Hello fellow web crawlers! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s edition of web_crawlr.
Happy Friday! Our top stories today are about: The ‘hawk tuah’ girl saying she wouldn’t ‘hawk tuah’ Trump (gross), why a tiny green mall wizard is enchanting people online, how a Supreme Court ruling might have opened a backdoor to a TikTok ban, and debunking claims that CNN was sending secret hand gestures to President Biden during the debate.
After that, our trending team shares with you their pick for “Main Character of the Week.”
Also: It’s time for our weekly news quiz! Just scroll down below to answer the question. If you guess correctly, you might win a “Take Me Out To The Blog Game” shirt. This will be one of the last chances to win this shirt. 👀
See ya tomorrow!
— A.W.
⚡ Today in Internet Culture
💦 EWWWWWWW
Hawk Tuah girl says she wouldn’t give a Hawk Tuah to Trump
The crossover we never wanted is super gross.
🧙♂️ VIRAL
The legend of Crawly, the tiny green mall wizard enchanting TikTok
He calls the security guards “knights” and everyone loves him.
⛔ BAN HAMMER
Does the Supreme Court’s big social media ruling open a backdoor to ban TikTok?
The Supreme Court issued a ruling calling into question state laws that block social media companies from making moderation decisions. But in the decision, TikTok caught a stray.
👈 CONSPIRACY
No, CNN wasn’t sending secret hand gestures to Biden during the debate
Right-wingers have found a four-second clip of CNN host Dana Bash gesturing during the debate that they think is evidence the network gave President Joe Biden a leg up. However, the gesture was directed at Trump.
✏️ Take Our Weekly News Quiz!
Are you the most online reader of web_crawlr? Prove it by answering our question of the week! The answer can be found somewhere in one of our newsletters from this week.
If you answer correctly, you’ll be entered to win a “Take Me Out To The Blog Game” shirt, and we’ll shout out five people who won the shirt!
THE ‘HAWK TUAH’ GIRL WAS RECENTLY AT THE CENTER OF AN ABSURD CONSPIRACY. WHICH FEDERAL AGENCY DID PEOPLE SAY SHE HAD TIES TO?
To enter to win a shirt, sign up for web_crawlr here.
👑 Main Character of the Week
By Ramon Ramirez
Managing Editor
Main Character of the Week: Woman who refuses to put shopping carts away
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.
🐶 TikTok’s latest obsession is videos of Goldendoodles doing human things.
🚗 In a viral video with more than 100,000 views, a mechanic shares how another car repair shop basically scammed a woman out of $1,000.
🛒 Ah, Walmart in 2005. Groceries weren’t as expensive as they are now. Customers had an abundance of checkouts to choose from, and the store stayed open 24/7. One video that recently went viral on TikTok has shoppers reminiscing about the good ol’ times.
💺 The debate over how to handle passengers wanting to swap seats on an airplane is kicking up once again.
🥪 A Subway customer says the chain is “making fools” of its customers after abandoning “cute” names for its sandwiches.
📺 From the Daily Dot archive: What do users actually want from streaming services?
🤳 Today’s Viral Video
Joe Biden is probably older than you realize.
