- S'up you beautiful bastards, hope you're having a fantastic day, I am tired and don't
really want to do this, but I don't like saying
no to a signed check. So let's just jump in (laughing) It's just jokes. Welcome back to the Wednesday
Philip de Franco Show, a little tired, a little beat today, But we're gonna get through it. So let's just jump into it. And to start things off light today, before we get to the other stuff, let's talk about Kim Kardashian. Kim, really being in the
news for the same reason that she's been in the
news for the past 10 years, she's getting dunked on publicly while in no way does it
affect her ability to accrue massive amounts of wealth. Though, today's story actually in part involves her having accrued massive amounts of wealth. So if you've spent any
time on social media, in the last 24 hours, you have probably seen Kim Kardashian's birthday post getting torn apart. Yesterday afternoon posting, "40 and feeling so humbled and blessed. "There's not a single day
that I take for granted, "especially during these
times when we are all reminded "of the things that truly matter. "For my birthday this year, "I couldn't think of a
better way to spend it "than with some of the people who have "helped shape me into
the woman I am today. "Before COVID, I don't think any of us "truly appreciated what
a simple luxury it was "to be able to travel and be together "with family and friends
in a safe environment." And going on to write, "After two weeks "of multiple health screens "and asking everyone to quarantine, "I surprised my closest inner circle "with a trip to a private island "where we could pretend
things were normal, "just for a brief moment in time. "We danced, rode bikes,
swam near whales, kayaked, "watched a movie on the
beach and so much more. "I realize that for most people, "this is something that is so
far out of reach right now. "So in moments like these,
I am humbly reminded "of how privileged my
life is, #This is 40." And it turns out those posts rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Many people finding it rather tasteless to
post something like this when over 1.1 million people
from around the world have died from coronavirus. Millions more now unemployed,
struggling to make ends meet, some say slipped, some
say pushed, into poverty. People haven't seen their
loved ones in months. Which is why to many her
posts sounded like... - [Electronic Voice] Hi Poors, I know you're hurting right now, and can't figure out how
you're gonna feed your family, but please enjoy these photos of my family's expensive vacation. I know I'm lucky to be
so fabulously wealthy, so I'll make mention of
it to sound sympathetic, I'm really not though. - And as we saw a mixture of people angry and others just kind of joking about how out of touch she seems to be, a number of people also hitting her back with that infamous Kardashian meme. - My diamond earring came off
in the ocean and it's gone. - Kim, there's people that are dying. - Also, with this story, I do have to say, I have some questions. How exactly do you surprise a group of people and have them go through numerous health
checks and quarantine? Because it sounds like at least one part of the story that you
are telling is bullshit. Yeah, ultimately with this story, I'm not furious. I'm not angry. I do think that it's tone deaf. I think Kim Kardashian, here, is guilty of rich person-ing
at the wrong time. Because in general, while I am personally not
a big fan of the flex, how many shows, Instagram accounts, whatever, dedicated to
kind of lavish lifestyles? But this I think, given the
timing, for a lot of people, I think is more akin
to someone going like, "Oh, this cold bottled
water, it's so great." And everyone else is like,
"I'm dying of thirst." Because you have bottled water, that doesn't necessarily
make you a bad person, but it's not gonna
necessarily be appreciated if you're kind of waving it around, talking about how humbled and blessed you are to
have that bottled water. Yeah, there was that. And then let's talk about Joe Rogan popping
back up in the news. Of course, Rogan is one of, if not the biggest podcaster in the world. This year locking down
that, estimated to be, nine figure Spotify deal. Since that Spotify deal, there's been a lot more attention and a lot more criticism
against Joe Rogan, both from outside commentators, as well as internal disputes at Spotify. And since that deal was announced and the old Joe Rogan archive started moving over to Spotify, we've also seen allegations
that there was censorship. People saying, "Oh, I bet
Spotify is gonna make it "so Joe Rogan can't have on this person, "that person on podcasts in the future." But over the past 24 hours, that seems to be very much not the case. With Joe Rogan, once again, bringing on conspiracy theorist and guy who said that Sandy
Hook was a hoax, Alex Jones. And so with the release of this episode, it appeared to confirm that Spotify in no way is cracking down on Joe Rogan. It appears to be very much his show, he is still in control. Especially considering two years ago, Spotify gave Alex Jones the boot. With, as "The Guardian" explained, "Spotify removing the entirety "of one of Jones's
podcasts for hate content. With a spokesperson adding,
"Due to repeated violations "of Spotify's prohibited content policies, "'The Alex Jones Show' has lost access "to the Spotify platform." And so with his recent episode,
you would Alex Jones fans, as well as, I would say,
a lot of Joe Rogan fans, happy to see that this
episode could still happen. But there was also a lot of backlash. Resulting in Tweets like, "Congrats on paying $100 million "for the privilege of platforming "a man who terrorized Sandy Hook parents. "This isn't edgy, it's disgusting." And, "Joe Rogan hosted
far-right conspiracy theorist, "Alex Jones on his podcast today. "They pushed anti-vax conspiracies "and broadcasted banned
'Info Wars' videos. "Rogan continuing to platform these "far-right sickos is incredibly
gross and dangerous." As far as where Spotify, as a company, lands with all of this, I haven't seen a public statement as of recording this video. "BuzzFeed News" reportedly obtained an internal email from
Spotify's chief legal officer and head of global affairs, reportedly wrote that anyone with content concern should report them to the company's Trust and
Safety team, but noted, "It's all too common that things
are taken out of context." And going on to say,
"We are not going to ban "specific individuals from being guests "on other people's shows, "as the episode/show complies
with our content policies." Going on to say, "Spotify has always been "a place for creative expression. "It's important to have diverse voices "and points of view on our platform." And writing, "In closing, we appreciate "that not all of you will agree "with every piece of
content on our platform. "However, we do expect
you to help your teams "understand our role as a platform "and the care we take
in making decisions." Yeah, ultimately that is
where we are the story. And I do want to pass
a question off to you. What are your thoughts
regarding all of this? Are you happy to see
Spotify take this stance or do you think it's the
wrong move, it's hypocritical, they're just kind of taking
care of their investment? Any and all thoughts you have on this one, I'd love to hear from you when
those comments down below. But from that, I wanna share
some stuff I love today, and today in awesome,
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last until November 4th. So check them out today,
before you miss out. The first bit of awesome today is, if you go to Twitter,
you follow me @phillyd, and if you re-tweet today's tweet, pushing out today's
show, you may get this. They're no longer available, it's just a few from my
friends and family package. Yeah, just a little something. And then Nintendo gave us an October Nintendo Direct
Mini, Partner Showcase. "How to Drink" give us a
bad-ass drink for Cobra Kai. We got a trailer for the HBO
doc, "The Cost of Winning." Wired gave us, "We ate
better 15,000 years ago." Ty Dolla $ign gave us a
"Tiny Desk Home Concert." And if you wanna see the full versions of everything I just shared the secret link of the
day, anything at all, link's as always are in
the description down below. And then let's talk about Facebook, the place where your grandma
says stuff that makes you go, "Maybe it wasn't a good
idea to give people "over the age of 65 the internet." Also, if you're like, "Hey, Phil that's ageist to steal "a phrase that my grandmother "once used in a different context," not all of them are bad. This is too dark and real. Also something she might've said. (growls) Jokes that I say to temporarily distract the feeling of impending doom, I feel about society at
all times these days. But also have you ever looked at like your grandparents
and your great-grandparents, and you're like, "How
did I come from that?" Anyway, Facebook, the
election, political ads, right. So like we talked about back in September, Facebook announced a number
of new policies aimed at combating misinformation
ahead of the election. With the most notable being that the company said that they would ban any new political ads the
week before the election. Now, to be clear, that was not a ban on all
political ads, just new ones, campaigns could still run old ones. And in fact, they were even
allowed to change the budget on those ads and decide
when they would run. Under the election week ban, political advertisers were
just simply required to submit and run any new ads before
midnight Pacific time on Monday. And if at this point you're like, "That sounds very easy to
exploit, what does that even do?" Yeah, with yesterday officially marking seven days before election day, the rollout of that
policy did not go great. Almost immediately, we saw Democratic and Republican strategists saying that the ads that they had previously run, that met Facebook's
guidelines, had been banned. This including Eric Frenchmen, chief marketing officer at
the Republican digital firm, Campaign Solutions, who told reporters that several campaigns that
he was working with were hit. As well as a Biden spokesperson
telling Reuters that an undisclosed number of his
campaign's ads were impacted. With Biden's digital
director, Rob Flaherty, taking to Twitter to slam Facebook, calling the company's ban a "silly, performative pre-election
hoop-jumping exercise." That also being echoed by Maddie Kriger, the integrated media director
at the progressive advocacy organization and super
PAC, Priorities USA, who said their previously
approved ads had been blocked, and "even with accidental errors, "an error like this has a
huge impact on our program "and our ability to communicate to voters. "It's really unacceptable at
this stage of the election." And adding that it has "such high stakes" and that this "is a real loss." Honestly, this does matter, right? Facebook has been one of the cheapest and most effective ways for candidates, especially in local races, to share their messages with voters. And while at the end of the day, these glitches might not be a big deal for campaigns like Biden's and Trump's, which have a ton of money and manpower, it can really impact
those smaller campaigns that might not have enough financial and physical support
for alternative outreach like emails, texts, and phone banking. With those being even more important during a pandemic, where
in-person outreach, like door knocking and
campaign events, are limited. Now Facebook, for their part,
did say they were trying to address the issues with
a spokesperson tweeting, "We're investigating the issues "of some ads being paused incorrectly, "and some advertisers having trouble "making changes to their campaigns. "We're working quickly on these fixes "and we'll share an update
once they are resolved." But that is also not where the backlash against Facebook and this policy ended. With others noting and arguing that the Trump campaign had actually
been allowed to run ads that appear to violate Facebook's rules. This including an ad
that, some people claimed, violated Facebook's rules on
misrepresenting election dates. With that ad showing a picture of Trump with the text, "Election Day is Today," with a caption telling
people to vote today. As well as another ad
that some argued violated the platform's rules against
candidates declaring victory before an election. And for that one, I'll actually
just read the description. "A video in the ad shows the
president's face superimposed "on a sun with a voiceover
pulled from various sources." With the video saying,
"It's morning in America, "Donald J. Trump is still
president of the United States." Flowers then rise from the ground and open to faces who scream "No," as the smiling president, now also a hummingbird, flits around. Now, notably, according to reports, these ads are not currently being run, but they are visible in
Facebook's ad library, as pre-approved ads that can be run. Which means that in order
to have met Facebook's rules for ads that can be run
during election week, they had to have been run
at some point before now, which is why some outlets claim
that these ads appear to be the Trump campaign's way
of getting around the ban. Essentially, briefly running ads that were outright incorrect at the time that they were initially run, then pausing those campaigns and then run them again
when they are accurate. Now despite that, a few
hours after we started seeing media reports about them yesterday, Facebook told reporters
that they would be removing the "Vote Today" ads. Facebook saying in a statement, "As we made clear in our
public communications "and directly to campaigns, "we prohibit ads that say 'vote today' "without additional context or clarity." However, you also had a
spokesperson telling CNBC they would not take down the ad
where Trump claimed he was still your president. And this because, regardless of the outcome of the election, Trump will still technically be president until January 20th. And while many condemned Facebook for still allowing some of the Trump ads, you have the Trump campaign, unsurprisingly upset that
Facebook removed any of their ads. With deputy national press secretary, Samantha Zager, accusing the company of censoring political messages to sway the election in favor of Biden. And adding, "This is election interference "at the hands of the Silicon Valley mafia, "and it is dangerous for our democracy." And actually to that point, I want to close this
story out on that note. There's this debate of censorship
versus lack of moderation. That's because not only
has this debate become more and more heated as we get to election day, but it's also something
that's actually being debated, literally, as I make this video. Right now, there is a Senate hearing with a CEO's of Facebook,
Twitter, and Google. And actually, even the
hearing itself has become a subject of contention. Because where Republicans
have more broadly hit the note of social media companies
are censoring people and arguing that they are specifically targeting conservatives when they flag or remove what they deem
to be disinformation or misinformation. At the same time you have
Democrats accusing Republicans of holding the hearing in order to bully the tech giants into giving Trump and other conservatives
more favorable treatment, with them also accusing the tech companies of failing to do enough to
prepare for this election and what will happen after. That last part is actually really notable because last month Facebook said that it will temporarily ban all political ads after the election. Also on that note, Google announced they will do the same, they just announced that yesterday. There's an order to prevent politicians from declaring victory or
spreading false information in paid content before all
the ballots are counted. Which is really significant and a point that bears repeating, given the fact that experts and election officials
have been saying for months that it could take days, if not weeks, to fully determine the outcome. This despite Trump's insistence otherwise. That is where the story ends. And oh my god, there's only two more Philip de Franco shows
before it is election day. (groaning) The season, or maybe series finale, of America is around the corner. And that is where I'm
going to end today's show. Of course, as always, thank you for being a part of my
daily dives in the news. Also, if you're new here, definitely join the family,
hit that subscribe button, so you get these new
videos delivered to you. Also, if you wanna make sure
you never miss a notification, 'cause sometimes, you know, certain videos may not
get pushed to subscribers. You can give me a text at (813) 213-4423. But with that said, of course as always, my name's Philip de Franco, you've just been filled in, I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.
This place is quiet...