List of All Articles with Tag 'viral'

A woman has found herself receiving widespread attention online and has been dubbed the "Home Depot girl." Ariana Josephine has gone viral after posting selfies on Twitter of herself in her Home Depot uniform (hence the nickname) as everyone has been complementing her appearance across social media including TikTok. It all began when the 21-year-old shared bathroom selfies of herself as she sported her workwear from the American DIY store which includes an orange apron. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “The one job I work at that I get reminded I’m too pretty to work at," Ariana wrote as the post caption, and she was clearly reminded online too after the post received 35.8m views and 107,000 likes. In a follow-up post, two days later she shared another bathroom selfie in her uniform, this time with her hair down instead of tied back and Ariana wrote: "Home Depot Girl Taking Over 2.0" Similarly, this too also did numbers with it receiving 7.8m views and 77,000 likes. People have been paying Ariana endless compliments about her beauty in response to her selfies. One person said: "All the baddies are working at Home Depot." "Omggggg drop the skincare routine please," another person wrote. Someone else joked: "I suddenly find the urge to paint me and my neighbour's house." "What Home Depot is this??!!! I would be there shopping for a Lawnmower with no lawn," a fourth person commented. Since going viral, Ariana now has over 76,000 Twitter followers and 191,000 Instagram followers at the time of writing. In her Instagram bio, she describes herself as a video creator on topics such as Faith, Fashion, Lifestyle, and Beauty. However, the recent attention hasn't all been welcoming because Ariana recently took to Instagram to criticise people online who illegally doxxed her location and as a result announced that there will be no more Home Depot posts. "Last post about Home Depot since the world is illegally doxxing my location and job," she wrote. "Y’all turned something innocent into something crazy and ruined my way of making money by seriously taking the internet TOO far. She added: "Thanks for all the nice people I’ve spoken to and inspired and thanks to the hate because it’s helped me grow closer to God and be more tough skinned." It has also been reported that none other than basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal D'Med her a supportive message. “Don’t let them peopl [sic] bother u,” O’Neal told Ariana, according to the Twitter account Legion Hoops which shared a screenshot of the interaction. “Don’t read the comments stuff like that will drive you crazy.” After Ariana thanked Shaq, he then quipped in response: "Have a great day tell all your boyfriends I said hello.” 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.

New ick unlocked: People are paying for blue ticks on Instagram. Avid Instagrammers will have noticed the surge of blue ticks taking over the platform, leaving people confused as to how their friend become an overnight internet sensation. As exciting as that would be, it's sadly not the case. Instead, people are using their hard-earned money for a blue badge. For the blissfully unaware, Instagram followed in the footsteps of Twitter recently by offering a monthly subscription service from £9.99 a month. Let's break this down: Public figures Instagram offer free blue tick verification to public figures including professionals, journalists, influencers, celebrities and brands who meet the platform's account and eligibility requirements. Their accounts must be authentic, unique, complete and notable, meaning they "must represent a well-known, highly searched for person, brand or entity". "We review accounts that are featured in multiple news sources, and we don't consider paid or sponsored media content as sources for review," Instagram said. Once verified, public figures, celebrities and brands that meet certain account and eligibility requirements may not change their username on their account – nor can it be transferred to a different account. On the flip side, there's 'Meta Verified', the new subscription model that allows any Instagram user to pay monthly for a tick. As it stands, Instagram has used the same colour and design for both paying users and notable figures, making it difficult for users to set the two apart. Whether or not they will make the two more identifiable in the future is unclear. Meta Verified / paying subscribers Now, anyone can apply to be verified using their ID and a spare £10 a month. Meta suggests it's to help people have more protection from impersonation and give them access to a "real person" if they encounter any issues. Indy100 reached out to Instagram for comment. 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.

Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys has had her say on the recent controversial changes to Twitch, which has seen the streaming platform face an online backlash. Earlier this week, Twitch changed its branded content guidelines and faced immediate pushback from content creators. The changes impacted how users could advertise sponsorships as well as banning them from multi-streaming to “Twitch-like” platforms. Just a day later, Twitch revealed that they were removing the new guidelines after receiving widespread criticism. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “Yesterday, we released new Branded Content Guidelines that impacted your ability to work with sponsors to increase your income from streaming. These guidelines are bad for you and bad for Twitch, and we are removing them immediately,” a statement read. “Sponsorships are critical to streamers’ growth and ability to earn income. We will not prevent your ability to enter into direct relationships with sponsors – you will continue to own and control your sponsorship business. “We want to work with our community to create the best experience on Twitch and to do that we need to be clear about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. We appreciate your feedback and help in making this change.” Despite the apology, users have continued to hit out at Twitch. Pokimane has now spoken about the direction streaming could take in future, and urged users to pursue new routes to get what they deserve for their content. “I feel like because content creation is becoming so saturated [and] we often have trouble relying on the platforms we use, the future is direct to consumer paid content (patreon, onlypans, consumer goods, etc),” Pokimane wrote. “Cut out the middle man and get proper compensation for what you make/do!” she added. “Social media platforms will obviously always be used, but I think people will start looking at them as tools to gain exposure instead of being the way to make money,” the streamer went on to say. It comes after the CEO of Twitch, Dan Clancy, personally apologised during a recent stream for the abandoned changes to guidelines and said the company had “messed up”. “Let me just go straight to the point. For those who don’t know, we recently released this branded content policy. I won’t go through all the details,” he said recently. “We got a lot of negative pushback and the bottom line is we messed up. It’s on us and I apologise for that.” 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.

Mr Beast is known for his huge giveaways on YouTube and he’s looking to step things up a notch with his next project. The content creator, real name Jimmy Donaldson, has been sharing his ideas for a brand new game show on social media. It's not just any old game show, either. The 25-year-old wants to give away the “largest prize” ever and make TV history. He might be the biggest name on YouTube, but it looks like he’s trying to involve other streaming platforms in his next big idea too. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Writing on Twitter, Donaldson said: “I want to test what I do on YouTube on a streaming service for fun to see how it performs.” He added: “Imagine a 10 episode series with 10,000 people competing for the largest prize in game show history.” Donaldson clearly wants to involve other platforms, too. “Who wants to make history?” he asked, tagging Netflix, Disney, Peacock and [HBO] Max. Only time will tell whether anyone takes him up on the offer. It comes after Mr Beast previously revealed the staggering amount of time he spends making YouTube videos - but insists it improves his mental health. The content creator spilled his secrets on Lex Fridman's podcast, saying: “When I'm really in the grind mode it'll be seven or eight days just non-stop going, going, and then I'll realize, 'Oh, I need some recharge time,' and then go f** binge a season of anime", he says. "Normal people, they don't want that life, and they probably shouldn't." 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.

Food delivery apps can make life that little bit easier with quick, accessible options from a wide range of restaurants. However, one customer experienced an awkward interaction with their Uber Eats delivery driver, who refused to deliver his order unless he paid for the petrol. In a post to Twitter, lawyer Exavier Pope shared the string of texts and tagged the official Uber support account. "I'm gonna run outta gas. Can you Cash App me a few bucks for gas, please? I had no idea u were that far," the initial message to Exavier read. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The driver then proceeded to contact Exavier via text, writing: "Yo, it's your Uber driver. I can't make it to you unless I can somehow get gas money." "This is harassment," Exavier tweeted while giving live updates to followers. The saga continued when Exavier hit back and called his behaviour "unprofessional" after the driver attempted to call him five times and repeatedly asked for money. Exavier did "not feel safe taking the order," and asked the driver to leave the food outside. "I am about to call the police on this dude," he said. "Thank you for bringing this to our attention," the Uber Eats account tweeted. "Behavior like this is definitely not OK! A member of our team is on top of this and will follow up with you via in-app as well as to the email address associated with your Uber account." Exavier responded: "It was definitely a harrowing experience and something I do not want to experience again. [This was] a person coming to my home pressuring me for money. My lawyer brain is active on this." Indy100 reached out to Uber Eats for comment. 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.

Well, we’re not sure how we ended up here, but Piers Morgan has responded to a strange AI image of himself in the bath which has been circulating online. The presenter commented on the odd picture which shows a generated version of Morgan sitting in the tub, holding a book with a rubber duck by his side. Only, this version of Morgan looks like he spends all his free time in the gym and he’s holding a book with dimensions that defy the laws of physics. Morgan responded to the bizarre image by writing: “I never have baths. fyi.” Unsurprisingly, the picture sparked a lot of reaction on social media, with one Twitter user responding to the pic: “I still can't unsee it - the horror!!!!” Another said: “My brain will never erase this image.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Others pointed out the strange nature of the book in the image, with one saying: “The way the book looks in the picture seems to give it away that it is AI generated.” Another joked: "Give me nuclear annihilation by AI over this any day.” It has to be one of the most unusual uses of AI we’ve seen so far, and if this is the future of artificial intelligence, count us out… AI, meanwhile, continues to make headlines – and a group of individuals including Grimes, who described herself as an "AI popstar" recently on social media, signed a statement warning of its risks to humanity. The singer signed the message from Center For AI Safety (CAIS) delving into the potential dangers of AI. 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.

A new viral optical illusion will test the sharpness of your eyes and only those with the sharpest will be able to solve the hidden mystery within. Optical illusions can be a fun way to test the proficiency and speed of our brain, eyes and other sensory aspects of ourselves. A new and intriguing viral optical illusion challenges users to detect the number hidden within an image and it is leaving some people baffled. The image was shared on Twitter by @TheFigen_ who captioned the image: “Eye test! What number do you see?” The picture appears to show a blank square of red speckles, but if your eyes are sharp enough you may just about see a three-digit number hidden amongst the red speckles. Over 568,000 people have viewed the image and in the comments, people have commented on the number that they believe they can see. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter For those with sharp eyes, the number can be seen going across the centre of the image, blending almost seamlessly in with the background until you spot it. In the comments, one three-digit number appeared very frequently, while the answers some people gave were less unanimous. One person guessed “572”. A few posed “573” while someone else said “285”. The answer was actually “571”, with most of those commenting giving the correct answer to the challenge. Other optical illusions that have taken the internet by storm include the viral “fourth object” trend on TikTok that challenges people to locate four different objects in one image. 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.

An OnlyFans model has opened up about the abuse she received after posting about her new car online. Australian star Laura Lux shared a screenshot of an unhinged response she got when she posted about her car in a Subreddit about Audis. She explained: “Posted about my car in the Audi subreddit and men are being extremely Normal and Chill about it lmao.” In the long written response comprising six separate paragraphs, the person said that they “despise” Lux and called her “disgusting”. The since-deleted comment read: “Your looks will fade, and you will be left alone when your boyfriend finds skmeone [sic] younger/with better morals than you once of [sic] cash dries out.” It continued: “You should be driving a (Renault) Clio. That’s what you deserve. I despise all that you are. Disgusting. I truly hope your life gets back on track.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In another tweet, Lux wrote: “It’s so funny dude like you can’t even be offended by this because it’s so completely unhinged.” Another user asked: “How many podcasts does it take to get this angry at a woman posting pictures of their car?” Someone else agreed: “This is wild!!!!! Imagine having so much hatred and misery inside yourself? I just do not understand behaviour like this? Seek help u f***ing fruit loop, sir!” “Dude was def sweaty/trembling/veins popping/blood pressure rising/self-loathing when he typed out this f***ing novel,” another suggested. 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.

A verified Twitter account related to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC, has caused confusion after the account tweeted that she had a crush on Elon Musk. The account, which has over 90,000 followers, does state it is a parody account, which is required if the user has paid for Twitter Blue and is pretending to be another individual or company, as per Twitter’s rules. However, because the Twitter display name is so long - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Press Release (Parody) - sometimes the “parody” can be cut off, especially if the tweet has been quote retweeted. Which makes confusion much more likely. On Monday, the account tweeted: “This might be the wine talking, but I’ve got a crush on @elonmusk”. The tweet has over 50,000 likes, and now has a community note letting viewers know that the account is a parody to try and clear up confusion. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The tweet came as a surprise to many who thought it was an official AOC account, seeing as the Congresswoman has publicly criticised Musk on multiple occasions. Musk himself even replied to the tweet with a simple fire emoji. Many didn’t get the joke at first, with a lot of Elon fans/AOC haters seemingly getting annoyed at the fact that AOC would want to date Musk. Others criticised the account’s existence all together, saying that it was rooted in the right’s misogyny and hatred towards AOC: This is not the first time the parody account has gained a lot of attention (and confusion). Previously government officials from Ted Cruz to Laura Loomer have interacted with the account not knowing it was a parody. 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.

A suspicious couple appear to have been caught in the act - on Google Street View. The man and woman were standing on a vacant plot of land full of rubbish. The duo apparently travelled to the secluded area on a motorbike to enjoy a frisky encounter away from prying eyes. The woman appears to be half-naked while the man seems to be zipping himself up. They both seem to notice the Google Street View car. The couple was caught in the act in the neighbourhood of Paseo de Santa Fe, Juárez, Mexico. Google uses vehicles equipped with high-resolution cameras to capture every corner of the planet for their Street View service. However, the cameras occasionally capture people in compromising situations. In Mexico, residents have been filmed brawling, face planting the ground, and taking part in sex acts by the roadside, along with other unflattering incidents. Those captured in awkward situations by the cameras can ask Google for the images to be removed. Offended citizens can fill out a form in the Google support section and mention that the images were published without their consent.

Controversial TikToker Mizzy has been in the headlines recently, and now it’s been claimed that he was behind the disruptions to last year’s Sidemen charity match. The Sidemen were forced to apologise to people with tickets who weren’t able to get into the stadium for the Sidemen Charity Match on September 24. “Unfortunately however due to a small minority attempting to break into the stadium, we were forced to lock the gates meaning a number of you weren’t able to get in despite having tickets,” they said at the time. They said the choice to lock the gates and block some fans “was a security and safety decision.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Now, Stuart Jones, who is the founder of Upload Agency and Sidemen's agent, has claimed that it was Mizzy who was responsible. Writing on Twitter, he said: “For those of you who were locked out of the @Sidemen charity match last year, this was the moron that caused it btw.” Jones also claimed that Mizzy, real name Bacari-Bronze O'Garro, stole Prime Hydration drinks from VIP suites and tried to break into the stadium. "Correct, and robbing the VIP suits of all the Prime, and running around outside, trying to break in, causing the stadium to lock down,” Jones wrote, replying to another user. Footage has also recirculated online which shows Mizzy run on the pitch during the game. Mizzy was recently arrested for filming himself walking into people's houses. He also branded Piers Morgan a 'moron' for challenging him over his behaviour on his show, which saw him intimidate members of the public, including stealing someone's dog in a park. Hours before this interview, O’Garro appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court where he pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a community protection notice issued last May. As a result he was given a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) today for a period of two years that will expire in May 2025. This order means O’Garro must not publish social media content without the consent of the people included, nor trespass or go to the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford. 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.

Social media can be a nasty place at times, but every now and then a trend comes along which reminds you just how fun it can be. The most recent is the blue couch, which has been the talk of Twitter for the past week or so. In case you missed it, influencer Amanda Joy got a lot of people talking recently after finding a couch abandoned on the streets of New York. After doing a little research and believing it to be the $8,000 ‘Bubble’ couch from French brand Roche Bobois, she decided to take it back to her apartment and clean it up. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Joy’s dad picked up the couch in his van and Joy filmed the entire process of brightening up the sofa and moving it to her living room. The TikTok now has over 40 million views, and over 4 million likes – but not everyone thought it was a good idea to take the couch off the sidewalk. Some believed the unique-looking piece wasn’t the real deal and instead claimed it was a knockoff. Others were concerned about possible bed bugs and roach infestations, with no sign of how long the couch had been on the street. In the days that followed it continued to raise eyebrows across the internet, and these are some of the biggest reactions and memes. 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.