👻 Horror looks to expand

For 27 years, Section 230 — part of the 1996 Communications Decency Act — has shaped the internet.

It states that website operators (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, media outlets) can’t be sued over what users post or comment, and may also set policies for what gets removed and what doesn’t.

For example…

… artist Ken Zeran received a barrage of threatening phone calls after offensive ads with his home phone number appeared on AOL.

In 1997, Zeran sued AOL and lost, setting an important precedent: AOL was not liable for what an anonymous troll used its platform to post.

Section 230 has since been cited in at least 350 cases — though most related lawsuits are dismissed before they’re even heard, per NPR.

Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter…

… didn’t exist in the ‘90s. The internet has exploded in the last quarter century, and many want Section 230 reformed or repealed:

• Some cite an influx of online hate speech and misinformation
• Others, including the Trump admin, have claimed that allowing platforms to moderate freely lets them suppress certain ideologies

Meanwhile, advocates say it’s crucial to free speech. The Electronic Frontier Foundation notes that it protects small websites and bloggers, too.

But now…

… a group of lawsuits are challenging Section 230’s reign.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard a case in which the family of a student killed in the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks alleged that Google-owned YouTube’s algorithms recommended extremist terrorist videos.

The court carefully considered the arguments — Justice Elena Kagan quipped they’re “not the nine greatest experts on the internet” — without making any decisions, but did express concerns about overhauling the internet and endless lawsuits.

The court heard a similar case against Twitter yesterday, regarding whether social media companies are liable for “aiding and abetting” terrorists, a violation of 2016’s Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.

No opinion was issued, but Vox reported the court seemed unlikely to hold social media companies liable.

Paranormal Activity, Get Out, M3gan, The Purge. Some scary stuff we’re talking about here, and all of it comes from Blumhouse Productions.

While these movies are frightening and all, what’s more horrifying may be missing a lucrative opportunity to get in on the global video game industry — more valuable than that of film and music combined, per Bloomberg.

Under a new division called Blumhouse Games, Blumhouse plans to start producing and publishing immersive horror-themed games.

• Blumhouse Games will tap independent developers to work on slates of sub-$10m games. It’s aiming to finance ~15 titles over three to four years, investing ~$25m on each slate.

Blumhouse brought on Zach Woods — an industry veteran of 25+ years who’s produced games on all major platforms — to be its president, and Don Sechler of Sony PlayStation as CFO.

Horror empire: Blumhouse is also hoping to close a merger with The Conjuring director James Wan’s Atomic Monster production company this summer — a deal that’s been described as “impregnable.”

What do you get when you mix rising food prices with a little apocalyptic dread? Pickled veggies, apparently.

Per Vox, canned food — like its starchy sister sourdough — rose in popularity in 2020 when covid lockdowns kept people at home and bored out of their minds:

• Google searches for “canning” soared
• Sales of the All-American Pressure Cooker, a canning tool, were off the charts
• Newell Brands, the company behind Ball jars, saw sales triple between April and June 2020
• Sales of the cookbook So Easy to Preserve rose 175%

But canning isn’t new

The practice of preserving food dates back to ancient times, but modern-day canning took off in 1897 with the debut of Campbell’s tomato soup (a cultural icon itself).

Home canning caught on in the early 20th century after the invention of screw-on lids allowed amateur cooks to preserve their own food in glass jars.

Canning had a rebirth in the 1970s with the DIY movement, and again in 2008 amid the Great Recession.

What is new is social media’s adoption of the hobby:

• Canning content creators @gracewalkfarm and @fiveacrefarm have hundreds of thousands of followers across Instagram and TikTok
• The hashtag #canning has 640m+ views on TikTok
• Black Girls Can and Black Folks Love “Canning” Too offer Facebook communities to Black home cooks and preservers

So, it might be time to inflation-proof your pantry and preserve some food. You can do it.