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Hello fellow web crawlers! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s edition of web_crawlr.
Happy Friday! Our top stories today are about: A flight attendant catching a passenger doing something truly jaw-dropping, how TikTok has become a lifeline for Americans facing medical debt, an exclusive report about why Rep. Nancy Mace is all over TV recently, and Pinterest predicting 20 trends that will dominate 2025.
After that, we’ve got a “Main Character of the Week” from our trending team.
P.S. — It’s Friday, which means it is time for our weekly news quiz! Just scroll down below to answer the question. If you guess correctly, you might win a web_crawlr shirt!
— A.W.
⚡ Today in Internet Culture
✈️ WTF
Flight attendant spots passenger doing something unusual. Then she calls the police
This might be one of the most jaw-dropping stories we’ve heard in a long time. Buckle in; a traveler joined the mile-high club—kind of.
🩺 HEALTHCARE IS TOTALLY FINE, FOR SURE
TikTok is becoming a lifeline for Americans facing medical debt
Americans with unmanageable medical debt are increasingly turning to TikTok to avoid bankruptcy by asking for views and clicks.
🤑 VIRAL POLITICS
EXCLUSIVE: Nancy Mace is always on TV—because she dropped $165,000 on a news booker
If it seems like Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is all over your television these days, there’s good reason for it. She’s paying to be there.
🔮 TRENDS
Pinterest predicts that these 20 trends are going to dominate 2025
When it comes to forecasting viral trends, Pinterest is known to be something of a seer with its annual trend report.
✏️ 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 web_crawlr shirt, and we’ll shout out five people who won the shirt!
IN A VIRAL VIDEO, A FAST FOOD CUSTOMER SAID THEY FOUND A KNIFE IN THEIR SANDWICH. WHICH FAST FOOD CHAIN WERE THEY EATING AT?
To answer questions like this in the future, sign up for web_crawlr here.
By Alexandra Samuels
Contributing Reporter
Main Character of the Week: The Walmart worker who did your job for you
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 Best Buy employee posted a viral TikTok clip that’s accrued over 99,000 views. In it, he frustratingly details how a customer threatened his safety.
💑 Relationships are a delicate balance between disclosure, respect, privacy, and communication…that is, until the We Listen and We Don’t Judge TikTok trend was born, throwing this equilibrium into a chaotic tailspin.
🛒 This Target customer went viral after accusing Target’s self-checkout machine of “snitching” on her when she exceeded the 10-item limit.
🪪 Getting busted with a fake ID is well-known as a rite of passage in the United States. Lesser known, perhaps, is the rite of getting busted with a legitimate ID. But these 23-year-olds BJ’s Restaurant customers say they really are over 21, and their server confiscated their IDs anyway.
📱 This customer bought a brand-new iPhone 16 Pro for $95. Is there a catch?
🏳️🌈 From the Daily Dot archive: From Club Penguin to Roblox, LGBTQ youth have always flocked to gaming websites.
🤳 Today’s Viral Video
Do you consider this a Christmas movie? 🎄👀
🎶 Now Playing: “Te Maldigo (From “Queer”)” 🎶
