Newsletter: ‘To the windows, to the Walz’: Harris’ VP is a meme machine

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

Our top stories today are about: How Kamala Harris’ VP pick Tim Walz has become an instant meme, why the conspiratorial far-right was making apocalyptic predictions amid U.S. stocks falling earlier this week, a Costco shopper warning about facial ID at the entryway of stores, and a look at the rise of the “Panera girlie.”

After that, we’ve got a “Deplatformed” column from our Senior Politics and Technology Editor David. 

See you tomorrow! 

— A.W. 

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⚡ Today in Internet Culture

😂 VIRAL POLITICS
‘Balz to the Walz’: It’s Tim Walz meme time

Vice President Kamala Harris announced her running mate, and the memes were instantaneous. 

➤READ MORE

📉 CONSPIRACY
Stock market sell-off sparks fears of societal collapse among conspiratorial far-right

Conservatives are making apocalyptic predictions on social media in reaction to U.S. stocks falling sharply earlier this week. 

➤READ MORE

🛒 WTF
‘If it’s not you, you don’t get in’: Costco shopper warns of new facial ID entry point

Costco shoppers are outraged that their identities are being tracked.

➤READ MORE

🥪 TRENDS
The rise of the Panera girlie

Panera Bread has enjoyed a serious resurgence in the last few months. In part, they have TikTok to thank for that.

➤READ MORE

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By David Covucci
Politics & Technology Editor

A random white dude designed Minnesota’s flag—but Tim Walz is being blamed for turning it Somalian

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.

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🕸️ Crawling the Web

Here is what else is happening across the ‘net.

🐕 An Instacart driver claimed dogs were the reason why they “stopped doing Instacart” in a viral video. People didn’t understand their fear. 

✈️ This TikToker is using her platform to call American Airlines out for poor customer service after she says her 15-year-old brother was left stranded at the airport for almost 24 hours.

🤑 Google users are getting an extra 12 cents for tech giant violating their privacy. Cool. 

🏧 Talk about hitting the jackpot. A TikToker has gone viral after a Wells Fargo ATM seemingly gave him free money.

🧳 In a viral video, a doctor warned against unpacking your suitcase as soon as you get home from trip. 

🍔 A woman in Houston tried to get Whataburger in the aftermath of a hurricane. It backfired. 

🖥️ From the Daily Dot archive: Can we ever get back the excitement of logging on?

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📝 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 SEEN TIM WALZ MEMES ON YOUR TIMELINES? 

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

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🤳 Today’s Viral Video

This year’s Olympics are already the most iconic ones in history 🔥

https://youtube.com/shorts/4l2dt721ZGc