The Internet, Reviewed.

Earlier this year, the Australian Financial Review reported on a $49,500 personal political donation from cryptocurrency exchange company Swyftx to Labor MP Andrew Charlton, made during last year's federal election campaign.Charlton's office "declined to comment" on the story, while the Swyftx CEO responded to it directly in a LinkedIn post, where he defended making the donation and explained it was part of a lobbying "long game" and "education process". (Worth noting here that after the election, Charlton was appointed assistant minister for the digital economy, and went on to be a key driver of the new legislation that regulates cryptocurrency.)That donation was originally disclosed on the Australian Electoral Commission's transparency register (which is how the AFR was able to report on it), but when I went to find it there, it had disappeared. It turns out that donation disclosure has since been "amended" to reflect the fact that the money actually went to NSW Labor. (Even though Swyftx clearly thought they'd given it to Charlton.)It also turns out, these sorts of donations - and subsequent "amendments" - happen *quite a lot*.Donors don't realise the money they are "giving" to individual major party candidates is actually going to the party itself. We usually don't get to see it, because it's all 'tided up' before donation disclosures are made public. (Independent candidates, on the other hand, have many donations disclosed next to their names, because they don't have a party machine behind them.)This one, for whatever reason, slipped through. And as an added bonus, we got to hear directly from the donor about their motivations.

When YouTubers start claiming to have "exposed" something that the mainstream media has been exposing for years, ya gotta say something!YouTuber Pete Zogoulas and online political activist Drew Pavlou appeared on Karl Stefanovic's new podcast yesterday to discuss their Nick-Shirley-inspired video about fraud in the NDIS.I have a few thoughts on their video, and their conversation with Karl, and why I think we've maybe been a bit too harsh on mainstream media lately (which absolutely has its flaws!).

Welcome to "Backchat", where I respond to some of the feedback and comments on my videos.I have a couple of corrections/clarifications to make on my Megyn Kelly video from last week, in response to a few things pointed out in the comments section.(And yes - this segment is inspired by the ABC's "Backchat with Tim Bowden" from the 80s/90s.)

​Megyn Kelly has changed quite a lot in recent years. I think that much is undeniable - she herself acknowledges it. But what explains that change?In this video, I make the case that it is largely due to her falling victim to "audience capture" - an increasingly common trap for online, supposedly "independent" media personalities. The video also explores what she sees as the future of journalism, and the 'new rules' of the online ecosystem.Check out the blurb at my YouTube channel for links to the material referenced in the video.

Elena Bridgers is a science writer with an academic background in human biology, and "a special fascination in motherhood and evolutionary mismatch". She shares information about what motherhood was like (to the best of our knowledge) in hunter-gatherer societies - that is, for 95% of human history (and ongoing, for remaining hunter-gatherer societies today).The "evolutionary mismatch" lens she looks through highlights discrepancies between the physical and social environment we evolved to mother in, and the contemporary post-industrial world where things are very different. (Much better in some ways, not so good in others.)The sheer scale and speed of her success in just a couple of years shows how strongly her message is resonating with women who can't understand why mothering can be so damn hard, in this comfortable modern world. I don't think her content is only interesting to mothers, though. I think it's for anyone who is interested in humans, in why birthrates are falling all over the world, in why political polarisation between genders is increasing, or in how to make family life better in the modern world.She posts shorter form text and video content to platforms like Instagram and TikTok, but I prefer her Substack "Motherhood Until Yesterday" (and podcast by the same name), as it allows much more room for nuance, details, and links to sources... all the good stuff! (And I really enjoy her writing style, which is a nice bonus on top of the content.)I love that she clearly cares about getting at the truth of things - even when those truths are, as she puts it, "inconvenient" for "ambitious progressives".Some have described her content as "rage bait", but I strongly disagree. I think it can be controversial and difficult to hear, but that is because she is opening up difficult conversations that are important to have. She has shown pretty impressive accountability when making mistakes and being called out for them by her audience. This is a rare trait online (anywhere, really!) and I think should be applauded.

Have you ever noticed how often it's reported that Vladimir Putin is about to die, and how rarely he actually does?Weird, isn't it.And it goes back more than two decades.Here's the 1940 film "Experiments in the Revival of Organisms", not for the weak-stomached:https://archive.org/details/Experime1940

We're getting back to core business today with a good old fashioned review..."Engineering with Rosie" on YouTube is, in my view, one of the best sources of information out there when it comes to the renewable energy transition.The channel is created and hosted by Rosemary Barnes - a renewable energy engineer with two decades of industry experience (and a PhD in wind turbine blade design, and some serious gingerbread skills!). It's a great example of what the internet has always promised us: people with specialised knowledge sharing that knowledge with the world.Rosie produces content that differs from much of the other material in this space, because she comes at it from the perspective of an engineer. She is realistic about the challenges so many renewable energy technologies face, while still showing the incredible progress that is being made all around the world in the transition away from fossil fuels.Her content is probably most appealing to people with at least a grasp of some basic engineering and physics concepts and does sometimes get a bit technical - but I still think it's very accessible and worth checking out even if you're not particularly nerdy in that area.

[Please note: This video was published on my YouTube channel a few months ago.]I recently became obsessed with trying to work out whether China really does have coin-operated park benches that stab you in the butt when your sitting time is up. This 'fact' was all over the internet, and had made its way into the NY Times, The Guardian, NPR, an academic journal, and a professor's book. Turns out, it is absolutely not true.This fixation cost me $55, several days, and a significant chunk of my sanity.To try to move past it, I have made this video taking you on my journey of internet factchecking.

We found him!This is an exclusive interview with "Teddy Reech", aka Scott Curtis - a UGC creator/actor who's done over a thousand ads for social media and online.He's got quite the story to tell about the job he did for the history app people, who it seems were engaged in an AI footage-farming operation.Enjoy his insights into this strange corner of the internet. Oh - and his story about doing ads for boner pills on the internet.

I recently started receiving ads on social media for "educational" history apps. It soon became clear these were almost all just AI-generated junk apps, or outright scams to steal your money.This seems, to me, yet another symptom of the era of enshittification we're in, which is being turbocharged by AI.There seems to be a flood of these AI apps now, so I thought I should warn you about them. Please, if you know of any educational or history apps that are actually good, useful, and not scams, let us know in the comments!More info at my YouTube channel.

This episode unpacks the podcast that unpacks The Joe Rogan Experience... yes, it gets a bit meta!Hopefully, it'll leave you with some useful take-homes about how to critically assess the world's biggest podcast.Find more reviews at my YouTube channel: The Internet, Reviewed. Or email me with your own suggestions for who I should review next: [email protected]