It’s already time to take stock: after around forty issues of #Rule30, our weekly newsletter, Lucie Ronfaut is learning the lessons of this year on the web which has managed to surprise us, when we no longer thought we could. ‘to be.
This article is an excerpt from our weekly newsletter Rule30, published by Numerama. This is the issue of April 6, 2022. To subscribe for free, it’s here.
So here we are at the last newsletter of 2022! Since the birth of #Rule30, I generally believe that the coming year could not be stranger than the last. And, so far, I have always been wrong! There was the shock of 2020. Then, the absurd promises of 2021, with its dreams of metaverses and/or crypto that we were, in the end, quite few to share. On this level, 2022 has been a brutal reality check. Far from the fantasies of the future, we finally struggled and debated with classic web issues. Maybe they are forever?
Let’s recap. A social network was bought for far too much money, by a man who single-handedly proved that a platform is above all the sum of human decisions and values, rather than a pile of technical features. We still haven’t solved the problem of content moderation. Moreover, we did not even agree on the nature of the problem: the alleged censorship of remarks too far to the right? The delicate question of hosting sites used for deleterious purposes, at the risk of undermining the very structure of the Internet? These social networks that reward strong and instantaneous opinions, and therefore both our justified anger and abject remarks?
In 2022, sexism has not disappeared from the web
There are also, of course, new challenges to our online lives. The progress of artificial intelligence and its ability to produce content fascinates and worries us, in both cases with good reason. We realized that technologies were not only a danger for women, but also for their reproductive rights. Of course, sexism has not disappeared from social networks. It even takes on new forms, as we saw during the Depp/Heard trial, the consequences of which are still poorly understood, I believe, on the way in which we will talk about feminism and especially antifeminism in the future. Finally, in 2022, we can no longer ignore the explosion of transphobia online and outside our screens, and the threats it poses to all women.
Strangely, in all this slump, I finish this year with a vague hope. Because, if the web is tense, it is also because we are resisting. Whether it’s quitting Twitter, teaching menstruating people cybersecurity reflexes specially dedicated to their needs, recognizing our place in the spiral of virality and violence, or simply claiming to be a goblin, disrupting the neat social media staging a bit with joyous mayhem.
This does not mean that Internet users all want the same things, or even that they only want good things. But, it reminds us that these machines work thanks to us, and that even warm in their belly, we can turn into grains of sand that disrupt their operation. So that’s all I wish for us for this new year that is about to begin. Let’s build new things, tear down old ones, laugh, laugh, share, reflect, test platforms, quit others, use way too many exclamation marks, disrupt. We are grains of sand against the machines. And we still count.
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The press review of the week
Right of way
I told you last week about the custody of French youtubeur Norman Thavaud, accused of rape and corruption of minors. Release investigated the subject for a year, and delivers the testimony of eight young women, often former fans, who were confronted with the videographer. Warning, this is hard reading.
Dishonest
If you hung out a lot on YouTube in the 2010s, you’re probably familiar with the work of Andy Signore. This American videographer created the series of Honest Trailers, videos that poke fun at movies or TV series through fake trailers. But, in 2017, Andy Signore was fired from Defy Media, the company that produces the Honest Trailers, after several accusations of sexual harassment. Since then, the videographer has built a new (and lucrative) media empire on YouTube, dedicated to criticizing the #MeToo movement. It is to be read (in English) on the site of NBC News.
Get off the carousel
I loved this editorial published by Vox about what is called, in English, the talk : often endless and absurd debates on subjects that frankly do not deserve so much attention. Is throwing a stick at your dog abusive behavior? Is Shakespeare problematic? Cooking at home, is it classist? Rather than laughing (or crying), the author offers food for thought on our desire for justice, and the logic of social networks that exacerbate these controversies. It is to be read (in English) here.
Under water
I end this press review with this story that made me laugh a lot. To circumvent Twitch moderation and breastfeed her newborn during her livestreams, streamer LuxieGames found an ingenious solution: cover her breasts with a photo of a woman in a jacuzzi, in reference to the eternal controversies about women in bikinis on Twitch. And honestly… does it work okay? Beyond the gag, the streamer develops an interesting discourse on the place of the female body on Twitch and its constant fetishization. It is to be read (in English) at polygon.
Something to read/watch/listen to/play
Mob is a mediocre boy. He is bad at sports, passable at school, his social life is close to nil. The schoolboy also hides a secret: he has extraordinary psychic powers, which he has great difficulty controlling. One day, he meets Reigen, a powerful medium who enlists him as his assistant. Mob hopes to finally be able to lead a normal life with a man who will teach him how to tame his abilities. Bad luck, Reigen is a hustler, who has no skills to teach him anything.
Adapted from a popular manga, Mob Psycho 100 is an animated series in three seasons, which ends at the end of the year. It begins as a slightly absurd comedy: a naive hero, a cunning teammate, spirits and ghosts that they must fight. But, very quickly, the story takes a more serious turn. Mob really suffers from his powers and their connection to his emotions, which he seeks at all costs to stifle. His relationship with Reigen, built on a lie, will gradually evolve. It’s a series that is both very touching and funny, served by a magnificent animation, which I recommend even if you’re not too used to Japanese anime. More than an action story, Mob Psycho 100 is a tender and exciting fable about the difficulties of adolescence and the importance of opening up to the world. With or without powers, we never advance alone or alone.
Mob Psycho 100, three seasons (VOSTFR) available on Crunchyroll
The data transmitted through this form is intended for PressTiC Numerama, in its capacity as data controller. These data are processed with your consent for the purpose of sending you by e-mail news and information relating to the editorial content published on this site. You can oppose these e-mails at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe links present in each of them. For more information, you can consult our entire personal data processing policy.
You have a right of access, rectification, erasure, limitation, portability and opposition for legitimate reasons to personal data concerning you. To exercise one of these rights, please make your request via our dedicated rights exercise request form.