Newsletter: 👶 Giant baby captivates the internet

Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.

Hello fellow web crawlers! Kira here, filling in for Andrew. Welcome to today’s edition of web_crawlr. 

Today’s top stories are about: why a woman’s gigantic baby sparked interest from the Detroit Lions, the TikTok users learning Mandarin so they can use a Chinese social media app, why MAGA fans think RFK Jr. is responsible for the ban on red dye, and a woman who was scammed out of $850K by a fake Brad Pitt.

After that, David has a “Deplatformed” column for you.

See you tomorrow,

— K.D.

⚡ Today in Internet Culture

👶 HUMAN INTEREST
‘Give us a few years’: This mom showed off her 31-pound baby, and the Detriot Lions are eagerly awaiting the draft day

The baby in question is HUGE. 

➤READ MORE

🇨🇳 TIKTOK BAN
‘2025 is the year everyone is learning Mandarin’: TikTok ‘refugees’ are learning Chinese to build RedNote audiences 

Internet users are preparing for the TikTok ban by learning a famously difficult language. And yes, they’re calling themselves “refugees.”

➤READ MORE

🔴 FAKE NEWS
‘RFK Effect’: MAGA takes credit for FDA ban on Red Dye No. 3 

RFK had nothing to do with it. 

➤READ MORE

💸 SCAMS
‘Brad Pitt is having surgery and you’re laughing?’: French woman cyberbullied after Brad Pitt catfish scams her out of $850K

The AI-generated pictures of Pitt have to be seen to be believed. 

➤READ MORE

We crawl the web so you don’t have to. Sign up to receive web_crawlr, a daily newsletter from the Daily Dot, in your inbox each day.

By David Covucci
Politics & Technology Editor

The ‘Save Rudy’ movement is underway

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.

🍽️ One woman is asking restaurant workers for their thoughts and opinions on a perplexing situation she encountered during a recent dinner at Texas Roadhouse. It started when a Texas Roadhouse server brought her the wrong order.

👩‍🦰 If you regularly take certain gummies for hair and nail growth, you may want to double-check the results of certain medical tests, according to one expert.

🌨️ Shaving cream can prevent snow from building up on your car’s windows, one driver claims.

🌯 In a viral video, one Chipotle customer revealed a hack to get a free Lifestyle Bowl. Does it work?

🛒 A Walmart shopper was thrilled after discovering her local store discounted items by as much as 90 percent.

📝 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 BEEN SCAMMED ON THE INTERNET?

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

🤳 Today’s Viral Video

The kids are NOT alright—they think Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” has “sinister vibes.”