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Tuesday, November 25, 2025 |
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Happy Tuesday. Netflix is hiring a sports personality, Spotify is planning to raise prices, and Universal is plotting some "Wicked" sequels. But first... |
X reveals some hard truths |
The new account location label on Elon Musk's X has captured a lot of attention in the past few days. The feature, no matter how imperfect, has exposed people from Nigeria, Bangladesh, Argentina and India apparently posing as Americans and pushing people's buttons.
It says something unseemly about the never-ending supply of MAGA memes and social justice screeds. But we have to reckon with the demand side of this equation.
Why are people (surely not you personally, but certainly lots of your neighbors!) so quick to believe @NumberOnePatriot or @SocialistsUnite and share what they say? Why let bad faith actors — who may live thousands of miles away — fool us while padding their own pockets?
In school, we're taught to consider the source. But once we're allegedly grown up, we all too often forget that lesson. And even when we remember, it can be almost impossible to discern who's who on the internet. This X feature is a small step in a better direction.
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How this all connects to trust |
Yesterday, Business Insider's Peter Kafka argued that "the real surprise" in the unmasking of high-profile X accounts "isn't where these accounts are posting from — it's that anyone's still surprised."
Like Kafka, I've been writing about this topic for the better part of a decade, so I sympathize with his argument. But any day there's growing awareness of this problem is a good day!
Addressing the demand side can be awkward, as you risk sounding like a jerk. "Why are you so gullible?" is not a constructive way to start a conversation. But there are reasons why many of the foreign accounts posing as Americans are promoting President Trump and pushing right-wing talking points.
"If you are a foreign grifter looking for a US customer base," the MAGA right "has been the broadest and most consistent target," researcher Renee DiResta wrote, citing "study after study" from the past decade.
DiResta emphasized that she wasn't making a "moral judgment," she was merely describing the marketplace. The MAGA right, she wrote, is "a niche where people are willing to follow a random, anonymous account and treat it as a trusted voice on everything from elections to vaccines to border security — boosting its content to their friends as well." Lack of trust in everything else is the key.
In some cases, as Jared Holt pointed out, users "don't even care if this is actually true," because they want to believe the worst about perceived adversaries. This is often true IRL, too, but the internet, with its lack of face-to-face engagement, only makes it worse.
This is why it's so important to have politicians like Utah Gov. Spencer Cox speaking out about social algorithms that maximize conflict. Check out Cox's recent interview with McKay Coppins about this very topic...
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💸 These are make-money-quick schemes |
"The 'psyops' revealed by X are entirely the fault of the perverse incentives created by social media monetization programs," Jason Koebler wrote for 404 Media yesterday. His headline: "America's Polarization Has Become the World's Side Hustle."
Over on Bluesky, Koebler pointed out that "how to make 'monetized USA Accounts' and how to populate them with content is an incredibly popular global YouTube side hustle type of content."
"I might be the only American on X," The Free Press reporter River Page quipped.
Of course, "this is exactly the kind of coordinated inauthentic behavior that trust & safety teams were built to identify and address," TechDirt's Mike Masnick wrote. But over the past few years, partly due to Republican political pressure, tech giants have deprioritized and in some cases decimated those teams. Further reading:
>> "It's worth stepping back to see this for what it is: the complete perversion of the actual premise of not just social media but the internet," Charlie Warzel wrote for The Atlantic.
>> Many prominent MAGA voices on X have "distanced themselves from those accounts and are unwilling to engage with them anymore," Politico's Catherine Kim noted last night.
>> The human weaknesses exposed by X's unmasking are not just political in nature: As Mother Jones reporter Anna Merlan wrote, the tool "highlighted many men interacting with obviously fake accounts pretending to be lonely, attractive, extremely chipper young women."
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An 'existential problem that's coming' |
Jake Shapiro, a professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton, told CNN's Hadas Gold, "I think X and many other companies have an existential problem that's coming, which is it’s going to become increasingly hard to figure out what is real human and what is AI agents. And it’s unclear that advertisers are going to be willing to pay for the attention of AI agents. For the companies, there's a real interest emerging in being able to sort out what's real from what's not, and for users and doing the same." Here's hoping!
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Three timely tech and AI headlines |
>> Sen. Ed Markey has sent a letter to Trump pressing "for details about a deal to keep TikTok available in the US," since "few specifics have emerged" since September, per The Hill.
>> An attention-getting headline on Page One of today's WSJ: "Economy is now addicted to AI spending."
>> Trump signed an executive order yesterday launching an AI initiative "being compared to the Manhattan Project." And/but "some of his most loyal supporters within the MAGA base" are "denouncing his effort to accelerate the AI revolution," ABC's Will Steakin writes.
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Speaking of the AI race... |
The aforementioned Hadas Gold is taking on a new beat here, focusing on the fascinating world of AI, the global race to dominate the tech, and how it impacts all of our daily lives. "This is a natural extension of Hadas's excellent coverage of Elon Musk, who has become fixated on winning the AI arms race," VP for business and media Marie Beaudette wrote in an internal memo. So send Hadas your congrats and your tips!
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Takeaways from the BBC hearing |
This morning's front page of The Daily Telegraph screams, "BBC in disarray over bias claims." But the rest of the papers barely mentioned yesterday's hearing of the UK's Culture, Media & Sport Committee, suggesting BBC chair Samir Shah got through it mostly unscathed.
Shah "appears to have come out stronger," Katie Razzall wrote. And every other witness "professed huge support for the BBC." Still, the most senior MP on the committee expressed concerns afterward, and the head of Ofcom said "the board has a lot to do." Two more bits of news:
>> Shah said he pleaded with Tim Davie "not to resign, but admitted that the role of director-general is too big for one individual," and said he wants to create a deputy role.
>> The BBC's director of editorial complaints "will re-visit 'every item' in Michael Prescott's memo to decide if further action is required."
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No immediate ruling after AP hearing |
"The First Amendment does not stop at the Oval Office door," Charles Tobin, an attorney representing The AP, told a three-judge appellate panel during arguments in DC yesterday. The questions from the judges, two of whom are Trump appointees, "illustrated that the AP faces an uphill battle in this fight," The AP's David Bauder wrote in this recap. "No immediate ruling was issued."
>> "Somewhat ironically," Bauder added, "the issue of naming the Gulf of Mexico has faded. A study by the Nieman Lab last month found that in journalism, use of the Gulf of America has largely been confined to conservative outlets and trade publications that deal frequently with government regulation."
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Trump's TV consolidation curveball |
Sinclair "has submitted a bid to buy out E.W. Scripps for $7 per share, in a deal that could bring further consolidation across America's local TV news landscape," The AP's Wyatte Grantham-Philips wrote yesterday.
But Trump "threw a curveball" in station owners' plans with his Truth Social post opposing a change to the broadcast ownership cap, Sara Fischer wrote for Axios. His post "shocked" broadcasters...
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Big sign about Netflix's live sports plans |
ESPN's Elle Duncan is set to become Netflix's "first high-profile, full-time on-air personality" for live sports, showing "that the streaming service is becoming increasingly serious" about adding more events, The Athletic's Andrew Marchand scooped.
>> Context: "At the moment, Netflix’s first marquee sports event could be in March when it will have the Opening Day stream of the New York Yankees at the San Francisco Giants. The service has been looking for other events, so there will be other shows that Duncan could appear on..."
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>> Bari Weiss spoke at a Jewish Leadership Conference event on Nov. 16, and a clip from the panel has gone viral in the past 12 hours. She talked about her "goal" at CBS News — and referenced "redrawing the lines of what falls in the 40-yard lines of acceptable debate" in America. The full panel discussion is up on Dan Senor's podcast. (X)
>> Jeremy Barr has the high/lowlights from the latest batch of newly publicized emails/texts from inside Fox News after the 2020 election. (Guardian)
>> Garbage Day's Ryan Broderick asks, "Is Nick Fuentes filling the void after Charlie Kirk's death?" (Rolling Stone)
>> Politico "is ending production and distribution of its print newspaper at the end of the year," Scott Nover reports. (X)
>> Newsreel, an app "aimed at encouraging young people to develop news habits, has secured $100,000 investment" from the American Public Media Group. (Press Gazette)
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Spotify hiking prices next year |
Spotify "is preparing to raise US subscription prices in the first quarter of next year," for the first time since July 2024, the FT's Anna Nicolaou scooped last night, citing sources. "The price rise in its largest market will come as Spotify pushes to show sustained profitability..." |
Sora has to stop saying 'cameo' for now |
Cameo has prevailed in court for the time being: OpenAI will not be allowed to use the word "cameo" to "name any products or features in its Sora app for a month" after a federal judge put a temporary restraining order in place. CNBC's Jaures Yip has details here...
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Reliable readers will recall how John Oliver turned last week's season finale of "Last Week Tonight" into a fundraiser for public media. He convinced the Bob Ross estate to auction one of the late PBS star's paintings, "and it has paid off," reports Variety's Michael Schneider. "Ross’ 'Cabin at Sunset,' which he painted on a Season 10 episode of PBS' 'The Joy of Painting' in 1986, had fetched around $1,044,000 after 35 bids... a new auction record for a Bob Ross painting."
>> In total, "the auction raised nearly $1.54 million for the Public Media Bridge Fund." 👏🏻👏🏻
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>> The Broadway musical "The Queen of Versailles" "will close on Jan. 4, ending a disappointingly abbreviated run at a time when new musicals, long the industry’s creative and financial engine, are struggling." (NYT)
>> Least surprising headline of the day: "Universal is ready to 'figure out' more Wicked sequels." (Vulture)
>> Rebecca Rubin has thoughts on whether looming holiday flicks can "salvage the 2025 box office." (Variety)
>> Jed Rosenzweig has the skinny on late-night TV’s Thanksgiving week plans. (LateNighter)
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