today in tabs: elon’s new location feature is (unsurprisingly) causing problems
ALSO: Kyrsten Sinema goes MAHA, Dem PACs are ALREADY fighting about 2028, how many sponsored videos nano-influencers need to make a year, and more
Happy MONDAY, November 24th. Reminder, we’re on a holiday schedule with Monday and Wednesday sends this week 🦃
FYSA, every Tuesday and Friday, I’ll be in your inbox with the latest in politics, tech & social media, culture, and other relevant topics – and I’ll share some notes and tips on what I’m keeping my eye on.
I’M ALSO LOOKING FOR MORE PEOPLE TO DO MINI INTERVIEWS FOR OPEN TABS :) Tips, thoughts, concerns, good jokes, bad jokes, tea, etc?
And finally, if you enjoy this newsletter and want to share it with your network (and/or your chronically online friends), that would be so appreciated 🙏
Dem PACs gear up to battle each other for 2028
Another liberal super PAC, the digital-focused Priorities USA, is looking to take advantage of that discontent and knock Future Forward off its pedestal. Priorities USA and its affiliated arms were the party’s favored groups in the 2012, 2016 and 2020 elections. But they told Axios they raised just $56 million last cycle — down from $258 million in 2020 — after being effectively sidelined by the Biden White House last year. (Axios, 11/23)
Lucy’s note: What an unbelievably poor use of time and energy during this crisis of democracy…
Kyrsten Sinema Is Ready for Her MAHA Turn
Her drug of choice? Ibogaine, a psychedelic derived from an African shrub, and which she went down to Mexico to try for herself. She and other advocates want ibogaine studied in state-funded clinical trials and eventually hope to win Food and Drug Administration approval of the drug as a mental health treatment. And she thinks now is their chance with President Donald Trump in office. (POLITICO, 11/23)
Franco Died 50 Years Ago, but He’s Still Winning New Fans in Spain
The left-wing government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has responded with “Spain in Freedom,” a yearlong campaign that is timed to the anniversary and urges Spaniards to appreciate all their freedoms. The government’s Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, responsible for recognizing and addressing the legacy of Franco’s dictatorship, will be holding events and talks and handing out T-shirts promoting free speech, even for awful opinions. (NYT gift link, 11/20)
DOGE is no more, and in its wake, only chaos
What followed was a series of restructurings, changes in leadership, and ultimately, the end of DOGE as a centralized organization. When Reuters reached out to the White House to ask about the status of DOGE earlier this month, it was told, “that doesn’t exist.” (The Verge, 11/23)
Millions of Gen Zers are watching Hitler and Holocaust denial clips on Instagram—right next to JPMorgan and U.S. Army ads
But it doesn’t seem to be just creators who profit. For this Fortune reporter, those reels appeared right above and below ads from major brands—JPMorgan Chase, Nationwide Insurance, SUNY, Porsche, the U.S. Army, and many, many others. Extremist content and blue-chip advertising run back-to-back, suggesting that the monetization pipes remain open and that advertisers either don’t know about or don’t view the adjacency as reputationally dangerous. (Fortune, 11/20 – free version)
Activists Are Using Fortnite to Fight Back Against ICE
The “special event” held on November 20, where players took on different roles that reflect real-life ICE raids, was the first initiative by New Save Collective, a baker’s dozen of gamers with backgrounds in activism and organizing, whose goal is to educate gamers and teach people about their rights when dealing with ICE in real-world situations. (WIRED, 11/21)
X Displays Users’ Locations, Fueling Scrutiny Over Political Accounts
After the feature launched, online sleuths quickly used it to determine that some accounts that post content supporting President Trump and the MAGA movement are not based in the United States. One account called “MAGA NATION,” which has nearly 400,000 followers and posts multiple times a day, is based in Eastern Europe. (NYT gift link, 11/24)
US senators call for investigation of scam ads on Facebook and Instagram
US senators Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal have asked the heads of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate revenue from ads on Facebook and Instagram that promote scams and banned goods. (The Guardian, 11/24)
Lucy’s notes: the *only* bipartisan thing these days seems to be fighting scams… which I don’t hate since idk about y’all, but the ones older folks I know get targeted with are actually so insane and complex
How ‘Unplugging’ Became Luxury’s Most Valuable Currency
What she’s describing has crystallized into what many are calling “unplugging”, as consumers return to analog. The Global Wellness Summit’s The Future of Wellness trend report named analog wellness as its top trend for 2025, while “analog bags” (tote bags filled with books, puzzles and art supplies) have gone viral on TikTok as Gen Z seeks to curb doomscrolling. (Vogue Business, 11/19 – free version)
Lucy’s note: I’m so, so tempted to join the dumb phone club here in DC in January… is anyone here or NYC thinking of doing it??
Gen Z Is Skipping College to Become Influencers — A New Study Shows If That Actually Pays
The average entry-level salary in the U.S. sits at $44,807. To hit that through paid posts alone, a nano influencer (someone with fewer than 10,000 followers) would need to crank out roughly 410 sponsored posts a year — basically more than one paid post every single day. (Yahoo News, 11/18)
The surprisingly profound debate over whether fish feel pain
Scientific advances have increasingly shown that we’ve misjudged fish. They have complex social relationships and cognitive abilities, maintain long-term memories, and use tools. Octopuses — invertebrates with even more genetic distance from humans than fish — have become international celebrities for their intelligence. The more we attempt to look into the minds of animals farther and farther from us on the evolutionary tree, the more we discover how much we’ve been underestimating them. (Vox, 11/21 – free version)
$54.7M sale of Frida Kahlo self-portrait breaks auction record for female artists
The sale at Sotheby’s in New York also topped Kahlo’s own auction record for a work by a Latin American artist. The 1949 painting “Diego and I,” depicting the artist and her husband, muralist Diego Rivera, went for $34.9 million in 2021. Her paintings are reported to have sold privately for even more. (AP, 11/21)
Extra Credit 🤓
important content alert!!! this spawned a trend that is already everywhere and already incredible
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Some newsletters I thought were excellent recently:
“The Slop Tax, a Brief Introduction” from
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This week’s Kalshi trend that I’m watching is (I was convinced to switch over from Polymarket)…
That’s all for now – I’ll see you on Wednesday!