When Girls premiered in 2012, I was a twentysomething living in New York City, fresh out of college and making my own questionable decisions. So were Hannah (series creator and co-writer Lena Dunham), Marnie (Allison Williams), Jessa (Jemima Kirke), and Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet). I spent six seasons watching them make terrible choices, occasionally recognizing myself…
Ukrainian drones struck data centers belonging to Russian tech giant Yandex over the past week. Following the strikes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that there was a sudden drop in Russian bot activity and political disinformation campaigns on platforms like X. Social media users took the story — Ukraine had taken out a massive Russian bot…
If you’ve noticed people dropping the fries emoji in TikTok comments lately, they’re probably not hungry. The French fries emoji (🍟), sometimes accompanied by a peace sign (✌️), has become a way for Gen Alpha to tell someone they’re being corny, embarrassing, or simply talking too much. Think of it as the emoji equivalent of…
Some people unwind with a good book. Others take a hot bath or watch their favorite comfort show. One woman spends two hours jumping on a trampoline in the middle of the night. And honestly, she might be onto something. TikTok creator @whatifimjustagirl is going viral after sharing her unusual nighttime ritual. For the past…
Earlier this month, two former school students murdered a vice principal and attacked students at a Mexican secondary school in Torreón, Coahuila. Authorities say they were inspired by violent and extremist content online. Today (Oct. 14), Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum signed a presidential decree barring social media and streaming platforms from displaying or recommending violent…
A $5 first-person shooter called Hood Warfare 2 has gone from near-obscurity to one of Steam’s most talked-about releases in less than a week. Given the nature of the game, however, it’s also drawn scrutiny for its content, its anonymous developers, and the creators who’ve played it live on stream. Made by an anonymous dev…
AI-generated images can now give celebrities entire social media moments they never took part in. For Mia Goth, that meant a supposed response to her divorce — right down to a T-shirt and breakup soundtrack. After news of the Pearl and MaXXXine actress’s divorce filing from Shia LaBeouf a few weeks ago, an Instagram post…
It’s a classic tale: You open Instagram for a break, and 20 minutes later, you’re caught up on three arguments, worried about something you hadn’t heard of til this morning, and wondering why you picked up your phone in the first place. Then a video of a puppy appears, and for a few seconds, things…
A celebrity shopping complaint can become everyone’s business pretty quickly. This weekend, that customer was Kelly Clarkson. The purchase in question? A $15,000 singing bird. “Just drove all the way to Brooklyn to check out this store I thought looked really rad and had a few things in mind to buy and literally was looked…
From the creator lounge at New York Comic Con, the view is hard to beat. Below, thousands of fans stream through the Javits Center’s main entrance, a colorful procession of elaborate cosplays, oversized props, and familiar characters brought to life. Towering banners celebrating everything from Tamagotchi and The Apothecary Diaries to YAGA and NYCC’s 20th…