Morning Brew Daily - Users Trick UK’s Age Verification Law & KPop Takes Over Netflix

Episode Date: July 29, 2025

Episode 636: Neal and Toby explain the sweeping law in the UK that requires users to verify their age to access adult content. Then, Spring is usually the prime selling season for real estate agents, but they’re finding buyers are still gun-shy when it comes to committing to a new home. Also, ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ is Netflix’s latest hit that is racking up millions of views and music streams. Meanwhile, Toby examines the phenomenon of sports bobbleheads that are luring thousands of fans.  Build your Range Rover Sport at RangeRover.com/US/Sport  Subscribe to Morning Brew Daily for more of the news you need to start your day. Share the show with a friend, and leave us a review on your favorite podcast app. Listen to Morning Brew Daily Here:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.swap.fm/l/mbd-note⁠⁠⁠  Watch Morning Brew Daily Here:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@MorningBrewDailyShow⁠ 00:00 - Spaghett the drink of the Summer? 2:40 - People are fooling UK’s age check law 8:00  - Housing problems 11:30 - ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ mania 17:15 - Toby’s Trends: Bobbleheads 21:00 - Sprint Finish Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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pwc.com slash US slash brew AI. That's pwc.com slash us slash brewAI. Good morning, Brew Daily show. I'm Neil Fryman. And I'm Toby Howell. Today, VPN use is soaring in the UK after a new age verification law

went into effect. Then the anime movie, K-pop Demon Hunters, is a Netflix sensation and could help it take on Disney. It's Tuesday, July 29th. Let's ride. It only took until the last few days of July,

but it looks like, like we finally have a drink of the summer, the Spaghetti. At first I thought this was just how Tony Soprano would say spaghetti, but no, the Spaghetti is a Miller High Life topped with a splash of apparel, which some of you may know by other names like NASCAR Sprits or Hobo Nogroni. Whatever you call it, lots more people are drinking it with orders for the Spaghetti in the first half of 2025, up 65% from last year, and up by 1,000% since 2022, according to Insider. And so a drink that got it start as a secret menu item for bartenders and others in the service industry has officially hit the mainstream.

I won't lie, Neil. No idea this was even a drink. When people were talking about it in the office yesterday, I legitimately thought they were pronouncing spaghetti wrong. The origin of the drink does go back to this Baltimore brewery, a bartender there called it a bastardized apparel spritz. And it is this sort of insidery drink, but apparently it's delicious. And now it has a reputation as kind of a no-frills cocktail that embodies this recession indicator mentality. It's a beer cocktail, not as expensive, more dive barry, but captures the vibes perfectly right now. So next time you're out, give it an order. But I hope to goodness, the bartender knows what it is.

Because if not, you're going to get a very weird look because you just ordered spaghetti at a bar. And now a word from our sponsor, Range Rover. Neil, what do you think makes a great leader? Well, that's a tough one, Toby. If I really had to nail it down, I think I'd say someone. who's a risk taker, someone who's determined and passionate, and someone who leads by example. It sounds an awful lot like you're describing the Range Rover Sport.

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slash US slash sport. That's range rover.com slash us slash sport. On Friday, the United Kingdom instituted age verification for online platforms showing adult content. And to no one's surprise, people have spent the last few days easily skirting the new rules. The Online Safety Act, as the law is known, requires that online platforms showing pornographic material verify that users are 18 or older using a method that is quote strong and highly effective. So having an I am over 18 button that you click on is no longer good enough. The idea behind the law is to prevent kids from seeing the most harmful parts of the internet and sites

from Pornhub to X to Reddit to Discord have all instituted age checks in compliance with the law. The problem is they are very easy to circumvent using VPNs or virtual private networks, which disguises your location online. VPNUs has skyrocketed in the UK since the Online Safety Act went into effect. And as of yesterday morning, half of the top 10 free apps in the UK App Store were VPN services. One VPN provider, Proton, told the BBC that downloads had spiked 1,800%. Enforcement is just one of the many challenges facing UK authorities as they try to make the internet safer for kids, because this law has many critics from the privacy and security sector,

while acknowledging the law is well-intentioned, they say that age verification techniques platforms are using open a Pandora's box of privacy issues that don't just affect kids, but everyone using the internet. Toby, who could have seen this coming? A lot of people, because a lot of countries are going to see changes when it comes to internet privacy. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for certain states to require pornographic websites to age tech users who are under 18. And then courts in France. also ruled that you would need to do the same Ireland implemented similar age checking laws.

I was literally there last week and was scrolling on X and ran into a video that says, you have not verified your age, you cannot watch this. And then the European Commission is testing an age verification app as well. And actually, probably the country that we haven't talked about is Australia who wants to ban social media for children under the age of 16. So that is another country where age verification is front and center.

So yes, this is controversial. right now because you do want to protect children online. That is a big and urgent issue right now, but it also impedes everyone's ability to access the internet, especially if you start limiting certain things for political reasons as well. Maybe a government steps in and say, hey, I don't want kids seeing LGBTQ content or reproductive health information. That's where it gets into a very slippery slope. So why are privacy experts raising the alarm? Like what are the techniques or methods that platforms are instituting in order to comply with this law that asks you, requires you to verify ages.

Well, one of those techniques is you have to upload a credit card. Another is you upload a photo or government ID. And then the final one that is being used by many websites is that you have to submit a selfie, which a machine learning algorithm uses to estimate your age. Now, these are very sensitive pieces of personal information that you're uploading. to websites and often third-party providers that websites are employing to do these age verification techniques, which is why security experts are saying this is not just a question of if these will get hacked. It's a question of when. Yeah, we've already seen it happen. One age verification

platform used by TikTok, Uber, and X has been hacked and leaked sensitive information. Just yesterday on the show, we talked about the app T that was supposed to help protect women and vet their dating partners also was hacked and a lot of their personal information was leaked as well. So most privacy experts say, yeah, it's just a matter of when this is going to happen. And it's not a perfect technology yet. You can spoof it. You can fool it. A lot of people on Reddit were showing that they used a video game character's face to beat Reddit's

age verification system. So this is a fledgling technology and yet the laws have kind of outpaced it already and saying you're going to have to figure this out, even though the technology isn't there yet. And people are working to figure this out. There are proponents of age verification who say that there are techniques that can be used that minimizes data collection. One of those methods is by using an authentication token. It reminds me a little bit of what Sam Altman is doing with that orb. But basically, you only get your age verification, your age verified once through a selfie or another method. And you receive an authentication token, which is a credential that you can use across the internet. So you just have this age verification method once and you use whatever you receive and then return this credential to log into all these websites that now require you to be over a certain age. That technology just isn't here yet. We'll see going forward if you are a country that is implementing an age verification software, then expect that VPN use to SOAR, especially in Australia, which is doing the social media ban for kids under 16 VPN providers have your service. ready. Don't be surprised if your new neighbor isn't planning to stay in the area for a long time.

As individual homebuyers get frozen out of an unaffordable housing market, real estate investors are swooping in. Investors who buy houses to flip or rent have accounted for 30% of single-family home purchases so far this year. That is a record high in data going back 14 years. Between 2020 and 2023, that share averaged just around 18.5%. According to Bright Edge, institutional investors that own more than 1,000 homes account for only 2.2% of investor-owned homes in the first three months of the year. The vast majority, about 85%, are mom and pop investors who own between one and five homes, while those between six and 10 properties contribute another 5%. What's even more illuminating is that investors haven't bought that many more homes than they had

been, just 1.2% more than a year earlier. But they're grabbing a much bigger share of the pie, and that's because very few individual homebuyers are buying a house right now, with mortgage rates hovering near 7%, the spring housing season, which is typically the busiest stretch of the year, notched its lowest sales levels since 2012. Prices hit a new record in June with the median home price rising above $435,000, and it seems no one can afford a house except for investors who have some cash on hand or can tap into home equity from their portfolio.

Yeah, smaller investors are super active right now. One, because even though mortgage rates are elevated, even though the economy's in a little bit of a tough spot, the business is still solid. You can still fix up and rent out homes. Renting market is still very solid right now. And then also, these smaller investors can take a lot more risk. If you are a giant investor like a Blackstone, you probably can't necessarily pitch to your LPs, pitch to the pension funds that, hey, we're going into the housing market right now. It doesn't necessarily give them a lot of confidence. So smaller investors can take those risks. And so do jump in. And then you're right. There are less actual homebuyers out there to compete with. So a lot of sellers are saying, if we get any offer right now, we used to get 12 offers on a property. Now we're getting two if we're lucky. So suddenly this opportunity is there for smaller investors, which is why they're just so much more active right now. Yeah, in July, 38% of home builders reported lowering prices on their deals. And we're seeing a very fascinating divergence in a home price trends across the United States. It really depends on where you live. whether you'll see your home going for more than asking or if it's falling off a cliff. Because in this latest report that came out last week, home prices jumped 4.2% in the northeast. If you live in a place like Hartford, you saw home prices grow 7.3% from a year ago. Some reports say that Springfield, Massachusetts, my hometown is the hottest housing market in the United States.

They were up 6.2% in New York City, 6.1% in Milwaukee. And the reason for that is there hasn't been a ton of building activity. inventory is constrained. But then you go to the south. Home prices were basically flat year over year. And the reason is that because there's been so much building activity in places like Texas and Florida. So if you look at certain markets in those areas, you're seeing a lot of home price declines. Austin, Austin's home prices fell 4.3% from a year ago. Tampa was down 3.4%. And in Miami, prices were down 2.6%. The slowest housing market of all is, is near you, Toby, Fort Myers, Cape Corral,

where prices are down 11% in the last two years. All the toubes are moving up to be next to all the Neals. We can say that much. Let's move on. The hottest movie on Netflix right now is also the hottest band on Spotify. It's not because the streaming service found another Selena Gomez-esque dual threat.

It's because the anime K-pop demon hunters has taken over the platform and is well on its way to becoming the most watched animated movie in Netflix history. When the movie debuted, it had a modest 9.3 million viewers, but thanks to strong word of mouth, it's only grown from there, becoming the first original movie on Netflix to hit a new peak in its fifth week since its debut. And the Spotify angle, a single from one of the fictional bands in the movie has been a fixture

on Spotify's most streamed global songs, becoming the first K-pop song ever to take the number one spot. Currently five songs from the movie are in the top 15 on Spotify's daily charts. Part of the success of K-pop Demon Hunters, which follows, as you might have guessed, K-pop stars who Moonlight as Demon Hunters, is its global appeal. Since it premiered back in June, it has hit Netflix's top 10 lists in every single country the service tracks, 93 in total. Despite being a production grounded in Korean culture, Washington Post columnist Jeff Yang

notes that the film's dialogue, accent, and diction are delivered in North American English, which may help explain its appeal outside of Korea itself. Neil, this movie and its music are twin juggernauts. We've been waiting for the Song of the Summer. Maybe you've just needed to log onto Netflix to find it. Yeah, song of the summer has to be golden by Huntrix, which is not a real band, but it is so good. Back in 2021, Reid Hastings, Netflix's CEO, said Netflix is trying to beat Disney in family animation. It's 2025.

We haven't seen that strategy pan out at all until this movie came out, because, not only is it a super smash hit movie, it's tracking in 93 countries and blowing up the Spotify charts, but it could be the backbone of a franchise, which is what Disney is so good at creating these ecosystems around certain IP that allows them to sell merch and theme parks and create a huge halo effect around certain movies and then lay into it. Netflix doesn't have a lot of original products, original movies or TV shows that it is, able to do that with. I'm only thinking of maybe Squid Games or Stranger Things. So this could be huge in that it lays the bedrock for a particular franchise around K-pop Demon Slayers or K-pop in general,

which is absolutely blowing up. Yeah, betting on Korea was the smartest thing that Netflix did. Obviously, Squid Game has been the biggest show in Netflix's history. And what they did is actually make a multi-billion dollar investment in the country's content. They want to extend this strategy. They want to find more K-pop demon hunters. This wasn't some necessarily. small ball under the radar show. Like it was, it came from the studio that produced into the Spiderverse, the animation studio. It's a Sony production. So this is not necessarily something that came out of nowhere for Netflix. They have been investing in Korean stories because they have shown global appeal. And I do think one final angle to this is that they are

going after the kids here. PG films have outgross PG-13 films in the box office over the last three years. So this is another one in that PG area. And they are not just competing against Disney here. They're trying to win over Generation Alpha, who is gravitating towards YouTube. You have to make Netflix a place that these kids want to go to, want to spend their time at because YouTube is what's always looming,

always taking time away when it comes to the kids. So this has a ton of bang for its buck right now. Invest in PG films, invest in animated films, invest in Korean films. this is kind of the nexus of all three of those trends. Yeah, and the discourse has been, wow, is Netflix coming for Disney? But I should point out, Netflix is already blowing away Disney. It has a $500 billion market cap.

Disney's market cap is just $216 billion. So Netflix has already conquered Disney. Maybe family animation is just the final area to dominate. Up next, we got Toby's Trends. Welcome back to another edition of Toby's Trends, where I slunk into the corners of the internet to emerge with a trend. you should keep your eye on. And today's trend is all about the hottest thing in sports memorabilia.

It's not game war in jerseys or trading cards. It's bobbleheads. Yes, the humble bobblehead has fans shelling out big bucks to snag a toy with questionable next stability. Teams are taking notice in cooking up collabs for rabid fans. There's the Travis Scott Houston Rocket Bobblehead that is reselling for nearly $200 on Stock X. A Pittsburgh Pirates Mac Miller Bobblehead is pushing $300.

while Paul Skeins' bobblehead night had fans lining up for hours ahead of the game. As you can see from the list above, not all the toys are even related to athletes. The New York Yankees, for instance, has a George Costanza sleeping under his desk bobblehead night coming later this summer, with eBay pre-sale listings for the toy popping up in the mid-200-dollar range already. Heck, even the Pope has a bobblehead, Neil. Collectible culture is all around us, from Labibus to Trader Joe's tote bags, and there's always been a big aspect of sports.

But right now, bobbleheads are hotter than anything else. And that is excellent news because while I didn't collect Pokemon cards as a kid, I do have over a dozen Phillies bobbleheads. I'm not sure whether a Chase Utley won, Circa, 2006, is the kind of thing that people would shell out for because, as you mentioned, these bobbleheads have evolved over what maybe you would think they were 20 years ago to include different types of characters. and they're just more sophisticated and intricate looking in their manufacturing process.

But there's no denying how much of a force they are in the stadium promotion field. I mean, they are driving so much attendance. They're driving people to line up for hours. The Los Angeles Dodgers is doing five different Shohei Otani Bobblehead promotions this year. The first one in April drew people coming out to the ballpark seven hours before. And you mentioned the Pirates, Paul Skeen's one. Well, they sold out that game. And do you know how hard it is to sell out a pirate scheme this year?

The Cincinnati Reds had their highest attendance in ballpark history when they did an Ellie Della Cruz bobblehead night. And this Saturday, I'm going to the Brooklyn Cyclones for Seinfeld night where they're giving away a bobblehead. I've been a Kramer bobblehead. I have been warned that you have to get there hours early in order to secure this bobblehead. And they are asking people to pay a much higher price in order to make sure that you get the bobblehead. And the cyclones marketing guys said that they see.

see an average of 30% higher attendance on days when they do bobblehead night. Phil Sklar, the co-founder and CEO of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, told Axiols, so glad that's a thing. We're seeing Bobbihead sell for hundreds, even thousands of dollars. Literally, I put that quote in, not because it's a great quote, but just I wanted people to know that it is a thing. It's in Milwaukee, and it's also having a great year. Visitors are pacing to rise 25% this year.

When I mentioned the Pope Bobelhead, that's actually coming from the museum in a Hall of Fame there as well. So if you're in the Milwaukee area, go give them a drop in. But this has me thinking, Neil, MBD bobbleheads. Is that vain? Is that all the fame going to my head that I want a giant head, bobblehead versions of ourselves? But that's par for the course for you.

Let's put it on the desk right here. That's going to Toby and Neil bobblehead. I think the economics are pretty good because if you look at how much they cost you, you know, just call up a factory in China and they'll make one for you for $5. And clearly the markups are pretty high. So Toby, after the show, you should look into that. Okay, let's sprint to the fifth. with some final headlines. A police officer and a Blackstone executive were among the four

people killed after a gunman opened fire in a New York City office building yesterday evening. Right in the thick of the afternoon rush hour, the suspect, a 27-year-old man from Las Vegas, walked into one of the most famous office buildings in the city on Park Avenue, home to the NFL, Blackstone and KPMG, armed with an assault-style rifle. He killed four people as he made his way from the lobby to the 33rd floor, the location of the offices of the building's property owner before killing himself. Police said the suspect had a documented history of mental illness, but are still working on identifying a motive.

Yeah, Shane Tamura, who is the suspect that was identified, grew up playing football, and CNN reported he had a suicide note in his pocket that said he suffered from CTE. He named drop Terry Long, who was his former player from the Steelers who also died by suicide, who also suffered from CTE. So there looks to be some connection to football or to the NFL, which of course had an office in the building. but yes, obviously this happened pretty close in our backyard, so thinking of everyone affected by it. Let's move on. Tesla has found a place to make the brains of its robots and cars.

The company signed a $16.5 billion deal with Samsung yesterday to produce its next generation AI6 chips at a new Texas factory. Elon Musk has been working on an all-in-one chip designed to handle everything from powering Tesla's full self-driving system and optimist robots to running large-scale AI data centers and Musk expects to spend even more with Samsung as the company doubles down on this custom chip approach that is crucial to its plans to transform itself from just an automaker into an AI and robotics juggernaut. You don't hear about Tesla's chip efforts all that often, but they are at the center of everything they are doing. And you could say this is an example of Elon Musk going full founder mode and getting very hands on with the production process.

He galled it, this is a critical point as I will walk the line personally to accept. accelerate the pace of progress. He also noted that one reason why they agreed to do this deal with Samsung was that Samsung is allowing Tesla to assist in maximizing manufacturing efficiency. The strategic importance of this is hard to overstate. Those are all from Elon Musk. So you can see that he will be a fixture at the Samsung plant, which also got a, is a huge boost to Samsung because this Taylor, Texas plant, they don't have a single customer. So the fact that Tesla is swooping in to sign this deal is a big boost for that particular plant. And it accounts for 7.6% of Samsung's entire 2024 revenue. And that's why you saw Samsung shares gain 6% yesterday

and Tesla shares gained around 3% as well. Has anyone flip-flopped harder than China and making babies? Until 2016, it had a policy limiting parents to one child per family. Now, facing an escalating depopulation crisis, it's scrambling to reverse the damage. Yesterday, the government said it will give families about $500 a year for each child under the age of three, retroactively applied from January 2025. It's China's first ever nationwide child care subsidy program and reflects just how dire the situation is. The number of bursts in China last year totaled 9.5 million, which is just over half the 17.9 million peak in 2017. Demographers say a rapidly aging or even declining population would have huge ramifications for the economy with more

elderly people to support and fewer workers in the labor force. It's not just China who are pushing programs like this. Two-thirds of the world's population currently live in countries with below repracement level birth rates that includes the U.S. as well. And that's why we've seen the Trump administration pass a bill that allows the government to fund a thousand-dollar investment accounts for babies born through 2028. But the question always leads back to can money actually spur a baby boom? And right now, studies have showed that they do minimal long-term. you know, effects on fertility rates. Some say that the better approach is actually just paid parental leave,

expanded access to affordable child care. Those are more effective in catalyzing long-term birth rates. Cash is good and maybe in the short term, but not necessarily leading to long-term changes. So everyone, governments around the world will be watching to see how this massive Chinese subsidy experiment works out. That is all the time we have. Thanks so much for starting your morning with us.

Have a wonderful Tuesday. Stay cool out there today. It is going to be another scorcher in many parts of the country. If you have any thoughts on today's episode, send an email with questions, comments, or feedback to Morning Brew Daily at MorningBrew.com. Let's roll the credits. Emily Milliron is our executive producer. Raymond Loo is our producer. Our associate producers are Olivia Graham and Olivia Lake. Hair and makeup has K-pop demon hunters stuck in their head. Devin Emery is our president and our show's production of Morning Brew. Great show with Danielle. Let's run it back tomorrow.