459 lines
58 KiB
HTML
459 lines
58 KiB
HTML
|
<!DOCTYPE html>
|
|||
|
|
<html lang="" xml:lang="" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>
|
|||
|
|
<meta charset="utf-8"/>
|
|||
|
|
<meta content="pandoc" name="generator"/>
|
|||
|
|
<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
|
|||
|
|
<title>29 June, 2021</title>
|
|||
|
|
<style type="text/css">
|
|||
|
|
code{white-space: pre-wrap;}
|
|||
|
|
span.smallcaps{font-variant: small-caps;}
|
|||
|
|
span.underline{text-decoration: underline;}
|
|||
|
|
div.column{display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; width: 50%;}
|
|||
|
|
</style>
|
|||
|
|
<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
|
|||
|
|
<body>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Supreme Court’s Surprising Term</strong> - During a time when the country has been starkly divided on matters ranging from the pandemic to the Presidency, the Court has largely avoided partisanship. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/07/05/the-supreme-courts-surprising-term">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lina Hidalgo’s Political Rise</strong> - The thirty-year-old Houston chief executive is creating a model for how progressives can govern effectively. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/lina-hidalgos-political-rise">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Unexplained Phenomena of the U.F.O. Report</strong> - A new intelligence document examines a hundred and forty-three sightings that might have been caused by errant balloons, foreign drones, or “Other”—a reserved way of saying aliens. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-unexplained-phenomena-of-the-ufo-report">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Threats Against Election Officials Are a Threat to Democracy</strong> - “To have someone say you deserve a knife to your throat, that you should be executed, that they are going to eff up your family, shakes you,” a former city clerk said. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/threats-against-election-officials-are-a-threat-to-democracy">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>When Parents Forbid the COVID Vaccine</strong> - A teen-ager explains how his parents’ resistance to vaccination has strained their family life, and the options he’s explored for receiving the shot without their permission. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-new-yorker-interview/when-parents-forbid-the-covid-vaccine">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>Why hit songs suddenly matter more than the stars that sing them</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gZThKuDcgUlbGsG6zJf46KjIPfc=/375x0:2626x1688/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69483939/Green_bars_full_color_sized.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Iris Gottlieb for Vox
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Streaming services’ playlists make it easier for listeners to find music worth playing. But experts say they’re also breaking fans’ relationships with artists.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-float-left">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YYgW4HsU995yniG4Y5QuEoQvF0Y=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21899595/VOX_The_Highlight_Box_Logo_Horizontal.png"/>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sVwe57">
|
|||
|
|
In 2018, Trevor Daniel released the song <a href="https://youtu.be/L7mfjvdnPno">“Falling”</a> to little fanfare. Its tame take on emo-rap couldn’t hold a candle to the darker more confessional acts like Lil Uzi Vert and Juice WRLD, who pioneered the sound.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3TCLI5">
|
|||
|
|
But two years later, “Falling” blew up, thanks to the internet. First, it was picked up by influencers on Instagram, then it became a <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@iamtrevordaniel/video/6800142834377837829?lang=en&is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1">TikTok meme</a> featured in more than 3 million videos. The social media hype led to traditional media success: The song spent 38 weeks on <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/trevor-daniel/chart-history/HSI/song/1112720">Billboard’s Hot 100</a>, peaking at 17. It was streamed more than a billion times on Spotify, where it’s featured on prominent playlists like “Chill Hits,” “Beast Mode,” and “Top Gaming Hits.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mmtqrp">
|
|||
|
|
Then Daniel attempted a star-studded follow-up, ”Past Life,” featuring Selena Gomez and produced by Finneas. The song peaked at No. 77 on Billboard, left the charts in 5 weeks and had just 10 percent of the streams that “Falling” achieved on Spotify. Daniels has yet to come close to replicating the accomplishment of “Falling.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FzusmO">
|
|||
|
|
Success in the music industry used to rely on radio plays and premium retail “endcap” placements (where stores like Best Buy gave album releases prime real estate). It’s no secret that streaming has changed everything, providing unfettered access to the largest catalog of music in human history.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r8kuT8">
|
|||
|
|
It also presents a paradox of choice: What should you listen to when you can hear nearly any song that’s ever been recorded? With more and more songs released by more and more musicians on more and more platforms — and less emphasis on traditional media to tell listeners what to like — the sprawl of streaming has upended what it means to be a pop star. For an artist like Daniels, streaming both gave him the opportunity to break out from obscurity and made it exponentially more difficult to have a follow-up hit. That’s because like so many other viral hits, the song, not the artist, became the asset.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AHXLRW">
|
|||
|
|
“Streaming is a great way to make an artist faceless,” says Lucas Keller, the CEO of the entertainment management company Milk & Honey, which manages some of the biggest producers and songwriters working today. His roster has written for artists including BTS, Ariana Grande, and Gwen Stefani — at one point in 2019, 10 of the songs on top 40 were written or produced by Milk & Honey talent.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wJhOLD">
|
|||
|
|
“The song,” Keller says, “becomes bigger than the artist.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xnqDkB">
|
|||
|
|
He cites James Arthur, whose song <a href="https://youtu.be/0yW7w8F2TVA">“Say You Won’t Let Go</a>” reached No. 11 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 2017. It’s a mid-tempo acoustic ballad with a gentle hip-hop groove that fits equally well on pop radio as it does in alternative and adult contemporary formats. And though appearances on Spotify playlists like Mood Booster, Happy This!, Warm Fuzzy Feeling, Chill Hits, and Alone Again helped generate billions of streams for the song and a number of follow-up singles, Arthur has yet to land another Top 40 hit.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1Vemo7">
|
|||
|
|
There’s more competition on the charts than ever. In 2020, there were more songs on Billboard’s Hot 100 than any year since the 1960s, the last decade when singles, and not albums, drove the recording industry. In 2019, 40,000 songs were uploaded daily to Spotify, according to Music Business Worldwide; in 2021, that number has grown to 60,000. For artists, as the volume of new music releases increases, it’s becoming more difficult to be heard.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-float-right">
|
|||
|
|
<aside id="riHGqk">
|
|||
|
|
<q>“Streaming is a great way to make an artist faceless”</q>
|
|||
|
|
</aside>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YsCkc2">
|
|||
|
|
Keller puts this volume in perspective: “If you took all of the premium music released on a digital storefront right now, and tried to jam it into a record store, it’d need to be a Home Depot.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gXGo8w">
|
|||
|
|
To help listeners find their way in the endless aisles of digital music, streaming providers created playlists — but this new way of listening has created unintended consequences for artists and songwriters. Today, three services make up two-thirds of the streaming economy: Spotify, which has an estimated 32 percent of the market, Apple Music (18 percent), and Amazon Music (14 percent). But Spotify dominates the conversation both because of its market power and its immensely popular playlists. In 2017, 68 percent of all listening on Spotify was from a company or user playlist, according to the company’s 2018 Securities and Exchange Commission <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1639920/000119312518063434/d494294df1.htm">filing</a>. Its platform has more than 4 billion playlists, 3,000 of which are owned by Spotify, curated by a mix of algorithms and editors.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9KjCpS">
|
|||
|
|
Its most prominent playlists have serious cultural power. RapCaviar shapes the sound of hip-hop, and can turn <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2017/09/spotify-rapcaviar-most-influential-playlist-in-music.html">indie rappers into household names</a>. The genre-agnostic, slightly quirky playlist <a href="https://www.nylon.com/entertainment/lorem-curator-lizzy-szabo-on-making-spotifys-coolest-playlist">Lorem</a> curates the vibe for Spotify’s Gen Z listeners. In 2020, listeners ages 16 to 40 used playlists as their <a href="https://ads.spotify.com/en-US/2020-wrapped/">primary source</a> for discovering new music on the platform, according to the company. So today, a placement atop one of its playlists can make or break a song.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FvSeiT">
|
|||
|
|
Spotify isn’t shy about the marketing power of its playlists. In its SEC filing, the company wrote as much, crediting Lorde’s breakout global success to <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1639920/000119312518063434/d494294df1.htm">her placement</a> on a single playlist: Sean Parker’s Hipster International. But her example may be an outlier. The challenge for most artists is that playlist listeners frequently don’t know who they’re listening to. A song with high completion rates on a playlist might end up on more playlists, accumulating millions of streams for an artist who remains effectively nameless. In the best-case scenario, these streams, which pay very low royalties compared to radio, could help land the song a coveted advertisement, or better yet, pique the attention of Top 40 radio programmers.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Cs08st">
|
|||
|
|
But pop stardom has always relied on a blend of catchy songs and compelling personas. “The music video era gave you a big dose of their personality whenever you discovered new songs. And the same thing with an album,” says music producer Jesse Cannon.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FnKmWT">
|
|||
|
|
An <a href="https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2013/06/mtv-study-unlocks-7-secrets-of-the-musician-fan-relationship.html">MTV study</a> on fandom showed that fans expect to have direct interaction with artists. But in a music economy built on playlists, the listener is much less likely to be aware of who they’re listening to. Playlists are a “lean back” experience. You choose the mood you’re in, and the music just flows. Cannon believes that playlisting is breaking the fan-artist connection: “When we’re making playlists, there’s no depth whatsoever to the relationship.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K69wpx">
|
|||
|
|
Even if playlists work against persona-based star power, artists are still desperate to appear on them to create buzz for their music. “The buzz-making, hit-making economy has gone from top down, to bottom up,” says Slate’s chart expert Chris Molanphy. “It used to be that you pushed things at radio, and that made people buy the single, buy the album.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DSqqk8">
|
|||
|
|
Now songs develop on social media platforms, and grow on playlists, before making it to radio. Music marketers have repositioned themselves to build influence over TikTok feeds. PR firms market their ability to get their clients on playlists, though Spotify maintains a stance of editorial independence.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OfTtcu">
|
|||
|
|
Even success on a small playlist helps boost an artist’s chances of getting noticed by an algorithm or editor and being placed on a larger playlist. (While researching this article, I received an email from an independent artist asking for placement on my playlist with 199 followers: “I just came across your playlist, ‘Silk Sonic’s Retro Soul,’” they wrote. “I have a song … that I think would be perfect for the playlist.” A link to the song was attached.)
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-float-right">
|
|||
|
|
<aside id="9qqsaY">
|
|||
|
|
<q>Cannon believes that playlisting is breaking the fan-artist connection: “When we’re making playlists, there’s no depth whatsoever to the relationship” </q>
|
|||
|
|
</aside>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="34nsng">
|
|||
|
|
This is one way would-be pop stars suffer in the new music economy: Playlists have become such an essential part of a song’s success that an underworld of playlist promoters have emerged to exploit this musical ponzi scheme. Independent artists often pay hundreds of dollars to them hoping for exclusive placements on popular playlists. The labels are in on it, too. Spotify provides an egalitarian service where everyone, whether distributed by an indie or major label, submits songs for playlisting. But according to Cannon, labels have direct access to the company through reps, and regularly wine-and-dine key decision makers at the company.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zwa1Wh">
|
|||
|
|
Spotify’s guidelines do not allow for paid playlist promotion. Still, thousands of <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/spotify-streams-third-party-playlisting-1033700/">pay-to-play</a> lists exist on the platform. And Spotify has its own <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/2/21545958/spotify-artist-tiktok-promotion-rate-royalty-algorithm">program</a> to boost the likelihood of landing on a playlist if artists and songwriters are willing to accept a lower royalty rate on promoted songs. Called “Discovery Mode,” it’s currently being <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/spotify-discovery-mode-congress-1234962754/">probed by Congress</a> for the practice of forcing lower royalties; representatives from the House Judiciary Committee want to find out if Spotify is limiting choice and hurting artist revenues. Spotify has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/nov/03/spotify-artists-promote-music-exchange-cut-royalty-rates-payola-algorithm">argued</a> that this program is an essential way for artists to highlight which songs they want to prioritize to be heard, even if they’re not seen.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4Hvu85">
|
|||
|
|
For upstart musicians, the bottom-up model is the only choice. Without the old gatekeepers, in rare cases, indie artists can break outside of the major-label ecosystem. Cannon cites <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/9542817/penelope-scott-interview-tiktok-rat/">Penelope Scott</a> as a prototypical example. She makes obscure baroque punk, but her music has expanded beyond her niche. Her song “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqyXvMrQDk8">Rät</a>” has “lyrics that are so extremely online” that they’ve inspired thousands of <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/penelope-scott-rat-6888021894793071366?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1">TikTok</a> videos, and that led to Spotify playlists and even a place on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative charts. “That is what gets around the gatekeeper,” says Cannon. “This girl reached 3 million monthly listeners without any coverage.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N28Nfq">
|
|||
|
|
But overnight viral stars are rare, and building a lasting audience is harder than ever as social media platforms are flooded by celebrities and established acts. Many artists who break out on TikTok become <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/tiktok-one-hit-wonders-1028449/">one-hit wonders</a>. Their songs eclipse their short-lived public identities as audiences move onto the next meme. And those who do break out still need to work their way up the ladder from social media to streaming, and finally, to radio to reap financial rewards.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="alRAMV">
|
|||
|
|
Performers aren’t the only ones affected by streaming. Though streaming has been a financial boon for labels, songwriters still depend on radio play for the bulk of their income — radio pays much higher royalties to songwriters compared to streaming. Emily Warren, who has written hits for Dua Lipa and the Chainsmokers among many others, told me that she knows songwriters with hundreds of millions of streams and Grammy nominations who still drive Uber for a living. But she says that a songwriter with just two big radio hits is set up to retire.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zPAekk">
|
|||
|
|
These distorted economics change the kind of songs that are written. “[Songwriters] are just chasing radio. The only way a writer can make any money is if they have a radio single,” Warren says. Even though it’s been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/03/14/opinion/pop-music-songwriting.html">widely reported</a> that streaming has changed the sound of pop music, artists still fight for radio listeners, who skew older and more conservative in their tastes.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5chQHw">
|
|||
|
|
There may be some truth to the age-old criticism of all pop music sounding the same. Before iTunes started selling songs as singles, songwriters could make money off of deep album cuts: “There used to be so much money and value in any kind of song, and anywhere on the album. You could have track eight on an album that had a big single and you would make so much money off of it,” Warren says. She believes that album sales allowed songwriters to take more risks and find new sounds. By comparison, the Top 40 radio format of old-school anthemic choruses is creatively restraining. Warren says that these financial incentives are holding popular music back: “If songwriters start being compensated, there will be a musical renaissance.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vxkOGF">
|
|||
|
|
As artist and songwriter Julia Michaels puts it, “With streaming, songwriters are lucky if they make anything. If you don’t have the single, you’re basically fucked.” And in the bottom-up method of hit-making, promoting a single across every platform is exhausting.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wqEpXn">
|
|||
|
|
Michaels believes that the creative laborers in popular music are feeling pressure to compete with every online influencer: “It is definitely a scary time for songwriters. And it’s kind of a scary time to be an artist, too. There’s a lot of expectations. You have to be a TikTok star. You have to be on social media all the time. You have to be a model.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8cpHan">
|
|||
|
|
Today’s streaming economy looks a lot like the larger economy. Michaels explains that now, “if you’re not in the top 1 percent, it is not lucrative at all.” In fact, the pool that makes a decent paycheck is much smaller than the 1 percent — only <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/18/22336087/spotify-loud-clear-website-launch-pay-artists-streaming-royalities">13,400 artists</a> earned more than $50,000 on Spotify in 2020. Just 870 made it rich, bringing in more than $1 million.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GovgMS">
|
|||
|
|
As for Trevor Daniel? Chart whisperer Molanphy says that he’s in the “middle of the pack — neither a nobody, nor a chart-topper — who now has to find his way in this weird new economy of hit-making.” With so much financial uncertainty in music, it’s not surprising that so many artists are selling their <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/wx84yz/why-so-many-musicians-are-selling-their-catalogs-bob-dylan-neil-young-shakira-hipgnosis">catalogs</a> and speculating with cryptocurrencies and <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22313936/non-fungible-tokens-crypto-explained">NFTs</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tyTO2t">
|
|||
|
|
The age-old business of writing and releasing songs has been upended. Now every song has to find a life on a half-dozen different formats to be a hit. What was never easy is only getting harder. While we’re daydreaming to our “<a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX889U0CL85jj?si=8639439a174d4ee0">Chill Vibes</a>” playlist, artists and songwriters are flailing to get our attention.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N8xm6F">
|
|||
|
|
<em>Charlie Harding is a songwriter and executive producer and co-host of Vox Media’s </em>Switched on Pop<em> podcast, which looks at phenomena in pop music. </em>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n9g4Yz">
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div>
|
|||
|
|
<div id="KCH1K5">
|
|||
|
|
<div>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KXmdd7">
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>Digital blackface led to TikTok’s first strike</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3PANTCHjGRLXtxXfqlJZaHYFzZ8=/168x0:3595x2570/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69517690/GettyImages_1325820870.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Megan Thee Stallion performs at the 2021 BET Awards in Los Angeles. | Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for BET
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
And it’s soundtracked by Meg Thee Stallion.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="C3xhU0">
|
|||
|
|
Earlier this June, Meg Thee Stallion’s “Thot Shit” was poised to take over TikTok. It’s compulsively danceable and full of quotable “Hot Girl Summer”-isms, but a scroll through the song’s official sound on the app unveils a wasteland of mediocre lip-syncs and unimaginative — to say the least — <a href="https://twitter.com/stillnaima/status/1406792415952912386">dance trends</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WDjh6c">
|
|||
|
|
“Megan says, ‘Hands on my knees. Shaking ass, on my thot shit.’ … You could not have possibly gone so far in the opposite direction,” says <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@xosugarbunny/video/6975344579960786181?referer_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.insider.com%2F&referer_video_id=6975344579960786181&refer=embed">a viral TikTok from user</a> <span class="citation" data-cites="xosugarbunny">@xosugarbunny</span>. “The instructions are right there.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EpGzcb">
|
|||
|
|
Fast forward weeks later, and a viral dance challenge has yet to emerge — because Black content creators, fed up with rampant cultural appropriation on the platform, are refusing to dance to the song. Dubbed the “<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BlackTikTokStrike&src=typeahead_click">#BlackTikTok Strike</a>,” Black TikTokers are hitting pause on their dance tutorials indefinitely, making this the first collective action the platform has seen, where creators are equating uncredited trends with unpaid labor.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div id="gpkzIW">
|
|||
|
|
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
|||
|
|
This video is a sociology class. <a href="https://t.co/vLWse61wD2">pic.twitter.com/vLWse61wD2</a>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
— Naima Cochrane’s Burner Acct (<span class="citation" data-cites="stillnaima">@stillnaima</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/stillnaima/status/1406792415952912386?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 21, 2021</a>
|
|||
|
|
</blockquote></div></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="17sGuc">
|
|||
|
|
The move comes on the heels of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/6/18/21294825/history-of-juneteenth">now-national holiday Juneteenth</a>, which signifies the day in 1865 when a group of enslaved people in Texas learned of their emancipation three years late, but also amid larger conversations about race and appropriation on the platform. One such recent controversy saw white female creators flooding TikTok with videos of <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ttdramanews/video/6975325064078134534?_d=secCgYIASAHKAESMgowNjx9GK0QJ1mSMiUFygapqU4BX8audKdoJ0FdUDEphCFJJY4JE%2F64XfmUUQ0THnTOGgA%3D&checksum=227b35eac8adcec882ff1c5efce9783430c65bd2c35efdb3af3b60c8a6e7b366&enable_clips=1&language=en&preview_pb=0&sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAAM82KUQNZuhYRfghAMdakBdv2ZMO1idg11xDQ4BoNAS6d79ToJrFimoyk2QcAp0LB&share_app_id=1233&share_item_id=6975325064078134534&share_link_id=6DD8E11E-E6C2-4D58-A8E4-D757D3CE542A&source=h5_m&timestamp=1624895975&tt_from=sms&u_code=d7h4g8h33d2bkf&user_id=6722268051407193093&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=sms&_r=1">lip-syncing along to Nicki Minaj’s “Black Barbies.”</a> While the trend first emerged as a way to celebrate Black beauty, it’s now a site of heated discourse on the lengths to which non-Black creators will go to pantomime Black culture for views.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KufLXA">
|
|||
|
|
“As Black folk, we’ve always been aware that we’ve been excluded and othered. Even in the spaces we’ve managed to create for ourselves — whether it be in music, fashion, language, or dance — non-Black folk continuously infiltrate and occupy these spaces with no respect for the architects who built them,” says <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theericklouis?lang=en">Erick Louis</a>, a dancer and TikToker from Florida whose content traverses the space between social commentary and off-the-cuff humor. “We’re mobilizing in this way because it’s necessary and it’s something we’ve been saying among ourselves for quite a while now.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div id="xTcNCr">
|
|||
|
|
<blockquote cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@ttdramanews/video/6975325064078134534" class="tiktok-embed">
|
|||
|
|
<section>
|
|||
|
|
<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ttdramanews" target="_blank" title="@ttdramanews"><span class="citation" data-cites="ttdramanews">@ttdramanews</span></a>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/blackbarbie" target="_blank" title="blackbarbie">#blackbarbie</a> drama explained
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/Black-Barbies-6918462615270247170" target="_blank" title="♬ Black Barbies - Bhad Bhabie">♬ Black Barbies - Bhad Bhabie</a>
|
|||
|
|
</section>
|
|||
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AyIIx3">
|
|||
|
|
Louis was among the first to officially post about the strike on TikTok, uploading a video on June 19 of him faking out viewers with promises of a dance to “Thot Shit” before declaring, “Sike. This app would be nothing without [Black] people.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OZU2hk">
|
|||
|
|
And as if an internet prophet, Louis later found his act of protest stolen. Days later, a pair of white creators uploaded themselves <a href="https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMdfdX3px/">mimicking Louis’s moves without crediting him</a>, only for the now-deleted video to receive north of a million views.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4b2ujV">
|
|||
|
|
The virality vacuum of the internet has always made the concept of credit nebulous. “Dances are virtually impossible to legally claim as one’s own,” after all, writes The Goods’ Rebecca Jennings <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/2/4/21112444/renegade-tiktok-song-dance">on the ethics of the dance trend</a>. And while until recently it was <a href="https://www.theverge.com/22310188/nft-explainer-what-is-blockchain-crypto-art-faq">nearly impossible to own a meme</a>, Black trauma and culture have long been the unsung soundtrack of the internet.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div id="yxfh13">
|
|||
|
|
<blockquote cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@theericklouis/video/6975951032186719494" class="tiktok-embed">
|
|||
|
|
<section>
|
|||
|
|
<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theericklouis" target="_blank" title="@theericklouis"><span class="citation" data-cites="theericklouis">@theericklouis</span></a>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Am I buggin’
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-6975951092114868998" target="_blank" title="♬ original sound - ericklouis">♬ original sound - ericklouis</a>
|
|||
|
|
</section>
|
|||
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pGqZzA">
|
|||
|
|
In the 2010s, Sweet Brown went from recounting an apartment fire on the nightly news to becoming an internet sensation, as her declaration of “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” became the answer to any minor inconvenience — <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.quora.com%2FWhat-is-your-favorite-aint-nobody-got-time-for-that-meme&referrer=vox.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Fthe-goods%2F2021%2F6%2F29%2F22554596%2Fdigital-blackface-megan-thee-stallion-song-tiktok-first-strike" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">computer updates</a> and <a href="http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3tqe39">pleasantries</a> included. Then came this year’s <a href="https://www.realitytitbit.com/celebrity-gossip-and-news/double-homicide-meme-joselines-cabaret">Double Homicide meme</a>. Devoid of context, the voiceover from Joseline Hernandez’s reality competition show <em>Joseline’s Cabaret </em>pokes fun at casual adversities, like <a href="https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMd5VR75B/">bad sex</a> or <a href="https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMd5VR75B/">an awkward body type</a>. In reality, the phrase is a response to a contestant sharing how she terminated a twin pregnancy.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cqPkUW">
|
|||
|
|
The point: Blackness, whether related to joy or pain, is <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-evolution-digital-blackface/">a shortcut to internet fame</a> and all it brings. But as white creators turn these moments into personal brands, sponsorship deals, and small-time media empires, a larger question exists: Should this content be theirs to claim in the first place?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-float-right">
|
|||
|
|
<div id="GL7dcL">
|
|||
|
|
<div>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IJS5F2">
|
|||
|
|
“Black creators carry TikTok on our backs. We make the trends, we give the looks, we are funniest — there’s no argument about it,” says Louis. “But what ends up happening is non-Black folk appropriate our content, and they end up being the faces of what Black folks created.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DcrCDM">
|
|||
|
|
<a href="https://onezero.medium.com/tiktoks-digital-blackface-problem-409571589a8">Digital blackface</a>, or the co-opting of dances, memes, and slang popularized by Black creators by the non-Black side of the internet, is committed so casually and frequently that it feels like the default mode of shitposting. And why wouldn’t it? It’s how two of TikTok’s biggest darlings found their stride.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v00EfR">
|
|||
|
|
For months, Charli D’Amelio let herself be described as the “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/style/the-original-renegade.html">C.E.O. of Renegade</a>,’’ a 30-second dance combination set to the chorus of K Camp’s “Lottery” that made its rounds on short-form video apps Funimate and Dubsmash before hitting Instagram and then TikTok in 2019. Charli D’Amelio’s identity is forever intertwined with the dance, its peak hitting when she performed it courtside at the 2020 NBA Dunk Contest, despite having nothing to do with its creation. The dance’s real choreographer, 15-year-old Jalaiah Harmon, remained undiscovered until <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/style/the-original-renegade.html">a New York Times profile ran</a>, and she spent months asking for acknowledgment in TikTok’s comments section.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sTK5r6">
|
|||
|
|
“I think I could have gotten money for it, promos for it, I could have gotten famous off it, get noticed,” Harmon told the Times. “I don’t think any of that stuff has happened for me because no one knows I made the dance.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CRKCnJ">
|
|||
|
|
D’Amelio is <a href="https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/singers/charli-damelio-net-worth/">rumored to be worth $8 million</a>, her teenaged wealth an amalgamation of a $1 million deal with Sabra hummus and a going rate of $100,000 per sponsored social media post. Harmon, meanwhile, is rumored to be worth between <a href="https://www.fameranker.com/jalaiah-harmon-net-worth">$70,000 </a>and <a href="https://celebsfortune.com/jalaiah-harmon-net-worth/">$100,000</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div id="5vBFto">
|
|||
|
|
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;">
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AIfcHs">
|
|||
|
|
Then, of course, came the matter of Addison Rae Easterling’s March 2021 <em>Jimmy Fallon</em> appearance, where the influencer performed low-energy renditions of Mya Johnson’s and Chris Cotter’s “Up,” Dorien Scott’s “Corvette Corvette,” Camyra Franklin’s “Laffy Taffy,” and Keara Wilson’s “Savage” without credit.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZuFpwQ">
|
|||
|
|
“[It] was kind of hard to credit during the show,” Easterling <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2021/03/29/addison-rae-jimmy-fallon-tiktok-dance-controversy-black-creators-collab/">told TMZ</a> after the appearance. “It was never my intention and they definitely deserve all the credit, because they came up with these amazing trends.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bDEw5r">
|
|||
|
|
It’s not that Black creators never receive credit for the trends they originate. It’s that they consistently receive it after a public about-face, where any autonomy they had over their de facto creative property is stripped from them by layers of white creators, adoring fans, media appearances, and ensuing backlash.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YFwAPo">
|
|||
|
|
Harmon got to <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2020/02/renegade-creator-jalaiah-harmon-dances-at-nba-all-star-game.html">dance with D’Amelio at the NBA All-Star Game</a>, but only after a firestorm of criticism. And the original creators of the dances Easterling performed were <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdal1YTQjIY">invited to <em>Jimmy Fallon</em> to perform their dances virtually</a> after a show break, but not until after the show was lambasted. There’s something about each of these moments that feels less like a celebration and more like the moment before you exhale. It’s not so much a “Congratulations” as an “About Time.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OOOsGM">
|
|||
|
|
“With the amount of policing already going on on the app, to finally have a video that does well, or like to get some form of recognition, and then have it ripped away from you hurts,” says Louis. “And then to not get credited also adds on to the already open wounds.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>The FTC’s antitrust complaint against Facebook has been dismissed — for now</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="A blurry capture of a man walking past a large blue-and-white Facebook logo on display in a lobby." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ktPatdwUmuR42RNRNLevNEylGlI=/0x0:3177x2383/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69516119/1177856487.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Some politicians have viewed the ruling as a call for Congress to update aged antitrust laws.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uFIioM">
|
|||
|
|
The antitrust push targeting Facebook hit a significant roadblock on Monday when a federal court dismissed antitrust lawsuits that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 48 states had filed against the tech giant.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="koMQCq">
|
|||
|
|
The dismissal is a major win for Facebook, which — along with Amazon, Apple, and Google — has been <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/10/6/21505027/congress-big-tech-antitrust-report-facebook-google-amazon-apple-mark-zuckerberg-jeff-bezos-tim-cook">facing increasing scrutiny about whether it’s engaging in monopolistic behavior</a> to stifle its competition. It’s also a major setback for the growing bipartisan political movement in the US to rein in Big Tech’s power. And it signals that the path forward for antitrust enforcement against these companies may require lawmakers to revisit existing US antitrust law, which had its last major overhaul in the early 1900’s — well before the internet age.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zojK1y">
|
|||
|
|
The FTC’s lawsuit against Facebook argued that Facebook has engaged in monopolistic behavior against its competitors, but on Monday the judge’s ruling said the FTC’s argument wasn’t clear enough.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RidqVh">
|
|||
|
|
“The FTC has failed to plead enough facts to plausibly establish a necessary element of all of its Section 2 claims — namely, that Facebook has monopoly power in the market,” reads <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.224921/gov.uscourts.dcd.224921.73.0.pdf">a part of</a> the filing from the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The filing goes on to criticize the FTC’s complaint against Facebook for containing “nothing on that score save the naked allegation” that the company has a dominant share of the market in the “personal social networking” industry.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DNjLeP">
|
|||
|
|
“It is almost as if the agency [the FTC] expects the Court to simply nod to the conventional wisdom that Facebook is a monopolist,” states another part of the filing.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xspLDX">
|
|||
|
|
The court also dismissed a parallel complaint to the FTC which was filed by 48 state attorney generals in December. In its dismissal of the states’ complaint, the judge ruled the states had taken too long to take issue with Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp, which were acquired in 2012 and 2014, respectively.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YcSHTS">
|
|||
|
|
Immediately following the court’s decisions, Facebook’s shares <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/28/judge-dismisses-ftc-antitrust-complaint-against-facebook.html">rose by more than 4 percent</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v8rKk1">
|
|||
|
|
“We are pleased that today’s decisions recognize the defects in the government complaints filed against Facebook,” a Facebook company spokesperson wrote in a statement. “We compete fairly every day to earn people’s time and attention and will continue to deliver great products for the people and businesses that use our services.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KKFH0Y">
|
|||
|
|
A spokesperson for the FTC shared the following statement with Recode in response to the complaint being dismissed:
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VuuovC">
|
|||
|
|
“The FTC is closely reviewing the opinion and assessing the best option forward.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="pPVfJF">
|
|||
|
|
Facebook may be in the clear for now with the FTC, but the larger antitrust case against the company is far from over
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mrfb4y">
|
|||
|
|
Despite the court’s dismissal, the FTC’s case against Facebook still isn’t completely closed.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IOqiYx">
|
|||
|
|
For one, the court is allowing the FTC to submit a more detailed amended complaint against Facebook within 30 days, which it would re-review.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6ZkScl">
|
|||
|
|
And more broadly, the FTC and its <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22537529/tech-battle-antitrust-regulation-lina-khan-ftc-google-facebook-apple-amazon-cicilline-congress">newly appointed chair, Lina Khan</a>, who is well-known for her scrutiny of Big Tech, can pursue other methods for limiting these giants’ power.<strong> </strong>Beyond this existing case, the FTC could directly file a new case against Facebook within its own administration without needing to involve the federal court system. But as we’ve seen in the past, even <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/7/24/20708359/facebook-ftc-settlement-criticism-5-billion-privacy-review-antitrust-mark-zuckerberg">record-setting settlements</a> between the FTC and Facebook haven’t had much of an impact<a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/7/24/20708359/facebook-ftc-settlement-criticism-5-billion-privacy-review-antitrust-mark-zuckerberg"> </a>on how the company does business.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tgFJXa">
|
|||
|
|
Some powerful politicians have viewed today’s rulings as a call for Congress to update aged antitrust laws so they can apply to modern-day tech companies.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UtPyFJ">
|
|||
|
|
Earlier this month, <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22529779/antitrust-bills-house-big-tech">a bipartisan group of legislators</a> led by Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) and Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) put out five antitrust bills intended to limit the economic power of major tech companies. Those bills included several that would update the laws around antitrust to more specifically target tech companies.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nzxGWd">
|
|||
|
|
Shortly after news of the dismissal of the FTC complaint against Facebook came out, Rep. Buck tweeted that the court dismissal of the FTC’s complaint was a reason why antitrust laws need updating.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div id="QlcWI0">
|
|||
|
|
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
|||
|
|
Today’s development in the FTC’s case against Facebook shows that antitrust reform is urgently needed. Congress needs to provide additional tools and resources to our antitrust enforcers to go after Big Tech companies engaging in anticompetitive conduct. <a href="https://t.co/AGvSacj8kb">https://t.co/AGvSacj8kb</a>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
— Rep. Ken Buck (<span class="citation" data-cites="RepKenBuck">@RepKenBuck</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepKenBuck/status/1409594342860283904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 28, 2021</a>
|
|||
|
|
</blockquote></div></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5ahyWv">
|
|||
|
|
“This intensifies the demand for legislative reform unmistakably,” said Bill Kovacic, former chair of the FTC under George W. Bush’s presidency. “This will be proof for the advocates of [antitrust law] reform that ‘This is what you get by going to court.’”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2vE34F">
|
|||
|
|
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who is a vocal Republican critic of major tech companies, <a href="https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1409592369012482048">also tweeted his disappointment</a> with today’s outcome.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ibSJrD">
|
|||
|
|
So while the decisions may offer temporary relief to Facebook, it’s only for the moment. Larger challenges lie ahead — and the court’s opinions today may galvanize lawmakers to take a new approach to antitrust enforcement of Big Tech.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Tim Southee auctions signed WTC final jersey to raise funds for 8-year-old girl suffering from cancer</strong> - Hollie Beattie was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of cancer called neuroblastoma back in 2018</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>T20 World Cup to be held from October 17-November 14: ICC</strong> - BCCI will remain the hosts of the event, which will now be held in Dubai International Stadium, the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, the Sharjah Stadium, and the Oman Cricket Academy Ground</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Jamieson hid in bathroom to escape tension of New Zealand’s run chase in WTC final</strong> - Jamieson, who was the Man of the Match for his seven wickets in the final, felt nervous while watching the action from the dressing room</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ash Barty commits to Australia’s tennis team for Tokyo Olympics</strong> - She missed most of the 2020 season after her semifinal loss at the Australian Open</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Edgbaston to host England-Pakistan ODI with 80% capacity</strong> - Edgbaston will be able to accommodate around 19,000 fans including under 16s</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>No shortage of COVID-19 vaccines in Karnataka, claims Health Minister K. Sudhakar</strong> - On June 28, Mysuru District Health Officer K.H. Prasad revealed that the district had run out of vaccine</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why Centre’s approval needed for door-to-door vaccination, HC asks Maharashtra govt</strong> - Maharashtra filed an affidavit in the HC, saying home vaccination on an experimental basis can be started, but only for those who are completely immobile and bedridden</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>3 children among 36 booked for attack on Assam doctor</strong> - The mob turned violent after the death of a COVID-19 patient</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Monsoon session of Parliament likely from July 19</strong> - This session will have 20 sittings</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Facebook representatives depose before parliamentary panel on issue of social media misuse</strong> - Facebook’s country public policy director Shivnath Thukral and general counsel Namrata Singh deposed before the panel on Tuesday</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>French lesbians and single women to get IVF rights</strong> - After years of heated debate France is to extend fertility treatment to lesbians and single women.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Picasso painting found as builder arrested over art heist</strong> - Police explain how they recovered paintings stolen in an audacious 2012 raid on an Athens museum.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Covishield: India seeks EU travel approval for its main vaccine</strong> - The Serum Institute is seeking emergency authorisation in the EU for its vaccine, sources told the BBC.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>EU approves data flow to UK but adds sunset clause</strong> - Personal data can continue to be sent if UK maintains “adequate” data protection.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Justice DJ and producer Gaspard Augé on his ‘epic’ Euro 2020 theme song</strong> - One half of French electro stars Justice has provided the soundtrack to a summer of football.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hackers exploited 0-day, not 2018 bug, to mass-wipe My Book Live devices</strong> - Western Digital removed code that would have prevented the wiping of petabytes of data. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1776939">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Physicists confirm two cases of “elusive” black hole/neutron star mergers</strong> - When a neutron star and a black hole love each other very, very much…. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1776627">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Controversial Alzheimer’s drug could cost US $334B—nearly half of DoD budget</strong> - Despite unproven efficacy, Biogen set the drug’s list price at $56,000 per year. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1776882">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>AT&T gives investors and gov’t wildly different takes on need for fiber Internet</strong> - AT&T to investors: Fiber is the best! AT&T to gov’t: Don’t give rural people fiber! - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1776858">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Xbox Game Streaming exits beta, now works on all iOS devices, web browsers</strong> - Requires $15/mo Game Pass Ultimate sub; follows last week’s Series X server upgrade. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1776840">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>I had to tell my wife that I lost all our money in a cock fight</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
That sounded much better than gay prostitute
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
EDIT: Given the rising toxicity since we’ve hit <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/all">r/all</a> allow me to refer to the <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/jokes">r/jokes</a> tag on the top left of your screen. Peace!
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/sdric"> /u/sdric </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o9yjpd/i_had_to_tell_my_wife_that_i_lost_all_our_money/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o9yjpd/i_had_to_tell_my_wife_that_i_lost_all_our_money/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>An elderly gentleman goes to his..</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
doctor for a physical, checked his bloodwork, heart and lungs, everything looks great! The doctor said he had one more test to perform. He needed the man to go home to collect a sperm sample in this jar to see how his reproductive health is.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The old man says no problem with a smile.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The next morning, the man returns and the doctor greets him. He hands the doctor the empty jar. The doc asked what happened?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The old man begins "You see, I came home, and first tried with my right hand. And then with my left. I tried with both hands and still nothing… I asked my wife for help. She tried with her right hand, then her left, and then both, still nothing. Then she tried with her mouth, first teeth in then teeth out… Still nothing.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
We decided to call over our neighbor, lovely young woman, helps us out time to time. She said she would come over to help. She tries with her right hand, then her left. With both… She tried with her mouth, first teeth in then teeth out, she even stuck it between her knees…."
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The doctor cut him off… “YOU ASKED YOUR NEIGHBOR?!”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Old man simply responds, “Well yes, None of us could get the Jar open!!!”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Wikydtron"> /u/Wikydtron </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o9w3v0/an_elderly_gentleman_goes_to_his/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o9w3v0/an_elderly_gentleman_goes_to_his/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>My Chinese waiter thinks all white people look alike and gave my food to the wrong customer</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Wait. Never mind. That wasn’t my waiter.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Genius_Mate"> /u/Genius_Mate </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o9j5cz/my_chinese_waiter_thinks_all_white_people_look/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o9j5cz/my_chinese_waiter_thinks_all_white_people_look/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>Wife: “You always get the worst anniversary gifts.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Husband: “You didn’t say over. Over.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/buggaby"> /u/buggaby </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o9r5o0/wife_you_always_get_the_worst_anniversary_gifts/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o9r5o0/wife_you_always_get_the_worst_anniversary_gifts/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>I’ve just applied for a job in a salad packing factory.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The hours are terrible, but apparently the celery is good.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/VERBERD"> /u/VERBERD </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o9uuys/ive_just_applied_for_a_job_in_a_salad_packing/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/o9uuys/ive_just_applied_for_a_job_in_a_salad_packing/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<script>AOS.init();</script></body></html>
|