Hey everyone! Andrew here. Welcome to the Tuesday edition of Internet Insider.
There’s a lot going on today. First, Gavia, our culture reporter, saw The Batman and shared her thoughts in a review. As a huge Batman fan, I’m very excited to see the movie. I bought tickets to see it on Friday and I’m pretty jealous Gavia got to see it first.
Meanwhile, I dive into the latest in the long-running saga of President Joe Biden’s FCC and FTC picks finally making their way through the Senate.
Let’s dive right into the news.
—A.W.
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BREAK THE INTERNET
The Batman: There’s no question that The Batman, the latest cinematic take on the caped crusader, has a lot of hype. So does it live up to it? Check out Gavia’s review where says it is a “welcome new direction for the franchise” but that she felt the film “could’ve done more.”
TikTok: TikTok has become well-known for its short and easily watchable videos. But now that’s about to change. The popular platform is rolling out a feature that extends how long TikTok videos can be. It’s longer than you’d probably expect.
WikiLeaks: The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to a prominent surge in hacktivism across the globe, but as our tech reporter Mikael notes, the transparency organization WikiLeaks has seemingly made it impossible to provide them with any leaks.
TECH ANALYSIS
Biden’s FCC and FTC picks finally have a Senate committee vote scheduled
Some of you long-time readers of the newsletter know that we’ve been covering the FCC and FTC vacancies for what feels like forever.
Well, we might be getting closer to the finish line.
Gigi Sohn, President Joe Biden’s pick to be the fifth and final commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Alvaro Bedoya, Biden’s choice to be the fifth and final commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), are both scheduled to have a Senate Commerce Committee vote later this week.
Both Sohn and Bedoya’s nominations are key. If confirmed they would give the FCC and FTC 3-2 Democratic majorities that would allow the agencies to vote on party line issues, such as the FCC restoring net neutrality rules.
If they make it through the Senate Commerce Committee vote, they would face a vote before the full Senate.
However, both of their nominations have been fraught with obstruction and delays.
While both of them had confirmation hearings late last year, the Commerce Committee never voted on Sohn’s nomination. It voted 14-14 on Bedoya’s nomination, which meant it could move to the full Senate for a vote. That vote never happened.
Because of this, Biden re-nominated Sohn and Bedoya to their positions earlier this year.
Sohn in particular has faced criticism from Republicans, culminating in the Senate Commerce Committee canceling a planned vote on their nominations due to the health of a Democratic senator and deciding to appease Republicans by holding a second confirmation hearing.
You can read more about the saga that has been Sohn’s nomination here.
The two votes are scheduled for Thursday. Given the tone of the confirmation hearings, it seems likely both votes will be down party lines.
—A.W.
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MORE KEY STORIES
A viral TikTok exposed the aftermath of an alleged rock-throwing incident at a McDonald’s drive-thru location.
A TikTok user has shared video of herself allegedly confronting a hacker over the phone after her Instagram account was stolen. Viewers think they have chemistry.
To mark the fourth anniversary of the very first QAnon drop on 4chan, the Daily Dot put together six stories about the conspiracy theory that haven’t been told or looked at. Check out the coverage here.
NBA meme culture foretells an increasingly problematic present and future.*
*The Daily Dot may receive a commission in connection with purchases of products or services featured here.
BEFORE YOU GO
Adding to the growing trend of TikTokers sharing frustration with their jobs, one user recently posted a video of her boss unknowingly, as she put it, “talking shit” about her within earshot.
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