The Twitch Adpocalypse! “The Truth About Mr Beast & DogPack404”, Biden's Surprise Ukraine Reversal & More
PDS Published 11/18/2024
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Adpocalypse: Twitch
The ad-pocalypse is here!
But it’s not YouTube this time. This is actually happening over on Twitch right now.
And where we’ll start is with the update to its Hateful Conduct Policy over the weekend,
Saying in a blog post, “starting today, using the term “Zionist” to attack or demean another individual or group of people on the basis of their background or religious belief is against our rules.” []
Twitch goes on to clarify that referring to the Zionist political movement - in either a positive or negative way - won’t get anybody dinged but their goal is to, quote, “prevent coded hate directed at individuals and groups of people.”
And that of course stoking its own set of reactions and controversy,
But then the second half of this story is you have a lot of streamers saying they’ve noticed some major drops in their ad revenue.
We’re talking reports of drops as high as 95%.
"I average about $150-200 a day in ad revenue... [now], I'm averaging $15 in add revenue. $15 fucking dollars." (0:20-0:42)
And, as you can imagine, this sparked a lot of conversation from some big names in the streaming world - asking why this is happening in the first place.
With one of those being Ludwig - who placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of Asmongold, saying,
“The genesis of this, as far as I can tell, is when Asmon got banned off of Twitch. Cause you see, Asmon got banned after making some comments about Palestinian people – some very negative comments about Palestinian people. He got banned off of Twitch. And this sort of caused a domino effect where people were like, you know, ban Asmon for saying this thing about Palestinian people but what about this person saying this thing about these people?” 5:23-5:48
For example, he mentions Frogan – who said on stream she hoped American soldiers get PTSD from their service, []
This also after she co-hosted a Twitchcon event a lot of people believe was anti-semetic.
Though it’s important to note: Because we’re dealing with such a polarizing topic, you have a lot of people who also didn’t see anything wrong with that event.
But either way, Ludwig says people started sending emails to advertisers by the thousands, pointing out times their ads ran near or within segments people thought were anti-semetic.
“It was an attempt at creating an adpocalypse. Attempt very successful.” (7:24-7:31)
And while Frogan was later banned, you still had a lot of people thinking Twitch really drug its feet here.
But notably, a lot of people got real mad when Ludwig didn’t also call out Hasan Piker- who is, notably, a friend of Ludwig’s and who many have blamed, at least in part, for this whole mess.
With people saying things like:
“This is worse than just skimming some tweets to find the news about what happened with this situation, you are literally intentionally LEAVING THINGS OUT.” []
And Asmongold agreeing that Hasan definitely played a major part here - saying,
“Hasan clearly is like one of the biggest proponents of this. I would say he is the biggest proponent to a lot of the contention around the, you know, quote “adpocalypse.” He’s the main reason why this is - like 90% of the examples that are being used are him.” 0:00-0:18
And he doubled down on that in his response to Ludwig’s video - saying,
“A lot of this is because a lot of people just don’t fucking like Hasan. You know it, I know it, everybody knows it. Hasan has said a number of things over the years that sound really bad.” 11:07-11:22
“And people are using all of these examples to try to get advertisers to leave. That’s the reason why. That’s the main reason. So my situation might have made this bigger than it already was but this was already happening before I even had any of - I never got suspend, I didn’t have anything to do with this.” 11:37-12:02
Ethan Klein also calling Ludwig out, saying he’s “sweeping this antisemitism issue under the rug,”
“Ludwig! Why did you even bother to make this video? You know what I mean? Just - you don’t have to talk about it if you’re too cowardly to explain it.” 1:55-2:05
Right, Ethan bringing up when Hasan earlier this year interviewed a pro-Houthi Yemeni pirate, also criticizing Ludwig for how he talked about the Frogan incidents.
“This level of anti-semitism is platformed on a mainstage of Twitchcon. In front of these sponsors. I mean what the fuck do you expect, man? Don’t blame the people sending emails. Blame fucking Dan Clancy and his team of morons that did nothing to shield their ecosystem from this. Especially considering they had so much time to learn from what happened to YouTube. Pure incompetence.” 5:40-6:12
And while this blame game thing has gotten a lot of attention, there are others saying that the adpocalypse part of this situation is wildly overblown - with some streamers outside of the political space saying their revenue wasn’t impacted at all.
And others like the Stock Guy pointing out that once he removed politics-related tags, his revenue jumped way up again. [
In fact, Hasan shared that clip on Twitter and added,
“this doesn’t mean there isn’t a concerted brigade effort cynically mass spamming emails to advertisers urging them to pull ads. there very clearly is one.” []
For now, that is where we’re at here.
We’re going to have to wait and see how this plays out further and what the impact will look like for streamers and for Twitch as a whole.
In the meantime, let me know your thoughts about this in those comments down below.
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In huge international news, Biden is giving permission to Ukraine to attack deep inside Russia with US-supplied long-range missiles
And this is a massive shift in policy.
Right, Biden technically eased some restrictions on Ukraine’s use of American weapons after Russia opened a new front in the war back in May.
But he only allowed the use of something called the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS (Hi Mars), which has a range of about 50 miles, against Russian forces directly across the border.
This time, however, Ukraine has permission to use the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS (Attack ’ems), which has a range of about 190 miles.
Though, that said, we’re not exactly sure what kind of conditions are attached.
But in any case, Biden’s decision is reportedly a direct response to Russia bringing North Korean troops into the fight.
Right, as we’ve talked about before, at least 10,000 North Korean troops are now believed to be in Russia’s Kursk region.
And specifically, they may be part of a force of as many as 50,000 soldiers working to take back the territory in this region that Ukraine seized in August.
And with that, the Ukrainians could use the Attack ’ems to not only strike these Russian and North Korean troops, but also target military equipment, logistics infrastructure, ammunition depots, and supply lines deep inside Russia.
Though, ultimately, no one’s really expecting this to fundamentally change the course of the war.
Right, instead, American officials say one goal is to send a message to North Korea that their troops are vulnerable and that they shouldn’t send more of them.
And then, it could have an impact on where things are when Trump gets back into office.
Right, with US aid in jeopardy, even Zelensky is now saying he wants to end war by 'diplomatic means' next year.
But until then, everything that happens on the ground is gonna affect what that looks like.
Right, the Ukrainians hope they would be able to trade any Russian territory they hold in Kursk for Ukrainian territory held by Russia.
But of course, if Russia succeeds in taking Kursk back, then Ukraine could end up with nothing to trade at all.
But with all that, some are worried that this could backfire.
Right, notably, even Biden’s advisors have been divided on the issue.
With some worrying that this could cause Putin to retaliate against not just Ukraine, but its allies.
In fact, a recent U.S. intelligence assessment said that Russia would be likely to retaliate with force against the US and its coalition partners if Ukraine was granted permission to carry out long-range strikes.
And specifically, it warned that Russia might step up acts of arson and sabotage targeting facilities in Europe, to potentially lethal attacks on American and European military bases.
And with that, you have Russia the Kremlin’s spokesman saying:
“This decision is reckless, dangerous, aimed at a qualitative change, a qualitative increase in the level of involvement of the United States in this conflict.”
Though, notably, we’ve been seeing that kind of rhetoric from Russia for a long time.
Also, that intelligence assessment I mentioned? It was before North Korean troops really came into the equation, which has been considered a major escalation on Russia’s part, and may have sort of changed the cost-benefit analysis.
Also, even before Biden’s decision, Russia had already been stepping up its sabotage campaign in Europe and planning and carrying out lethal attacks on foreign soil.
Right, so the other side of the argument is that Putin will just keep getting more and more aggressive if he’s not challenged.
And notably, that’s often been the position of officials in states bordering Russia or otherwise in its old sphere of influence, which arguably have the most to fear from escalation.
But ultimately, only time will tell how this all plays out.
And we’ll just have to wait and see what happens next.
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South African court orders police to end standoff with illegal miners who have been trapped underground for weeks and cut off from food and water
Hundreds of miners in South Africa have been holed up underground for months where they may be dying of hunger and thirst.
And it’s not because of a cave-in or something.
It’s because police have been blocking the exits and denying them food and water.
With the reason being that those miners have been working down there illegally.
And the South African government is doing everything it can to force them out and arrest them as part of a nationwide crackdown on illegal mining –
With some, of course, saying it’s going way too far.
But to really make this make sense, we gotta back up a bit.
Right, as you can imagine, mining has a long, dark history in South Africa.
In fact, it was once the largest gold-producing nation in the world.
But eventually, a lot of these mines became unprofitable and were left behind.
In fact, it’s estimated that there are around 6,000 abandoned mines in the country today.
Except, they’re not really abandoned.
Right, instead, many have just become part of a massive black-market mining industry.
With extreme poverty and skyrocketing unemployment driving out-of-work miners and migrants to work in them.
Right, overall, there are estimated to be between 30,000 and 100,000 unlicensed miners in the country.
Notably, they sometimes remain underground for weeks at a time, often setting up illegal electricity and water supply systems.
And with that, organized crime has become involved as well.
Right, with experts saying violence often seeps into surrounding communities, also creating a secondary market for food, alcohol and sex work.
With one local, for example, telling The Washington Post that the sound of gunfire as rival groups fight over territory sometimes keeps her awake at night
And of course, there are the traditional dangers of mining, as well, but made worse by the lack of regulation.
Last year, for example, 31 people died in a gas explosion at an unused mine and then a gas leak linked to illegal mining killed more than a dozen just a few months later.
And with all that, it wasn’t long after those incidents that the government initiated a massive crackdown on illegal mining in the country.
Right, since then, many of the thousands arrested through the operation have been deported and some were criminally charged.
But notably, the state’s heavyhanded tactics have drawn criticism.
Actually, on November 2nd, South African police said that 225 miners had been drawn out of one mine “as a result of starvation and dehydration” – after authorities blocked routes into the mines.
Authorities also blocked local community members from delivering food parcels, water and necessities to the mine shafts, the statement added.
And now, they’ve been using that tactic again, just on a much bigger scale, at a former gold mining site about 90 miles west of Johannesburg.
Right, already, more than 1,000 miners have already emerged and been arrested.
Now, officials say there are between 350 and 400 miners still down there.
But notably, community members, as well as some miners who have been hauled up, say it’s actually up to 4,000 people that are trapped.
Right, there are reports that the miners have been eating vinegar and toothpaste to survive while underground.
And ultimately, it’s feared that their health could be deteriorating, and they may be too weak and frail to leave the mine by themselves.
But despite that, the South African government insisted that it would stay the course.
With one minister saying:
“We are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out.”
“Criminals are not to be helped, they are to be persecuted.”
And then, a day after that, a decomposing body was brought to the surface.
And now, a South African court is ordering police to end the standoff, saying emergency workers should be allowed in and the miners should be allowed to exit.
And so we have seen some aid being allowed in, but the South African Police Service says the ruling doesn’t prevent the detention of illegal miners who are in good health, writing on Facebook:
“All those who resurface will continue to be assessed by emergency medical personnel on site.”
“Those that are in good health will be processed and detained. Those that require further medical care will be taken to hospital under police guard.”
And with that, we’ll have to wait and see if miners actually start exiting soon.
And then, if they end up getting arrested.
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It’s all a bunch of lies!
That is what SoggyCereal just claimed in a new video where he aimed to debunk all the allegations that DogPack404 has made against MrBeast.
Right, DogPack is a former MrBeast employee who previously posted videos accusing MrBeast of essentially being a fraud, laying out tons of alleged wrongdoings.
But Soggy Cereal claims that DogPack is the one who is actually a fraud.
The video he posted is nearly 90 minutes long, so I will link it down below since we will not be able to hit every single claim Soggy hit on,
But we will go through some of the highlights.
The video started with Soggy addressing claims that MrBeast knowingly hired a registered sex offender named Delaware.
Right, that was something DogPack talked about, as well as Jake Weddle.
But according to Soggy, MrBeast did not know that Delaware had this history, and Soggy accused DogPack of using misleading framing to make MrBeast out to be the bad guy doing something intentionally wrong, when really he was just unaware.
With Soggy actually speaking to another MrBeast employee who said that at the time, MrBeast needed more staff, so he just went to a Best Buy and asked some employees there if they wanted to work for him, and:
“Naively thinking that a multi-billion dollar company would have at least made sure to not hire criminals and not hire a registered sex offender as a store manager, 19-year-old MrBeast didn’t do background checks. Was that stupid? Yeah. Is Delaware a piece of shit? Yeah. Should Jimmy take responsibility for making that mistake? Yes. But it wasn’t some fucked up master plan from Jimmy to intentionally hire an RSO. It was a mistake by an inexperienced adolescent.” (5:14-5:44)
With Soggy also claiming that Delaware does not work for MrBeast anymore and has not for several years.
Then accusing DogPack and his crew of recording another former employee without their consent so DogPack could use their words to fit his narrative about Delaware and other allegations against MrBeast.
This even though the former employee allegedly had no clue he was being recorded and did not intend for his words to even be taken too seriously.
With that former employee actually explaining:
“We were just shooting the shit, we were gossiping a lot, catching up on all the current drama.” (8:17-8:26)
“I don't think any of the stuff we were talking about had any facts or evidence. (8:36-8:41)
“To say that I feel tricked or used is an understatement. (9:23-9:26)
Soggy also brought up the video DogPack did with Rosanna Pansino where they said Ava Tyson put alleged CP in a company chat, this even though the photo in question ended up not being CP and was of an 18-year-old Ivanka Trump modeling for GQ.
And we talked about that whole situation a few weeks ago, with people calling DogPack and Rosanna out since they reported MrBeast’s company to the FBI over this.
And Soggy went on to say it’s actually not that hard to report someone to the FBI if they wanted, and he could even submit a report for DogPack and Rosanna, but:
“Unlike two other creators, I would rather not waste the FBI’s time from finding actual CP distributors to push a seedy, selfish, and manipulative personal agenda. And manipulating Rosanna so you could use her bigger channel to spread this information is so vile.” (30:00-30:19)
But one interesting thing is Soggy also made it clear around half way through the video that he was not making it to be MrBeast’s defense attorney, right.
He just thinks someone needs to address the allegations DogPack made, accusing DogPack of willingly and repeatedly leaving crucial information out of his videos so that he could push his agenda.
“Also, me disproving cheap attempts at slander from this guy doesn’t mean I’m defending this guy.”(42:30-42:24)
“In my opinion, blindly taking either side should be heavily frowned upon, because there is some very questionable and fucked up desicions MrBeast has made and deserves to be held accountably for, and I’ll get to that. But to effectively criticize him, help actual victims, and hold him morally or legally accountable, we must first clear the table of all the lies that have been spread by Dawson French, AKA DogPack 404.”.(42:55-43:20)
“Dogpack doesn’t give a shit about who or what he uses or whose life he ruins just to push his narrative and it’s fucking disgusting.” (39:04-39:10)
And one instance that people are really using to call DogPack out on kind of just being a hypocrite who should not be believed is audio of him being fired but begging for his job.
With many thinking that if he was so desperate to keep that job, he did not have any real issues with MrBeast and what he was doing, and is only upset now that he is on the outside of it all.
“I’m Lacoya, I’m COO…part of my job is…you’re pushing back on everything that I’m saying…
Well because you’re trying to fire me. And I want to work at this company.
I’m the COO of this company. When I am talking, do not interrupt me. And I am telling you this is what is happening. And you are telling me that I am wrong. I am not wrong. We have made the decision. [crosstalk.]
Can I please have a second chance? If I’m getting paid just let me come in…I’ve been trying to get to this point of working for MrBeast for a long time.” (45:40-46:11)That kind of conversation continues a bit longer, and Soggy also noted that DogPack was throwing allegations around about the COO as well.
And just arguing that overall, DogPack should not be trusted.
Speaking to other employees who said DogPack was odd and even combative and hard to work with while he was at MrBeast.
One even saying:
“Not just to see people slander the work that you have done, but to know that it’s lies and misinformation will make anyone speak up.” (1:04:50-1:05:01)
Because notably, DogPack repeatedly alleged that a lot of elements of MrBeast’s videos were fake or fraudulent or rigged in some way.
And Soggy argued that a lot of the times DogPack suggested something shady was going on behind the scenes, it was really just related to a safety measure.
One example was DogPack being mad that MrBeast’ staffers were contestants in a video, but in reality they were just subbing in for some of the randomly selected ones after they tested positive for COVID and could no longer compete.
Soggy also saying:
“Same with this video, where a safety team forced the MrBeast crew off a raft in the seven days stranded at sea video for about an hour because of this dangerous lightning storm. Wait, what was it you said again? ‘Clearly, you can see there is no one in the shelter. These are their empty beds. But you didn’t spend the night soaked Jimmy, you spent it on the production yacht.’ Oh yeah, you lied about them allegedly sleeping on a luxurious yacht. No, they were forced to stay on a rusty barge for about an hour for their own safety.” (54:18-54:48)
He also addressed some of DogPack’s allegations that MrBeast ran illegal lotteries.
Soggy touched on three lotteries, and he claimed that two of them look like they played by the rules and were not illegal.
But he did claim one of them did not come with certain disclaimers and therefore could be illegal.
“There was no ‘no purchase necessary’ in the description, no mention of it at all, yeah, it was illegal. And personally, Jimmy has to own up to it.” (1:23:53-1:24:01)
With him going on to say maybe it was an accident or careless mistake, but either way, if it was illegal he should own up to it.
Soggy also claiming that DogPack still defends video ideas he had while working at MrBeast that allegedly creeped his co-workers out at the time.
Including one that would have about buying “1,000 boobs” for breast cancer awareness.
“Maybe not the most professional way to phrase it, maybe it’s a little clickbaity, but the actual surgery was supposed to be paying for mastectomies and cosmetic surgeries for breast cancer survivors..with a thumbnail and title like these? Oh wait, if this wasn’t supposed to be creepy or weird, then why did you make sure to blur the title and thumbnail when showing it on screen? Don’t be shy, I still got the sharp version!” ” (33:28-33:54)
With Soggy claiming that DogPack intentionally censored the image so it would not look like he had creepy ideas or was trying to objectify the women in the thumbnail.
Soggy also alleging that DogPack had other ideas that employees did not like, including a “MrBeast does every drug” challenge.
And Soggy arguing these ideas are especially wild for him to have when DogPack was repeatedly bringing up how young MrBeast’s fans are.
“Also, didn't you say MrBeast is mainly targeted toward kids? ‘They’re encouraging children simping for these people.’” (34:36-34:44)
“‘Now, MrBeast intentionally manipulates these vulnerable minds.’ What happened to that claim?” (34:48-34:54)
But I’ll close on discussion about the alleged consequences of DogPack’s videos.
Because Soggy talked to one employee who claimed that there has been some serious fallout.
“We’re doing a video where we’re trying to help people walking…actively partners have pulled out because of these videos. There are people who will not walk or will have to delay them walking because of videos that DogPack made.” (1:20:20-1:20:35)
So that is where we are on this one, the new allegations being made in an attempt to debunk the old allegations that came up a few months ago.
And so I would love to know your thoughts on this, whether it be claims Soggy made himself, or from the employees he spoke to, any thoughts you have on this one, I would love to hear.
