For-you-pages aren’t just for selling half-price hair straighteners and ill-advised parasite cleanses anymore. According to a recent report from the Pew Research Center, a “growing share” of adults in the U.S. are getting their news directly from TikTok, at a time when other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X are …
Read More »'Am I Cringey? Yes. Do I Care? Absolutely Not'
A t first, the signs were subtle. There was the “I am cringe, but I am free” meme, and the T-shirts from Gen Z e-commerce brand OGBFF emblazoned with “Too cringe for NY, too based for LA.” Niche creators like Neve Pratt (awkward dad-joker) and Michael Thomas White (heartfelt himbo) …
Read More »How Alix Earle Became TikTok's It Girl
As the blond, willowy daughter of a New Jersey construction magnate, Alix Earle, 22, doesn’t seem like an everywoman on the surface. Yet, since her TikTok debut in early 2020, viewers have flocked to the University of Miami senior, who’s opened up during her Get Ready With Me videos about …
Read More »'More Spectacle Than Substance': Spotify Response to Joe Rogan Controversy Leaves Researchers Shrugging
Earlier this month, Rolling Stone reported that a group of 270 doctors, healthcare workers, educators, and scientists was campaigning for Spotify to publicly adopt a misinformation policy. The initiative was inspired by a Dec. 31 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the wildly popular podcast hosted by comedian Joe Rogan …
Read More »Rolling Stone's Most-Read Stories of 2021
BTS. Kurt Cobain’s FBI file. The Doomsday Glacier. Rolling Stone’s most-read stories of 2021 covered a whole lot of ground. Several of the year’s biggest investigations are here: A deep dive into the planning of Jan. 6 events at the U.S. Capitol; physical- and sexual-abuse allegations against Marilyn Manson; Eric …
Read More »Father's Search for Missing Son Uncovers Two Sets of Human Remains — and More Questions
David Robinson’s back patio used to be his comfort zone, a haven from the PTSD he still suffers after his time in the Army. On June 23, 2021, though, that little slice of heaven in Columbia, South Carolina, was rife with anxiety and fear when his daughter called him to …
Read More »The Sky Thief
The stolen airplane began rolling forward under its own power, with no one in the cockpit. The twin engines of the Horizon Air Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 aircraft had been set to idle. But without anyone riding the brakes, the 13-foot propellers began pushing the plane slowly toward the runways …
Read More »The Coyote Cartel
T he pistol the boy is holding is a plastic toy. He and two other kids from Honduras are playing on the pedestal of a statue of an Aztec eagle in Reynosa, a Mexican city just south of the tail end of Texas. The three of them are wearing face …
Read More »Sex Workers Worry They're Going to Be Purged From Twitter
For 11 years, Genesis Lynn, the owner of Fetish Con, an industry trade show for people in the fetish industry, had relied on Twitter. Fetish Con had more than 55,000 followers, and used it to advertise her annual event, as well as new speakers and classes. Last August, after canceling …
Read More »Is the 'QAnon Shaman' From the MAGA Capitol Riot Covered in Neo-Nazi Imagery?
Mere hours after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., forcing Congress to evacuate and giving every impression of staging an attempted coup, the right-wing propaganda machine whirred to life. Republican mouthpiece Sarah Palin, Pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood (who has since been banned from Twitter …
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