Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google Are Going to Trial
Over the past year, the antitrust panel of the House Judiciary Committee has conducted an investigation focusing on if big tech companies have become too powerful, violating antitrust laws. The investigation acquired 1.3 million documents from companies testifying against Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google. And earlier this week, their CEOs were confronted with antitrust allegations before Congress. This may set the framework for a new era of antitrust policy work for the tech industry.
Black and White Selfies Are the Latest Social Media Trend
A recent trend emerged of women posting black and white selfies with #challengeaccepted. It has left many confused about the trend’s intent but appears to be women’s empowerment focused. Khloe Kardashian and Kerry Washington are some famous names participating in the challenge. However, some women believe its execution is vague and actionless and critiquing whether or not it should just be a selfie or a list of women-owned businesses to support, etc. Reports say the rise in this trend came after Alexandria Ocasio Cortez spoke out against representative Ted Yoho’s sexist remarks against her on the floor.
Who Started the “What Are You?” Meme Account Trend on Instagram?
In recent weeks we’ve seen accounts pop up all over Instagram with the similar IG handle “what __ R U?” We haven’t seen a trend take off like this since the 2020 IG prediction filters at the beginning of the year. Some of the more popular accounts include @what_frog_you_are and @whatdogyouare. Their appeal is that they continue to post new content through DM requests and have even started collecting money to donate to foundations supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and COVID-19 relief funds. This is yet another smart way social media has been able to find a way to continue supporting important causes.
Twitter Shares a 2020 Trending Topics Forecast
Twitter shares an infographic detailing how trending topics have shifted from 2019 to 2020. For most years, they’ve been able to predict what the trending topics would be based on the season, but since 2020 has been so different than previous years, there is no way to predict what will be trending next. For example, Tweets about Juneteenth grew exponentially in 2020.
That’s it for this week’s social sphere. Tune back in for the latest updates on August 14th!