Police are hiring PR teams to make them go viral
+ Normanticisation, Polymarket's flop era, dating app perma-bans, Gen Z super-subscribers, logos going bold, Grok fact checks, and the death of the screenplay industrial complex
If you’ve ever wondered why news media obsesses over shoplifting but ignores wage theft, or why news outlets report a "shortage" of prison guards without questioning why we imprison so many people in the first place, you've probably encountered copaganda.
This week on Power User, I spoke to award-winning civil rights lawyer and author Alec Karakatsanis about his new book, Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News. It completely changed the way I read and watch the news.
I think we’re all familiar with things like local news segments on crime, but Karakatsanis revealed so many insane new things about the entire police PR machine. Police are working with content creators, they’re hiring big time social media strategists to leverage viral videos, and they’re becoming experts at leveraging the internet and online attention.
Karakatsanis and I talked about how copaganda shapes literally every form of media in the U.S. and warps our perceptions of safety and justice. I talked about my own experiences in newsrooms too. Watch my new episode and subscribe to my YouTube channel!
What I’m reading
It’s the Death of the Screenplay Industrial Complex, and Not a Moment Too Soon
With Coverfly shutting down, many fear for the death of the screenplay industrial complex, but here's why you don't have to. - IndieWire
Creators Are Building Their Own Supersized Studio System As Hollywood Cuts Back
YouTube stars now reach as much people as legacy media — and they’re poaching some of the top players to grow even bigger. - The Hollywood Reporter
Basic as the new punk: The rise of normanticisation
The recent embrace of ‘being basic’ isn’t simply a recession indicator, it’s part of a bigger shift away from extreme personalization towards a more normie ideal. - Dazed
The Real-Life Diet of Longevity Guy Bryan Johnson, Who Wants You to Have as Much Sex as Possible
The American entrepreneur and face of anti-aging talks about the food he consumes more than any other, the last time he ate fast food, and what he thinks about combining three drinks and a cigarette. - GQ
How Pope Crave Went From Conclave to the Conclave
The admin behind the Pope Crave account on the journey to making Oscars memes to providing papal updates and reporting from Rome. - Time Magazine
I Am So Fucking Tired of Listening To Women My Age Complain About Being Old and Washed
In honor of my recent birthday at the end of Aries season, here’s an essay about the pleasures of getting deeper into your thirties and the pernicious obsession with female abjection in cinema. - Madwomen & Muses
The internet's obsession with run clubs is ruining running
What started as community building has become commodified chaos on the streets. - Mashable
'I Loved That AI:' Judge Moved by AI-Generated Avatar of Man Killed in Road Rage Incident
How the sister of Christopher Pelkey made an avatar of him to testify in court. - 404 media
User Mag news rundown
TikTokers are making fun of of how ChatGPT responds to the worst ideas ever.
Netflix’s “Emily in Paris” is returning for its fifth season.
Prediction market platform Polymarket was extremely wrong about who the new Pope was going to be.
A 25-year-old DOGE bro at the CFPB held $715,000 in stocks that ethics lawyers told him he wasn’t allowed to own while working there — so DOGE fired those ethics lawyers.
Deranged video shows AI job recruiter absolutely losing it during an interview.
They’re doing another Timothée Chalamet look-alike contest in NYC.
Thousands say they've been permanently banned from dating apps — and it's affecting their love lives.
The new Pope is a confirmed Wordle player and a White Sox fan, not a Cubs fan.
The Golden Globes will include a “Best Podcast” category beginning next year.
The average Gen Z consumer spends about $400 a month on subscription services, triple that of older generations.
A data expert found that the majority of pro-Justin Baldoni tweets are “inorganic.”
Newark air traffic controllers lost contact with planes again in overnight outage.
After saying they’d absolutely never integrate facial recognition tech into their smart glasses in 2021, Meta is now working on facial recognition tech.
New York Times Business editor Ellen Pollock threatened to commit a murder suicide if a reporter turned in an article longer than 2,000 words, which I can only assume is how most editors feel.
College students are sneaking typos into their papers on purpose so they don’t look like they were written by AI.
X said that India ordered it to block 8,000 accounts or local X staff would be thrown in jail.
Seth Rogen gave Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos a cameo in 'The Studio.' He says Apple wanted Tim Cook instead.
The state of Virginia just passed a terrible, dangerous and extremely extremely bad law law that forces social media companies to verify users' ages and limit underage kids to just one hour per day on their apps. (I will be making a YouTube video about this!)
Congress votes to pull funding for free Wi-Fi hotspots at schools and libraries.
Bumble has hired Ivanka Trump's ex-chief of staff to lead comms.
Elmo posted on LinkedIn that he was laid off from Sesame Street due to federal budget cuts.
Jony Ive’s next product is driven by the ‘unintended consequences’ of the iPhone.
Steve Irwin's son Robert said enough of the 100 men vs 1 gorilla debate, we should be asking how many men it takes to save a gorilla.
MAGA people are angry as Elon Musk's Grok AI keeps explaining why their beliefs are factually incorrect.
There’s a new documentary about the creator of the robot Sophia’s drive to build a humanoid device powered by artificial intelligence.
Donald Trump is launching a “gold card” program offering US residency for $5 million. Elon Musk’s DOGE has begun rolling out the technology to enable it"
Exceptionally rare radio sources detected in the distant universe.
Meta says it will start testing video ads on Threads.
CBS said the Pope candidates were “raw dogging” the selection process by staying off their phones.
Some good posts
For more great content follow my meme page, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and join my Instagram broadcast channel where I share links all week long.
Listen to my podcast Power User on Apple Podcasts:
Or follow Power User on Spotify:
block your local police dept social media accts
I just opened your piece and haven’t read it yet, but it just occurred to me that that the more abbreviated syllables a word has (“technoromanticisation”) the more bullshit they’re trying to sling.