Hello fellow citizens of the internet! Tiffany here, filling in for Andrew. Welcome to today’s edition of web_crawlr.
Today, we’ve got a few stories centered around the midterm elections: a look inside a secr
etive, far-right Discord that is targeting voter registrations, how QAnon is playing a role in the elections, why telecom reform efforts may be gone, and how Republicans may get back at big tech.
We also have the weekly “Problematic on TikTok” column from reporter Tricia Crimmins. Scroll down for a story about how Elon Musk is cracking down on parody accounts making fun of him.
— T.K.
⚡ Today’s top stories
🗳️ VOTING
Inside the secretive far-right Discord that’s targeting voter registrations one-by-one
The Look Ahead America Discord channel is going through voter rolls in swing states and trying to convince clerks to revoke people’s voter registration.
🪧 MISINFO
If Republicans take the House, QAnon controls the agenda
A QAnon caucus within the party could lead to an increase in vengeful rhetoric, outlandish conspiracy theories, and more.
📞 FCC
Democrats’ feckless telecom reform efforts are about to permanently be killed
Even if the Republicans only take the House, and Democrats hold the Senate, any bills to reform big telecom stand no shot at passing.
🗡️ TECH
Republicans’ big tech revenge era is about to begin
A Republican House will likely be laser-focused on retribution against everyone from Meta to Google to TikTok.
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😬 Problematic on TikTok
TikToker accuses male influencers of ‘pretending to be gay’ for clout
In each edition of web_crawlr we have exclusive original content every day. On Tuesdays our IRL Reporter Tricia Crimmins breaks down the trends on the popular app that will make you cringe in her “Problematic on TikTok” column. If you want to read columns like this before everyone else, subscribe to web_crawlr to get your daily scoop of internet culture delivered straight to you inbox.
🕸️ Crawling the web
Here is what else is happening across the ‘net.
A woman went viral on TikTok after sharing how working retail in college has hindered her from finding another job.
🌡️ Universal Studios employee says company tried to fire her for being sick.
📸 Woman says impostor used fake nudes of her to create an Instagram porn account.
🐦 Elon Musk cracks down on Twitter parody accounts, suspending Kathy Griffin.
👩 Gen Z woman says she’s ‘too pretty’ to work.
🔇 Customer service worker shares what they say when they are on mute.
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👋 Before you go
A Walmart worker joked about how short his breaks are with a video that shows an alarm going off right after he begins to open a bag of chips.
“Walmart 15-minute breaks be like,” the text on the video reads.
🎶 Now Playing: “GRIP” by Tei Shi 🎶