Newsletter: ✈️ Confronting an airplane ‘seat squatter’

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Hello fellow web crawlers! Andrew here. Welcome to today's edition of web_crawlr. 

Our top stories today are about: A woman confronting a "seat squatter" on an airplane, the Trump DOJ scrubbing the entire Capitol Riot database from the web, why actress Selena Gomez is facing backlash online, and why the Ovia period-tracking app getting criticized. 

After that, our Senior Politics and Technology Editor David has a "Deplatformed" column for you. 

See you tomorrow! 

— A.W. 

⚡ Today in Internet Culture

✈️ WTF
‘I’m throwing hands’: Woman confronts ‘seat squatter’ on her flight. It’s becoming a big problem

This trend, known as “seat squatting,” is “something that people are doing on planes now.”

➤READ MORE

💻 VIRAL POLITICS
Trump DOJ scrubs entire Jan. 6 Capitol riot database from the web

The Department of Justice scrubbed all information about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot from its website, online archives show, continuing the Trump administration’s apparent campaign to reshape government web content in the new president’s image.

➤READ MORE

😢 POP CULTURE
‘If you really want to help, stop crying and do something’: Selena Gomez crying over ICE raids draws backlash

Emilia Perez actress Selena Gomez took down an Instagram video of herself crying about immigrant raids following heavy backlash. The tearful post soon disappeared, replaced with a blank video.

➤READ MORE

📱 TECH
‘This makes me so angry’: Ovia users react to period-tracking app’s state identification policy amid Trump-era abortion fears

The period tracking app Ovia has been widely criticized for requesting that users identify their country and state of residence, leaving some to vow to leave the app. 

➤READ MORE

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By David Covucci
Politics & Technology Editor

MAGA's new favorite anti-woman meme

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.

☎️ A former AT&T sales representative is making the rounds on TikTok after revealing the lengths some workers allegedly go to in order to make their quotas.

💵 This longtime Dunkin’ customer refuses to pay for drive-thru orders with cash anymore.

🧂 A chef is going viral after sharing the hidden gem he found in Walmart’s home and garden section: Kinder’s seasoning rubs and spices.

📹 While stores have always taken measures to prevent shoplifting, an increasing number of shoppers are displeased with how intense modern security is at retail establishments.

🎧 A woman is vowing to never shop at Marshalls again after purchasing what she believed were Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones. Then she opened the box. 

🏈 From the Daily Dot archive: From sponsorships to merch, college athletes can now use their personal brands to monetize the internet.

📝 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. 

HAVE YOU EVER HAD SOMEONE SITTING IN YOUR SEAT ON AN AIRPLANE?

To answer questions like this in the future, sign up for web_crawlr here.

🤳 Today's Viral Video

Fast food fans have never been readier to catch 'em all 😋