The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 12.9 What PewDiePie Mukbang Controversy Exposes, Hypocrisy Claims, Nikocado Avocado, & Today's News

Episode Date: December 9, 2021

Go to http://www.vessi.com/defranco and use code ​DEFRANCO to get $25 off of your Vessi shoes and up to 30% off on select Vessi Vault items! ​Free shipping to CA, US, AUS, NZ, JP, TW, KR, SGP More PDS: https://youtu.be/8P4Zn9MKumI TEXT ME! [phone] Get More Phil: https://linktr.ee/PhilipDeFranco -- 00:00 - PewDiePie Shares Concern Over Mukbang Videos 04:56 - Instagram Head Testifies Before Congress 08:26 - Sponsor 09:24 - New Zealand Moving to Ban Young People From Ever Buying Cigarettes 11:12 - CDC Says Most Omicron Cases Remain Mild -- ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ PewDiePie Shares Concern Over Mukbang Videos: https://youtu.be/l8IXvm7M5Vw https://youtu.be/mbuHSPDPSIg Instagram Head Testifies Before Congress: https://roguerocket.com/2021/12/09/instagram-hearing/ New Zealand Moving to Ban Young People From Ever Buying Cigarettes: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59589775 CDC Says Most Omicron Cases Remain Mild: https://roguerocket.com/2021/12/09/early-data-indicates-omicron/  ✩ STORIES NOT IN TODAY’S SHOW ✩ Travis Scott Speaks About Astroworld in First Interview Since Tragedy: https://roguerocket.com/2021/12/09/travis-scott-interview/ ——————————     Executive Producer: Amanda Morones  Edited by: James Girardier, Julie Goldberg, Maxwell Enright Art Department: Brian Borst, William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Cory Ray, Brian Espinoza, Maddie Crichton, Lili Stenn, Neena Pesqueda Production Team: Zack Taylor, Emma Leid ———————————— #DeFranco #PewDiePie #JoJoSiwa Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sup, you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the final scheduled Philip DeFranco show for what we're calling season 15, the year 2021. And so I just want to say two things. One, I hope this show has helped you feel in the know, maybe less alone in the chaos of this world. And if you want to take that into 2022, in addition to being subscribed to this channel,

make sure you got those notifications turned on. Bells should look like this. And, or you can text me at 813-213-4423. And two, even though I'm your designated bringer of sadness by talking about the news, you don't always get to talk about fun stuff. We can end on a positive high note in at least one way. Yes, make sure you're subscribed.

Definitely hit that like button on today's show and leave a comment about one of today's stories because I'm gonna be giving away some free beautiful bastard gear. But yeah, main things, I love yo faces and let's just jump into it. And you know, the first thing that we're gonna talk about today

and I'd really love to know your opinion on is this controversy around mukbangs. And looking into this, this is not actually a new controversy. It's kind of just reemerged and there's a big spotlight on it, in part because one of the biggest YouTubers in the world, PewDiePie, talked about it two days ago. But for those unfamiliar, according to Wikipedia, a mukbang, also known as an eating show, is an online audio-visual broadcast in which a host consumes various quantities of food while interacting with the audience. And noting it became popular in South Korea in 2010,

and since then has become a global trend. When I was first introduced to this genre, that this type of show, it seemed kind of basic. Someone's having their lunch or dinner, if they're live streaming, maybe they're doing a Q and A. If it was just a regular video, maybe they're doing a story time just while they eat. And you know, people that are watching,

they could be watching it for that content, necessarily the food. Maybe they just wanna not eat by themselves and they eat at the same time. But in 2021, if you do a quick search on YouTube for mukbang, it seems like the videos are way, way, way more extreme. With a lot of the results featuring,

and thus a lot of the commenters talking about, Nikocado Avocado. A lot of the thumbnails seeming to show Nick and sometimes another person in front of just an immense amount of food. But this has been going on for a long time, so why talk about it now? Well, like I said, PewDiePie recently uploaded a video

called I Hate Mukbang, talking about the trend, criticizing videos from the genre, and with that, revisiting creators like Nikocado Avocado, who we touched on last time that he talked about this three years ago. And in his video, which I'll link to, he makes a number of points, but ultimately giving his final take on the trend

as a whole, saying, I just find it weird how this kind of stuff, YouTube is just, and i'm not saying they should do anything about it i'm just saying observing how it works like this is all fine like it's treating animals just blatantly promoting obesity i know they're not condoning it especially nikado has never condoned it but you know it has its effect that still kids are impressionable, right? As someone who's tried- dealt with so much censorship on this platform, it's like, what?

Really? I'm just baffled by it. I'm not saying I did- I disagree with it existing at all. It's just weird when you find these different corners on YouTube and you're like, oh, this is fine. Oh, why? Okay. Now regarding Felix talking about the mistreatment of animals, I think that's in reference to there- there was a woman featured in one of the videos eating a squid alive And then of course kind of the main point of the debate is is this content promoting obesity? And then a greater conversation that people are happening of saying, okay Well should this content exist here? Should it be age gated? Which actually the next thing that we're gonna talk about touches on social media and minors, you know

While this has been debated Nikocado actually responded to the video and he responded in a 38 minute video. So I'll link once again, all to that down below. But some of the key things that he pushed back on, uh, one regarding the idea that he is promoting obesity in some way, he said, I'm resulting in more weight loss success stories because people watch me eat for them. I can't tell you how many messages my manager, my team, my network gets letters all the time. People saying I lost 50 pounds because of this show. Nick Acato ate all that junk for me. It kept me from eating it myself. I watched him on the treadmill. I listened to his conversation while commuting to the gym and the car. I watched him late at night when I was having tendencies and urges to run out to McDonald's, but I watched Nick Acato do it and I put it to rest.

But I'm also claiming that Felix, who he constantly refers to as a video gamer, is promoting way worse things than he is. Then regarding the argument that the content that he's putting out there is actually bad for the platform, we saw Nick respond. Y'all remember Adpocalypse from 2017? Who was the reason us people had to experience that?

Him, you, by saying the N word. Then finally, regarding highlights from this video, he addressed, you know, the idea that he is affecting impressionable children, saying, this is not a daycare center. You're so concerned, watch your kids. Watch your kids if you're so concerned. And so with all of that said,

and understanding that both of the people that I'm talking about here, I couldn't hit every single point they made in their videos. I now want to pass a question off to you. What are your thoughts regarding this mukbang controversy and where do you land? Or do you see it as promoting obesity?

Yes or no? Do you see it as potentially harmful to the platform? Do you see it as the natural progression of like a lot of genres on YouTube? I mean, look at pranks. That started with kind of like little silly stuff, ultimately resulting in people like posting videos like, I faked blowing up my child.

Also, if you do have an issue with the content that Nick Akato is putting out there, do you also have that same issue with people like a professional eater, Matt Stonie? Right, why, why not? Yeah, there's a lot to touch on. So really any and all thoughts you have on this, let me know in those comments down below.

And then I just want to give a massive congratulations to anyone that had Jojo Siwa getting name dropped at a congressional hearing that may help shape the future of social media on their 2021 bingo card. Right, and so let me explain. Yesterday dropped at a congressional hearing that may help shape the future of social media on their 2021 bingo card. Right, and so let me explain. Yesterday, there was a congressional hearing between Instagram head Adam Mosseri and a Senate subcommittee.

And there were several key moments in this. The first, which was also arguably the most unexpected, happened when Mosseri confirmed that the platform will soon bring back chronological feed. Also though, in a less surprising statement, he refused to commit to fully scrapping Instagram for kids, instead saying, "- The idea of building a version of Instagram for 10 to 12-year-olds was trying to solve a problem.

The idea being that we know that 10 to 12-year-olds are online, they want to use platforms like Instagram, and it's difficult for companies like ours to verify age for those that are so young they don't yet have an ID. And so what I can commit to today is that no child between the ages of 10 or 12 should we ever manage to build Instagram for 10 to 12 year olds will have access to that without their explicit parental consent. And it's important to remember this whole hearing happened in response to those leaked whistleblower documents

that exposed internal research at Instagram and its parent company Facebook now known as Meta. With some of the key documents there showing that Meta knew Instagram was harmful to millions of teens, most notably teen girls with body image issues. Then, following very notable and widespread backlash, Instagram indefinitely paused plans to launch a kid-friendly version of the app, but even now, they refuse to entirely kill the plan, which is likely part of the reason we saw ranking Republican Marsha Blackburn trying to catch Mosseri off

guard, saying at one point, In your testimony, you said you removed more than 850,000 accounts because they did not meet your minimum age requirement. These accounts were disabled because the users did not provide identification showing that they were at least 13 years old. So why did you say you didn't want to know when JoJo Siwa said she had been on Instagram since she was eight years old. Is that your general attitude toward kids who are on your platform? And there, what Senator Blackburn is referring to is this interview between Mosseri and Siwa that happened back in June where this was said. I know you're not supposed to have Instagram until you're 13. I did. I had an account.

Many, many five-year-olds. I'm sorry, I don't want to hear that. You didn't I did. I had an account. Many, many five-year-olds. I don't want to hear that. You didn't hear that. Nobody else heard that. And so in response to Blackburn, we see Mosseri say... We invest a lot to try to identify those under the age of 13. And whenever we find them... Okay, but at that moment, when you responded to her that you did not want to know, why didn't you use that as a teaching moment?

Senator, I would say it was a missed opportunity. Indeed, it was a missed opportunity and it sends the wrong message. Though we've seen a number of people pushing back against that kind of tactic and mindset, but still both Democrats and Republicans alike continue to grill Mosseri throughout yesterday's hearing. This even after he proposed the formation

of a new industry body to set safety standards for social media platforms with him saying that it could help protect younger children online. We also saw Moussari trying to walk back research that claims Instagram specifically can be addictive and bad for mental health, saying he doesn't believe research shows

that social media drives a rise in suicides. And while there are a lot of different aspects of this story, I will say it always bugs me when people at social media platforms say with a straight face, I don't think what we do and what we have is addictive. I know why they'll never say that it does publicly, but like that's the whole fucking game, right?

How do I get people to engage, to get that dopamine hit, to stay here and not go somewhere else? Engagement leading to your time and attention equals dollars. But to be fair, that's not just an Instagram issue, it's a social media issue. And one, I don't think we're gonna be able to properly navigate. But hey, ultimately that's a story, some of my opinion,

and I pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts here? But from that, I wanna take a quick second to thank the sponsor of today's show, Vessi. You know, it's hard to find lightweight shoes that actually keep your feet warm and dry through rain, snow, mud, but Vessi does just that. This sneaker will not just improve life,

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and be sure to use code DeFranco to get $25 off. And from now to January 1st, get up to 30% off on select Vessi vault items. So grab some now while they still have your size, and you'll be thanking me later. And then let's talk about a kind of ban that I've really never seen before. You know, depending on where you live,

there are age requirements for certain things. Here in the United States, legally, you have to be 21 to drink or smoke, 18 to vote or watch porn, and 17 to join our military because of course that's how we ordered it. America, we're a fun and special place. But the reason I bring up the age requirements

as well as using the word ban is that New Zealand is trying something different because they are moving to try and ban the next generation of children from ever buying cigarettes as part of its smoke-free 2025 campaign. So what would happen under this newly proposed legislation is that the country would raise the legal smoking age by one year every year,

effectively blocking anyone 14 and under when the bill is passed from ever buying tobacco, which is expected to happen by 2023. On top of that, the government also hopes that other aspects of the bill will reduce the number of current smokers, right? Policies like limiting the amount of nicotine allowed in tobacco products.

This in part because despite the fact that only 13.4% of New Zealand adults smoke, it's still the leading cause of preventable death in New Zealand and causes one in four cancers. The government also planning to implement what they call practical support measures to help people quit. And while this law has been highly praised,

it's also received its fair share of criticism. With the ACT party pointing out that lowering the nicotine content in products affects the poor far more, and saying that it'll likely encourage them to buy more, and in turn, that could increase their exposure to other harmful substances in cigarettes while trying to get their nicotine fixed.

While you have the current government claiming that's a small problem and the low nicotine content has been proven as a useful way to wean people off of cigarettes. However, one of the issues that will arise from this, and nearly everyone agrees that it will happen, is that this will grow the black market. Right, because I don't know if you know this,

just because you make something illegal doesn't mean people won't get their hands on it. And that's in addition to a number of people pointing that there's this big elephant in the room and it's vaping. With people arguing the legislation doesn't cover it, despite the fact that it's the most popular way to get nicotine among young people, with nearly 20% of students vaping daily.

And so with all that said and explained, and I wanna pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think the proposal makes sense? It is a step forward or are you against it? And if so, why? Then as we're closing out the year, I definitely wanna talk about some Omicron news

because we did get some news, good and bad. I'll start with the bad. As scientists initially speculated, preliminary studies do appear to show that the Omicron variant is more transmissible than previous variants, but it is unclear exactly how transmissible. One recent unpeer reviewed study

by a Japanese scientist who advises the country's health ministry found that the strain is about four times more transmissible in its initial stage than Delta was. Also, in some of the countries hit early, like South Africa where the variant was first detected and is already the dominant strain, new COVID cases have more than doubled over the last week.

And in the UK, Omicron cases are doubling every two or three days, and health officials have said that the strain could become dominant in the country in a matter of weeks. But open your mouth for the choo-choo train, there's good news. Yesterday we saw the World Health Organization director saying that yes, while the early data

does seem to show high transmissibility, it also appears to be causing just more mild cases than Delta rather than severe. And that's something that was also backed up by CDC director, Rochelle Walensky, who told reporters that of the 40 known Omicron cases in the US, as of yesterday, nearly all of them are mild. While one person has been hospitalized so far,

none have died. Also, another piece of good news, at least by 2021 standards. So far, studies have shown that vaccines are effective at preventing severe illness and death in Omicron patients and boosters provide at least some added protection. I suggest yesterday Pfizer and Biontech announced that laboratory tests have shown that a third dose

of their COVID-19 vaccine appears to provide sufficient protection against the Omicron variant But also saying the two doses may not according to the company's researchers saw a 25-fold reduction in neutralizing antibodies for Omicron Compared to other strains of the virus for people who had just two Pfizer doses But they found that samples from people one month after they had received a Pfizer booster presented neutralizing antibodies against Omicron that were comparable to those Seen against previous variants after two doses. But still with all that, you had Pfizer's chief executive saying yesterday that Omicron could increase the likelihood

that people might need a fourth dose earlier than previously expected, which he had initially said was 12 months after the third shot. But I do want to note here, and I always try to, the Pfizer research right now has not yet been peer reviewed. And obviously in general, you want to be as sure as possible but you also want to get outside opinions and findings than just, you know, the people that monetize

and benefit the most off of these vaccines. But ultimately where I'll end this is by saying, you know, if you've been paying attention, none of this is surprising. We have an uneven distribution of the vaccine, especially in poorer countries. Notable chunks of the population deciding not to get vaccinated.

The unvaccinated increase the likelihood of spread and mutation of the virus. So unless something just drastically or unexpectedly changes, it feels like this is going to be part of our new normal. Tired of spread and mutation of the virus. So unless something just drastically or unexpectedly changes, it feels like this is gonna be part of our new normal. Tired of it, I fucking hate it, but you know, that's the world right now. But ultimately that is where that story

and today's show and shows for the year end. With that, I'll say in addition to whether it be the final story, the first one, anything in between, if you just wanna say anything, I know that I'm gonna be definitely scrolling through these comments, so leave a comment down below. Also, remember, I'm just gonna be randomly selecting some people to get some free gear,

but potentially for the last time this year, my name's Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in, I love yo faces, and I'll see you next time.