- Sup, you beautiful bastards?
Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show.
Buckle up, make sure you're subscribed,
because I'm splitting $10,000 across 10 lucky subscribed
beautiful bastards this month.
And let's just jump into it.
Freedom of speech is a thing that allows me to say
fuck Joe Biden or fuck Donald Trump,
and the SWAT team's not gonna bust down my door.
(person banging on door)
- [Speaker] FBI, open up.
- A lot of people like talk about freedom of speech
when it deals with like bans and private companies,
but at the end of the day,
we're talking about the government
not able to crack down on you
because you said some shit.
But, the idea of freedom of speech in other countries
can look very different.
And I mentioned that because right now,
people in the streets of the UK are having
a very different experience.
Like we talked about last week,
Queen Elizabeth II died,
and one of the big reactions we saw online
were people kinda memeing the whole thing.
Hell, you even had some political commentators
like Hasan Piker are throwing some g g's in the chat,
like he just clutched a game of Valorant when she died.
- Hoo, let's go, get (beep) queen.
- And while things like that have only really
been a part of the court of public opinion,
people loving it or hating it,
we're seeing things right now, like in Scotland,
a woman holding a sign that were at abolish monarchy
and fuck imperialism being arrested on Sunday
for protesting outside the cathedral
where the queen's body was at.
And when you hear that, you'd go,
okay this would probably get laughed outta court
in the U.S. as basic freedom of speech.
But in the UK, it's different.
They actually recently passed a law
to heavily curb the ability to protest
and actually gave the police the ability to step in on
quote, "unjustifiably noisy protests
"that may have a significant impact on others,"
which led to this woman being charged
with breaching the peace.
With that her arrest was decried by some locals at the time,
who yelled out, "Let her go, it's free speech,"
while others responded with, "have some respect."
You had organizations like the Free Speech Union
outraged at her arrest, calling it intolerable.
But at the same time, many disagreeing saying,
hey, her use of the word fuck was clearly meant
to incite and disturb the peace.
So those people argued that it was justified
that she was arrested.
Now for me, I'll say setting aside the fact
that it's ridiculous that such a broad,
open to interpretation law even exists,
it also doesn't appear to hold up to scrutiny.
Many more people have recently been arrested
for protests with far less offensive language.
Yesterday you had a protestor arrested
outside Westminster Palace for holding a not my king sign.
While up an Edinburgh a young man
was charged with breaching the peace after yelling this
to alleged pedo Prince Andrew.
- [Speaker] Andrew, you're a sick old man.
(people yelling)
- That being the most that he could get out
before being dragged away from a parade barrier.
In Oxford author and activist Symon Hill
was arrested for, you guess it, breaching the peace.
In his case Hill shouted, "Who elected him?"
After the proclamation declared Charles King was read out,
with him clarifying that asking that question
wasn't meant to disrespect the late queen,
as many people felt otherwise about his outburst.
But all of this has led to questions
about how broad this law is.
'Cause apparently the barrier for arrest
is if someone could be offended,
in which case nearly any opinion would apply.
While people argue about this
we're likely gonna see even more protests
and arrests for questioning the monarchy's legitimacy.
And so with this, we're seeing a group called Republic,
which calls for a republican government
planning to engage in protests during Charles's coronation.
Although they're trying to work
with local authorities to avoid arrests.
And here's the thing, I understand that all countries
are different places with different rules,
but not as an American, but as a human being,
I think we need to understand that freedom of speech
is not something that should be gifted
by the government.
This is something you should just have.
Your words can, will, and should have consequences
when you're dealing with other citizens
and private companies and such,
but as long as your words aren't inciting violence
or it's like yelling fire in a crowded movie theater
where all of a sudden people could actually get hurt,
the government shouldn't crack down on you.
So that's why, regardless of what my actual opinion is,
I feel inclined to say here,
fuck King Charles and fuck the monarchy.
We got leaked documents, people.
We now know that Instagram is dying.
Specifically here, I'm talking about Reels.
Turns out the Instagram model of copy and pasting
another social platform on your own,
not working for them this time.
Because, according to a now leaked internal document
from Meta titled Creators and Reels State of the Union 2022,
people just don't care about or use them.
As far as the specifics,
the leaked doc was internally published back in August,
and revealed that compared to the previous four weeks,
Reels engagement had fallen by 13.6%.
And that, quote, "most Reels users
"have no engagement whatsoever."
And it appears that there are a few reasons for this.
It appears that short form content is more popular
with younger people,
and those people prefer their competitors like TikTok.
Also, it appears another big reason
is that Instagram is struggling to recruit creators,
with many not embracing Reels.
And this could be because creators
don't feel incentivized to work with Reels,
which they've tried to fix.
Meta has set aside a $1 billion creator fund last year.
They paid out nearly $120 million so far.
However, you have a lot of creators,
like music creator Landen Purifoy saying,
hey homegrown content just doesn't do well,
despite Meta seemingly wanting it to flourish,
even testing this out by putting the same video
on TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Snapchat,
Spotlight, and Instagram Reels,
and finding it got well over a million views
on every platform except Reels
where it bombed and barely broke 100K.
And while that's anecdotal,
I will say I've had a very similar experience.
And so with those lower numbers, you have, Purifoy saying,
"Nobody's going to make original content for Instagram.
"It just doesn't make any sense."
And as a matter of fact, some of Reel's most popular content
is just recycled videos from other platforms.
But technically not all bad news for Reels.
The company has downplayed the leaked report,
spokespeople claiming that the data was outdated
and didn't look at how the platform performed globally,
and claiming that,
"Creators and businesses are seeing promising results,
"and our monetization growth is faster than we expected,
"as more people are watching, creating,
"and connecting through Reels than ever before."
Regarding the claim that videos do worse
on Instagram Reels than TikTok, you have some pushing back,
with creators like Danny Loves Pasta
seeming to actually do better on Instagram Reels,
because there's different audiences
that require different videos.
But, either way, that report has seemingly had
some negative effects from Meta,
as its stock had a pretty big dip this morning
and erased some recent gains.
But ultimately, as far as my opinion here,
when it comes to shorts,
there are really only two places that excite me,
and that is TikTok and YouTube Shorts.
Both places offer insane upside to creators,
new and old alike.
In those two places you can just experience explosive growth
that you can't see anywhere else.
I mean, on TikTok just last week,
I have videos that got 3.3, 2.9, 2.6, 1.7, 3.1, 7.6 million.
On YouTube the views are way more scattered,
but we had a video that about Elon Musk
that did like over five million views.
And while monetization pretty much everywhere
sucks for shorts,
I think these two places are gonna
figure it out the best soon.
And personally, I think that YouTube is going to figure out
monetization around shorts first,
as far as a better situation.
TikTok hopefully will then be forced to
have something better than the Creator Fund.
But all of that brings me to my two final points.
One, if you are a creator or you wanna be a creator,
get on those two platforms ASAP, and just start postin'.
Those places are your best shot for growth.
And two, I will stand by my previous claim
that I said, I think it was last week,
TikTok will reign supreme
as long as messy TikTok continues to exist.
Which on that note, a lot of y'all love me sharing
one of the latest videos from my messy TikTok group chat.
So I figured we could experience the newest video
in the group chat together.
- This video is for whoever keeps sendin'
and showin' my TikToks to my ex,
send him this one, send him this one.
Curtis, ain't you 22?
Livin' with your 16-year-old baby mama in her grandma house?
(intense music)
- Curtis. - Huh, stealing your
mama food stamp card.
- Oh, Curtis. - Huh?
No car, no apartment, no nothin'.
You don't got shit.
(intense music)
But let's not talk about that.
Let's talk about how you got her pregnant
when she was 13 years old.
- Curtis. - But before that
you got your sister pregnant when she was 12.
- Curtis.
- But you're not gonna talk about that, huh?
Huh?
But I'm gonna talk about it.
(Philip laughing)
- Stressful day.
How is this app free?
TikTok is the undefeated king of online messiness.
I don't know who that lady is.
I don't know Curtis.
I don't know if anything she said is true.
But TikTok has allowed the messiest
and most complicated people in our friend groups
to now just have bigger friend groups.
Anyway, let's do a new poll.
What platforms do you actively use?
Let's say top two.
The majority of account hacking nowadays
happens via credential stuffing.
Where you use your usual email address
and password on a website that wasn't maintained.
It gets compromised.
And now there's a chance that your username and password
can end up on the deep web or hacker forms
alongside thousands of other users' credentials,
which is also why I'd like to talk about
the partner and sponsor of today's show, Nord VPN,
or more directly NordVPN.com/Phil.
When hackers get your information,
they can take over your username and password
and attempt to get into other websites
like Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and more.
Like we've talked about in the past,
if you use the same password for all these websites
they might succeed and get into more of your accounts.
When you use Nord VPN, they can alert you if this happens
when you turn on Dark Web Monitor.
And you need to be sure to use a password manager
like Nord Pass to generate strong, unique passwords,
and always have them at hand
without actually having to remember them.
So get protected and head on over to NordVPN.com/Phil
to get a huge discount off a two-year plan,
plus four extra months free.
That is an incredible deal.
And remember that's NordVPN.com/Phil,
and it's all risk free with Nord's
30-day money back guarantee.
Drugs are good for you.
Sometimes.
But today's show not sponsored by Purdue Pharmaceutical.
Rather, what I'm talking about is how this new study
found that patients who got intravenous ketamine treatments
had significant improvement in symptoms of depression,
anxiety, and suicidal ideation.
So let's look at the specifics.
The study, which was published yesterday
in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry,
draws from evaluations of 424 people
with treatment-resistant depression,
and they were treated with twice a week ketamine infusions
at three clinics in Virginia,
with researchers finding that within six weeks
of beginning infusions,
half of the patients responded to the treatment
and 20% were symptom free.
But then the results got even better after 10 weeks,
with seven outta 10 patients seeing improvement
and two outta five patients in remission.
And this study is significant compared to others,
because most previous research into the matter
had stopped after six infusions.
So as a result with this new study,
researchers could provide a more in-depth understanding
of the long-term potential ketamine can have
for treating people with severe depression.
With that, you need to keep in mind the keywords here,
severe depression and medication-resistant depression.
Because even though what we're seeing
is very, very positive,
experts say that ketamine should not be used
as a first option for people who have depression
or even suicidal ideations,
as there are plenty of other effective options
like antidepressants and therapy.
But also as the Washington Post notes,
"For those at imminent risk of harming themselves,
"a rapid effect can be life saving,
"especially for cases where traditional treatments
"such as antidepressants and talk therapy have not worked
"or are slow to take effect."
With them, for example, talking to one 52-year-old man
named Jason Anthony who has been battling depression
for 15 years and took part in the ketamine study.
And Anthony saying he tried this
because he felt like he ran out of other options.
Like this guy had been hospitalized for a seizure
that was caused by medication he was taking for depression.
And while anecdotal, he said he had relief
after just four ketamine treatments,
and he didn't have any adverse side effects
that he experienced while using other medications.
And saying, "It's hard to quantify the level of relief,
"but I don't know that I'd be here."
And I will say while it's, once again,
still anecdotal, the people that I know
that have tested this, they've had very positive results.
But even with that, experts have noted some shortfalls.
For example, with this study specifically,
it was not a blind study with a control group.
And the researchers themselves also noted
they did not have a system to track side effects
or adverse events like drug abuse.
When it comes to being confident with the science,
you have to do things a certain way.
With the director of the Yale Depression Research Program
going even further saying, hey, there are other red flags,
noting that it doesn't mention race or ethnicity,
gives little information about patients' baselines,
and only included those who are able to shell out
$500 per session out of pocket
because insurance doesn't cover this type
of experimental ketamine use.
And that last part is very significant,
because the cost is a major barrier
to get a full scope of data from a diverse population.
Though, also notably here,
researchers did say that the type of ketamine infusions
that they used is cheaper than
the ketamine-derived nasal spray
approved by the FDA for treatment-resistant depression,
which means that this option could result
in some savings if it is eventually covered by insurance.
But there you should also kinda measure your expectation.
It will likely be a while before insurers
widely covered ketamine treatments.
But ultimately that is where we are with this right now.
And I think there's a little bit of a road ahead.
We need more studies, specifically blind studies,
with a control group.
Also make it so that people aren't fucking paying.
And that's because in addition
to you needing to have the accurate data,
the better the study the easier it's gonna be
to normalize this.
The easier it'll be to push more government approvals
and better healthcare coverage.
Oh, Lindsey.
- The point I'm tryin' to make is I've been consistent.
I think states should decide the issue of marriage
and states should decide the issue of abortion.
- [Speaker] Later.
- I think we should have a law at the federal level
that would say after 15 weeks no abortion on demand,
except in cases of rape, incest,
to save the life of the mother.
- It's about states' rights.
Just kiddin'.
So the first clip is Senator Lindsey Graham
saying abortion should be left to the states.
Also, just so you're not confused,
that's not like from years ago.
People can change.
That first clip was from last month.
And that second clip, just showing that he's full of shit,
came from a press briefing this afternoon.
I love it.
I've always been consistent
in my inconsistency.
But as far as the details in this briefing,
you had Graham arguing that the bill is necessary
because by 15 weeks the fetus's nerve endings
are fairly developed, and thus it can feel pain,
with him noting that many European nations
have similar limits, and that with Roe overturned
the U.S. should set its own nationwide standard.
And very notably here, under that standard,
states that have bans that are even more restrictive
than 15 weeks would still get to keep those in place.
This is Graham trying to set an at least baseline nationally
in targeting blue and purple states
that still have their own laws protecting access.
This is massively significant for a few reasons.
Firstly, it's been described as the most prominent effort
by Republicans to restrict the procedure
since the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade in June.
And second, while 15 weeks is less severe
than some of the bans that we've seen
since the Supreme Court scrapped Roe,
historically it is more restrictive
than abortion limits for the last 50 years.
Now, with all this here's one of the key things.
While most people do get abortions earlier in pregnancy,
you have experts saying that 15-week
and 20-week abortion bans disproportionately impact patients
with fetal anomalies.
And that's because they're usually only detected
on a 20-week anatomy scan.
And so as a result, Graham's proposal
would ban abortion access for many who need it most
and before the fetus is even viable.
Which also on that note, another reason this bill
is very significant is because of the title,
where you have Graham referring to abortions after 15 weeks
as late-term abortions,
a term that is not a medical term
and historically has been used
for pregnancies 20 weeks or later,
which is why you have opponents saying
that Graham is using this as an opportunity
to move the goal posts,
especially because Graham specifically
has repeatedly proposed bills in the past
that would ban abortion after 20 weeks.
But with all that, this is largely being seen
as a kind of political move,
because we even have Graham acknowledging right now
that Democrats are likely to block this
from even going to the floor,
which in fact they've already vowed to do, but he did add...
- If we take back the House and the Senate,
I can assure you we'll have a vote on our bill.
- So this is a transparent push for the midterms.
But also with that it marks a massive public reversal
from the party line established just a few weeks ago,
when Republicans,
including Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell,
indicated they would not pursue a national abortion ban.
And so with that, I will say
it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.
Many Republicans have recently begun trying to
distance themselves from the topic of abortion,
especially after seeing how much
it's been a mobilizer for Democrats.
For example, last month voters in deeply red Kansas
overwhelmingly rejected an anti-abortion referendum
that would've allowed state lawmakers to regulate abortion.
And just last week, South Carolina Republicans
failed in their attempt to implement
a near total abortion ban in the state.
But ultimately that is where we are
with this story right now.
It's gonna be very interesting to see what sort of reactions
and fallout we see from this.
And I'll start with you.
What are your thoughts?
Let me know what your thinkin' and why
in those comments down below.
But ultimately that is where that story
and today's show ends.
Thank you for watchin' and bein' subscribed
to my daily dives in the news.
Also for more of the news that you need to know
I got you covered right here.
But with that said, of course,
as always my name's Philip DeFranco,
you've just been filled in.
I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.
(cricket chirping) One second, ah.
It knows when I'm coming.
(cricket chirping) He stops.
Please... (banging on wall)
Know that you're gonna die.
Know that it's over. (banging on wall)
You just don't know that you're dead yet. (laughing)
Ah.
That fucking cricket.