The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 11.18 The Twitch Adpocalypse! “The Truth About Mr Beast & DogPack404”, Biden's Surprise Ukraine Reversal &

Episode Date: November 18, 2024

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Y'all, the adpocalypse is here again, allegedly, maybe. Also this time, not on YouTube, but instead it has to deal with everything that's happening over on Twitch right now. And actually where we'll start with this is the update to Twitch's hateful conduct policy that happened over the weekend. With him 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. With Twitch going on to clarify that referring to the Zionist political movement in either a positive or negative way, that won't get anyone dinged, but their goal is to quote, prevent coded hate directed at individuals and groups of people. Which I mean, just that by

itself, that stoked its own set of reactions and controversy. But then, you know, the second half of this story is you have a lot of streamers saying they've noticed some major drops in their ad revenue. I mean, we're talking reports of drops as high as 95%. I average about $100 to $200 a day in ad revenue, right? Five days a week, you're talking about $600, $700 a week, you're talking about $2,800 a month, you know, $3,000 a month. I make about eight grand a month on average and sometimes nine, right? So it's about 40% of my, sometimes 50% of my income. I'm averaging $15, $15 in ad revenue. And so seemingly with people's wallets getting hit, this sparked a lot of conversation from some of the big names in the streaming world. And a number asking or hitting on why is this

happening in the first place? With, for example, the likes of Ludwig talking about Asmongold. The genesis of this, as far as I can tell, is when Asman got banned off of Twitch. Because, you see, Asman 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 are like, okay, you banned Asman for saying this thing about Palestinian people, but, you know, what about this person saying this thing

about this people? For example, he mentions Frogan, who said on stream that she hoped American soldiers got PTSD from their service. And this also after she co-hosted a TwitchCon event that a lot of people believe was anti-Semitic. Though there, I think it's important to know because we're dealing with such a polarizing topic. You also have a lot of people who didn't see anything wrong with that event. But either way, you have Ludwig saying that people started sending emails to advertisers by the thousands, but then pointing out times that their ads ran near or within segments people thought were anti-Semitic. It was a attempt at creating an adpocalypse. Attempt, very successful. And while Frogan was later banned, he still had a lot of people thinking

that Twitch really dragged their feet there. And this also is notably a lot of people got really mad at Ludwig because he didn't call out Hassan Piker. You know, people have pointed out as a friend of Ludwig and who many have blamed at least in part for this whole mess. People saying things like this is worse than just skimming some tweets to find the news about what happened with the situation. You are literally intentionally leaving things out. And actually having been named earlier, Asmongold agreed that Hassan definitely played a part here. Hassan 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 like or maybe not 90

might be 80 70 but it's like the the majority of all examples on the entire platform are all hassan so yeah very clearly this is the reason why it's happening now you can say that it's unfair but that's fine uh yeah that's okay but you can't say it's not happening or that's not the reason and he also 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 like Hassan. You know it. I know it. Everybody knows it. Hassan has said a number of things over the years that. Sound really bad. I don't want to get into a big debate about whether they are bad or who was right. But we can all acknowledge that there's a lot of people that didn't like them.

Okay? A lot of people didn't like them. 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 suspended i didn't have anything to do with this even klein also jumping back into the mix calling ludwig out saying he's

sweeping this anti-semitism issue under the rugwig, 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. With Ethan bringing up when Hassan 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 main stage of TwitchCon in front of these sponsors. I mean, what the f*** do you expect, man? Don't blame the people sending emails. Blame f***ing 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.

And while this blame game thing has gotten a lot of attention, there are also others saying that this adpocalypse part of the situation, that it's actually wildly overblown. With us now seeing some streamers outside of the political space saying that their revenue has not been impacted. And specifically some like StockGuy pointing out

that once he removed politics related tags, his revenue jumped way up again. With then the likes of Hassan sharing that clip on Twitter and adding, 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. And so ultimately we find ourselves in a situation where seemingly there has not been a full blown adpocalypse, but that is allegedly not due to lack of people trying, nor does it mean that there won't be one forthcoming, especially as this topic gains more and more attention

and creators are pointing the finger at one another. It's all incredibly messy. And I will say though, it has been extra interesting since as of a week and a half ago, we started streaming over on Twitch as well in the mornings. It's definitely a different world there. I will say also, in addition to your Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Philip DeFranco show,

I'll be streaming there every morning, at least for this week. So yeah, at 10.30 Eastern, come by twitch.tv slash DeFranco live. But yeah, with all that said, going back to the story, what are your thoughts here? But then, holy hell, do we have some international news today.

Because Biden has now given permission to Ukraine to attack deep inside Russia with US-supplied long range missiles. And this is a massive shift in policy. 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, which notably has a range of about 50 miles against Russian forces directly across the border. But this time, Ukraine has permission to use the Army Tactical Missile System or ATAKMS, which has a range of about 50 miles against Russian forces directly across the border. But this time, Ukraine has permission to use the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATAKMS, which has a range of about 190 miles. Though I will say, you know, 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. Because as we've talked about before, at least 10,000 North Korean troops

are now believed to be in Russia's Kursk region. And those may actually be part of a force of as many as 50,000 soldiers working to take back the territory in this region that Ukraine seized back in August. And so with all that, the Ukrainians could use the attackums to not only strike those Russian and North Korean troops, but also target military equipment, logistics infrastructure, ammunition depots, and supply lines deep inside Russia. But ultimately, no one's really expecting this to fundamentally change the course of the war, at least directly on the ground, right? Instead, you have American officials saying that 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, of course, this could also have an impact on where things are when Trump gets back into office. With U.S. aid in jeopardy, even Zelensky is now saying that he

wants to end the war by diplomatic means next year. But until then, right, everything that happens on the ground is going to affect what that looks like, right? And so the Ukrainians might hope that they'd be able to trade any Russian territory they hold in Kursk for Ukrainian territory held by Russia. But of course, right, if Russia succeeds in taking Kursk back, then Ukraine could end up with nothing to trade at all. But then also with everything at play here,

you have some worried that this could backfire. And reportedly there, even Biden's advisors have been divided on the issue, with some apparently worrying that this could cause Putin to retaliate against not just Ukraine, but its allies. In fact, a recent US 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 they're warning 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 then actually with that, you have the Kremlin spokesperson 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 also notably there, we've seen this kind of rhetoric from Russia for a long time now. Also, that intelligence assessment I mentioned,

that was before North Korean troops really came into the equation, which has been considered a major escalation on Russia's part. And so that may have sort of changed the cost-bene benefit analysis in general. 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. So the other side of the argument is that Putin will just keep getting more and more aggressive if he's not challenged. And very notably there, that's often been the position of officials in states bordering Russia or otherwise in its old sphere of influence.

Folks who arguably have the most to fear from escalation. But ultimately, that is where we are right now. And in the meantime, of course, I'd love to know your thoughts here. But then taking a quick break from the news, you know, how many of you have kicked off 2024 promising to finally turn a passion project into profit, launch a business or a lucrative side hustle or hobby? Because for me, you know, I've been wanting to launch a book club for years and that procrastination recently ended thanks to my sponsor and friends over at Squarespace. In less than an hour, DeFranco's book club was born. Squarespace has the tools that you need,

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And don't forget to use code phil for 10% off when you're ready to launch. That's squarespace.com slash phil. But then, in really interesting news you've probably not heard about, hundreds of miners in South Africa right now have been holed up underground for months and they may be dying of hunger and thirst.

But also, no, right, this is not a cave-in story. Instead, this is because reportedly police have been blocking the exits and denying them food and water. And their reason for doing this is that those miners have apparently been working down there illegally. So what we're seeing is the South African government doing everything they can to force them out and arrest them as part of a nationwide crackdown on illegal mining. With some

here, of course, saying that this is going way too far. But also to really make sense of any of this, we got to go back a bit. Because you probably are aware of or could 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 those mines became unprofitable and they were just left behind. In fact, it's estimated that there are around 6,000 abandoned mines in the world, but eventually a lot of those mines became unprofitable and they were just left behind. In fact, it's estimated that there are around 6,000 abandoned mines in the country today, except they're also not really abandoned. Instead, what's actually happened is that many

have just become part of a massive black market mining industry, which really shouldn't be shocking, with extreme poverty and skyrocketing unemployment driving out-of-work miners and migrants to work in them. In fact, overall, there are estimated to be between 30,000 and 100,000 unlicensed minors in the country. And notably, they sometimes remain underground

for weeks at a time, often setting up illegal electricity and water supply systems. And so then with that, organized crime has become involved as well, with experts saying that 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 this is of course, one, there are already the traditional dangers of mining, but also two, it's made worse by the lack of regulation. Like last year, for example, 31 people died in a gas explosion in an unused mine,

and then a gas leak linked to illegal mining killed more than a dozen just a few months later. But then not long after those incidents, the government initiating a massive crackdown on illegal mining in the country. And what we've seen since then is many of the thousands arrested through the operation being deported and some being charged criminally.

And a key thing with all this is that the state's heavy-handed tactics have drawn criticism. We're seeing things like on November 2nd, South African police saying that 225 miners have been drawn out of one mine as a result of starvation and dehydration. Right after authorities had blocked routes into the mines, authorities also blocking local community members

from delivering food, parcels, water, and necessities to the mine shafts. And so now they've just been using the tactic again, just on a much bigger scale. It's specifically at this former gold mining site about 90 miles west of Johannesburg, with us already seeing more than a thousand miners already emerging and being arrested.

Though officials say that there are still between 350 and 400 minersors still down there. Though also, we really don't know how sure we are about those numbers. And that's because community members, as well as some minors who have been hauled up, say that it's actually up to 4,000 people that are trapped. And there are reports coming out

that the minors have been eating vinegar and toothpaste to try to survive while underground. And it's feared that their health could be deteriorating and they may be too weak and frail to leave the mine by themselves. But all of this is the South African government has insisted that they will stay the course. With one minister, for example,

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. With then, a day after that quote, a decomposing body being brought to the surface. And so now we've seen a South African court ordering police to end the standoff,

saying that emergency workers should be allowed in and the minors should be allowed to exit. So we have seen some aid being allowed in, but the South African police service says that the ruling doesn't prevent the detention of illegal minors 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. For now, we're gonna have to wait to see how all this is gonna play out. Then in huge online controversy and drama news, let's talk about MrBeast, Dogpack404,

and a creator by the name of Soggy Cereal. And for those uninitiated to this whole situation, Dogpack is a former MrBeast employee who previously posted videos accusing MrBeast of essentially being a fraud and laying out tons of alleged wrongdoings. But now you've got Soggy Cereal claiming that Dogpack is the one who's actually a fraud.

And he hits on a number of things. He goes very in detail on a number of things. It's part of the reason he put out a nearly 90 minute long video, which one, means I'm not gonna be hitting on every single thing that he talks about in that video. And two, I'll link to the video. And after today's show, if you're interested in this,

I highly recommend you watch the whole video. And that's because this is not always the case, but this is a dense 90 minutes. And it makes sense that it's that long because there are so many claims. And then he talks about a number of things, some that we're gonna touch on. But going through some of the highlights, right?

The video starts off with Soggy addressing claims that Mr. Beast knowingly hired a registered sex offender by the name of Delaware. Because that was something that Dogpack talked about as well as Jake Weddle. But according to So Sagi, Mr. Beast didn't know that Delaware had this history. And Sagi accused Dogpack of using misleading framing to make Mr. Beast out to be the bad guy doing something intentionally wrong when he was really just unaware. With Sagi actually speaking to another Mr. Beast employee who said that at the time, Mr. Beast just needed more

staff. So he went to a Best Buy and just asked 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 especially to not hire a registered sex offender as store manager. 19-year-old Mr. Beast didn't do background checks. Um, was that stupid?

Yes. Is Delaware a piece of s**t? Yes. Should Jimmy take responsibility for making that mistake? Yes. Is Delaware a piece of s**t? Yes. Should Jimmy take responsibility for making that mistake? Yes. But it wasn't this f***** up master plan by Jimmy to Intentionally hire an RSO. It was a dumb mistake by an inexperienced adolescent starting up a business. Though it is worth noting that previously Delaware's brother-in-law did say that Delaware told Mr. Beast about a situation meaning Mr. Beast would have known upon hiring him. So, Soggy's claim does clash with that. With Soggy also saying

that Delaware does not work for Mr. Beast anymore and has not for several years. With him 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 Mr. Beast. With his former employee allegedly having no clue that he was being recorded and saying he didn't intend for his words to even be taken too seriously. We're just shooting this and, you know, I don't, we're just gossiping a lot, catching up on, you know, the current drama. I don't think any of the stuff that we're talking about really had any facts or like evidence to say that I felt trickery used as an understatement. With that employee then going on to say that he

felt emotionally and financially damaged by being filmed like this and being used in this way. Saki also brought up the video Dogpack did with Rosanna Pansino where they said Ava Tyson put alleged CP in a company chat. With instead us learning that that photo in question was not CP and instead was an 18 year old Ivanka Trump modeling for GQ,

which probably sounds familiar because we covered that situation a few weeks ago with people calling Dogpack and Rosanna out since Rosanna reported Mr. Beast's company to the FBI over this. Also, a thing to be pointed out with this is that Soggy Cereal actually made it clear around halfway through the video

that he wasn't making this to kind of be Mr. Beast's defense attorney. He even ends the video with criticisms of Mr. Beast. And in this, he just says he thinks that someone needs to address the allegations Dogpack made, accusing Dogpack of willingly and repeatedly leaving crucial information out of his video so that he could push his agenda there are very few things that you can be certain of in life but you can always be sure the sun will

rise each morning you can bet your bottom dollar that you'll always need air to breathe and water to drink and of course you can rest assured that with public mobile's 5g subscription phone plans you'll pay the same thing every month with all of the mysteries that life has to offer, a few certainties can really go a long way. Subscribe today for the peace of mind you've been searching for. Public Mobile. Different is calling. From commutes that become learning sessions to dishwashing filled with laughs, podcasts can help you make the most out of your everyday. And when it comes to everyday spending, you can count on the PC Insider's World Elite Mastercard to help you earn the most PC Optimum points everywhere you shop. The PC Insider's

World Elite Mastercard, the card for living unlimited. Conditions apply to all benefits. Visit pcfinancial.ca for details. Me disproving cheap attempts at slander from this guy doesn't mean I'm defending this guy. My opinion, blindly taking either side should be heavily frowned upon because there are some very questionable and up decisions Mr. Beast has made that he needs to be held accountable for. And I'll get to that.

However, to effectively criticize him, help genuine victims, and hold him morally and legally accountable, we must first clear the table of all of the lies that have been spread by Dawson French, AKA Dogpack404. Dogpack doesn't give a about who or what he uses or whose life he ruins just to push his own narrative and it's disgusting.

Also another big moment from this whole video is audio of Dogpack seemingly being fired and begging for his job with many saying, you know, if he was so desperate to keep that job, he apparently didn't have any real issues with Mr. Beast and what he was doing, and that he was only upset now that he was on the outside. I'm a boy, I'm our CEO.

Part of my job is that you're pushing back on everything that we're saying. Well, because you're trying to fire me and I want to work at this company. I'm the CEO of this company. If I'm talking, don't interrupt me. And I am telling you, this is what's happening and you're telling me that I'm wrong.

I am not wrong. I've made the decision. Here, we will take care of how you- I appreciate that. Can I please have a second chance? It's not- If I'm getting paid, just let me come in and let me try to be coachable.

If Hoodie changes his mind, can I? I've been trying to get to this point of working on Mr. Beast for a long time. Also, you had Sagi speaking to other employees who said that Dogpack was odd and even combative and hard to work with while he was at Mr. Beast. One even saying, Not just to see people slander the work that you've done,

but to know that it's lies and misinformation will make anybody speak up. With him saying that, because notably, Dogpack repeatedly alleged that a lot of elements of Mr. Beast's videos were fake or fraudulent or rigged in some way. And you hadpack repeatedly alleged that a lot of elements of Mr. B's videos were fake or fraudulent or rigged in some way. And you had Sagi arguing that a lot of the times that Dogpack suggested that something shady

was happening behind the scenes, it was really just related to a safety measure. Like one example was Dogpack being mad that Mr. B's staffers were contestants in a video, but in reality, they were apparently just subbing in for some of the randomly selected ones after they tested positive for COVID and could no longer compete.

With Sagi also saying, "- Same with this video video where a safety team forced the Mr. Beast crew off of their 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? You can clearly see there's no one in the shelter. These are their empty beds.

You didn't spend the night soaked, Jimmy. You slept on the production yacht. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You lied about them allegedly sleeping on a the production yacht. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You lied about them allegedly sleeping on a luxurious production yacht. No, they were forced to stay on a rusty barge for about an hour for their own safety. So he also went on to address some of Dogpack's allegations

that Mr. Beast ran illegal lotteries. And there he touched on three lotteries and claimed that two of them played by the rules and were not illegal. But he did also claim that 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 for it. With him going on to say that maybe it was an accident or a careless mistake, but either way,

that if it was illegal, he should own up to it. You also had Soggy claiming the dog pack still defends video ideas that he had while working at Mr. Beast that allegedly creeped out his coworkers at the time. And with this, including one that would have been about buying a thousand boobs, which he said was for breast cancer awareness. Maybe not the most professional way to phrase it. You know, it's a little click baity or whatever, but like the actual video was supposed to be

paying for vasectomies and cosmetic surgeries for breast cancer survivors. That's amazing. That's wonderful. 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. Or with Sagi claiming the dog pack intentionally censored the image so it wouldn't look like he had creepy ideas or was trying to objectify the women in the thumbnail. You also had Sagi alleging the dog pack had other ideas that employees didn't like, including a Mr. in the thumbnail. You also had Sagi alleging that Dogpack had other ideas that employees didn't like, including a Mr. Beast

does every drug challenge. With Sagi then arguing that these ideas are especially wild for him to give when Dogpack was repeatedly bringing up how young Mr. Beast fans were. Also, didn't you say that Mr. Beast is mainly targeted to our kids? Encouraging like almost children simping for these people.

Now Mr. Beast intentionally manipulates these children's vulnerable minds. What happened to that claim? But then, where I'll close this whole topic today is about the alleged consequences of Dogpack's videos. Because in the video, Sagi talks to an employee who claimed that there has been some serious falling. We're doing a video where we're trying

to help people walking. Yeah, I know about that. Actively partners have pulled out because of these videos. There are people who will not walk or will have to delay in them walking because of the videos that Dogpack made. But ultimately that is where we are, at least specifically with this.

Again, it was an about 90 minute video. It's very dense. I'm gonna link to it if you wanna take the full deep dive. Though to really take the deep dive, you then have to also watch another video. And that because CoffeeZilla dropped a 25 minute video looking into MrBeast and all his kind of crypto stuff, which honestly doesn't look that great for MrBeast.

But that is where your Monday evening, Tuesday morning dive into the news is gonna end. But I'll also close the day with a friendly reminder. You can get filled in two times a day this week. First in the morning over at twitch.tv slash DeFranco live at 10 30 Eastern and or right back here on YouTube at five to 6 PM Eastern. But yeah, I love yo faces and I'll see you then.