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Hello fellow citizens of the internet! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s edition of Internet Insider.
We’ve got a lot of big tech news for you today, including how Facebook’s parent company tried to smear TikTok and how the Biden DOJ has thrown its support behind a big antitrust bill.
If you keep scrolling, our Politics Reporter Claire looks at the online footprint of Rachel Hamm, a Republican running to be California’s secretary of state, in her weekly “Dirty Delete” column.
That’s a lot to get through, so let’s dive right into the news.
— A.W.
BREAK THE INTERNET
NOT SO ‘DEVIOUS’: Supposed TikTok trends like the “devious licks” and the “slap a teacher” challenge that were pushed as dangerous were reportedly actually part of a campaign by Meta, the parent company of Facebook, to try and sour public opinion of the app. Audra, our senior culture writer, breaks it all down here.
BIG TECH: The Department of Justice is backing antitrust legislation in Congress that would rein in big tech giants and their control over certain markets. Our report dives into what the DOJ’s endorsement means and where things could be heading in the future.
‘THE SLAP’ REMIXES: The Will Smith-Chris Rock slap at the Oscars continues to dominate the internet. While it may have felt inevitable, several remixes that use Smith’s audio have gone viral online. We rounded up a few of the best ones. Check out our report here.
A GOP secretary of state candidate in California is a YouTuber backed by MAGA influencers
QAnon follower Rachel Hamm believes Jesus asked her to run California’s elections—possibly so she can fight “witchcraft.”
Hamm is a Republican running for California Secretary of State. Her campaign platform is essentially to make it as difficult to vote as possible.
Hamm is among several candidates recruited by QAnon influencer Juan O. Savin. Online you can find her on Twitter, Facebook, Gettr, Instagram, and YouTube.
On YouTube, where she has 50,000 subscribers, Hamm often features QAnon and other far-right figures. Savin, Mike Flynn, and Roger Stone have all appeared on her show in the last year.
Hamm reportedly told a QAnon supporter that she follows “c-u-e … constantly.” (Some QAnon followers refer to the conspiracy as “cue” to evade detection by social media platforms.)
She’s also been on various QAnon programs and attended a conference organized by a QAnon influencer.
Like many on the far-right, Hamm is falsely convinced that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Hamm recently said former President Donald Trump won all 50 states in 2020 because she saw it in a dream. (She claims to receive “prophetic revelations.”)
No presidential candidate has ever won all the states; and believing Trump did is fairly alarming for someone who’d be tasked with running elections in the event she wins in heavily Democratic California, a state she’s referred to as “hell.”
Even among the field of conspiracist candidates obsessed with a powerful cabal of satanic pedophiles, Hamm stands out.
She believes that Jesus appeared in a closet in her home and handed one of her sons a scroll telling her to run for Secretary of State.
Hamm is also fixated on the occult, frequently speaking of witchcraft, prophecy, and magic. The Daily Beast reports that she’s claimed a satanist sacrificed a raven on her lawn and that her prayers once led to the murder of a witch who lived in her neighborhood.
On an episode of her show, she blamed satanic witches for COVID-19, civil rights protests, and mental health crises.
“All of these things that we see happening have one main source: witchcraft,” she said.
Hamm’s talk of witches and satanic rituals hasn’t dissuaded people, including members of the Republican establishment, from supporting her. She has the backing of powerful MAGA influencers like Stone, Steve Bannon, and Mike Lindell.
Last week, she enthusiastically posted that the California Republican Assembly had endorsed her.
If California voters choose her to run its elections, there’s a good chance Hamm’s first act as Secretary of State will be to stack the pyre—for peace, of course.
“How can there be peace in the United States of America right now when there is so much witchcraft?” she once said.
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In a viral video, a TikToker filmed a Denny’s worker calling the cops on him after he refused to leave, but it backfired when viewers sided with the employee.
The FTC filed an injunction demanding that Intuit, the parent company of TurboTax, stop falsely advertising that if offers free tax filings.
Cut through the bull. It’s time to learn from the experts.*
If there is one word that sums up the Trump years, it’s disinformation. With “The Trump Disinformation Project,” the Daily Dot takes you behind the scenes with nine different stories that expose how disinformation was weaponized.
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BEFORE YOU GO
A video has gone viral of a woman filming a neighbors car that had caught fire. She says she decided not to help because her neighbor was a “Karen.” That decision has sparked some debate.
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