Hello fellow web crawlers! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s edition of web_crawlr.
Our top stories today are about: An “immersive” Willy Wonka kids experience that was so shockingly bad it went viral, conspiracy theories about the whereabouts of Kate Middleton, Ariana Grande opening up about her music being leaked on TikTok, and a renter going undercover to see if her landlord was targeting her for a rent increase.
After that, our Senior Politics and Technology Editor David has a “Deplatformed” column for you.
See you tomorrow!
— A.W.
⚡ Today’s top stories
🍫 WTF
People can’t get over how terrible the viral ‘Willy Wonka experience’ was, so here are the Internet’s best reactions and memes
A shockingly cruddy “Willy Wonka” experience went viral when the unsanctioned event in Glasgow turned out to be far different from the way it was advertised online. The terrible event of course sparked a ton of memes.
🔍 CONSPIRACY
Kate Middleton’s prolonged public absence prompts online speculation about divorce, plastic surgery
Conspiracy theories are popping up regarding Kate Middleton’s whereabouts—as silence over her absence has reached a fevered pitch.
🎶 CULTURE
‘I’ll see you in jail, literally’: Ariana Grande opened up about her music being stolen and leaked on TikTok
Music rumored to be from Ariana Grande’s upcoming album leaked online last year on platforms like TikTok, with fans left to speculate whether or not the leaked tracks were real.
🏠 VIRAL
‘Went undercover today’: Renter pretends to be new tenant after apartment raises rent by $500
One woman went undercover to find out whether she was targeted by her landlord for a rent increase as a long-term tenant.
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🔒 Surf the ‘net safely
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🚉 Deplatformed
By David Covucci
Politics & Technology Editor
Deplatformed: Gab base revolts
Deplatformed is a weekly column that looks into the nether reaches of the internet—outside the big few that everyone already covers—to tell you the political discourse online. It runs on Thursdays 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.
💳 This former Ulta employee is coming clean about why you should avoid signing up for the Ulta credit card at all costs.
📱 A woman recently shared how she attempted to get help after a national AT&T cell phone outage left her without service.
💼 This worker received a Slack message after being laid off which gave details—meant for someone else at the company—about their alleged replacement.
🚙 If you have any of these vehicles you might be in for a rude awakening. A mechanic went viral for revealing which car won’t make it to 100,000 miles.
🍝 Typically, restaurant employees receive perks at the place they work whether it’s free meals or discounts on their groceries. However, one server revealed how she doesn’t receive free meals while working a double shift.
💸 A shopper went viral after she found proof of Marshalls putting different prices on the same products.
👶 From the Daily Dot archive: The many lives of the Dancing Baby, cyberspace’s first cringe meme.
📝 Question of the Day
Everyone’s got opinions, and we want to know yours. Just click a button below to answer the question, and tomorrow we will let you know how fellow web crawlers like you answered.
DO YOU USE SELF-CHECKOUT MACHINES WHILE SHOPPING?
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👋 Before you go
Everything around us seems to be getting smaller while the price stays the same. The latest rainbow-colored culprit might surprise you.
In a viral TikTok, a woman called out beloved (and highly nostalgic) art supply brand Crayola for selling a 64-pack of colored pencils with pencils that are about half the size as normal.
In the video, which has close to 200,000 views, creator @jarsofbees explained that she bought a 64-pack of Crayola colored pencils to use for her yearly planner.
She hesitated at first when she saw the colored pencils because the box looked smaller (it’s about the height of her hand), but she was giving them the benefit of the doubt because she hadn’t had colored pencils since she was a kid.
“Maybe I just remember them being bigger than they were because I was smaller then,” @jarsofbees said.
