Hello fellow web crawlers! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s edition of web_crawlr.
Our top stories today are about: A viral warning about an Apple Pay scam that cost a woman nearly $1,000, 50 Cent defending Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-Colo.) behavior while watching ‘Beetlejuice’ after he met her, people on Facebook falling for a fabricated image of quadruplets celebrating their 90th birthday, and the children of 2010s-era family vloggers speaking out and wanting laws changed.
After that, we’ve got an edition of “Meme History” that explores the origins of an iconic meme.
P.S. — If you didn’t take our weekly news quiz, there’s still time! Open yesterday’s newsletter to answer the question. If you guess correctly, you might get a “Take Me Out To The Blog Game” shirt.
See you next week!
— A.W.
⚡ Today in Internet Culture
💸 SCAMS
Target customer warns new Apple Pay scam charged her $975—and Apple support is powerless
A woman tried to help two young men raise money for their community college. They ended up scamming her out of nearly $1,000, and she was shocked by the way Apple Card handled the fraud charge.
🗳️ VIRAL POLITICS
50 Cent defends Lauren Boebert’s ‘Beetlejuice’ behavior after meeting her
He also noted, for some reason, that he doesn’t have an STI.
👵 DEBUNK
Facebook users love the quadruplets who made it to 90—without realizing they’re fake
A Facebook image that alleges to show quadruplets celebrating their 90th birthday is being praised on social media despite being completely fabricated.
👪 INFLUENCERS‘You family vlogger people are going to hell’: The children of early 2010s YouTube stars are speaking out—and changing the law
Some are trying to get new laws passed to protect children who are growing up online with little agency over what gets posted on their behalf.
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🤓 Meme History
By Kyle Calise
Video Producer
Meme History: Elmo On Fire
Meme History is a weekly column that dives deep into internet lore to uncover the history of famous memes. It runs on Saturdays 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 McDonald’s employee and TikToker shared their disdain for preparing “cookie totes” for customers in a viral clip. However, customers in the comments section shared their love for the menu item.
🚰 This Dollar Tree shopper claims that there’s a method one can employ to figure out what kind of water you’re buying without reading the label.
👁️ In a viral video, a woman warned against getting under eye filler and shared why she regrets it 2 years later.
☕ A barista posted a rundown of the many reasons why customers should avoid coming to his coffee shop, but the video backfired when viewers called the barista out for not doing his job.
🍦 Recently, an extreme couponer and savings expert garnered over 570,000 views on TikTok when she shared how shoppers can get three Talenti Gelato or Magnum Ice Cream products for 66 cents each.
📜 From the Daily Dot archive: Is there a First Amendment right to assemble in the metaverse?
🤳 Today’s Viral Video
This is the meanest prank.
