The internet is full of weird and wonderful trends and memes, but one of the strangest by far is the Skibidi Toilet meme that has taken over social media platforms. If you’ve heard of Skibidi Toilet recently, chances are it was on TikTok or X/Twitter but many people may not know that the phenomenon started on YouTube. Skibidi Toilet is a meme based on a bizarre animated YouTube series with 59 episodes all about singing and dancing disembodied heads lurking in toilets. The series shows how the Skibidi Toilets have conflict between themselves and the so-called “Cameramen” – other people with CCTV on their heads, who are killed by the Skibidi Toilets. The YouTube show was created by user “DaFuq!?Boom!” and has over 27.2 million YouTube subscribers and some Skibidi Toilet episodes have upwards of 63 million views. The show is animated by Alexey Gerasimov, an animator based in Georgia. Since posting the first episode in February this year, the series has rapidly taken off. Its popularity seems to have got Gen Zers worried that they are getting old, as Gen Alpha is coming up with its own memes that they don’t understand. Gen Alpha, those born between the early 2010s and mid-2020s, are the next generation on from Gen Z (1997 – 2012) and are now becoming tweeners that have their own interests and online identity. Some have compared Skibidi Toilet to Gen Alpha’s Slender Man – a scary character that was popular among online youth in 2009. The emergence of Skibidi Toilet has left some Gen Z-ers realising that soon they will be facing the same mocking and ridicule they dished out to Millennials. On X/Twitter, someone wrote: “I just overheard my sister talking about how Gen Z is old and stupid and how they don't get their jokes, hello I am right here I am only 15 (she was born in 2013) “Then she asked me if I knew what a Skibidi Toilet was please help me what the f**k is a Skibidi Toilet I feel old.” For those who are extreme fans of Skibidi Toilet, a new phrase called Skibidi Toilet Syndrome has been coined as the diagnosis for people who can’t stop watching and consuming content based on the animated show. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

xQc said, 'The thing is, with IRLs, it’s a lot of fun, but it fosters the very bad part of everything'

Elon Musk became vehemently “anti-woke” because of his daughter’s gender transition, according to a new book on the Tesla boss. The billionaire’s right-wing political leanings “were partly triggered” when his then-16-year-old child, Vivian Jenna Wilson, came out to her aunt. The claim was made by Mr Musk’s biographer, Walter Isaacson, in an excerpt from his book – entitled Elon Musk – published in The Wall Street Journal on Thursday. “Hey, I’m transgender, and my name is now Jenna,” she reportedly texted her aunt. “Don’t tell my dad.” Ms Wilson was granted a legal name and gender change last June and has severed all ties with her famous father. According to the book, Mr Musk brands his daughter a “Communist” who ended her relationship with him because she was brainwashed into “thinking that anyone rich is evil” by her $50,000-per-year school in California. Mr Musk said he “partly” blames the Crossroads School for Arts& Sciences for his daughter’s change in attitude towards him. “She went beyond socialism to being a full communist and thinking that anyone rich is evil,” said Mr Musk, who has a personal worth of $257.5bn. Mr Musk has previously blamed “woke” schools for his daughter’s transition, but it is the first time that he has named Crossroads. Mr Musk said that the rift with his daughter is the most painful thing he has experienced since the death of his first child at 10 weeks old from sudden infant death syndrome. Her mother is the Canadian writer Justine Wilson, who was married to Mr Musk from 2000 to 2008. The Independent has reached out to Crossroads for comment. Read More Twitter/X indicates it will start collecting ‘biometric information’ and ‘employment history’ KSI reveals how much money he made from Elon Musk’s new Twitter monetisation in August Tesla under federal probe over mysterious project to build ‘glass house’ for Elon Musk, report says ‘San Francisco will end up like Detroit’: Why Elon Musk and tech CEOs are fighting lawsuit on homeless crisis Elon Musk booed at video games contest as crowds shout: ‘Bring back Twitter!’ Why Elon Musk and tech CEOs are backing a lawsuit against anti-homelessness advocates Elon Musk booed at video games contest as crowds shout: ‘Bring back Twitter!’ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis faces Black leaders' anger after racist killings in Jacksonville

Facebook parent company Meta is reportedly planning to internally release an artificial intelligence chatbot called “Gen AI Personas” aimed at younger users. The chatbot, similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, is set to be launched during Meta’s Connect Event on Wednesday. The tech giant is testing the chatbot, which comes in multiple “personas” aimed to engage young users, including a “sassy robot” persona inspired by Bender from Futurama,according to The Wall Street Journal. Meta is reportedly developing “dozens” of these chatbots, including some to help with “coding and other tasks” and improve productivity as well as a tool to help celebrities make their own chatbots for their fans. The development of some of these chatbots – including one with the personality of former US president Abraham Lincoln – are part of Meta’s attempts to boost engagement on its social media platforms, reports previously suggested. The development of these new chatbots are signs of Meta’s growing interest in the market for large language models (LLM) similar to ChatGPT. It launched a new version of its open-source model in July called Llama 2 for commercial use, becoming the first major tech firm to release its AI chatbot. Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg said at the time of Llama 2’s release that it would “drive progress across the industry” while the firm’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun said it will “change the landscape of the LLM market”. The tech firm’s development of “personas” also comes as tech industry leaders called for a balanced approach towards regulating AI at a historic gathering convened by US senate majority leader Chuck Schumer. At the meeting held earlier this month, Mr Zuckerberg said the two defining issues for AI are “safety and access.” He urged the US Congress should “engage with AI to support innovation and safeguards”. “New technology often brings new challenges, and it’s on companies to make sure we build and deploy products responsibly,” the Meta chief said. “This is an emerging technology, there are important equities to balance here, and the government is ultimately responsible for that,” he added. Read More Meta’s new end-to-end encryption ‘means thousands of criminals could go undetected’ Elon Musk warns of ‘civilisational risk’ posed by AI at historic gathering of tech giant chiefs WhatsApp update brings ‘channels’, allowing people to follow updates from celebrities and companies Facebook changes logo to ‘make F stand apart’ – but can you tell the difference? Elon Musk warns of ‘civilisational risk’ posed by AI at historic gathering Nasa just delivered a piece of a distant asteroid to Earth

By Ian Ransom HANGZHOU, China The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) says it is happy for the North

Kyle Bass, who has been predicting serious pain in the US office market, is taking a different view

By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Alphabet's Google may have to sell part of its lucrative adtech business to address

Senator Chuck Schumer plans to bring together several technology industry chiefs to discuss the ramifications of artificial intelligence,

AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 3, 2023--

It’s approaching midnight on a leafy, residential street in southeast London, and Stewart Knowles is listening for water.

Unlike in the UK, grades were still boosted to reduce the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Despite her previous love-hate relationship with golf legend Tiger Woods, Paige Spiranac appears to have become a staunch advocate for him