#tiktok spy tool

[awaketake]

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[odysseyjnr]

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[serpenlupus]

I spy with my little eye - part three

Previous - Last (here)

Comic Guide

Oh my god finally, I did it xD got the final 5 pages out

Special thanks to @the__Goddess on tiktok for helping me out with the dialogue and to Ian_mailbox from discord because his theory about Wyll's stone eye being also a Scrying tool for Mizora gave me the conection for a bunch of loose ideas I had when writting the script

I know it's not a great ending but there're other comics coming from different scenes in the game and I already have the script for the follow up of this scene on the works > <

Thanks for reading!

[al-the-remix]

TikTok Chef!Buck AU: several sentences sunday (or something like that)

I'm close to finishing the fic I've been working on so I finally felt like I could write a little something based off this headcannon without feeling too guilty about it, lol. 2k of mostly crack, please enjoy.

It all starts when Tommy’s stuck on his couch for a week with a sprained knee. He wishes he could claim it happened doing something heroic–or at the very least badass–but in truth it was the result of letting his ego get the best of him at the squat rack. 

Lucy stops by a few times to keep him company, which really means letting herself in unannounced with her spare key, eating all the leftovers in his fridge, and offering an unsolicited running critique of whatever show he’s watching. Today it was Below Deck reruns. 

“If I ever decide to take a vacation on a boat, tackle me, this shit does not look worth it.”

“You really don’t have to be here you know,” Tommy says, leaning over to grab some chips from the near-empty bag she was cradling before they were all gone. He’d been looking forward to eating those for dinner and feeling sorry for himself. 

Lucy just snorts. “Please, if I wasn’t here you’d already be up to something ill advised. I caught you looking up deck chair patterns earlier, power tools don’t go well with injuries, Tommy, even if it’s only carpentry.”

Well, she had him there. 

At least she had the decency to order them Chinese take out for dinner so he wouldn’t have to Instacart a can of soup or something equally pathetic. 

Before she left she made a grabby hand at him. “Give me your phone.”

“Why?” Tommy asks, already suspicious. 

She met his suspicion with boredom. “Don’t ask stupid questions, just do it.”

Rolling his eyes, he hands it over, giving into her whim, and maybe he should find it a little more unsettling that she already seems to know his password off by heart. 

She clicks around for long enough that Tommy starts getting nervous: what was the last text message he sent? Was it embarrassing? Were all his nudes still in that locked folder? Did she know the password for that too? Just when he was going to start asking questions she tosses his phone back. “Here, this should keep you entertained for a while,” she explains as he scrambles to catch it. “My niece wastes hours of her life on this crap.”

“Such ringing endorsement,” Tomy grumbles, she’s downloaded some kind of video app onto his phone. TikTok. Perfect. He’d heard of that one, apparently it was single handedly ruining a whole generation’s attention span and the Chinese government was using it to spy on the inner lives of teenagers with stupid haircuts and a critical lack of social skills. 

“Are you sure you didn’t just give me some kind of virus?” Tommy asks, clicking around the home page arbitrarily, the UI didn’t make a lick of sense. 

“Har, har. You were always good at picking up new skills, I’m sure you’ll figure this out in no time. I have faith in you,” she says, clapping him hard enough on the shoulder to make him wince. 

He finds his profile page by total mistake. His username reads: benchedcockwrangler.

“How do I change this?” he asks, waving his phone at her as she makes for the door. 

“You don’t,” she says, without looking back. “Don’t stay up on that thing all night, it will ruin your sleep schedule!”

Tommy winces as the front door slams and sighs. He’ll figure out how to change it later. After all, beggars can’t be choosers and three days into his mandatory medical leave he’s already so bored he’s ready to stab his eyes out with hot pokers just to mix it up a bit. 

He scrolls through the app, and based on most of what he sees he finds himself unable to justify its existence in the first place. It feels like every video he watches drags him into a deeper alternate universe where everyone’s wholeheartedly competing for the top of the podium at the Darwin Awards. 

There’s a woman digging tunnels under her apartment that Tommy is positive are not up to code (that’s a call just waiting to happen); and two young ladies mixing cocktails of a concerning hue and variety at random local establishments (not necessarily anything that would warrant a trip to the ER but potentially a health code violation); and what seems like an ungodly number of men hosting podcasts (Tommy is pretty sure that even during his darkest days rotting in the closet he had a better batting average picking up women than any of these bozos.)

Tommy’s eyes start to glaze over as he scrolls past comedians, and political commentators, and people reviewing romance novels, and–how has it already been forty minutes?

He’s about ready to give up and throw his phone across the room and leave it there until Lucy shows up tomorrow and he can make her delete it off his phone, when catchy music, an arm roped with muscle, and a criminally tight shirt sleeve catches his attention. 

It’s some kind of cooking video and his first impression is: how is anyone supposed to understand what’s going on with edits that fast? His second impression is: hot man. Man hot.

Soon his brain is catching up with his eyes, kickstarting like a toddler being exposed to sugar for the first time. 

Cooking might be a generous description for what’s going on here. The man is obviously skilled, but the main focus of the video seems to be how hot he looks in an apron (very) and whether it’s possible to bring half a peach to completion by finger blasting the pit out of it (not like, whether or not you should pre-bake your tart crust to achieve an ideal texture). 

Tommy has to watch it twice just to fully absorb everything that’s going on. He’s making some kind of deconstructed peach crumble topped with an obscene amount of whipped cream and steak with fries that looks fancier than anything Tommy’s ever eaten at a restaurant. 

Half way through the video the man wipes down the worktop shirtless with a cloth sudsy enough to make Tommy’s mouth go instantly dry then suddenly wet enough he’s forced to swallow. 

He clicks through to ChefFirehose’s profile just to, you know, get a better sample size. Tommy’s not above letting himself be manipulated by a man with biceps like melons and a cute smile. 

His profile description reads: LA resident, self-taught, putting out fires and saving lives in my spare time. Just here to give the food the appreciation it deserves. Let me show off for you 😉.

Tommy thinks this guy must be new to town, because living nearly a decade even in a city as sprawling and overcrowded as LA, he doesn’t know how he could miss running into this guy on the job. There was no way he wouldn’t remember a guy this hot even through turnouts, a helmet, and smeared in a thick layer of soot.

He starts working his way back through ChefFirehose’s videos, and some are admittedly a little less chaotic than the rest, but all of them are just tongue-and-cheek enough that Tommy feels confident he’s just one in close to a million people in on a joke and not enabling someone’s very real personality disorder. 

He’s stuck somewhere between disbelief and admiration. He definitely wouldn't have the balls to post this on the internet for everyone to see and so obviously thirst over. He braves the comment section on a few of the videos and it’s just a litany of horned-up men and women trying their best to make ChefFirehose laugh, or get in his pants, or both. He replies to almost all of his comments with either a smirking emoji or acting deliberately oblivious when someone tries to bait him into giving up the bit. Tommy finds him funny and maybe a little more endearing than he should after ten videos. 

Tommy can’t really blame them for trying to shoot their shot so shamelessly. ChefFirehose’s wardrobe consists of polos plastered so tight to his skin that Tommy was mildly concerned about restricted blood circulation, dress shirts buttoned dangerously low, and slacks that wrap snugly around miles of long, toned leg. 

Those weren’t Tommy’s favorite looks though. No, every so often a video would start and he’s be dressed down in soft looking sweatpants, a baseball cap pushed on backwards plastering his auburn curls to his forehead, and a white tank top–or if Tommy was really lucky, no shirt at all (sometimes not even the apron which Tommy had mixed feelings about...), his muscled arms and shoulders on full display. He’s got tattoos decorating his forearms that Tommy can’t quite make out, a collection of fine lines on pale skin like thin ribbons of chocolate drizzled over a crape. 

Those videos are most often breakfast related and ChefFirehose is barefoot in his kitchen, the warm sunlight casting his face in gold. He paints such an enticing tableau it’s all too easy for Tommy’s brain to plop himself right down in that scene, imagination running wild. He can so easily picture what it would be like: in that kitchen, feeling the warm cast of sun on his face and getting to watch built, handsome man make him breakfast with that flirty confidence of his. 

Tommy bookmarks a video of him making an omelet, the way he handles the eggs making Tommy blush like he’s a schoolgirl and not a man pushing forty. He feels less guilty about getting hard over it on the sofa surrounded by takeout containers than he probably should.  

The screen goes suddenly black and Tommy’s faced with his own reflection in the finger smudged screen, chin rolls and all. Fuck. He reaches for his charger. God, his life was depressing at the moment, and apparently he really needs to get laid.

So yeah, by the time his two weeks of recovery are up he’s feeling a little stir crazy in an entirely different way than before. He’s never been more glad to get back to work, put some of this weirdness behind him and get some much needed distance from his phone.

That’s only part of the reason why he doesn’t even think twice when Howie calls him for a favor. A big favor. And that was only the first of many surprises the universe had in store for him, apparently.

Even fully clothed in his LFD uniform Tommy recognises him. Evan. Evan, Evan, Evan, (Tommy repeats over and over in his head until it drowns out every other name Tommy’s assigned him the past few weeks: slutty egg guy, ChefBigDick, totally off limits boyfriend material–just to name a few).

“So you’re the guy who’s gonna fly us into a hurricane.” Evan sounds a little breathless, like maybe he jogged all the way here, and Tommy chalks it up to the high that accompanies stealing government property. “Chim said you were the best pilot he knows and good in a pinch, but I still thought there was no way anyone that good would agree to something this crazy.”

Tommy’s definitely starting to feel a little crazy. Evan’s still shaking his hand. His grip is solid, his fingers long and nimble, surprisingly soft against this palm (he must really lather on the hand lotion) and Tommy can’t stop thinking about all the talented things he knows they can do. 

 “That’s me. Though I’m pretty sure I’m just the only pilot Howie knows who's in town at the moment.” 

“You look good to me–capable, I mean.” Evan gives him a solid smack on the shoulder with his free hand. His mouth does something funny like he's trying to hold back the sheer force of his excitement by his teeth. “Solid.”

His eyes are even bigger and brighter in person, smile softer, even taller than Tommy presumed. Howie’s giving them a weird look from over Evan’s shoulder. The other man with them, Eddie, isn’t paying them any attention, checking out the other helicopters parked on the apron instead, and Tommy forces himself to pull his hand out of Evan’s warm grip. 

Tommy clears his throat. “Good to know. I’ll show you guys the bird we’ll be taking. I've got her all gassed up and ready to go.”

He just met his (internet) celebrity crush and the man of his dreams, and now Tommy was going to get him killed in one of the most spectacular ways imaginable. It seems like they’re all headed for the Darwin Awards this time.

[pfhwrittes]

Cariad, may I request more of your Transmasc!Tradie x 141? I'm afraid I might be head over heels for them.

(Btw, are they hiring? Maybe they need a landscaper? I'm real good at getting dirty. 😉)

of course you may! more transmasc!tradie and tradie force 141 coming up!

no trigger warnings for this one (unless you're sensitive to a bit of swearing!)

featuring johnny mactavish telling a shit joke.

"oi! flash!"

you look up from where you're sifting through your tool bag, hunting unsuccessfully for the blue handled screw driver you know is in there somewhere.

you hum in acknowledgement of johnny's ridiculous new nickname for you.

"what?"

johnny saunters over and you watch the way his hips sway teasingly for a moment before you spy the phone pointed in your direction and you groan.

"oh fuck off mate, i don't want to be in your tiktok."

"aw c'mon flash! it'll be fun! i've got a wee joke fer ye!" johnny is all smiles behind the camera. you huff and roll your eyes.

"go on then. i'm not gonna get any peace until you tell me anyway."

johnny clears his throat dramatically.

"flash, what d'ya call an electrician's apprentice?"

you stare at johnny flatly.

"aw c'mon, ye've got tae play along!"

"alright. fine." you sigh, before saying in an exaggerated fashion "gee, i dunno. what do you call an electrician's apprentice?"

"a shock absorber!"

you blink and quirk an unimpressed eyebrow as johnny flushes.

"fine, you tell a better joke then!" johnny grumbles and you smirk in response.

"how many sparkies does it take to screw in a light bulb?"

johnny waits for a moment, frowning while he thinks of the answer before his face clears.

"one standing completely still while the rest of the site revolves around them."

a loud bark of laughter from the doorway makes you jump and johnny swings around to film simon's crooked grin.

"aw, away an' boil yer heids the pair of yis!"

[aristocratic-otter]

Hey y’all. It’s been a rough month, so thank you to all of you who keep tagging me in spite of my silence. And for those of you waiting for new chapters to one of my WIPs, please forgive me. The good news is, I have a week off of work, and I’ll be able to put out new chapters of at least two of my WIPs, as well as the first post from one of those below that you haven’t seen. So stay tuned!

Thank you to : @thewholelemon, @youarenevertooold, @nausikaaa, @wellbelesbian, @cutestkilla, @monbons, @artsyunderstudy, @ileadacharmedlife, @hushed-chorus, @prettygoododds, @whatevertheweather, @angelsfalling16, @noblecorgi, @ic3-que3n, @bookish-bogwitch, @thewholelemon, @alexalexinii, @you-remind-me-of-the-babe,and @blackberrysummerblog for the tags over the last several weeks. 

On to the snippets!

From Saving Simon Snow: (slightly more than six sentences)

I don’t know what I expect when I look at him. Recriminations about my family? I’d deserve them. My father and aunt have been vicious and abusive towards my now-husband. I’ll never be done making that up to him. Or maybe he wants to actually talk about the events of the day? Yesterday, I mean, since the clock has clearly ticked over into a new day.

Whatever I expected, it wasn’t Simon’s blue eyes intensely boring into mine as he says, “Can I kiss you?”

From the Heart in the Well

“You–” I start, and my voice is a croak. I swallow, despite my horror at the liquid still laying on my tongue. I try again. “How could you?”

Simon looks apologetic, but his chin is jutting up nonetheless. “Baz, you needed it—” he begins. 

“You’ve made me into a monster!” I cry. 

From Snow Fox–nothing new this week. I'm researching my next chapter at the moment.

From TikTok Dancer: 

Normally, by now I’d be giving coy glances to my chosen partner of the night. I like to have made my choice at least an hour before we quit for the day, so I can make my interest known. It’s a bit of a dance in itself, this small courtship. 

Tonight, unless I find the courage to approach Baz again—why do I even remember his name? Most of the time I forget their names minutes after they say them—I’ll be going to bed without any release. Because nobody in the crowd has drawn my eyes today, despite several pretty people making eyes at me. 

I’ve only got eyes for Baz.

I don’t understand this.

From Stars, Flowers, and Children,

One of the tools we rescued from the ship before it sank was a hand axe, and it’s honestly been worth it’s weight in gold. Half the building I’ve done in the last few years would have been impossible without it. I don’t need Davy’s voice in my head growling, “you break those tools, boy, I’ll break you.” I’m constantly aware of the fragility of the life we’ve built here. If I break an axe…no more building out of wood. If the island suffers a dry year, no fruit on our plates. If one of us gets sick…no doctors

From Cupid’s Shield:

My aunt Fiona loves recounting the time he showed up at Watford’s Valentine ball when she was a fourth year. She wasn’t old enough to attend, but she’d snuck into a secret passage that passed the ballroom to spy on her friends, who were fifteen because their birthday (they were twins apparently) was just before the deadline to attend. Reading between the lines, I think Fi was sweet on one of the pair and wanted to make sure he wasn’t making time with some other girl at the ball. 

According to my Aunt, Cupid just materialized in midair beneath the great chandelier, and, with a wicked grin, began shooting incorporeal arrows at every mage in sight. Fiona took great pleasure in recounting just who was compelled into snogging their sworn enemies or the girlfriends/ boyfriends of their best friends. Apparently the event was a source of endless drama over the next several months, and my aunt lives for that shit. 

Of course, my aunts’ maybe-boyfriend escaped unscathed, or I think she wouldn’t have found the whole thing so amusing.

From my COBB project:

“Director,” I say, “It’s good to see you.”

“And it’s wonderful to see you, my boy. In fact, your return just at this time could not have been more fortuitous.”

I know all too well what that means. My heart sinks into my shoes. I just got back…I haven’t even unpacked yet…

“Sir?” I question, directing every fibre of my being towards hoping the director is not about to say what I think he’s about to say. Of course, I’m not that lucky.

“We have a situation, Simon,” he says, letting his face fall into graver lines. 

Tagging: @chen-chen-chen-again-chen, @bazzybelle, @dragoneggos, @erzbethluna, @palimpsessed, @frjsti, @fatalfangirl, @letraspal, @martsonmars, @melodysmash, @moments-au-crayon22, @moodandmist, @mostlymaudlin, @onepintobean, @raenestee, @tea-brigade, @thehoneyedhufflepuff, @upuntil6am, @whogaveyoupermission, @messofthejess, @carryonsimoncarryonbaz, @krisrix, @shemakesmeforget, @larkral, @confused-bi-queer, @rimeswithpurple, and @mooncello, @theearlgreymage, @j-nipper-95, @facewithoutheart, @best--dress, @nightimedreamersghost

[fireangelsstuff]

Dear Christopher,

I honestly think it's time you pull a Rick Moranis and retire, and I honestly don't say that out of spite

Regardless of what it was that you were attempting to do in order to sabotage this PR situation I'm afraid the toll has been taken on your career and reputation

My reasons for that are as follows, although they are not things you are probably unaware of at this point

Firstly despite what some may protest your fandom is in fact heavily toxic. I've been trolled and harassed every single day since my arrival for nearly two years, and while I feel for certain ones there are many who simply don't deserve to have content given the way they treat newcomers or anyone who disagrees with them

Secondly, I honestly think you'll be better off personally if you leave Hollywood. I can imagine the type of person that your "fame" or whatever manages to attract in your personal life, you might actually have a chance at finding someone who just wants you for you instead of the "perks", attention, and useful "exposure" it brings with it

I think the effect Hollywood has had on how you experience the world as a result has honestly caused the development of undesirable character flaws in you and the way you approach the world, the people in it, and how you treat them. I think there is a very genuine validity to the "Peter pan" syndrome theory but I also see a very manipulative streak and a desire for control, perhaps this is part of what causes your anxiety I don't know

Fourth, while you may have been upset at the trolling tactics that were taken by her side to get her into this the fact remains that she was invited quite willingly into your circle long before anything was made public, and only after the backlash did any of you make any genuine complaints about it, which given the invalidity of the photo drops makes me wonder how much else of it was also a set up, such as your mother liking a comment and waiting for the fandom to screenrecord it for you before removing the like, much like was done on a Happy Birthday message to her on one of your fan accounts that was in my private group on LSA, so I know for a fact that you had someone in there spying on them because after it was noticed and recorded by them, it too was removed

Your fans should not be used as tools for you to manipulate, nor are they your footsoldiers you get to hide behind while taking their money

The teacher was just the trial run for what was done to me, given the members of that group matches the members that were in my private group and the tactics you have used against Alba as well as your mother's like on the birthday message from one of the members of that group I can only conclude that you were in fact the ones to harass her on the LSA threads and tried to set me up for it, I will eventually publish the PDF of that thread for everyone to read as her testimony proves that you went to Portugal at the time of filming the winners video as apart from the Tiktokers video it's the only other thing I have not republished

The way you did it matters. You still actively chose to publicly treat a woman much younger than you, and with less power than you in a despicable way. I'm not going to diminish her or her friends behaviour but given the manner in which you chose to humiliate someone intentionally when you didn't get your way shows an ability and willingness to use the power you do hold in an ill manner and will leave everyone wondering how it is that you really treat women behind closed doors. I would think that at your age you would behave less like an attention seeking troll but it would seem the quality of the company you have kept for so many years is a valid reflection of your personal character

Your Publicist team is inept and is no longer trusted by anyone in the fandom and I'm honestly not sure if anyone would actually want you after this A scandal that entails a fake marriage to a person who is friends with Nazis and you've taken the money to keep going along with it and never have to say anything, none of this should have happened. Honestly, your fandom had warned me of the performative activism, I had hoped it was not true but I'm not so sure that can't be held as an invalid opinion. Without the real truth being revealed I don't believe you will ever actually recover what you had given what they've been put through and you've used them as a shield

Your role choices are waning and simply put you don't have the talent that others your age do to possibly continue once your looks start to fade or you are unable to afford to upkeep them and this most recent situation with the loss of support may make it even harder to obtain new ones

It might be a pretty decent revenge on the people responsible for letting this situation happen

I'm honestly not sure you are worthy of the fans anyway

[stupidstrawberrystars]

i wrote another thing. This is;

Wolfstar, Tiktok AU, Part 3 ❤️

(This is like 2.5k words)

Read Part One and Two here :)

Look- look, just listen okay. It was an accident. A total accident. He didn’t mean to start running a Sirius Black fan account… Remus just sorta fucked up…

You see, he got instagram and tiktok and all that shit for Sirius. Wait no that sounds worse. For Sirius and James. One of them (read: Sirius) had brought up that they had some homophobic assholes in their comments section, and then Pete happened to mention that he’d been reporting and removing all the ones he saw… so naturally, like the good friend he is, Remus asked Pete to help him set up some accounts on different platforms so he could go through comments and remove the horrible ones. 

See! See, it all started with the best of intentions.

But then, as most things do with social media, it spiralled.

One video of Sirius’ “heart eyes” at Remus (he got fucking hopeful okay, can you blame him?) and he just naturally liked the video.

Then another.

Then another. 

And quickly his likes was simply a list of fan edits of Sirius, videos Sirius made himself doing a “thirst trap”, and fan edits of… well… “Wolfstar”. 

That’s how it started anyway. Until, one day, when they’d been tiktok semi- famous around 4 months, he happened to start fiddling with the editing tool in tiktok. Remus’ only connection with technology was editing apps for his school work after all. And one thing led to another… and two hours later he’d made many edits of Sirius (some of which included him). 

Anyway, now he has 2000 followers and counting. And he’s making weekly edits of Sirius fucking Black. His best friend. Are you seeing the lunacy? Cause Remus certainly is.

Oh and in case you’re wondering… NO. He hasn’t told Lily. He hasn’t even told Pete. Even though he’s a great secret keeper. Pete knows he has social media, but not the chaos he’s accidentally caused with it. 

Why did Peter let him do this? 

So now, 7 months in and “Padfoot and Prongs” both at about 200k followers, when James approaches Remus with a fun tiktok idea for the two of them, Remus immediately knows it’s a trap.

Being on tiktok means running into tiktok trends sometimes. One of which he stumbled across was the “call your partner by their first name” prank. It’s for couples who often use petnames, so the joke is… to make your partner worry that you’re upset with them? 

Remus is joking, mostly. Assuming you’ve got a functional and understanding relationship, the videos are often easy jokes (and mostly staged). 

But not only was this not going to be staged (presumably cause they prank each other all the time so it’s alright? Even though Sirius has insecurities about upsetting the people he loves without realises it) but it’s clearly a trick against Remus too.

Remus isn’t supposed to know it’s a couple prank, so he was supposed to just do it, ask no questions, and then boom. James can feed right into the “Wolfstar” jokes. (Technically, Remus’ mini fan account is also playing into the “Wolfstar” jokes… but that’s neither here nor there).

So that’s what he is supposed to do. And pondering it now, he knows that’s what he has to do. Or else James will realise he knows it’s a couple prank, realise he has social media and eventually kindly bully Remus into revealing all his secrets. 

Fucking observant dickhead. 

So here Remus is, about to walk into Sirius’ flat, with James already recording (ie, he put his tripod behind their massive house plant and now he’s standing in the corner of the kitchen, pretending he’s not spying). 

He opens the door with his key as he usually does and calls out to Sirius in his best, i’m totally not about to hurt your feelings, voice.

He’s told Prongs earlier that he doubted Sirius would even notice. But he’s not sure, since Remus would definitely notice if Sirius stopped using his nickname. However he’s worried if Sirius does notice, that it’s going to really upset him. 

“I’m here and ready to go Sirius.” Even when he’s mad he never uses his name. He hadn’t even really realised until now? It’s odd. Hopefully (for James) Sirius will notice before they have to leave for their film. But usually he takes at least five minutes before actually being ready to leave anyway. They used to be so late, until Remus started meeting Sirius at earlier times so they wouldn’t be.

“Oh one minute.” 

Sirius and James are annoyingly rich.

Remus needs to mention that before the next thing he says. 

Sirius runs down the stairs. 

Yep. The stairs in their flat… getting the annoyingly rich part now?

From the door of their flat there’s a big living room, with a kitchen in the back, a bathroom to the left of it and Sirius’ bedroom to the right. Up the stairs (yes… stairs!) in the corner is James’ room and their second bathroom. 

Remus’ can’t wrap his own head around it honestly. But the point he’s trying to make is that Sirius was in the upstairs bathroom (it’s pretty big, so usually both him and James use it and they leave the small one for guests) and now he’s coming down the stairs. 

Except he’s not cause he’s still doing his hair… presumably.

“Hurry up Pa- Sirius!” Well, it only took two sentences for him to forget and try to use his nickname. 

“Coming.” 

Sirius always loves coming down the stairs dramatically, and Remus always makes fun of him (in a sweet way), but honestly… Sirius is gonna fucking kill him one day. 

He’s in bloody ripped jeans and a crop top. And of course his leather jacket.

Oh and a fucking choker? No wait- a collar?

Oh god Remus is so fucked. 

“I’m ready.” And yet of fucking course he looks ten times hotter smiling. It’s bloody unfair that whenever Sirius’ smile, it makes Remus smile too.

He’s tested it. It never fails. It’s very irritating. You know, in that way everything magical about the love of your life is always irritating. Sirius Black has too much control over him (but that’s okay, Remus kind of likes it this way- not that he’d ever admit that). 

“You’re not wearing shoes Sirius, you’re not quite ready.” Remus is so busy being impressed by the fact that he’s so dramatically dressed just to watch a film, in the pitch black, he almost misses as Sirius turns around, freezes for a moment, and stares at Remus.

It’s so quick, and then he’s back to normal, grabbing his boots and sitting on a nearby chair to shove them on.

“Yeah… Hey, how were your classes yesterday, Moony?” 

Oh- he’s noticed. He also seems to be really struggling to get his shoe on. Thought he’s not exactly looking at it, eyes focused solely on Remus, and to be fair, that boot had a lot of buckles and zips.

“It was fine Sirius. Glad it’s the weekend.” Remus looks down to the floor. He’s a good liar but… not to Sirius.

“Moony?” Sirius has abandoned his boots by the chair and is up by Remus in a second. “What’s… wrong?” 

Remus can literally see Sirius’ brain spinning, trying to stop himself from jumping to conclusions and getting upset and this… is fucking stupid. Why the hell did he ever agree? 

Remus locks eyes with James, who’s stood in the kitchen pretending to totally ignore the situation, and shoots him a look. He gets a look back. “One more time”. Fucking idiot doesn’t see it the same way Remus does. 

“Nothing wrong Sirius I promise, I just don’t want to be late and-“ Remus doesn’t finish because Sirius’ face turns ice cold and he turns 180 away from Remus and back to his chair completely silently. 

He stands above the chair for a moment before turning back round to face Remus. 

“What the hell Moony? Did I upset you or something? Why are you being passive aggressive? How’d you like it if I call you Remus all day?” Any version of Remus’ name or nicknames sound amazing coming from Sirius. But that’s probably not the right answer. Fucking James (this is equally your fault Remus, you agreed).

“Pads I-“ 

“Oh so it’s Pads now?”

“No I was just-“

“So it’s not Pads then? Are we not doing nicknames anymore Remus?”

Sirius is close to Remus now, very close. 

“No, I mean yes, I mean I was just-“

“I don’t really care. You just, what? Thought it’d be funny? You want me to stop calling you Moons, or Moony? I’ll never say it again if you ask me too. How about sweetheart, and love and all the cute sappy ones you use? Are we scrapping those too? Cause the way I see it, we were going to a nice movie. And I got fucking dressed Remus. It’s winter and i knew i’d be cold but i’m wearing this anyway. And you’re mad at me and I don’t know what I did so maybe I should just leave and you can hate me as you should cause I probably did something awful and now i’m yelling at you even though-“ Remus places his hand over Sirius’ mouth. He can’t bare to hear anymore. Remus has fucked up.

They’re close enough now that Remus wraps his hands around Sirius waist to keep him close and gently tries to explain.

“I’m so sorry Pads. It was a stupid prank. I wasn’t even sure you’d notice. I am not mad at you I promise. Hell, I had a really difficult week at school and the only reason I wasn’t crying this morning was because I knew i’d get to see you, and spend time with you. And I fucked up. I’m so, so sorry.”

Remus knows some people won’t get it. Hell, he’s reported and deleted plenty of comments that say Sirius “overreacts”. 

But Remus knows Sirius’ parents used to do a complete 180. Happy one moment and writhing with anger the next. He knows that they never hugged him, it’s why Remus always tries to be touching Sirius, it grounds him (it also helps that Remus is totally in love with him of course). 

He knows Sirius “overreacts” because it’s safer than having someone randomly hurt you. And that’s fair. And Remus is kicking himself for ever agreeing to a prank that could trigger that feeling again for Sirius. 

Because at the end of the day, Sirius is terrified that one day Remus will announce he’s had enough of him and leave. And he’s worried he’s angering Remus all the time, even though he could never. And Remus just fed into that worry.

It is absolutely insane to Remus that Sirius thinks he’d ever leave him. Sirius is literally the brightest person he’s ever met. There is not a single place Sirius could go that Remus would not follow. There is no way that Remus will ever be anything but head over heels in love and completely smitten with Sirius Black for the rest of his fucking life. 

“Promise you’re not mad at me Moons?”

It’s whispered so quiet he barely hears.

“I promise Pads.”

Sirius eyes turn a little colder then.

“Then what the fuck? Shitty prank Moony.” Sirius jokingly shoves Remus off but he’s already stepped back to give him space to be pissed off.

“You’re an idiot.” He announces, marching back over to his chair to shove his boots on. 

“Yeah, you’re gonna think i’m more of an idiot in a sec.” He still has to tell Sirius this is being recorded. They obviously won’t post it without Sirius’ permission, but he does like to be honest on the internet (he mentioned he’s been considering creating a video about his past- his old “family”), so Remus isn’t sure what’ll happen.

“I doubt that’s possible.” Sirius is sat with his arms crossed in the chair.

“Are you- going to do your boots? Cause we really are going to miss the film at this rate.” Even with Remus’ planning ahead.

“You are sorry for being an arsehole right?” Sirius smirks. Remus feels himself shiver all over. 

“Yeah of course Pads.” The words come from the back of his throat and he’s barely even aware he said them. He’s trapped in Sirius’ eyes.

“Then prove it.”

“I-“ What? “What?”

“Prove it.” Huh? “Put my boots on. Me. I can’t be bothered.” 

Remus still hasn’t looked away from Sirius’ eyes yet. But- 

Wait hang on. What? Put his… boots on? 

Oh fuck. 

Remus drags his eyes away from Sirius’ and down to his shoes. 

Fucking Sirius with his heart-wrenchingly beautiful eyes and stupidly attractive body and that fucking collar and oh god how has he lived this long in the presence of a literal god. 

Remus doesn’t even question it any further.

(He definitely hears James choke a little in the background). 

And now he’s on his knees in front of Sirius. This is… something. All of a sudden he finds his mouth is completely dry. 

Well at least he has a distraction.

Remus grabs Sirius’ first boot. He’s watched Sirius enough to know exactly how to do it. 

He’s gentle as he takes Sirius’ foot and puts it into his shoe. It’s slightly weird being on his knees in front of Sirius… but then again he’s combating the desire to fall to his knees for Sirius literally everyday. So all in all, not too bad.

Remus does the second boot, hopefully correctly (it has a lot of buckles okay?) and looks up at Sirius, making eye contact for the first time since he shamelessly got on his knees, and Sirius looks, well like he’s enjoying this a lot. 

But just as Remus goes to get up, he feels Sirius stroking his hair, ever so gently, but it still stops Remus from moving.

“I figured it out.” He still hasn’t looked away from Sirius’ eyes. He’s whispering now.

“It’s a tiktok… isn’t it?” Remus slightly nods, barely remembering he’s on video. There’ll be edits his fellow editors make of this for sure. He can’t stop the flush he feels rise up his neck until his cheeks are burning.

“I noticed after you apologised. It was a bizarre prank for you, not your usual style. But it was the style of a tiktok prank. Plus James is over there, trying not to obsessively watch us. He totally planned this.”

“A genius as always Pads.” His voice comes out all scratchy and weird since his mouth is so dry.

“Mmmn. Of course I am. So I want one last apology for caving to social media pressure and being mean to me, right here while you’re on your knees for me.” 

Sirius Black is the devil. 

“I’m sorry Sirius.”

He raises his eyebrow.

“Alright, I was tryna be sincere. I’m sorry Padfoot. I won’t cave to social media in your expense again.”

He smirks and the hand in his hair pauses and tightens. It causes Remus to tense up (feeling a little bit too real now).

“Hey, are you okay, I can-“ Sirius goes to remove his hands and Remus acts on instinct.

“No- No, no no, it’s, erm, it’s fine. Really. I don’t- erm- mind. Totally. Whatever.”

Sirius sits back on his chair with a smirk and yet even though Remus embarrassed himself to try and keep Sirius’ hand stroking his hair, he removes it anyway.

What is happening?

“Okay love, well this has been fun but we’re going to miss our movie and you’re totally slowing us down, so-“ Sirius grabs Remus’ arm and practically pulls him to his feet, leaving Remus stumbling just behind Sirius. “Let’s go.”

He looks fucking pleased with himself.

As he should. 

Remus sort of… maybe… possible… vaguely… makes multiple tiktok edits of Sirius in that fucking chair. 

He also got into a feud in the comments over Sirius’ “overreaction” that ended with Remus spamming the owner of the accounts messages with the only meme he knows. It’s some cat one. 

It works though. That account did not come back.

Thanks for reading 🥰 Back to Sirius POV next time :)

Also, to clarify for anyone who’s read Part One and Two, I’ve decided on some dates.

They caught the pigeon and went sorta viral in May. Then they grow their tiktok and Remus vaguely appears a little until their stream in September, about 5 months in, where Remus quotes RWRB and reveals he’s in love with Sirius to everyone with eyes (Thats Wolfstar AU Part One) and then two months later is Sirius’ bday in November with the adorable gifts and jumper stealing (that’s Part Two).

And now it’s the very start of December. And turns out this whole time Remus has had a small fan account!!! (How many followers does his account need before he appears on Sirius’ radar? Cause let’s be honest, Sirius and James totally watch all those fan edits) 

Also if 200k is unrealistic either way (too high or too low) for Prongsfoot’s tiktok, and 2000 is too low (or high) for Remus’ little edits, tell me please. I don’t actually have tiktok so i’m sort of improvising here.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

We should ban TikTok('s surveillance)

With the RESTRICT Act, Congress is proposing to continue Trump’s war on Tiktok, enacting a US ban on the Chinese-owned service. How will they do this? Congress isn’t clear. In practice, banning stuff on the internet is hard, especially if you don’t have a national firewall:

https://doctorow.medium.com/theyre-still-trying-to-ban-cryptography-33aa668dc602

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/30/tik-tok-tow/#good-politics-for-electoral-victories

My guess is that they’re thinking of ordering the mobile duopoly of Google and Apple to nuke the Tiktok app from their app stores. That’s how they do it in China, after all: when China wanted to ban VPNs and other privacy tools, they just ordered Apple to remove them from the App Store, and Apple rolled over:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/11/foreseeable-consequences/#airdropped

That’s the completely foreseeable consequence of arrogating the power to decide which software every mobile user on earth is entitled to use — as Google and Apple have done. Once you put that gun on the mantelpiece in Act I, you damn betcha that some strong-man backed by a powerful state is going to come along and shoot it by Act III.

The same goes for commercial surveillance: once you collect massive, nonconsensual dossiers on every technology user alive, you don’t get to act surprised when cops and spies show up and order your company to serve as deputies for a massive, off-the-books warrantless surveillance project.

Hell, a cynic might even say that commercial surveillance companies are betting on this. The surveillance public-private partnership is a vicious cycle: corporations let cops and spies plunder our data; then the cops and spies lobby against privacy laws that would prevent these corporations from spying on us:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/25/nationalize-moderna/#hun-sen

Which makes the RESTRICT Act an especially foolish project. If the Chinese state wants to procure data on Americans, it need not convince us to install Tiktok. It can simply plunk down a credit card with any of the many unregulated data-brokers who feed the American tech giants the dossiers that the NSA and local cops rely on.

Every American tech giant is at least as bad for privacy as Tiktok is — yes, even Apple. Sure, Apple lets its users block Facebook spying with a single tap — but even if you opt out of “tracking,” Apple still secretly gathers exactly the same kinds of data as Facebook, and uses it to power its own ad product:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

There is no such thing as a privacy-respecting tech giant. Long before Apple plastered our cities with lying billboards proclaiming its reverence for privacy, Microsoft positioned itself as the non-spying alternative to Google, which would be great, except Microsoft spies on hundreds of millions of people and sells the data:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/11/25/the-peoples-amazon/#clippys-revenge

Tech’s surveillance addiction means that Tiktok’s own alternative to the RESTRICT Act is also unbelievably stupid. The company has proposed to put itself under Oracle’s supervision, letting Oracle host its data and audit its code. You know, Oracle, the company that built the Great Firewall of China 1.0:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/01/selling-china-surveillance

We should not trust Tiktok any more than we trust Apple, Facebook, Google or Microsoft. Tiktok lied about whether it was sending data to China before:

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emilybakerwhite/tiktok-tapes-us-user-data-china-bytedance-access

And even if it keeps its promise not to send user data to China, that promise is meaningless — it can still send the vectors and models it creates with that data to China — these being far more useful for things like disinformation campaigns and population-scale inferences than the mere logs from your Tiktok sessions.

There are so many potentially harmful ways to process commercial surveillance data that trying to enumerate all the things that a corporation is allowed to do with the data it extracts from us is a fool’s errand. Instead, we should ban companies from spying on us, whether they are Chinese or American.

Corporations are remorseless, paperclip-maximizing colony organisms that perceive us as inconvenient gut-flora, and they lack any executive function (as do their “executives”), and they cannot self-regulate. To keep corporations from harming us, we must make it illegal for them to enact harm, and punish them when they break the law:

https://doctorow.medium.com/small-government-fd5870a9462e

After all, the problem with Tiktok isn’t the delightful videos or the fact that it’s teaching a generation of children to be expert sound- and video-editors. The problem with Tiktok is that it spies on us. Just like the problem with Facebook isn’t that it lets us communicate with our friends, and the problem with Google isn’t that it operates a search engine.

Now, these companies will tell you that the two can’t be separated, that a bearded prophet came down off a mountain with two stone tablets, intoning, “Larry, Sergey, thou shalt stop rotating thine logfiles and, lo, thou wilt data-mine them for actionable market intelligence.” But it’s nonsense. Google ran for years without surveillance. Facebook billed itself as the privacy-forward alternative to Myspace and promised never to spy on us:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3247362

The inevitabilist narrative that says that corporations must violate our rights in order to make the products we love is unadulterated Mr Gotcha nonsense: “Yet you participate in society. Curious. I am very intelligent”:

https://thenib.com/mister-gotcha/

Of course, corporations push this narrative all the time, which is why American Big Tech has been quietly supporting a ban on Tiktok, which (coincidentally) has managed to gain a foothold in the otherwise impregnable, decaying, enshittified oligarchy that US companies have created.

They have conspicuously failed to call for any kind of working solution, like a federal privacy law that would ban commercial surveillance, and extend a “private right of action,” so people could sue tech giants and data-brokers who violated the law, without having to convince a regulator, DA or Attorney General to bestir themselves:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/01/you-should-have-right-sue-companies-violate-your-privacy

Instead, the tech giants have the incredible gall to characterize themselves as the defenders of our privacy — at least, so long as the Chinese government is the adversary, and so long as its privacy violations come via an app, and not buy handing a credit card to the data-brokers that are the soil bacteria that keeps Big Tech’s ecosystem circulating. In the upside-down land of Big Tech lobbying, privacy is a benefit of monopoly — not something we have to smash monopolies to attain:

https://www.eff.org/wp/interoperability-and-privacy

Not everyone in Congress is onboard with the RESTRICT Act. AOC has come out for a federal privacy law that applies to all companies, rather than a ban on an app that tens of millions of young Americans love:

https://www.businessinsider.com/aoc-first-tiktok-congress-ban-without-being-clued-in-2023-3

You know who agrees with AOC? Rand Paul. Yes, that absolute piece of shit. Paul told his caucusmates in the GOP that banning an app that millions of young American voters love is bad electoral politics. This fact is so obvious that even Rand fucking Paul can understand it:

https://gizmodo.com/rand-paul-opposes-tiktok-ban-warns-republicans-1850278167

Paul is absolutely right to call a Tiktok ban a “national strategy to permanently lose elections for a generation.” The Democrats should listen to him, because the GOP won’t. As between the two parties, the GOP is far more in thrall to the Chamber of Commerce and the rest of the business lobby. They are never going to back a policy that’s as good for the people and as bad for big business as a federal privacy law.

The Democrats have the opportunity to position themselves as “the party that wants to keep Tiktok but force it to stop being creepy, along with all the other tech companies,” while the GOP positions itself as “the party of angry technophobes who want to make sure that any fun you have is closely monitored by Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pinchai and Tim Cook and their pale imitations of the things you love about Tiktok.”

That’s not just good electoral politics — it’s good policy. Young voters aren’t going to turn out to the polls for performative Cold War 2.0 nonsense, but they will be pissed as hell at whoever takes away their Tiktok.

And if you do care about Cold War 2.0, then you should be banning surveillance, not Tiktok; the Chinese government has plenty of US dollars at its disposal to spend in America’s freewheeling, unregulated data markets — as do criminals, petty and organized, and every other nation-state adversary of the USA.

The RESTRICT Act is a garbage law straight out of the Clinton era, a kind of King Canute decree that goes so far as to potentially prohibit the use of VPNs to circumvent its provisions. America doesn’t need a Great Firewall to keep itself safe from tech spying — it needs a privacy law.

Have you ever wanted to say thank you for these posts? Here’s how you can: I’m kickstarting the audiobook for my next novel, a post-cyberpunk anti-finance finance thriller about Silicon Valley scams called Red Team Blues. Amazon’s Audible refuses to carry my audiobooks because they’re DRM free, but crowdfunding makes them possible.

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[Image ID: A modified vintage editorial cartoon. Uncle Sam peeks out over a 'frowning battlement' whose cannon-slots are filled with telescopes from which peer the red glaring eyes of HAL 9000 from '2001: A Space Odyssey.' Topping the battlements in a row are Uncle Sam and three business-suited figures with dollar-sign-bags for heads. The three dollar-bag men have corporate logos on their breasts: Facebook, Google, Apple. Standing on the strand below the battlements, peering up, is a forlorn figure with a Tiktok logo for a head. The fortress wall bears the words 'RESTRICT Act.']

[castaris]

also thoughts for fantasy a.u.:

there was an artist on tiktok who depicted nami as a spy for arlong who would steal data for his crime syndicate and then she ends up leaving on the same grounds as the original manga.

i thought this was a great idea? like making nami a rogue type character and maybe sprinkling some "magic is science" shenanigans. i would love to develop this more, and of course credit the original artist with the idea. i don't know if i'll go down the knight sort of the idea, but the "for hire" idea sounds fantastic. i'd want her to keep her clima tact as a weapon/honing tool, but she'd be like a really pretty girly girl covered in amazing clothes and armour only on arms and legs for protection, she wears no back amour for flexibility and fashion.

if anyone is interested, the art is by k.u.p.4 on tiktok! i'll post it under the cut if people want to see.

[emptyanddark]

what's actually wrong with 'AI'

it's become impossible to ignore the discourse around so-called 'AI'. but while the bulk of the discourse is saturated with nonsense such as, i wanted to pool some resources to get a good sense of what this technology actually is, its limitations and its broad consequences. 

what is 'AI'

the best essay to learn about what i mentioned above is On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? this essay cost two of its collaborators to be fired from Google. it frames what large-language models are, what they can and cannot do and the actual risks they entail: not some 'super-intelligence' that we keep hearing about but concrete dangers: from climate, the quality of the training data and biases - both from the training data and from us, the users. 

The problem with artificial intelligence? It’s neither artificial nor intelligent

How the machine ‘thinks’: Understanding opacity in machine learning algorithms

The Values Encoded in Machine Learning Research

Troubling Trends in Machine Learning Scholarship: Some ML papers suffer from flaws that could mislead the public and stymie future research

AI Now Institute 2023 Landscape report (discussions of the power imbalance in Big Tech)

ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web

Can we truly benefit from AI?

Inside the secret list of websites that make AI like ChatGPT sound smart

The Steep Cost of Capture

labor

'AI' champions the facade of non-human involvement. but the truth is that this is a myth that serves employers by underpaying the hidden workers, denying them labor rights and social benefits - as well as hyping-up their product. the effects on workers are not only economic but detrimental to their health - both mental and physical.

OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 Per Hour to Make ChatGPT Less Toxic

also from the Times: Inside Facebook's African Sweatshop

The platform as factory: Crowdwork and the hidden labour behind artificial intelligence

The humans behind Mechanical Turk’s artificial intelligence

The rise of 'pseudo-AI': how tech firms quietly use humans to do bots' work

The real aim of big tech's layoffs: bringing workers to heel

The Exploited Labor Behind Artificial Intelligence

workers surveillance

5 ways Amazon monitors its employees, from AI cameras to hiring a spy agency

Computer monitoring software is helping companies spy on their employees to measure their productivity – often without their consent

theft of art and content

Artists say AI image generators are copying their style to make thousands of new images — and it's completely out of their control  (what gives me most hope about regulators dealing with theft is Getty images' lawsuit - unfortunately individuals simply don't have the same power as the corporation)

Copyright won't solve creators' Generative AI problem

The real aim of big tech's layoffs: bringing workers to heel

The Exploited Labor Behind Artificial Intelligence

AI is already taking video game illustrators’ jobs in China

Microsoft lays off team that taught employees how to make AI tools responsibly/As the company accelerates its push into AI products, the ethics and society team is gone

150 African Workers for ChatGPT, TikTok and Facebook Vote to Unionize at Landmark Nairobi Meeting

Inside the AI Factory: the Humans that Make Tech Seem Human

Refugees help power machine learning advances at Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon

Amazon’s AI Cameras Are Punishing Drivers for Mistakes They Didn’t Make

China’s AI boom depends on an army of exploited student interns

political, social, ethical consequences

Afraid of AI? The startups selling it want you to be

An Indigenous Perspective on Generative AI

“Computers enable fantasies” – On the continued relevance of Weizenbaum’s warnings

‘Utopia for Whom?’: Timnit Gebru on the dangers of Artificial General Intelligence

Machine Bias

HUMAN_FALLBACK

AI Ethics Are in Danger. Funding Independent Research Could Help

AI Is Tearing Wikipedia Apart  

AI machines aren’t ‘hallucinating’. But their makers are

The Great A.I. Hallucination (podcast)

“Sorry in Advance!” Rapid Rush to Deploy Generative A.I. Risks a Wide Array of Automated Harms

The promise and peril of generative AI

ChatGPT Users Report Being Able to See Random People's Chat Histories

Benedetta Brevini on the AI sublime bubble – and how to pop it   

Eating Disorder Helpline Disables Chatbot for 'Harmful' Responses After Firing Human Staff

AI moderation is no match for hate speech in Ethiopian languages

Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and other tech companies are in a 'frenzy' to help ICE build its own data-mining tool for targeting unauthorized workers

Crime Prediction Software Promised to Be Free of Biases. New Data Shows It Perpetuates Them

The EU AI Act is full of Significance for Insurers

Proxy Discrimination in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data

Welfare surveillance system violates human rights, Dutch court rules

Federal use of A.I. in visa applications could breach human rights, report says

Open (For Business): Big Tech, Concentrated Power, and the Political Economy of Open AI

Generative AI Is Making Companies Even More Thirsty for Your Data

environment

The Generative AI Race Has a Dirty Secret

Black boxes, not green: Mythologizing artificial intelligence and omitting the environment

Energy and Policy Considerations for Deep Learning in NLP

AINOW: Climate Justice & Labor Rights

militarism

The Growing Global Spyware Industry Must Be Reined In

AI: the key battleground for Cold War 2.0?

‘Machines set loose to slaughter’: the dangerous rise of military AI

AI: The New Frontier of the EU's Border Extranalisation Strategy

The A.I. Surveillance Tool DHS Uses to Detect ‘Sentiment and Emotion’

organizations

AI now

DAIR

podcast episodes

Pretty Heady Stuff: Dru Oja Jay & James Steinhoff guide us through the hype & hysteria around AI

Tech Won't Save Us: Why We Must Resist AI w/ Dan McQuillan, Why AI is a Threat to Artists w/ Molly Crabapple, ChatGPT is Not Intelligent w/ Emily M. Bender

SRSLY WRONG: Artificial Intelligence part 1, part 2

The Dig: AI Hype Machine w/ Meredith Whittaker, Ed Ongweso, and Sarah West

This Machine Kills: The Triforce of Corporate Power in AI w/ ft. Sarah Myers West

[bigfan-fanfic]

Superdad does like to mess with people sometimes, he made a tiktok poking fun at the conspiracy theory that people think pigeons are actually robots. It shows him in a room with tools, blueprints, and a whiteboard in the background that says "Pigeon Spy Plans", while he's fixing a robotic one he built for the purpose of the tiktok.

Villain Superdad definitely filmed tiktoks with the celebs he took hostage.

[goodsfox]

5 different ways to promote a product

Promoting a product is an essential task for any business, whether it is a newly launched product or an established product that has already had some market share. Besides increasing brand awareness, attracting potential customers and boosting sales, advertising also can build brand loyalty, and even beat out competitors. But how to promote a product effectively? Here are 10 ways that can help reach your target audience and convince them to buy your product.

Source: anythingprint.co.uk

01 Leverage social media posts

Social media is not only a powerful and free way to promote your product online, but also a great place to showcase other promotions, such as discounts and giveaways. You can use your company’s social media accounts to share fun and relevant information about your product with target audience. Live streaming, commenting on other people’s posts, or joining groups and forums related to your product niche are also helpful for promoting a product.

Remember, most people are not fond of watching ads on social media. Instead of directly advertising, try posting interesting, valuable, or entertaining content that will increase product recognition. Interacting with people who comment on your posts and ask you questions about your product will make you more inviting and playful. The more engagement you get, the more likely you will see growth.

Source: Getty Images

02 Spy on your competitors’ ads

Goodsfox is a great way to monitor and analyze competitors’ ads, which allows you to find out their advertising strategies, performance, and trends. It covers 28 regions, 19 mainstream media , and 23 categories of global e-commerce ads. You can search for more than 12 million TikTok hot-selling products, 189,317 TikTok ad volume, 27,327 independent store data, and 2,251,219 independent store ad volume.

Goodsfox is also a platform to find ads inspiration. By using Goodsfox, you are enable to discover what kinds of ads are attractive and suitable for your products. Use your competitors’ ads as ads inspiration and think of how you can differentiate yourself from them and offer something better or different. Then it will greatly help you grow e-commerce business.

Source: Goodsfox

03 Write a blog post

A blog post is a way to provide more in-depth information about your product and its benefits. You can write a blog post that showcases how your product works, how it solves a problem or how it compares to other products. It is also feasible to include Testimonials, reviews, or case studies from satisfied customers who have used your product in your blog post.

A blog post is helpful for ranking higher on search engines, as long as you use relevant keywords and optimize your content for SEO (search engine optimization). This way, more people who are searching for solutions related to your product can find your website and learn about your product.

Source: APA Style Blog

04 Run a contest

Generating excitement and buzzing about your product are achievable by a contest. You can offer your product as a prize for people who enter by following certain rules, such as liking and sharing your post, tagging their friends, leaving a comment, or answering a question. By running a contest, it’s also possible for you to increase your social media followers, email subscribers, website traffic, or brand awareness.

Source: Path Digital Solutions

05 Collaborate with influencers

Collaborating with influencers can help you reach a wider and more engaged audience, boost your brand awareness and sales, and generate valuable user-generated content for your product.

To collaborate with influencers, you need to find the ones who are relevant to your niche, have a high engagement rate, and can share your brand values. Using an influencer discovery tool like Modash to filter the database of 300M+ creators can be effective to do that.

When collaborating with influencers, make sure you set clear goals and KPI with them. It is also important to track and measure the results of your campaign so as to ensure the effectiveness of the collaboration.

Source: CommBox

06 Conclusion

Advertising a product is a crucial step for any business that wants to grow and succeed. By using these five ways, you can create a comprehensive and creative advertising strategy that will showcase your product’s value, attract potential customers, and increase your sales. Remember to always keep your target audience in mind, test and measure the results of your advertising campaigns. With the right tools and methods, you can advertise your product like a pro.

[papirouge]

Honestly, this year made social media unbearable to me. I had to cut most friends from my life and stop supporting many of my favorite franchises... not even children cartoons are safe anymore... the way society is right now haunts me, no value for life at all, and the messages being pushed in shows are terrible.

Not you telling me that when my marketing teacher has been telling me to open a Tiktok account to drag engagement for my brand for weeks now😭

I totally agree with what you're saying, but tbh, we should learn to make a distinction between the medium vs the media. Pretty much every social medias has negative effects on our cognitive abilities + social conditing but....ngl I met one of the best contet on those places as well. I'm grateful youtube made me connect with Christians from all around the world, pinterest & instagram are wonderful tools ton get inspirations. The issue is to use them wiseful. Maybe you're young but decades ago, we used to say the same about TV, we just forgot about it bc not that many people watch TV anymore (beside boomers).

I've been saying for years now that TV shows and movies were trash anyway so if you've been following for a while, you should know what I think of this.

I'm on the fence on TikTok tho bc -unpopular opinion- I don't think this social media is worse than any other. Again, the internet has a VERY short attention span but I vividly remember 5-8 years ago during its peak, discourse raging about how Instagram was breeding a whole generation of narcissists/voyeurism/FOMO, etc. Twitter got the same treatment as well (killing real journalism, misinformation, etc.) And now it's Tiktoks turn. Most important is learning to make something good out of it bc Tiktok isn't going anywhere. All this fearmongering about how Tiktok is that evil Chinese app spying on us and conspirating to make Western youth dumber is ridiculously hypocrite bc good ol'Western apps have been doing that for decade already. Every app is virtually dazing, period.

Life is hard enough, anon. Focus on being what's right and use the short span you have left on this Earth to do something purposeful. Looking around only to become more anxious and frustrated will only harm you. Being self centered has some benefits lol

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[phoneclone]

Best Social Media Hack for Parental Control

Due to the fact that children are able to easily access social networks in the contemporary society, it has never been as crucial to control what they can see. In this case, parents should be aware of the activities that their children are participating in on the internet so that they can protect them. One of the best ways that can be used to ensure that the social media usage is tracked and monitored is by using the best Social media hack service. The following article will help the reader to understand why Parental control in Social media hacking is important and will provide a step by step guide on how to do it effectively.

Parental Control for Social Media Hacking

Due to increased usage of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, it is important that parents should set certain control measures. As a parent, it is crucial that you monitor your child’s social media usage to ensure they are shielded from negative vices that include harassment, obscene content, and predators. However, it can also help you see what your children are interested in, how they behave, and what dangers may be lurking for them.

So, which Social media hacking app do you think is the best for parental control?

The best Social media hacking app for parental control is that app which has all the spying options, live monitoring of activities, filtering option of contents, and location tracking option. Thus, if parents compare the leading applications that are available in the market, they will be able to determine the application that would best suit their needs. Always, the safety of your child is paramount and this is why you need to ensure that you get the best Social media hacking app.

Social Media Hacking Tools

A social media hacking tool is a specialized software application that enables an organization to monitor the interaction of their brand or product on the social media for hackers sites. This tool work by first acquiring information from the social media channels then analyzing metrics like engagement, followers, and content posts. Through this the tool is able to analyses trends, sentiment analysis and competitors’ activities in order to provide data analysis recommendations for the best strategies to use in the social media platforms. Therefore, the role of the social media tracking tool can be defined as a valuable tool that can help businesses to improve their online reputation and strategies, as well as make proper decisions in the area of internet marketing.

Social media hackers

Social media hackers are software applications that are developed to spy on users’ activities on social media sites. These tools enable parents to have access to their child’s messages, posts, comments, and even interactions online. Through the use of social media hackers, the parent can be able to get all the updates on the child’s social media accounts and in the process identify any abnormal behavior.

Best Social Media Hacking Apps

In this case, to determine the best Social network hacking app, the following factors should be considered especially in the area of monitoring and reporting. The following are some of the basic features that one should look for in a software: Real Time Activity Tracking; Content Filtering; Geolocation Tracking; Alert Notifications. In this way, parents can understand which of the best Social media hacking apps available is more effective and therefore select the desired application. Contact for the best social media hack service.

Cloned Account Detection on Facebook

The term cloning in Facebook refers to the act of creating fake accounts which imitates other existing user’s profiles without their permission. These accounts can be misused to deceive the people around them or for the purpose of cheating others or harassing them. In order to identify cloned Facebook accounts, parents should keep an eye on the activities of their children and look for such things as duplicate friend requests, messages from strangers, or posts that do not seem to be from their friends. In turn, by reporting and blocking cloned accounts, parents will be able to prevent potential security threats and violations of their child’s privacy.

Tracking Activity on Any Social Network

It can therefore be difficult for parents to monitor social media usage across the different platforms. Nonetheless, with the appropriate resources and strategies, monitoring your child’s online activities can be less complicated. There are numerous applications that enable parents to monitor activities on different social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and YouTube. Thus, it is possible to say that these tools can help parents understand child’s activity and take proper actions to protect the child from possible threats in this sphere.

The Role of Hackers in Social Media

Trackers are also very effective for parenting control in hackers and social media as they enable tracking and reporting in real time. Such tools help parents to monitor the child’s activities, control the time spent on the Internet, and prevent access to improper content. Thus, parents can successfully control the balance of privacy and safety on SNS and teach their children to behaveresponsibly online through the use of trackers.

For More Info: Monitor Your Kid’s Online Activity When You Are In The Office

Balancing Privacy and Safety on Social Media for Trackers

Maintaining privacy while implementing Social media hacking for parental control is essential for building trust and transparency with your child. Parents should communicate openly with their children about the reasons for monitoring their online activities and establish clear boundaries and expectations. By ensuring safety and responsible usage of Social media hacking tools, parents can create a safe digital environment for their children to explore and thrive.

Conclusion

In conclusion, parental control for Social media hacking is a crucial aspect of ensuring the safety and well-being of children in today's digital world. By using the best Social media hacking tools and methods, parents can monitor their child's online activities, detect potential risks, and promote responsible online behavior. It's essential to strike a balance between privacy and safety while implementing parental control measures and to establish open communication with your child about their online presence. By following best practices and using effective tracking tools, parents can create a safe and secure online environment for their children to navigate and grow.