beyond labubu + why there's porn on spotify now
you want it? you got it
Hey everyone! ☀️
Feels like so long since I last wrote to you. Dare I say… I missed you?
Last week the thred team attended Cannes Lions Festival in the south of France. We met some incredible people from all over the world, sat in on some insightful talks – Kai Cenat, Amelia Dimoldenberg, and Charlie Puth among them – and even found a bit of time to soak up the sun and sea.
Now that we’re back in our home base London, it’s time to serve up some news you might be missing from your main feed. From the internet’s new ways of shrouding its misogyny to ChatGPT’s affect on our brains, Spotify porn and the global boom of the Chinese market (beyond Labubu dolls)… we’ve got a lot to cover.
Let’s get into it!
💬 Culture
The internet’s favourite way to hate women – and still sound feminist – vox
The artwork for Sabrina Carpenter’s upcoming album Man’s Best Friend is causing quite the stir. It features an image of the singer on all fours while a male hand grabs her hair. Social media users immediately labeled the image ‘misogynistic’ and ‘irresponsible,’ while others stated that Carpenter was never ‘for the girls’. This line of criticism isn’t new, with online conversations criticising women who are sexually forward or perceived as trying to appeal to men. Various tropes include the ‘pick-me,’ ‘male-dominated,’ and ‘not a girl’s girl.’ This Vox article points out that deployers of these slurs fail to realise that ‘they suggest women are to blame for men’s actions or that they can protect themselves from violence by appearing a certain way.’ When these conversations happen on social media, nuance is often lost.
Nearly 150 report being stabbed with needles at French music festival – nyt
French officials have confirmed that 145 people across the country, including 13 in Paris, reported being stabbed with needles at an annual, nationwide music festival on Saturday. Twelve people were arrested in connection with the stabbings. Police did not provide any details about those arrested, nor the substances the syringes may have contained. While the number of victims was small compared with the millions of people who attended Fête de la Musique events across France, the reports add to a growing list of episodes in recent years in which people have reported being injected without their knowledge or consent in crowded venues like clubs or bars in Europe.
👹 Style
It’s not just Labubu dolls. Chinese brands are booming – the economist
The Labubu craze – which has roped in the likes of David Beckham and Rihanna – has sent the creator Pop Mart’s shares up by 170 percent since the start of the year. The company is one of many Chinese consumer brands whose popularity is surging. For decades Chinese shoppers tended to look overseas for the latest trends in cosmetics, fashion, hospitality and more. Now they are flocking to local luxury firms, high-end make-up brands and milk-tea shops. What is more, many of these brands are gaining a devoted following abroad. Western brands should be paying attention!
Inside the rise of Whatnot– the $5bn shopping app you’ve never heard of – fortune
Over the past couple of years, Whatnot has quietly climbed App Store charts. It is one of the leaders of the growing trend of live-streamed commerce in the U.S. and has found success in reinvigorated collectibles markets. Now Whatnot currently ranks inside the top 15 most popular free iPhone apps in the U.S., sandwiched between household names Instagram and Netflix. It tops the charts at no. 1 in the shopping category overall. Merchants on Whatnot sold a combined $3 billion in goods in 2024, mainly in collectible categories like trading cards and sports cards, but also in fast-growing verticals like women’s fashion and sneakers, too. The startup, while unprofitable, is forecasting more than $6 billion in gross merchandise volume, or GMV, in 2025, or about double its 2024 numbers.
📲 Tech
New study suggests ChatGPT use linked to lower brain activity – thred
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab are investigating how AI use impacts human brain function. After recruiting 54 people to write essays using either ChatGPT, traditional search engines, or no external resources available, the study found that people who used ChatGPT to write essays had the ‘weakest’ brain connectivity and struggled the most to remember details about the work they had written. They found that ChatGPT users ‘consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioural levels,’ adding that, ‘these results raise concerns about the long-term educational implications and underscore the need for deeper inquiry into AI’s role in learning.’ By contrast, the group who wrote essays without any resources were found to have the ‘strongest, most distributed networks’. You know what they say about the human brain… use it or lose it!
The startling truth about Spotify – it’s got a porn problem – the times
Spotify is probably the last place you’d go to if you were looking for X-rated material, right? Well… what if you just stumbled upon it? Spotify advertises itself as ‘being designed as appropriate for listeners 13+’ and claims to prohibit ‘sexually explicit content’. But this writer for The Times accidentally stumbled upon pornographic content on Spotify that ‘was immediately visible to anyone, including children and teenagers, a cohort the audio-porno’s artwork might even be targeting.’ She writes how easy it is to find it when you’re not looking for it, and how much easier it becomes when you know what to look for in playlists, podcasts, and more. So, does Spotify have a problem with porn, and its ability to monitor inappropriate content? It would seem so.
🌎 World
Israel kills more than 70 people in Gaza, including dozens of aid seekers – al jazeera
Israeli forces and drones have killed more than 70 Palestinians since dawn, including at least 51 near aid distribution centres. The killing of aid seekers has become an almost daily occurrence since the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation took over the distribution of food and other vital supplies. The foundation began its aid distribution programme in late May, after Israel had completely cut off supplies into Gaza for more than two months, prompting warnings of mass famine. The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, said on Tuesday that the system for aid distribution in Gaza was ‘an abomination’. The overall death toll from Israel’s war has risen to 56,077 killed and 131,848 injuries since October 7, 2023.
Europe’s plan to increase military budgets will harm climate and social progress – guardian
Europe risks choosing militarism over social and environmental security, economists have warned, as the head of NATO said all 32 members had agreed to increase weapons spending. Critics say the focus on military spending overlooks the risks to security posed by environmental breakdown and social decay. On Monday, the UK committed to raising its military spending target from 3% to 5% of GDP by 2035. The Common Wealth thinktank found that an increase in military spending to 3.5 percent of GDP would cost the UK an extra £32 billion annually – enough money to fund the entire life cycle of 620 terawatt-hours of onshore windfarms, which is equivalent to 88 percent of the power Britain is projected to consume annually by 2050.
🎶 Recommendation
I now declare this the song of the summer. You’re welcome!
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