WeTransfer, Evernote, Komoot, and Vimeo.

Look, I’m more of an Oxford English Dictionary girlie, but I respect the hustle from Merriam-Webster. I hope our terminally online dictionary raises a cool billion.

Delightful scene report about a bunch of children who think they’re building god. Highlights include: appearances from Dumpster Boyfriend, “a sperm-racing start-up,” and “Carsten, a Swiss German 27-year-old who was designing AI-involved sandals but recently pivoted to drug testing.” Claude, is this a top signal?

Mangione was facing with two terrorism-related charges in the New York State case. It will likely be seen as a big win for Mangione. In his ruling Judge Carro wrote:

This is the first time Mangione is appearing in court since February’s chaotic hearing that became a public spectacle. We’re expecting more news to come of this hearing — the judge may even set a trial date.

Last year, the Archive lost an appeal in its ebook lending case, and now it has settled the lawsuit over its Great 78 Project:

Raphaël Graven, a 46-year-old French influencer known by his streaming handle, Jeanpormanove, died in his sleep during a live broadcast on Kick earlier this week after being “humiliated and mistreated for months” on the platform, according to French technology minister Clara Chappaz. A judicial investigation into his death is underway.

Actor Sydney Sweeney is currently embroiled in a days-long “discourse” cycle about a campaign she shot with American Eagle. The ad — and whether it’s a eugenics dog whistle — is one thing. But I liked this Atlantic piece that zoomed out and put the outrage and online content cycle into perspective. Chat, is discourse cooked?

Or would you? The weird little toys are a nightmare to buy so we took matters into our own hands.

We’ve talked before about the funhouse-mirror-alternative-reality that Trump (and Musk) have built. JP Brammer, who watches much more YouTube than I do, notes something weird is going on in content land — it seems Donald Trump has lost control of the plot. NBC’s Brandy Zadrozny, writing from a more anxious angle, seems to agree. Content has now outpaced reality. I guess we’re going to find out by how much.