today in tabs: the site where racists are crowdfunding
ALSO: TikTok is pretending like nothing is wrong at Cannes, Sabrina Carpenter said put your phone away, and more
Happy Friday, June 20th, 2025.
WELCOME :)
Just a reminder: 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.
Want to do a super fun, super cool rapid interview for this newsletter like this or the one below??? Reply to this email or hit the button below. Tips, thoughts, concerns, good jokes, bad jokes, ☕️, 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 🙏
After launching this section last Friday, we are BACK with a second installment! This week, I messaged with one of my fave reporters, Kelsey Weekman, who is a Senior Culture Reporter over at Yahoo News (you might also recognize her from Buzzfeed, NY Mag, Billboard, and a bunch of other places!). I have been a big fan of Kelsey’s work for a while, and I hope y’all enjoy :)
The Supreme Court’s incoherent new attack on trans rights, explained
But, as a matter of judicial craftsmanship, Roberts’s opinion is disappointing even by the standards of the Roberts Court. It draws incoherent distinctions. It relies on old and widely criticized precedents to undermine legal principles that are well established by more recent cases. (Vox, 6/18)
MAGA and the single girl
“This is Whole Foods meets The West Wing,” she said. “It’s collagen, calluses, and conviction. It’s castor oil, Christ, and a well-stocked pantry.” The right has “the girls who lift weights, eat clean, have their hormones balanced, have their lives together,” Clark said. (WaPo, 6/18 – free version)
TikTok Hits Cannes, Where a U.S. Ban Seems a Distant Dream
The company, which was also in Cannes last month as an official partner of the town’s famous film festival, has maintained a high profile at cultural and industry events in the face of intense political upheaval. (NYT, 6/19 – free version)
Social Media and Protest Used to Go Together. Not Anymore.
As most leftist activists would have told you at the time, this was always going to be a temporary arrangement. It contained clear dangers from the start; as much as Twitter and even Facebook leaned into their roles in “democratizing” the media, they were never truly building tools for activists, but rather surveillance networks for advertisers. (Intelligencer, 6/12)
Go viral for racist behavior, receive $750,000: inside the new extremist crowdfunding campaigns
Organizations and individuals explicitly supporting white supremacy, anti-LGBTQ+, and QAnon conspiracies raised over $6m on fundraising sites, including GiveSendGo, between 2016 and 2022, according to a report from the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. GiveSendGo hosted the majority of fundraisers, about 86.5% of the money tracked by the ADL. (The Guardian, 6/17)
Diddy AI slop is getting tens of millions of views on YouTube
The nearly 30-minute video, which uses clips from TV news and other sources and AI-generated narration, has 113,000 views. Needless to say, it doesn’t contain any new information from Jay-Z and the rapper never said the quote that’s apparently attributed to him. (Indicator, 6/17)
Lucy’s note: I know I’ve said this before… but if you aren’t reading Indicator yet, you should!!
Sabrina Carpenter Considers Banning Phones at Her Concerts — Here’s Why
The “Espresso” singer said that her opinion on having phones at concerts changed after she attended a Silk Sonic concert in Los Vegas at which she had to lock up her own phone. (TODAY, 6/19)
Tinder now lets you go on double dates
The feature lives within a new “Double Date” icon in the top-right corner of the app, where you can invite up to three friends to create pairs with. You can both scroll through a feed of paired profiles, which appear side by side with photos and descriptions. A match is created when one person from both pairs swipes right. Tinder will then open up a group chat with all four users. (The Verge, 6/16)
eBay and Vestiaire Collective Want an Exemption from Trump’s Tariffs
We're still a maturing industry, but we are the future,” says Rachel Kibbe, CEO of American Circular Textiles, an advocacy group that represents about 30 organizations, including Vestiaire Collective, that make, fix, rent, sell, recycle, or resell clothes. “We would just like preferential trade treatment for secondhand imports.” (WIRED, 6/17)
Websites expand ancestry records of enslaved people
Many of the original newspaper articles contain never-before-seen information about enslaved people in communities where courthouse and community records were otherwise destroyed or lost. (Axios, 6/19)
Traitor or hero? Statue of George Washington stirs mixed reaction in London.
To most of those pausing to watch, there were no hard feelings about that 18th-century unpleasantness. But Washington’s arrival was a bit of a head-scratcher to many, given the current transatlantic tumult and the state of the special relationship 46 presidents later. (WaPo, 6/18)
Mariah Carey Still Refuses to Acknowledge the Passage of Time: ‘I Just Don’t Believe in It’
In a recent interview with Capital FM posted Monday (June 16), the superstar once again stated how she refuses to acknowledge the passage of time. Carey has long said she doesn’t subscribe to the construct of days, weeks and years, and has also asserted that she doesn’t have birthdays — only anniversaries. (Billboard, 6/17)
Lucy’s note: So sorry to lib out for a moment, but this feels like a strong argument against people being able to become so rich they literally seem to lose their minds and their grip on reality??
Extra Credit 🤓
Some newsletters I thought were excellent recently:
“What Do Working Class Voters Think About Billionaires and Populist Messaging?” from The Working Class Project
That’s all for now – I’ll see you on Tuesday!
* Image credit for the screenshot in my thumbnail goes to the ADL.
Thanks for the shout out, Lucy!