Hello fellow citizens of the internet! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s edition of web_crawlr.
I hope your weekend is off to a good start. Our top stories today are about: How an Uber drivers “TRUUUMP” license plate sparked a ton of reactions online, an Amazon delivery driver posting a video of an “affluent” apartment resident harassing them, how Elon Musk fanboys are getting hit with the most Community Notes on X, and a viral video showing the madness surrounding new Stanley tumblers.
After that, our Assistant Newsletter Editor Kira has got a “Decoding Fandom” column for you.
One last thing: If you didn’t take our weekly news quiz yesterday, there’s still time! Just open yesterday’s newsletter to answer the question. If you guess correctly, you might win a “Jingle Blogs” shirt.
See you next week!
— A.W.
⚡ Today’s top stories
🚘 POLITICS
‘I’ve never canceled so fast’: Uber customer says her driver’s license plate was ‘TRUUUMP’
A post on X showing an Uber driver with a “TRUUUMP” license plate has gone viral, with many people saying the vanity plate would have caused them to immediately cancel the ride.
📦 WTF
‘I have never experienced such racist behavior’: Amazon driver says she was assaulted by resident of ‘affluent’ apartment complex
An Amazon delivery driver went viral after she posted a video of an apartment complex resident allegedly harassing and pushing up against her while she attempted to deliver a package.
💻 TECH
Elon Musk fanboys are getting hit with the most Community Notes on X
Billionaire Elon Musk’s most fervent supporters are being corrected for spreading misinformation more than nearly any other accounts on X, an analysis of the platform’s Community Notes shows.
🥤 VIRAL
Target shopper records customers rushing to get exclusive Valentine’s Day Stanley Cup
Since going viral on TikTok, Stanley tumblers have become very popular. For Valentine’s Day this year, Stanley decided to release new cups in exclusive shades of red and pink. Since then, several TikTokers have posted viral videos of the madness surrounding the cups.
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⭐ Decoding Fandom
By Kira Deshler
Assistant Newsletter Editor
Is ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ a sci-fi bomb or a touching lesbian love story? Depends who you ask
In each edition of web_crawlr we have exclusive original content every day. On Saturdays our Assistant Newsletter Editor Kira Deshler dives deep into the world of fan culture in her “Decoding Fandom” 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 your inbox.
🕸️ Crawling the web
Here is what else is happening across the ‘net.
⛽ An electricity company sent customers a peel-and-sniff mailer that smells like natural gas. People online think the mailer was clever and beneficial.
👀 Mexican restaurants often put out chips and salsa at the beginning of your meal. And just as often, diners get full well before they order entrées. Now a woman on TikTok has discovered why we’re always full off chips.
💼 In a viral video posted to TikTok, a former corporate employee revealed the exasperating virtual meetings he and co-workers were forced to attend three times a week.
🍪 The ‘Pepperidge Farm Remembers’ meme is nostalgia wrapped in humor.
🍺 A video where a woman got carded buying non-alcoholic beer at Target has got a lot of attention online.
🏠 One woman has had absolutely enough of the children who live next door in her apartment building, and a lot of people have feelings about the video she posted about it.
📦 This woman’s decision to buy customer’s returned packages from Amazon to give as gifts at Christmas dinner has a lot of folks confused.
👪 From the Daily Dot archive: Why some mommy vloggers are taking their kids out of the spotlight.
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👋 Before you go
A user on TikTok has sparked discussion after sharing a story of travel planning gone awry.
In a video with over 752,000 views, TikTok user Kiran (@venttokiran) shows herself sitting on a seat in an airplane. The camera pans over to some other passengers, then returns to Kiran in her seat.
“My man and I bought seats together but a mom asked the flight Attendant to switch our seats so she could be closer to her kid so the flight attendant Switched us without asking,” she writes in the text overlaying the video. “So Now we’re sitting apart Because they refused to speak To us When we asked what happened.”
In a follow-up video, Kiran says there was already one parent seated with the children and that her seat was taken by “another parent that wanted to be near the rest of their family.”
🎶 Now Playing: “Gods & Monsters” by Lana Del Rey 🎶