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Right-leaning comedy podcasts are a gateway to conspiracy theories and misogynistic content, a new study has found. While these podcasts may seem harmless at firstoften discussing sports like the NFL and MMA and featuring guests such as Ben Affleck and David Gogginsa new report reveals that engaging with their content online can open a Pandora’s box of aliens and Andrew Tate, the former professional kickboxer who built his platform by promoting misogynistic ideas. In a study published this week, the nonprofit Media Matters for America examined five comedy shows that platformed Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential election while claiming to be nonpolitical: Full Send, The Joe Rogan Experience, Impaulsive With Logan Paul, This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von, and Flagrant. Using a brand-new TikTok account created solely for research, Media Matters interacted with accounts affiliated with these shows or their hosts. (In the case of Rogan, who does not have an official TikTok, a fan account exclusively posting show clips was used.) After Media Matters watched and liked the 10 most recent videos from each account, TikToks algorithm began delivering a stream of content that included conspiracy theories, toxic masculinity, misinformation, doomsday prepping, racism, right-wing media, and transphobia. Among the first 425 videos shown on the Media Matters accounts For You page, 28% contained conspiracy theories and 16% promoted toxic masculinity. These included claims that recent plane crashes were orchestrated to make sure people wont leave. Other videos featured phrases like get rich and disappear, set to montages of luxury watches, boats, cars, and planesmany soundtracked by Tate. TikToks recommendation algorithm fed our account with misogynistic content and fringe conspiracy theory videos that can lead users down a right-wing rabbit hole of misinformation and more extreme content, which has the potential to radicalize them, Media Matters senior investigative researcher Olivia Little tells Fast Company. The concern grows when considering the reach of these shows. Right-leaning podcasts far surpass their left-leaning counterparts in audience size. According to a Media Matters report published in March, 9 of the 10 most-followed online shows across all platforms are right-leaning, with a combined total following of more than 197 million. These shows extend their influence through social media, where they post full streams, short clips, and links. While left-leaning online shows have a collective following of 48 million across platforms, right-leaning shows have amassed more than 225 million followers. TikTok is so popular because of its focus on hyper-tailoring a users recommendation feed to their content preferences, which has the potential to throw users down hard-to-escape rabbit holes, Little says. Engaging with right-wing or right-wing-adjacent content appears to signal to the recommendation algorithm that youre interested in that content and your feed will quickly reflect that.
Category:
E-Commerce
Countless Rite Aid customers and employees are still waiting to learn the fate of their local pharmacies as the bankrupt drugstore chain sells off its assets and winds down operations. Now, at least three Rite Aid landlords are asking for more transparency into the process. Last week, Rite Aid announced that it has reached agreements to sell its prescription files for most of its 1,200 retail pharmacies, with successful bidders including CVS, Walgreens, and Albertsons, among others. Perhaps most notably, CVS agreed to buy prescription files for 625 of those pharmacies, even as it said it would only take over 64 physical Rite Aid locations in three states: Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. However, neither Rite Aid nor CVS has said which pharmacy locations were involved in the bid. Now three landlordsHVP2 LLC, New Hartford Holdings LLC, and Gallashea Properties LLChave filed a limited objection to the asset sales on the grounds that they have no idea if their own leases were included, according to a court filing earlier this week. “Conspicuously absent from the notice is any particular and critical information regarding who bought what and for how much?” the filing states. Privacy concerns as prescription data changes hands The landlords say they are not seeking the disclosure of sensitive customer data, which carries special privacy and regulatory considerations when prescription files are transferred from one company to another. Rather, they just want to know which Rite Aid locations were successfully bid upon, saying a more transparent process might allow them to secure better deals for their leases. Reached for comment by Fast Company, a spokesperson for CVS said store specific information has not yet been released but offered no timeline for when that might happenother than to say more details will be released following a hearing on the sale. The company did not respond to a question about the landlords’ objection. “Were working closely with Rite Aid on plans to ensure that the transition will be seamless for patients and customers and access to pharmacy care is not interrupted,” the spokesperson said. CVS is already the country’s largest pharmacy chain, with its pharmacy unit generating $124.5 billion in revenue and filling 1.7 billion prescriptions last year. A Rite Aid spokesperson told Fast Company that the sale of its assets to CVS and other pharmacies “will be implemented on a rolling basis and will take some time.” The spokesperson emphasized that Rite Aid pharmacies will remain open during this process, but court documents show the company is already planning to close more than 200 locations, as Fast Company previously reported. Plenty of anxiety to go around All Rite Aid locations will eventually either close or be sold to other companies. An auction for the bankrupt company’s remaining assets is planned for June. In the meantime, landlords aren’t the only one impacted by the uncertainty. On Reddit and other online forums, Rite Aid employees have expressed no shortage of frustration about not knowing the fate of their local stores. The CVS spokesperson told Fast Company that once the sale is finalized, “we look forward to welcoming Rite Aid colleagues who are interested in applying to join the CVS team.” For their part, the landlords have asked as part of their objection that Rite Aid disclose the “specific identities” of companies that successfully bid on its assets, along with which specific assets they won and how much they paid. Fast Company has reached out to the landlords’ lawyer for an update. The sale of Rite Aid’s assets is still subject to court approval, with a hearing scheduled for today.
Category:
E-Commerce
Sales at Target fell more than expected in the first quarter and the retailer warned they will slip for all of 2025 year as its customers, worried over the impact of tariffs and the economy, pull back on spending.Target also said that customer boycotts have also done some damage. The company scaled back many diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in January after they came under attack by conservative activists and the White House. Target’s retreat created another backlash, with more customers angered by the retailer’s reduction of LGBTQ+-themed merchandise for Pride Month in June of 2023.Shares fell more than 4% before the opening bell Wednesday.Sales fell 2.8% to $23.85 billion in the quarter, and that was short of the $24.23 billion Wall Street expected, according to FactSet. Sales are also down from the $24.53 billion the company reported during the same period last year.Target said Wednesday that it now expects a low-single digit decline in sales for 2025, and earnings per share, which excludes the gains from the litigation settlements in the first quarter, to be anywhere from $7 to $9.For the year, analysts expect earnings per share of $8.34 on sales of $106.7 billion.Comparable store sales, those from established stores and online channels, fell 3.8%. That includes a 5.7% drop in store sales and a 4.7% increase in online sales. That reverses a comparable store sales increase of 1.5% in the previous quarter.The number of transactions across online and physical stores fell 2.4%, and the average ticket dropped 1.4%. Target said Tuesday that it couldn’t reliably estimate the individual impact of each of the factors that were hurting its business.Target is setting up a new office to be led by Chief Operating Officer Michael Fiddelke would focus on making faster decisions to help accelerate sales growth. Current Chief Strategy and Growth Officer Christina Hennington will move into a strategic adviser role.Target is also intensifying efforts to entice customers who are nervous about the economy and inflation. The retailer says it is offering 10,000 new items starting at $1with the majority under $20.“I want to be clear,” Target CEO Brian Cornell told reporters on a call Tuesday. “We’re not satisfied with these results, so we’re moving with urgency to navigate through this period of volatility . . . We’ve got to drive traffic back into our stores or visits to our site.”Out of 35 merchandise categories including discretionary and essentials that the company tracks, it’s gaining or maintaining market share in only 15, the company said.Target rival Walmart reported strong quarterly sales last week. The nation’s largest retailer said it’s already raised prices on some items due to tariffs and that more price hikes are on the way this summer when the back-to-school shopping season goes into high gear. For example, car seats made in China that currently sell for $350 at Walmart will likely cost customers another $100, executives said.Target didn’t offer specifics on tariffs’ impact on prices, but said that it was looking at different ways to offset those costs.“We look at competition,” Cornell told reporters. “We make adjustments literally each and every week, so we’re constantly adjusting pricing. Some are going up. Some will be reduced.”President Donald Trump’s threatened 145% import taxes on Chinese goods were reduced to 30% in a deal announced May 12, with some of the higher tariffs on pause for 90 days.Yet Americans were already pulling back on spending as they grow increasingly uneasy over the state of the U.S. economy. Companies including toy manufacturer Mattel, toolmaker Stanley Black & Decker and consumer products giant Procter & Gamble have announced higher prices or plans to raise prices because of the trade war kicked of by the U.S.Walmart was able to dodge some of the tariff damage other retailers are suffering because groceries account for about 60% of its U.S. business. Target is more reliant on discretionary items like clothing and accessories, with less than a quarter of its sales coming from groceries.Target has reduced the number of its store-label products sourced from China to 30% now from 60% in 2017. The company is on its way to reducing that number to 25% by the end of next year, the company said. Target is shifting sourcing to Guatemala and Honduras and is looking to sourcing in the U.S.Target is being pressured on other fronts as well.The company in January said it would phase out a handful of DEI initiatives, including a program designed to help Black employees advance their careers and promote Black-owned businesses. Conservative activists and President Donald Trump have sought to dismantle DEI policies in the federal government, schools, and at private businesses.The pastor of a Georgia megachurch who led a nationwide 40-day boycott of Target stores in response called last month for a continuation of that effort.The Rev. Jamal Bryant is seeking a reinvigorated commitment from Target on diversity, and he wants more support from Target for Black-owned banks and businesses.Target earned $1.04 billion, or $2.27 per share, for the period ended May 3. That compares with $942 million, or $2.03 per share, in the year-ago period.Target operates nearly 2,000 stores nationwide and employs more than 400,000 people. Anne D’Innocenzio, AP Business Writer
Category:
E-Commerce
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