Keep scrolling for the tea on WaterTok.
Does it matter if influencers are faking Coachella content?
A new piece by Annabel Bendavid for Centennial World explores the allegations that many influencers pretend to attend Coachella. As the creator economy becomes increasingly saturated, she questions if influencers “lying” to their audience for the sake of content is a necessity to maintain relevance.
Amid Coachella weekend one, TikToker-turned-singer Loren Gray took to the platform to share that some influencers pretend to go to the festival for content.
“Coachella is like the influencer Olympics. It’s like the place to be. But most influencers or a lot of influencers don’t even go to Coachella… they’ll go out to the desert get like an Airbnb, stay with someone, get their outfits, get their hair, get their makeup, post up ‘Coachella day one’… and they don’t go to the festival.”
Performing is part of being a content creator. For an influencer to make it big, they must present a curated version of themselves for their audience, but also a successful version of themselves to help generate commercial opportunities.
Faking Coachella content is an influencer’s version of “fake it till you make it".
On the flip side, Bendavid argues that “creators who fake attendance add to the classism and exclusivity surrounding the festival. And while this was once a strength for influencer events, it now contributes to Coachella’s waning cultural relevance.”
Read the full story via Centennial World.
Twitter begins removing blue check marks from verified accounts
Twitter has started the process of removing the blue ticks from celebrities, politicians, and journalists.
Thousands of public figures have had their verification wiped in the latest unhinged update since Elon Musk took the reins at Twitter.
Users will now need to pay $8 a month for Twitter Blue, “an opt-in, paid monthly subscription that adds a blue checkmark to your account and offers early access to select new features, like Edit Tweet.”
In addition to asking users to pay $8 a month for verification, internal documents reviewed by The New York Times revealed Twitter’s plan to charge organisations $1,000 monthly for verification, symbolised by a gold check mark for an official business account.
The exceptions included Twitter’s top 500 advertisers and the 10,000 most-followed organisations previously verified.
The mass blue tick removal doesn’t seem to be going as planned, with many saying their verification has disappeared and then reappeared on-and-off throughout the day.
A new study out of Princeton on Twitter’s paid verification uncovered two main findings:
Most people don’t understand what the blue ticks mean now.
Paid accounts are disproportionately crypto bros, Elon Musk stans, new accounts, and right-wing conservatives.
Read the full study story via The New York Times.
Twitch streamer with the most subscribers has been banned from the platform
Kai Cenat was inexplicitly banned from Twitch after becoming the platform’s most-subscribed streamer in February.
On April 17th, Kai was mysteriously banned from Twitch. The message on his channel reads: “This channel is temporarily unavailable due to a violation of Twitch's Community Guidelines or Terms of Service.”
It is unclear how Kai violated the platform’s Community Guidelines and Terms of Service, however, some fans believe it could be due to a recent stream where Kai intentionally crashed a dirt bike into his computer/streaming setup.
Kai held the record for the most paid subscribers on the platform, surpassing Ludwig and Ninja by reaching over 300,000 in February.
Prior to his ban, Kai was raking in well over $1 million per month via subscriptions.
Kai’s ban comes amid speculation that several of the service’s top-tier talent will leave Twitch in favour of competitor streaming platform Kick.
Read the full story via Dexerto.
WTF is WaterTok and why is everyone talking about it?
A new piece by Alex Abad-Santos for Vox explores the origins and interest in TikTok’s latest obsession with…flavoured water?
In recent weeks, flavoured water “recipes” have exploded on TikTok, with users sharing their most wacky (and apparently delicious) combinations of water mixed with syrups and packets in an attempt to stay hydrated.
WaterTokers almost always drink out of 40 oz Stanley brand tumblers filled to the brim with pebbled ice— never shaved ice, or God-forbid, cubed ice. It’s these very specific aspects and aesthetics of WaterTok that have helped catapult the trend to virality.
WaterTok was created by Tonya Spanglo who started sharing flavoured water recipes to help others reach their daily water intake goals.
“I used to weigh over 420 pounds,” she tells Abad-Santos. “I used to drink about five cokes a day. Five regular cokes! So now instead of drinking Cokes, I drink these flavored waters.”
Despite Tonya’s good intentions, WaterTok also has a lot of haters, especially given its reliance on artificial sweeteners.
“These anti-fans live in the comments section of [WaterTok creator’s] videos, telling them that they’re “insane,” that they’re drinking juice, or to just grow up and drink plain water like adults,” writes Abad-Santos.
Lisa Young, an author and adjunct professor of nutrition at NYU, told Abad-Santos that “water goals” isn’t something mandated by nutritionists and has no evidence-based backing.
“You know, you don’t need this stuff to lose weight. And I get that it’s trendy, but trendy doesn’t always mean good for you,” she says.
Read the full story via Vox.
YouTube star Piper Rockelle’s mother faces abuse allegations from 11 teens
Tiffany Smith, the mother of teenage YouTuber Piper Rockelle, is facing claims of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse from creators who featured on Piper’s channel.
In a complaint filed in January 2022, the 11 teen plaintiffs allege that Tiffany intentionally inflicted emotional distress while she held a position of “care and control” over them in the production of content for her daughter’s YouTube channel.
The teens were all part of the controversial “Piper Squad” and were featured on the 15-year-old’s channel which has over 10 million subscribers.
The teen creators allege “harassment, molestation, and abuse” and say they weren’t paid for their work and appearances on Piper’s channel.
They are asking for roughly $2 million in damages each, totalling around $22 million from Tiffany and her boyfriend, Hunter Hill, the director and producer of Piper’s channel.
The trial, which starts Monday, highlights the growing concern over YouTube child stardom and the lack of regulations in place to protect minors working on social media.
Read the full story via NBC News.
The Career & Controversies Of James Charles
This week's infinite scroll podcast deep dives into the career and controversies of James Charles. This episode was inspired by the YouTuber’s announcement this week about the launch of his own beauty brand, Painted. This announcement garnered little buzz in the digital world (it actually took me 9 full hours to discover he even made this announcement because so few people were talking about it) and has left MANY to wonder– who will buy James Charles’ makeup brand?
Listen to the full episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.