Hello fellow web crawlers! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s edition of web_crawlr.
Our top stories today are about: A viral theory about finding a winning scratch-off lottery ticket, debunking claims that a video shows actor Robert de Niro yelling at protesters, the FCC fining major telecom companies for selling customers’ location data, and former Rep. George Santos reviving his drag persona on Cameo.
After that, the trending team shares with you their pick for “Main Character of the Week.”
It’s Friday! Which means 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!
See ya tomorrow!
— A.W.
⚡ Today in internet culture
🤑 HACKS
‘I won’: Woman says you should try the ‘white line theory’ when buying lottery scratch-offs. Does it work?
A recent trick that is making its way online is the “white line theory” of scratch-off lottery tickets.
🗣️ DON’T FALL FOR THIS
Video of Robert de Niro ‘yelling at protestors’ is actually footage of the actor on a TV set
A video that some online said showed Robert de Niro confronting pro-Palestine protestors and supporting Israel is actually footage of him filming a Netflix series.
📲 ALL YOUR PLACE ARE BELONG TO US
‘Some of the most sensitive data’: FCC throws $200M in fines at AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon for selling customers’ location data
The FCC announced $200 million in fines against wireless carriers AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon this week after the companies were found to have illegally shared users’ location data with third parties.
🤳 VIRAL POLITICS
George Santos is reviving his drag persona Kitara—for $350 a pop on Cameo
In his latest side hustle, former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) is bringing his drag persona, Kitara Ravache, out of the closet for a limited time. But only for those willing to drop several hundred dollars on his Cameo, the customized video marketplace.
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POLICE WERE CAUGHT ON CAMERA PRETENDING TO BE FOOD DELIVERY WORKERS TO ENTER A HOME. WHICH SERVICE WERE THEY PRETENDING TO BE?
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👑 Main Character of the Week
By Ramon Ramirez
Managing Editor
Main Character of the Week: McDonald’s secret shopper
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.
🍗 To prove a point, this woman picked up a serving of chicken wings from Buffalo Wild Wings and another from a local restaurant. The sheer size difference between the wings will astound you.
🍺 This former pub worker went viral on TikTok after sharing the shocking reason behind getting fired from his job.
🛒 A woman questioned the process of Walmart’s online order pickers after each of her items arrived in individual grocery bags.
💵 This man completed a job interview at T.J. Maxx, only to be surprised with the pay toward the end of it. Now, he’s asking viewers for help in navigating the situation.
🛍️ One DoorDash customer doesn’t want their order lumped with anybody else’s meals—if they request food to be brought to them, then they want their meal and their meal alone to be handled by the Dasher.
💸 A value-minded mom was aghast to find that bags of Fisher-Price building blocks were priced way over their retail price tag at a thrift store chain.
⚰️ From the Daily Dot archive: Here are the real-life stakes of faking your death online.
👋 Before you go
When Airbnb launched, it appeared to be an exciting alternative to hotels, allowing one to rent apartments and other living spaces in the short term with ease.
Now, however, there’s been a growing backlash against the company. Many internet users have gone viral for revealing their own less-than-positive experiences using the service.
A user on TikTok has sparked discussion after sharing her own Airbnb experience. In a video with over 1.9 million views, TikTok user KoKo (@kokeeezyy) shows a group of people enjoying a meal at Waffle House.
“We drove 3 hours and the air bnb host never gave us the door code,” she wrote in the text overlaying the video.
