Newsletter: ‘Banana slurp’ bamboozles Google

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Hello fellow web crawlers! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s edition of web_crawlr. 

Here’s the latest trending internet culture stories today: How we tricked Google’s search with nonsense, how some right-wingers are terrified DEI will dictate the choosing of the next pope, why people are in full-on scavenger hunt mode for a lobster purse, and how scientists have discovered a new color. 

After that, our Senior Politics and Technology Editor David has a “Deplatformed” column for you. 

See you tomorrow! 

— A.W. 

Today in Internet Culture

GOOGLE BAMBOOZLE
‘Banana slurp’ and ‘Cyclops vibing’: We fed Google Search’s AI nonsense phrases and it pretended to know them

After noticing that Google’s AI Overview would give a summary to most queried searches, we started experimenting by prompting it with nonsense phrases followed by “meaning.”

➤READ MORE

VIRAL POLITICS
‘DEI Satan’: Conservative Catholics are already pledging to not follow any non-white pope

With the College of Cardinals soon moving to select a new Pope in the wake of Pope Francis’ passing, some right-wingers on social media are terrified that DEI will dictate the secret ballot.

➤READ MORE

TRENDS
‘Will sell a kidney’: Women are literally begging chain stores for this viral beaded lobster purse

Shoppers are in full-on scavenger hunt mode for a specific, TikTok-viral white beaded purse covered in little red lobsters.

➤READ MORE

THE MORE YOU KNOW
Scientists say they discovered a new color called ‘olo’, and apparently it’s mind-blowing

Scientists recently announced they have discovered a new, never-before-seen color called olo—but most of us still won’t be seeing it anytime soon.

➤READ MORE

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By David Covucci
Politics & Technology Editor

The cop who didn’t shoot Trump

Deplatformed is a weekly column that looks into the nether reaches of the internet—outside the big few that everyone already covers—to tell you the political discourse online. It runs on Thursdays in the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter. If you want to get this column a day before we publish it, subscribe to web_crawlr, where you’ll get the daily scoop of internet culture delivered straight to your inbox.

Crawling the Web

Here is what else is happening across the ‘net.

In a viral video, a Cracker Barrel server found something unusual in the biscuit batter. Then it gets baked into the meal.

 Prank delivery orders can be a nuisance not just for the recipient, but for the business involved.

If you’re eating a Trader Joe’s bean, rice, and cheese burrito, one customer says you should stop now.

In a healthy relationship, it’s easy to become comfortable with a partner who fully accepts you as you are, for better or worse.

From the Daily Dot archive: Is your kid attending funerals on Roblox?

Question of the Day

Everyone’s got opinions, and we want to know yours. Just click a button below to answer the question, and tomorrow we will let you know how fellow web crawlers like you answered. 

DO YOU TRUST GOOGLE’S AI SEARCH SUMMARIES?

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Hot on the Dot

This was the most read story on the Daily Dot yesterday: 

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