1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,920 Hi everyone, welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet 2 00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:06,880 culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social 3 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:09,640 media, the creator economy and the digital space. 4 00:00:09,640 --> 00:00:13,280 Every Monday through Thursday. I'm your host, Lauren Meissner, 5 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:17,400 the founder of the youth digital media brand Centennial World. 6 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:20,320 It is finally a nice day up at the cottage. 7 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:24,000 I have been here for just over a week and almost every single day 8 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:26,240 it's been like cloudy and rainy and cold. 9 00:00:26,240 --> 00:00:29,880 And I'm like, I thought I came out of that out of Sydney winter 10 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:33,840 to come to Canadian summer. And normally like the Toronto 11 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:36,400 area gets quite warm in summer, but it's just been like a shit 12 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:38,720 week. Anyways, I'm so excited and I'm 13 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:41,360 sure you guys can tell because if you watch on YouTube then you 14 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:46,320 will have seen the lighting in my videos change so much every 15 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:49,120 single day. I've never realized the value of 16 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:52,480 like artificial studio lights before because I haven't had to 17 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:56,840 like properly film with only natural light since I started 18 00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:58,920 this podcast. But here we are. 19 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:00,880 And I think it's like a beautiful day. 20 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:03,720 It's a vibe. All right, so let's just get 21 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:05,319 into the first story for you guys today. 22 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:09,400 I have two stories. So the first is that there is 23 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:13,800 speculation, very seriously valid speculation, that 24 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:16,840 subreddits are about to be paywalled. 25 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:21,560 So last week during an earnings call, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman 26 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:25,240 suggested they might pay wall certain subreddits, he said. 27 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:27,960 Quote, I think the existing altruistic free version of 28 00:01:27,960 --> 00:01:31,160 Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive just the way 29 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:33,440 it has. But now we will unlock the door 30 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:36,960 for new use cases, new types of subreddits that can be built 31 00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:40,960 that may have exclusive content or private areas, things of that 32 00:01:40,960 --> 00:01:44,000 nature. So this development comes as 33 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:46,600 part of Reddit's revenue boosting strategy after the 34 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:49,200 company went public at the start of this year. 35 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:52,320 Some of the most controversial decisions of this nature 36 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:55,400 relating to this revenue boosting strategy so far were 37 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:58,800 when Huffman decided to hike up the API fees last year, which 38 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,800 essentially led to a bunch of third party apps that relied on 39 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:06,480 that API to basically close go bankrupt because they couldn't 40 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:08,120 afford those fees. For anyone that doesn't 41 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:10,919 remember, actually did a full deep dive into the history of 42 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:14,160 Reddit and I talked about that. I think it was a couple months 43 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:15,560 back. So definitely go listen to that. 44 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:18,440 But basically there was a bunch of third party apps that would 45 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:22,080 use Reddit's. I think it was free API to 46 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:26,600 deliver the app or like the service, but like Reddit 47 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:30,240 basically interface in a more user friendly way than the 48 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:33,440 Reddit app currently exists. And there was one major one, 49 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:36,040 Apollo, that people were obsessed with and like everyone 50 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:39,120 used that one for years. And then Apollo unfortunately 51 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:43,640 had to close after they change the API from free to I think it 52 00:02:43,640 --> 00:02:48,760 was going to be like $20 million a year for Apollo to pay for 53 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:51,080 that fee. And more recently, Reddit signed 54 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:54,680 a deal with Google, which allows Google to train its AI model off 55 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:57,200 of Reddit's massive database of posts. 56 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:01,200 And then Reddit has also blocked other AI companies like Open AI 57 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:03,080 and stuff like that from crawling. 58 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:06,920 Its I don't know if it's servers or whatever its posts unless 59 00:03:06,920 --> 00:03:09,400 they pay a fee. So I think open AI has actually 60 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:12,640 like also strike to deal with Reddit as well, but it actually 61 00:03:12,640 --> 00:03:15,120 seems to be working. I know that Reddit's revenue is 62 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,040 up massively from the previous year. 63 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:21,600 So you know this CEO, he's come in and he is like, I'm ACEO, 64 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:25,160 like I am here to make the company profitable to make like 65 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:28,160 the hard business decisions, whether that impacts users or 66 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:29,760 not. That is just kind of the role of 67 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:32,800 an executive at that level. And I mean, I guess it's 68 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:34,640 working. I don't know how anyone is going 69 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:37,200 to feel about paywalled subreddits that's a bit 70 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:41,680 unhinged, but we will see, OK. And the second story that I have 71 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:45,120 for you guys today is that JoJo Siwa has opened up about feeling 72 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:48,400 like Trisha Paytas used her for clout when she was young. 73 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:52,360 So on an episode of Jojo's podcast, JoJo Siwa Now, the 74 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:54,840 controversial star spoke about her relationship with Trisha 75 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:58,160 Paytas and how she feels Trisha used her back in the day. 76 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:02,160 So we all know back when JoJo was a minor, she would 77 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:05,840 collaborate a lot with different Youtubers who were much older 78 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:08,320 than her. You know, Colleen Ballinger was 79 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:11,000 obviously one major one. And she also had filmed some 80 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,800 videos with Tricia as well. And a lot of them, I think we're 81 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,279 like related to Tricia's relationship with Jason Nash 82 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:19,120 because JoJo would film with David in the vlog squad. 83 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:22,720 But either way, like she filmed videos with Tricia in discussing 84 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:25,480 people that she would want as a guest on her podcast. 85 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:27,880 And I just, I can't even say that without thinking of that 86 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:30,280 clip. Dream guest on my podcast. 87 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:35,600 She said she would not want Tricia as a guest because she 88 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,560 feels used by her. She said quote, yes, we would 89 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:40,640 and we did videos together when I was a kid. 90 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:44,040 And what's so interesting is she Tricia has a lot to say about me 91 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:46,480 nowadays and that's fine. A lot of people have a lot to 92 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:49,240 say about me nowadays. But what hurts my heart is a lot 93 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:51,960 of people who were friends with me when I was a kid are friends 94 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:54,040 with me now. And that tells me that they 95 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:56,680 weren't friends with me because they were using me because I was 96 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:58,680 a kid. I did bring a lot of views. 97 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:01,120 I brought a lot of views to a lot of people's videos and my 98 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:03,240 own videos. What breaks my heart, not as a 99 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:06,280 21 year old, but it breaks my heart for that 14 year old that 100 00:05:06,280 --> 00:05:08,720 did videos with Tricia. She thought Tricia actually 101 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:10,800 liked her. You guys know how I feel about 102 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:14,320 JoJo. I think she is publicly in the 103 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:18,880 throes of deconstructing what happened to her as a child star. 104 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:20,760 And I think this is actually quite a good example of this. 105 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:23,880 She's still very much in denial. Like the fact that she, you 106 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:24,960 know, I know she's still quite young. 107 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:28,240 She's 21. The fact that she still believes 108 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:31,520 she's still not ready to accept that just because Colleen 109 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:34,360 Ballinger and these other Youtubers kept speaking with her 110 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:39,080 after she kind of transitioned her channel from JoJo Siwa to 111 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:40,840 like, it's more of like a brand channel now. 112 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:44,680 Just because they stayed in touch with her doesn't mean that 113 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:48,440 they were like best friends. Like what does a 30 year old 114 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:50,320 have in common with a 14 year old? 115 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:55,280 Like, why would they be friends with JoJo other than for a 116 00:05:55,280 --> 00:05:58,280 business benefit, right? Doesn't mean that they're not 117 00:05:58,280 --> 00:06:01,640 like friendly with her still. But the fact that she's using 118 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:06,640 Tricia not wanting to be her like actual friend as a reason 119 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:09,320 for the fact that she used her. And she can't see the fact that, 120 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:13,480 like someone like Colleen, who has had so many allegations 121 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:15,960 against her about acting inappropriately with really 122 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:18,680 young fans and minors over the course of her career, Like she 123 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:22,360 can't see that how Colleen treated JoJo when she was a 124 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:27,680 teenager is more inappropriate is so indicative, I believe of 125 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:29,240 like the mental space that she's in. 126 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:32,240 Like, she's still very much a child star in her, like, you 127 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:35,800 know, inside. And she can't unravel that yet. 128 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:39,400 Like she can't kind of like come to terms, I think with like how 129 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:42,160 the industry treated her and how the adults around her treated 130 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:44,400 her and how exploited she actually was. 131 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:48,960 So Tricia responded on her podcast and she basically said 132 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:51,920 she was not about to become friends with a 13 year old. 133 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:55,640 She said they were friend Lee and JoJo was very nice, but 134 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:58,680 there was no hanging out outside of filming because it would be 135 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:00,640 weird. And she was like, yeah, I filmed 136 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:02,960 with JoJo. It was like a business decision. 137 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:06,040 We were working together, but that doesn't mean that I'm going 138 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:08,840 to go become friends with her. She mentioned a New Year's Eve 139 00:07:08,840 --> 00:07:11,240 party that she was invited to at Jojos, and she didn't go. 140 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:12,960 She was like, that would be so weird. 141 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:15,600 She's like, it's not because I don't like JoJo, like she's 142 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:18,680 super nice, but like that would just be inappropriate and weird. 143 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:21,160 So I know JoJo gets a lot of Flack for being a bit 144 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:24,720 problematic and defending, you know, abusers and people that 145 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:27,160 have exploited others, but also people, the same people that 146 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:28,920 have exploited her. She came out in defensive 147 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:33,120 Colleen Ballinger last year. And I don't know, I think 148 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:37,600 sometimes, and this happens with child stars, we don't especially 149 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:39,680 JoJo because she hasn't actually transitioned. 150 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:43,200 I know she I know like Karma and like her new album and stuff is 151 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:45,360 supposed to be her like step into adulthood. 152 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,360 I think it's very clear that it's not, you know, she's just 153 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:53,760 kind of turned her like rainbow sparkly vibes into like sparkly 154 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:56,840 black vibes and is like hoping that that shows that she's 155 00:07:56,840 --> 00:08:01,400 matured and growing and kind of like in her adult phase. 156 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:02,960 But I don't think she's quite there yet. 157 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:05,960 And I think sometimes with child stars, including JoJo, what 158 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:10,240 happens is we we place more, I think adultness. 159 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:12,040 I like, I'm not sure what the right word is. 160 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:15,360 Like, we adult ify them the adultification, I suppose, of 161 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:18,960 child stars. Like we treat them like they are 162 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:21,560 adults, obviously so much younger than they are. 163 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:24,200 And I think JoJo is only 21 and she still has a lot of 164 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:26,920 unlearning to do. But I don't think a lot of us 165 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:29,240 are giving her enough grace to do that. 166 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:31,880 So she's going to make mistakes. Like she's going to defend 167 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:34,600 Colleen, you know, and she's going to defend the wrong people 168 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:38,720 and she's going to say the wrong things because she's dealing 169 00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:41,159 with like what happened to her. But she's like not taking a step 170 00:08:41,159 --> 00:08:43,720 back like a lot of child stars do and like deal with it and 171 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:45,640 like reconcile with it privately. 172 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:48,680 Like she's doing all of this in front of us because she's trying 173 00:08:48,680 --> 00:08:51,480 to maintain her career. So I don't know. 174 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:53,480 So I think that's partly what we're seeing here. 175 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:56,920 Anyways, guys, that's it for Mini scroll today. 176 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:00,040 Thank you so much for listening. Please remember to rate review 177 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:01,400 and subscribe. It helps me so much. 178 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:03,320 It helps me grow. Please subscribe to our YouTube 179 00:09:03,320 --> 00:09:06,200 channel. I love you guys and I will talk 180 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:07,960 to you tomorrow. Bye.