Hello fellow web crawlers! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s edition of web_crawlr.
Our top stories today are about: A restaurant nightmare that included finding glass in some pasta (and that’s just the beginning), conspiracy theorists tying rapper Usher’s missing tweets to the arrest of Sean “Diddy” Combs, a look at which musicians have told the Trump campaign to stop using their music, and Hollywood pushing for California’s governor to sign a new AI bill.
After that, our trending team shares with you their pick for “Main Character of the Week.”
Also: It’s Friday, which means it is time for our weekly news quiz! Scroll down below to answer the question. If you guess correctly, you might win our new “Click or Treat” sweatshirt!
See you tomorrow!
— A.W.
⚡ Today in Internet Culture
🍝 WTF
‘Gaslighting us… after feeding us glass’: Restaurant customers find glass in pasta. They can’t believe the owner’s response to their Yelp review
A woman is outraged after what was supposed to be a relaxing dinner date with her husband turned into a restaurant nightmare. That’s because she says her husband found glass in his pasta.
💬 CONSPIRACY
Conspiracy theorists tie Usher’s missing tweets to ‘Diddy Tapes’—despite proof he was hacked
All of Usher’s old tweets recently disappeared, fueling rampant speculation that the mass deletion was related to his friend and fellow music industry mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs’s arrest on sex trafficking charges.
🎼 POP CULTURE
‘You scum’: Musicians tell Donald Trump to stop using their music at rallies
Which artists have asked the Trump campaign to stop using their music?
🤖 TECH
Hollywood calls on Newsom to sign latest California AI bill
The bill would address some of the critical harms of AI, which actors fought for in last year’s strike.
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VP HOPEFUL JD VANCE HAD A GAFFE THAT WENT VIRAL WHEN TALKING ABOUT THE PRICE OF A GROCERY ITEM. WHICH ITEM WAS HE DISCUSSING?
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By Ramon Ramirez
Managing Editor
Main Character of the Week: Fixing your own stuff
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.
🍕 A user on TikTok has sparked discussion with a simple question: Why does Pizza Hut’s personal pan pizza taste different from the normal one?
🚦 In a viral video, a traffic light expert revealed what NOT to do at a red light if you want it to turn green.
🧀 Is Walmart trying to pass off shredded cheese as something fancier—and more expensive—than it should be? We’re gonna get to the bottom of it.
🛜 This remote worker unplugged her WiFi router to get out of work. It backfired.
💁♀️ “I’m just a girl” is an ironic catchphrase used as a meme in TikTok videos and elsewhere as a response to “boys will be boys.”
🚗 This Wendy’s drive-thru customer says people should try a little tenderness the next time they order a Frosty at the window.
⚰️ From the Daily Dot archive: Here are the real-life stakes of faking your death online.
🤳 Today’s Viral Video
AI is chillingly starting to make decisions on its own.
