Kalhan Rosenblatt

TikTok is shutting down its $2 billion Creator Fund, a 2020 initiative designed to help pay eligible users making content on the app, a spokesperson for the platform confirmed Monday. The fund was intended to “help support ambitious creators who are seeking opportunities to foster a livelihood through their innovative content” by providing them with money distributed through the fund over three years, according to a July 2020 news release from TikTok. The pool of money was distributed based on…

On Oct. 7, Amy Schumer made her first Instagram post about the Israel-Hamas conflict: She reshared a video of Hamas militants kidnapping hostages after killing hundreds at a music festival in Israel. Almost a month later, her almost-daily updates have made the comedian one of the most vocal and high-profile Americans to use social media to weigh in on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Even people who don’t follow the comedian — who has 13.1 million Instagram followers — have seen the rep…

It’s meme-o-ween on social media. On TikTok, the hashtag “#Halloween” has been viewed more than 3 billion times in the last week, with many online sharing Halloween costumes that were inspired by viral moments, pop culture trends and iconic internet memes. This year, some online said it feels like people went even more all-out with their costumes, flexing their creativity when it came to the execution of their looks. “There has to be some kind of scientific reason as to why the costumes are just…

He’s over 200 years old. He’s a vampire. And he’s a character in a popular video game. But Astarion — with his perfectly tousled silver hair, admirable six-pack and endless sassy quips — is the internet’s latest crush to earn the pet name “babygirl.” The companion character is one of 10 in the Dungeons & Dragons-style role-playing video game Baldur’s Gate 3, which debuted to universal praise over the summer. The game follows a group of ragtag travelers seeking to cure a recent infection from a p…

YouTube on Friday said it was issuing a temporary monetization suspension to creator Alia Shelesh, known as SSSniperwolf on the platform, after allegations that she doxxed fellow creator Jack Douglass. The news comes after an internet feud between Shelesh and Douglass escalated last weekend in an incident that Douglass described as making him fear for his safety. Douglass, who goes by Jacksfilms on YouTube, has been vocal about his criticism of SSSniperwolf — claiming in a recent video that Sh…

Sophie Miller felt like she had no one to talk to after she was diagnosed with herpes last week — so she turned to TikTok. In a candid video posted to her secondary “burner” account on Oct. 11, Miller, 21, who lives in Detroit, stitched together video to document her experience of the process. The video starts with her describing her symptoms — a burning sensation after urinating, a swollen lymph node in her groin, sores on her genitals — before she went to the doctor. Then she describes her an…

Halloween has a new mascot and his name is Lewis. The jack-o’-lantern, which is being sold at Target and is designed by Hyde and Eek Boutique, has become this season’s most coveted Halloween decoration item, following in the footsteps of items like the iconic 12-foot Home Depot skeleton and the viral “Stranger Things” floating Max sculpture. But it’s more than just looks. The jack-o’-lantern, which sits atop a ghoulish body draped in tattered black robes, also speaks. “I am not a jack-o’-lante…

YouTube star MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is asking if social media platforms are prepared to deal with fake AI ads after a scam advertisement on TikTok featured a deepfake of him offering $2 iPhones. “Lots of people are getting this deepfake scam ad of me ... are social media platforms ready to handle the rise of AI deepfakes? This is a serious problem,” Donaldson posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. When asked for comment, a spokesperson for Donaldson directed NBC News to th…

“Rick and Morty” co-creator Dan Harmon broke his silence on accusations made against show co-creator Justin Roiland, saying in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter that he felt “frustrated, ashamed and heartbroken” by the news. Harmon’s comments come in response to NBC News’ reporting. Eleven women and nonbinary people shared thousands of messages with Roiland sent between 2013 and 2022 with NBC News. Nine of the people who spoke with NBC News said Roiland allegedly turned the exchange…

A Texas dentist who is known for his brash, edgy humor on social media, where he has hundreds of thousands of followers, has been accused of bullying and sexual harassment by several women who say they received inappropriate messages from his official social media accounts. Dr. Kenneth Wilstead, who goes by @DrKennySmiles on Instagram and @DrKennySmilesOfficial on TikTok, often shares his “smile makeovers” on social media. The videos typically show a person in his dentist chair discussing how th…