It’s Tuesday and Addison Rae’s pop album has officially dropped. So, how did a top TikTok star go from social media to the music industry?

Today’s News

IN MODERATION

YouTube tells mods to ease up on political and social content

The update: Now more than ever, YouTube wants to be a forum for political debate—so it’s advising human moderators to take down fewer videos in that genre that contain misinformation and derogatory language. Whereas videos considered to be in the "public interest” were previously removed if over a quarter of the video violated YouTube’s rules, the threshold has now been raised to a half-video (per The New York Times).

YouTube hasn’t made a public announcement regarding this policy update, but over the last few months, it has started training moderators to follow its new standards (as seen in materials reviewed by the Times).

The context: Controversy surrounding YouTube moderation dates back to at least the 2017 “adpocalypse,” when stricter oversight led to a wave of takedown notices. At the time, YouTube’s critics argued that policies designed to curb bad actors were also silencing middle-of-the-road commentators.

Eight years later, YouTube is slackening those policies to promote the kind of discussions that sparked the “influencer election” (and to avoid earning the same reputation Twitch has for overzealously policing political content).

That’s good news for creators who comment on political, social, and cultural issues—but YouTube also stands to gain more than a boost in the eyes of truthers. By allowing more misinformation to remain in videos, YouTube is empowering influencers who peddle unverified and inaccurate takes. It just so happens that many creators who engage in that behavior do so via video podcasts, and YouTube is eager to grow its podcasting presence. 

Even so, the platform is hardly giving up on moderation. Over the first three months of this year, YouTube removed 192,586 videos because of hateful and abusive content—a figure that adds up to a 22% year-over-year increase.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• TikTok’s most-followed creator, Khaby Lame, was reportedly detained by ICE on June 6 before voluntarily departing the U.S. (People)
  
  

• Warner Bros. Discovery has announced that it will split into two media companies: “WBD Global Networks” and “WBD Streaming & Studios.” (Engadget)
  
  

• A study examining the most viral skincare routines on TikTok found that many carry a “high risk of irritation” and long-term allergies due to the inclusion of “multiple active ingredients.” (Gizmodo)
  
  

• X has announced that it is “joining forces with Polymarket as our official prediction market partner” to help users place bets on political elections, sports games, and more. (Gizmodo)

GOSPEL STATS 📈

Top Branded Videos: Cheating husbands, MrBeast toys, and Disney FOMO

There’s nothing the internet loves more than a good scandal. Gospel Stats’ latest ranking of most-viewed branded videos demonstrates the enduring virality of creator controversies—and, of course, MrBeast wasn’t far from the top of the chart, either.

🥇 #1. Call Her Daddy x White Claw, Tinder: Catherine Paiz: My Husband Cheated with 20 Women (Full Episode) (10M views)
Alex Cooper‘s Call Her Daddy is one of the biggest podcasts in the world, but it usually gets more buzz on Spotify than YouTube. This week, however, Cooper’s guest was Catherine Paiz—aka one-half of the former couple who ran The ACE Family channel. For the first time since splitting from Austin McBroom, Paiz is speaking publicly about their divorce. (And in case you’re in a similar situation, sponsor Tinder wants you to know a fresh start is just a swipe away.)

🥈 #2. MrBeast 2 x Moose Toys: How to Win a $10,000 Golden Swarm (4.7M views)
For the second week running, a Short from MrBeast 2 is at #2 in Gospel’s branded rankings. The side channel—which, at 50 million subscribers, has nearly 90% fewer subs than MrBeast’s main hub—snagged the second-place spot with a giveaway video sponsored by the merch partner that produces the MrBeast Lab Swarms toys.

🐭 Bonus Video: #2,882. ResortTV1 x Layer1 Technology, David’s Vacation Club Rentals, MickeyBlog.com, MickeyTravels, Behind the Ride: Live: Magical Monday at Epcot - Rides, Shopping & More - Walt Disney World Live Stream (27.7K views)
With summer on the horizon, Disney is leaning hard into FOMO advertising (just look at its recent campaign with Blippi). But even when the Mouse House isn’t directly sponsoring videos, the many brands built around cashing in on Disney tourism are happy to fill in. Take ResortTV1: the channel’s three-hour Epcot livestream was sponsored entirely by companies that cater to Disney fans and park visitors.

Check out the full branded ranking here and head over to Gospel Stats for more YouTube sponsorship insights.

TOP 50 MOST-SUBSCRIBED

Italian brainrot has Gen A singing “That’s Amore”

The trend: Gen Alpha seems to be systematically resurrecting the internet memes that have entertained millennials for over a decade. First, there were the “lol so random” activities of the Skibidi Toilet gang. Not long after, cute animals climbed the charts on YouTube Shorts (although these viral dog videos aren’t quite as real-to-life as the ones we passed around in the 2010s).

Now, Gen A has adopted another form of comedy long beloved by millennials: nonsense words. The latest generation’s take on humorous gibberish comes in the form of Italian Brainrot, a type of meme that pairs AI-generated images with fake Italian words.

The channels: That trend might seem simplistic, but it’s already become a major force in the YouTube subscriber charts since rising to prominence last month. Italian Brainrot aficionado DRЫNDA, for instance, accumulated 430,000 new subscribers in just seven days thanks to videos featuring AI cappuccinos and nonsense phrases. That massive growth spurt brought the Ukranian hub to #27 in our ranking of Top 50 Most Subscribed channels.

Italian Brainrot can be found towards the bottom of that chart, too. In 43rd place is Chief Brioso, a Spain-based channel that added 353,000 new subscribers during the week of June 8 by pairing Italian Brainrot with gameplay from mobile sensation Geometry Dash. What will the cool kids think of next?

WATCH THIS 📺

Apple’s 2025 tech conference just kicked off

WWDC 2025: Every year, Apple hosts the Worldwide Developers Conference: a multi-day event that usually serves as a vehicle for the tech giant’s latest slate of product announcements.

The 2025 edition of that conference kicked off yesterday with a keynote from Apple that included reveals of everything from a new Logitech pen (which will let Apple Vision Pro users “draw and design in three dimensions with precision”) to iOS 26 (which will bring Live Translation, polls, and messaging background to iPhones).

Watch the full keynote here to find out more.

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