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Hello fellow web crawlers! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s edition of web_crawlr.
Happy Friday! Our top stories today are about: How a Trump executive order inadvertently declared everyone is female (and the online reactions to that), why Reddit communities are banning links to Elon Musk’s X, how there is a frenzy over McDonald’s new Pokémon-themed Happy Meals, and a person issuing a PSA for people who use public bathrooms.
After that, the trending team shares with you their pick for “Main Character of the Week.”
Also: It’s Friday, so don’t forget to take our weekly news quiz! Scroll down below to answer the question. If you guess correctly, you might win a “Scrolling In The Deep” shirt.
See ya tomorrow!
— A.W.
⚡ Today in Internet Culture
♀️ VIRAL POLITICS
‘First Female President?’: How one of Trump’s executive orders inadvertently declared everyone female
President Donald Trump’s executive order may have just declared everyone female after the document said that gender or sex, as the EO would rather say, is defined at conception.
🙅 TECH
Reddit communities are banning links to X following Musk’s ‘salute’
Communities on Reddit are banning links to X following billionaire Elon Musk’s stiff-armed salute on Monday during an inaugural event for President Donald Trump.
🍟 POP CULTURE
‘Dang, now we gotta preorder happy meals’: McDonald’s new Pokémon-themed Happy Meals spark trading card frenzy
McDonald’s just announced the launch of brand new Pokémon-themed Happy Meals, and fans are already lining up to catch ’em all.
🧻 PSA
‘Pay attention’: Person issues warning to people who use public bathrooms at malls and restaurants
A person is issuing a warning to people who use public bathrooms at malls, restaurants, and department stores. The reason might disturb you.
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WHICH PERSON’S HAT AT TRUMP’S INAUGURATION SPARKED A TON OF SPECULATION ONLINE?
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By Ramon Ramirez
Managing Editor
Main Character of the Week: The last days of NFL Twitter
Main Character of the Week is a weekly column that tells you the most prominent “main character” online (good or bad). It runs on Fridays 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.
🍝 ‘Will Smith eating spaghetti’ is the first AI benchmark meme.
🚘 A Subaru owner enamored with her car decided to share something she loved from the company to help people define who they are by what they drive.
⛽ This diesel car driver has a bone to pick with BP.
💓 A woman on TikTok decided to try out a social experiment on Hinge after hearing one of her male friends complaining about not being able to find any love interests on dating apps.
🍚 In the market for a rice cooker? Meet your new rice besties, Zojirushi and TikToker Sy (@syuulater). Sy makes a four-part tutorial on how to make white rice “the Asian way.”
🌐 From the Daily Dot archive: These students are ditching college to run an NFT business.
🤳 Today’s Viral Video
AI’s take on heaven has people in a frenzy.
