Oct 19
Nearly four in ten young adults now get their news from TikTok
Pew asked 5,166 US adults in late August. Of those aged 18 to 29, 39% said they regularly get news on TikTok. For ages 50 to 64 it was 11%.
Source: Pew Research Center, Oct 19
Oct 11
Looksmaxxing now comes as a $49-a-month subscription
ABC Australia profiled a 25-year-old influencer with 1.3 million followers who sells a looksmaxxing programme that includes a guide to “bonesmashing”. That means hitting your own facial bones with a hammer. Face-rating apps give you a low score, then offer to sell you an “ascension plan”.
Source: ABC Australia, Oct 11
Oct 8
Two AI-generated men got about 370 million views in a week
ScamAdviser says the Instagram accounts “Charles Robinson62” and “Abu Shalab” are AI characters, not people, with 1.4 million followers between them. Both bios link to Pump.fun, a site where anyone can launch a crypto token. One outside estimate puts their earnings at $369,000 to $1.8 million. Nobody has confirmed it.
Source: ScamAdviser, Oct 8
Sep 25
Jean Phil has a blond bob, a curled mustache and 228,000 followers. He isn’t real
The AI-generated character shadowboxes silently in absurd places. His bio links to a meme coin that Dexerto put at about $8.8 million. One clip reached 35.9 million views, and LADbible says fans were “so disappointed” to learn he was AI. Two copycat characters already have coins of their own. Dexerto notes that coins like this usually lose most of their value.
Source: Dexerto, Sep 25 · LADbible, Sep 28
Sep 10
The FBI says the Cat in the Hat school-threat videos are “no joke”
AI-looking clips of a sinister Cat in the Hat outside homes and schools set off warnings from schools and police across the US. FBI Houston’s Jason Hudson: “Whether these are serious threats or whether they are intended as jokes, we treat them all the same.” Ten minors were arrested in the Houston region, some facing felonies.
Source: KBTX, Sep 11 · ABC News, Sep 1
Aug 22
Teenagers are staging “aura farming” street battles
Euronews reports organised meme battles, mostly among 14- to 20-year-olds, in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and Spain. Aura means style or charisma; farming means earning points, as in a video game. One Mexico City teenager walked away with a 3,000-peso prize (about $177). A mayor in Honduras banned the battles.
Source: Euronews, Aug 22
Aug 17
Australia took down a record 19,400 scams in a year
The regulator, ASIC, says that is up 182%, with deepfake ads using Anthony Albanese, Gina Rinehart and ABC journalist Alan Kohler. Kohler on the takedowns: “whack-a-mole… it just kept coming back.”
Source: ABC Australia, Aug 17
Jul 31
Australia’s under-16 ban: half the kids who kept an account say nobody asked their age
Three months in, early data from the eSafety Commissioner show under-16 account ownership on the banned platforms fell from 52.4% to 42.1%. Of the kids who still had an account, 50.2% said the platform never asked them to verify their age. Daily messaging use rose from 40.5% to 52.3%.
Source: Stanford FSI write-up, Jul 31
Jul 20
He tells Sean Hannity looksmaxxing is “the most well-rounded form of self-improvement”
Clavicular, a 20-year-old Miami livestreamer, is the best-known face of looksmaxxing. On Hannity he described bonesmashing as hitting your facial bones with a hammer to stimulate bone growth. A Brisbane plastic surgeon has said it “will definitely not give you a chiselled jawline or cheekbones.”
Jul 1
Teachers say “six-seven” is the slang that drives them craziest
Education Week surveyed more than 1,000 educators this spring. “Six-seven” made up over 40% of the slang teachers said drove them crazy. Dictionary.com named “67” its 2025 Word of the Year, noting that its defining feature is that it is “impossible to define.”
Jun 24
A looksmaxxing streamer opens a Paris Fashion Week show
Complex reports that Clavicular was the first model out, as “Look 01” in an all-white outfit, for the 424 label’s Spring/Summer 2027 show.
Source: Complex, Jun 24
Jun 17
One in five young adults has used a chatbot for emotional support
Pew found 20% of adults aged 18 to 29 have used an AI chatbot for emotional support or advice. For those 65 and older it is 2%. For companionship it is 7% of the young and 1% of the old.
Source: Pew Research Center, Jun 17
Newest first. Every entry links to its source. Quotes are word for word, and where a source reports an estimate or an allegation, the entry says so.