TOGETHER WITH

It's Tuesday and if you didn’t know that Chili’s caters weddings…well, you do now. The chain is capitalizing on a viral TikTok by offering free wedding catering to the first three couples who get engaged at one of its restaurants.

TALKING POLITICS

YouTube reverses course on posts containing “disproven assumptions”

YouTube is changing its moderation policies in a big way. The video platform has announced that it will “stop removing content that advances false claims that widespread fraud, errors, or glitches occurred in the 2020 and other past US Presidential elections.”

In other words: some forms of political misinformation are now allowed on YouTube.

That reversal is a significant change from YouTube’s previous approach to election discourse. The video platform touted its election integrity policy as a way to “better support” democracy in the months leading up to the 2020 election. That policy was remarkably effective (once it was finally put into action). According to the Center for Social Media and Politics at New York University, the removal of misleading videos on YouTube caused the amount of political misinformation on platforms like Twitter and Facebook to drop as well.

Now, YouTube plans to support democracy by allowing videos based on that misinformation. The platform says its new policy reflects the concern that removing misinformation related to presidential elections “could also have the unintended effect of curtailing political speech without meaningfully reducing the risk of violence or other real-world harm.”

There are some exceptions to YouTube’s new approach. The platform says its other election misinformation policies will remain in place, including removals of “content aiming to mislead voters about the time, place, means, or eligibility requirements for voting; false claims that could materially discourage voting, including those disputing the validity of voting by mail; and content that encourages others to interfere with democratic processes.”

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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Former Metro Public Relations exec Dana Block is founding a communication and consultancy agency called Buzzer PR. (Tubefilter)
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• Linda Yaccarino—who previously worked as an advertising head at NBCUniversal—has officially assumed her role as Twitter’s new CEO. (Gizmodo)
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• Spotify is reportedly laying off 200 staff members from its podcasting division. (The Verge)
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• A new report from Challenger, Gray, and Christmas, Inc. claims that U.S.-based employers cut nearly 4,000 jobs last month in favor of AI. (Gizmodo)

DATA • GLOBAL TOP 50 📈

Here’s how one construction channel snagged 7 billion lifetime views:

Crafts People is all about a hard day’s work. The construction-themed channel has attracted millions of subscribers by sticking to one simple strategy:

Crafts People posts as many oddly satisfying Shorts as it can—in as little time as humanly possible.

That technique has turned the construction hub into one of the most popular channels in the world. Crafts People posts dozens of Shorts a week, with videos focusing on everything from roof repairs to well drilling to PVC pipe production. Those satisfying builds have earned the channel an enormous viewership: in just over two years, Crafts People has generated 7.3 billion lifetime views and become a mainstay in the Global Top 50 chart. In fact, its top five videos alone have produced more than 660 million combined views.

Crafts People’s creator hopes their channel will help others “feel the soul and the greatness” of the builders who star in their videos. Based on the Shorts hub’s recent stats, that wish seems to be coming true:

• Over the course of our last seven-day count, Crafts People collected 271.7 million weekly views.

• That total added up to a 62% week-over-week traffic increase.

• All of which landed the channel a place at #31 in the Global Top 50.

TWITCH HITS THE MAT 🤼

Twitch and WWE are teaming up to bring fans years of “live and exclusive content”

Only three years ago, WWE barred its stars from having their own Twitch channels unless they agreed to give the wrestling org a cut of their earnings.

Now, all that contention seems to be in the past.

After agreeing in 2020 to a three-way revenue split that grants the “vast majority” of earnings to wrestlers and Twitch, WWE is teaming up with the streaming platform for a multiyear partnership. A recent press release revealed that the collab will include “live and exclusive content” across “popular WWE Superstar channels” and WWE’s rebooted flagship channel. Part of that content has already kicked off on Twitch: a weekly companion sidecast to Monday Night RAW premiered last night on WWE’s channel, which currently has around 140,000 followers.

Going forward, that sidecast will include a “rotating cast of hosts” and WWE stars, who will offer behind-the-scenes content like backstage interviews. Fans will want to tune into WWE’s Twitch hub to catch other live events, too; per the wrestling org, its rebooted channel will also “serve as an alternate live streaming feed for all of WWE’s premium live event press conferences.”

WATCH THIS 📺

Test Kitchen icon Brad Leone is going local with a brand-new channel

Brad Leone’s food-loving fans are in for a treat. The YouTube-famous chef—who attracted a loyal following during his decade-long stint at Bon Appétit—just launched a new channel. So, what can viewers expect from Leone’s personal YouTube hub?

In a recent trailer, the chef promises fans they’ll have a chance to see “all of their favorite Leones” (from “chicken whisperer” to just plain “Brad”) via two new shows. The best news of all: the first episodes of Makin It’ and Local Legends just dropped yesterday.

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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen. Drew Baldwin helped edit, too. It's a team effort..