It's Thursday, and Fortnite is giving off some mighty morphin’ vibes thanks to an expanded Power Rangers collab and a new One Punch team-up.

Today’s News

STREAMING BIG

Did Twitch undo its viewbot crackdown?

The allegations: In our industry, attention is currency—which is why so many streamers use viewbotters to inflate engagement numbers. Creators who employ those fake viewers don’t typically stop at just one, either; they use services that guarantee thousands of views.

That issue came to a head this spring, when xQc accused Kai Cenat’s friends Reggie and Rakai of paying for views. A month earlier, streamer QueenGloriaRp was banned from Twitch after accidentally broadcasting a viewbotting program.

Now, sites like Streams Charts have begun raising the alarm, too. Earlier this month, Streams Charts Product Manager Nazar Babenko said his company found over 41,000 Twitch channels with “at least one suspicious stream” during Q2 2025, and more than 10% “showed clear, persistent signs of viewbotting.” He added that “the trend is just as alarming” on Kick, where “about one in six Kick streamers averaging 50+ viewers are now confirmed viewbotters.”

The campaign: Kick is supposedly handling the issue with anti-viewbot tech, while Twitch announced in July that it would introduce sniping to “meaningfully [improve] our ability to identify viewbots.”

The latter platform appeared to hit the switch this week and—according to analyst Zach Bussey—almost instantly saw a sitewide decline in viewership as high as 22%. Twitch denied that assertion, saying “viewership is by no means in decline,” and that third-party sites were consulting incorrect data.

Not long after, Bussey returned, saying he thought Twitch might have already undone its change, because most streamers were back to their pre-snipe viewcounts.

Twitch does have a history of reverting policy changes, so it’s possible the platform reversed course here. But we’re not sure why it would choose to do so. While viewership dips look rough in the short-term, fake engagement is a major turn-off for advertisers—meaning Twitch’s anti-viewbotting campaign could be critical for retaining valuable marketing dollars.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Instagram has launched a new web series that trains viewers to make the most out of Meta’s CapCut clone, Edits. (Tubefilter)
  
  

• An upcoming employee share buyback will set the valuation of TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance, at over $330 billion. (Reuters)
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• Meta is reportedly backing a new California super PAC designed to support AI-friendly political candidates. (Engadget)
  
  

• Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s record-breaking engagement announcement is officially the first post to snag 1 million reposts on Instagram. (The Hollywood Reporter)

PLATFORM UPDATES

Spotify is sliding into DMs

The update: Spotify‘s latest feature completes its transformation into a social media platform. The streaming giant has introduced Messages: an in-app hub dedicated to DMs and other forms of interpersonal communication. When sharing a song or podcast with a friend, for instance, users will have the choice to route their recommendation through the in-app service.

According to Business Insider, Spotify began rolling out Messages as a mobile-only feature during the last week of August. Access will initially be limited to “select markets,” with users in Latin America being the first to slide into the new DMs. An expansion to the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand is reportedly planned for the “coming weeks.”

The rationale: Spotify’s decision to introduce DMs follows the recent arrival of similar features on platforms like Instagram. Earlier this year, the Meta-owned app loaded up its DMs with 20 new features, transforming a classic communication format into a hub for audience engagement—and revenue generation.

On platforms like Twitch and YouTube, chat-based formats already form the basis for robust revenue streams. Spotify’s communication infrastructure isn’t there yet, but Messages could provide a solid foundation if the platform eventually hopes to up its revenue by adding monetization features to in-app conversations.

EVENTS & HAPPENINGS

1 Billion Followers Summit has opened tickets for its 2026 Dubai event

The summit: Earlier this year, the United Arab Emirates’ 1 Billion Followers Summit united over 30,000 attendees—including 15,000 creators and 420 speakers—for an expo featuring dozens of panels and workshops, a $1 million prize (awarded to British creator Simon Squibb), and a “1 Billion Pitches” startup competition that divvied up $13.6 million among participants.

The summit will return for its fourth year from Jan. 9-11, 2026, and expects to welcome thousands of attendees to the Emirates Towers, Museum of the Future, and International Financial Centre in Dubai. The UAE Government Media Office, which organizes the 1BFS, plans to make that event even bigger than the 2025 edition.

Under the theme “Content for Good,” the upcoming 1BFS has partnered with digital platforms like Google/YouTube, TikTok, Meta/Instagram, X, and Snapchat. Headlining speakers include Tucker Carlson, Zach King, Jay Shetty, Airrack, Elon Musk‘s mother Maye Musk, and Alexandra Mary Hirschi (aka Supercar Blondie).

Hirschi will also help guide the summit’s direction alongside four fellow ambassadors: Squibb, Yes Theory co-founder Ammar Kandil, and creators Khalid Al Ameri and Omar Farooq.

The prize: The 2026 summit is set to feature a $1 million prize, which will be awarded to the winner of a contest for the best short film made using generative AI. That competition is a collaboration with Google Gemini and, according to organizers, “aims to support and encourage the production of purposeful films using diverse AI tools” while raising “awareness of the humanitarian messages such films should convey.”

The tickets: 1BFS tickets are currently on Super Early Bird sale here, with three-day general passes starting at $40.50. Three-day creator tickets (with access to workshops, networking sessions, and the Creators Lounge) start at $121.50, while three-day VIP tickets (access to more workshops, masterclasses, exclusive off-site experiences, concierge service, pre-delivered badges, and valet parking) are $1,215.

FYI: 1 Billion Followers Summit is a Tubefilter partner.

WATCH THIS

The Try Guys are trying out a new channel

The new hub: The Try Guys are going back to basics. In an introductory video posted yesterday, co-hosts Keith Habersberger and Zach Kornfeld announced the launch of a new channel called Try Every Day. There, the duo will embrace what they describe as “back-to-basics trying” by exploring one new idea every 24 hours.

Audience participation is central to that mission. Habersberger and Kornfeld have invited fans to submit video explanations of activities they’d like to see the guys try. During the month of September, Habersberger and Kornfeld will take on one of those ideas each weekday, filling up their new channel in the process. While they embark on that journey, the main Try Guys hub will go dormant.

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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen.