Filtered: Hollywood Power Grab, Smart Glasses & AI Deepfake Chaos

In this episode of Filtered with TJ Walker, we examine four big fault lines where media, technology, and power are colliding: The Battle for Warner Bros. Discovery Paramount Skydance launches a hostile, Saudi- and Kushner-backed bid for WBD while Netflix pursues its own acquisition of the studio and HBO streaming assets. We explore why both deals worry Hollywood, one for corruption risk, the other for dangerous concentration of power.  Google’s New Gemini Smart Glasses Google returns to the smart-glasses arena after the failure of Google Glass, aiming to compete with Meta’s Ray-Ban devices. We revisit why Glass failed, how Meta’s glasses are used today, and why public backlash—from bans to smashed glasses on the subway- shows the social contract around constant recording is not resolved.  AI Deepfakes and the Information Crisis AI videos generated by tools like OpenAI’s Sora are going viral, including fake food-stamp interviews that stoke racism and policy outrage and even fooled Fox News. We discuss how poor labeling, platform incentives, and weaponized disinformation campaigns are eroding citizens’ ability to know what is real.  Saudi Arabia’s Red Carpet and Rapid Liberalization Hollywood stars at the Red Sea Film Festival have been accused of helping whitewash an authoritarian regime. At the same time, Saudi Arabia has lifted a 35-year cinema ban, allowed women to drive, and opened up to concerts, festivals, and global pop culture. We explore whether engaging through culture and capitalism can push the region in a more liberal direction, even while serious human-rights abuses persist.  Listen in for a nuanced, forward-looking take on how big money, AI, and geopolitics are reshaping what we watch, what we believe, and what kind of societies we live in.