Welcome back to Lately, The Globe and Mail’s weekly tech newsletter. If you have feedback or just want to say hello to a real-life human, send me an e-mail.
In this week’s issue:
↪️ Canadian tech leaders pivot to the Conservatives
👋 American TikTok users say farewell in the most TikTok way
🧨 Los Angeles fires fuel conspiracy theories on social media
🎙️ On the Lately podcast: Victoria’s Secret and selling sexy in the age of wellness
POLITICS
Canadian tech leaders throw support behind Poilievre
Canadian tech leaders who were once hopeful that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals would deliver an ambitious agenda are now actively expressing support for a new, Conservative-led government. As innovation reporter Pippa Norman writes this week, several investors, entrepreneurs and tech executives have denounced the Liberals’ economic policies. On X, Shopify chief executive and co-founder Tobi Lütke decried Trudeau’s decision to prorogue Parliament, while Boris Wertz, one of the country’s most successful venture capitalists, posted that he’s excited to work with a new government led by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Some leaders in the tech industry say it’s not surprising that the Conservatives are gaining traction within the sector. Part of the reason is because the Conservatives are speaking about taxation reform and using technology to make the government run more effectively, issues of interest to the industry. The other reason is just the sheer disillusionment with the Liberals. “The technology community today has never been so united in their disappointment,” said John Ruffolo, founder and managing partner of Maverix Private Equity.
SOCIAL MEDIA
With a TikTok ban days away, American users say goodbye with memes
With a TikTok ban in the United States set to take effect on Sunday, American users are saying goodbye with montages, memes and jumping on what could be the app’s final trends. One of those trends is users posting videos saying farewell to their “designated Chinese spies,” mocking the national-security concerns over the app’s Chinese ownership. A clip of an emotional scene from Big Hero 6 is captioned, “Me on January 19th leaving my Chinese spy who’s been with me since 2019.”
Although YouTube Shorts and Instagram’s Reels are likely to be the largest beneficiaries of a potential ban, a legion of TikTok users are moving to a different Chinese-owned, short-form video app called Xiaohongshu, or RedNote. Many users have made TikTok videos about their own exodus to Xiaohongshu, noting the irony that a law motivated by Chinese national-security concerns has inadvertently pushed them to another Chinese-owned app. A video of a woman pulling a suitcase is captioned, “Me because I’d rather move to China than Instagram reels.”
MISINFORMATION
Los Angeles wildfires fuel conspiracy theories
A social post falsely claiming a house survived the L.A. wildfires.
The devastating wildfires in Los Angeles have become a focal point for conspiracies and misinformation online, with false claims including firefighters using women’s purses filled with water to put out fires or that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives were partly to blame for the response. AI-generated images claiming to be of the fires are also getting amplified on X, including one of a pristine house on a shoreline surrounded by burned buildings. However, a reverse image search shows that it’s actually from the fires in Hawaii in 2023. The Globe’s Patrick Dell, who covers misinformation, fact checks the most prevalent false claims circulating on social media.
VIDEO GAMES
Nintendo officially announces Switch 2
Nintendo has confirmed that the Switch 2 will be released in 2025. In a video teaser released on Thursday, the hybrid handheld console looks pretty similar to the original, except with a larger screen. The company said it’ll announce more details at the next Nintendo Direct event on April 2, so until then, perhaps it’s time I revisit my pandemic-era Animal Crossing island. If you don’t hear from me next week, I’m deep into redecorating my island to finally get that five-star rating.
What else we’re reading this week:
She is in love with ChatGPT (The New York Times)
Fake reviews have become the internet’s perfect crime (The Walrus)
TikTok users are searching for a new home. Are there any good ones left? (The Atlantic)
Soundbite
What’s so tricky about this moment for a company like Victoria’s Secret is that sexiness is fragmented. What replaced the traditional idea of selling exclusivity in fashion is this wellness idea of selling a better version of yourself. That concept is probably a successful place to invest in, but they still have to contend with what is the beauty standard that they represent.
— Chantal Fernandez, co-author of Victoria’s Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon, on this week’s episode of the Lately podcast.
Adult Money
WELLNESS
The Hooga Grounding Mat.Amazon/Supplied
Hooga Grounding Mat, $70
If you follow health and fitness influencers such as Andrew Huberman or The Minimalists, you’ve likely heard of “earthing,” the exercise of keeping a body part, such as bare feet or hands, connected with the ground for extended periods of time. As reporter Alex Cyr writes, “earthers” believe that absorbing the ground’s negative electrical current helps stabilize the body’s internal bioelectric charge, which supposedly reduces inflammation and improves sleep.
And as is the case with many wellness trends, there are products you can buy to improve your practice. Earthing mats – pieces of fabric connected by cables to a grounded power outlet – are sold for upward of hundreds of dollars. There’s not a lot of clinical research out there on the benefits of earthing. But despite this, Susan Albers, a clinical psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic, says she frequently hears cases of individuals who sleep better and feel less stressed after adopting the practice. It could be a placebo effect, but she says it could also be a simple, low-stakes health experiment, too.
Culture radar
MUSIC
A must-read for anyone who cares about the future of creativity
Since 2016, journalist Liz Pelly has investigated Spotify’s business practices, shedding light on the way streamers are changing how much is consumed and produced. She’s explored the evolution of passive listening, the cottage industry of “ghost” musicians who create songs to fit playlists for lower royalties, and how artists’ compensation can be suppressed. Arts reporter Josh O’Kane spoke with Pelly about her new book, Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist, which builds on her years of reporting. According to O’Kane, “Mood Machine is necessary reading for anyone who cares about the well-being of the artists they listen to and about the future of creativity.”
More tech and telecom news
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