Pearl - January 22, 2026


China Bans Catfishing FOREVER!!!


Episode Stats

Length

17 minutes

Words per Minute

177.78546

Word Count

3,086

Sentence Count

57

Misogynist Sentences

42

Hate Speech Sentences

22


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Today we re reacting to China banning filters on social media and phones. Why would banning a simple filter destroy entire careers and entire careers? Why is China banning them? And what s the real reason why? We re uncovering the secret to why filters are being banned.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 If those female streamers turn off that beauty filter, they really cannot be looked at.
00:00:04.780 It will scare the viewers so much they'll doubt life, she said.
00:00:08.760 What up guys? Welcome to my reaction series.
00:00:11.500 Today, we are reacting to China is banning filters on social media and phones.
00:00:17.160 As you guys know, so many women are catfishes.
00:00:20.780 I mean, when I was doing my show, I interviewed a thousand people.
00:00:25.200 Some of the women I would recruit on Instagram and I would think,
00:00:28.300 oh i'm recruiting this woman and she's a baddie she's so i mean this woman's gonna be hot she's
00:00:34.080 gonna give me so many clicks and views because you know i'm kind of like the reason i rate women
00:00:38.500 is because i worked in casting and so i would quite literally have to think how many like
00:00:43.860 likes are you gonna get on this video i know i could use a filter right i mean a lot of these
00:00:51.060 women they look better but then they would come in person and i was like i have been bamboozled
00:00:55.640 I have been bamboozled I thought you were hot and you were not and so I'm for this I think this would
00:01:02.260 be great because a lot of people come at me they say I could be better looking and I'm a good I'm
00:01:07.500 a decent looking gal right but it's like I look worse because I'm on the internet and all these
00:01:13.100 people have felt how am I supposed to compete with AI you know so suddenly rushing to do this
00:01:18.660 January 1st that's when thousands of women's careers end not because they did anything wrong
00:01:24.200 but because for the first time they have to show their real faces in china ai beauty filters are
00:01:31.420 being banned but the panic has revealed something very sinister why would banning a simple filter
00:01:37.140 destroy entire careers why is the yeah and so that's why i did the catfish of the year
00:01:42.660 and a lot of people were really upset with me that i did that um redheaded libertarian um you
00:01:48.580 won congratulations my friend um but people were upset and everyone was saying pearl pearl pearl
00:01:55.140 uh but you're not like a lot of these women are better looking than you and i'm like yeah
00:01:59.220 but they're still catfishes right they don't they don't look like that oh my god oh so much pain
00:02:06.740 excuse me sorry guys all right let's let's go west suddenly rushing to do the same thing
00:02:12.980 and what did they discover that made them act so fast welcome to glow up girl today we're
00:02:18.020 uncovering why ai beauty filters are being banned so be sure to like and subscribe because we're
00:02:22.980 going deep beauty mode doesn't just smooth your skin it rebuilds your entire face according to
00:02:29.460 an algorithm's definition of beauty turn on the filter and you become someone else entirely yeah
00:02:35.220 and that's what's making women crazy right they think they're as hot as their photos they they
00:02:40.820 think what are you doing spam them chat um they they literally think they look like their photos
00:02:46.660 and i'm like no um you're mid and a lot of white knights they come at me and they say but pearl but
00:02:52.260 pearl who are you to call anyone mid well you could say i'm sub mid mid whatever i don't it
00:02:57.300 doesn't really bother me uh but you know i know a mid when i see one so cry about it you know your
00:03:04.260 eyes reshape your nose pinches smaller your skin becomes porcelain reality bends turn it off well
00:03:13.380 well that's the problem oh my god nine point eight oh my god she went from a seven to a four
00:03:19.560 percent of female streamers use beauty filters not just most almost all these women built entire
00:03:26.660 careers on wait so i'm competing with all these women with phil oh my gosh faces that don't exist
00:03:33.620 thousands of followers donations from devoted fans all for someone who was never real we spent years
00:03:40.940 watching faces that don't actually exist and we've been conditioned to think they're beautiful
00:03:45.560 but when you learn what it's doing to your brain things get dark i'm not farting some of the chat
00:03:51.740 said i'm farting my dog all right my dog my dog is snoring all right all right there's a
00:03:58.780 psychological concept called cultivation theory long-term exposure to media content shapes what
00:04:04.240 you believe is real when you see filtered faces every single day thousands of them your brain
00:04:09.860 starts accepting them as normal real faces start to look wrong research shows that comparing
00:04:15.220 yourself to idealized images online is directly linked to body dissatisfaction and eating
00:04:20.580 disorders but there's a twist you're not competing with other women anymore you're competing with ai
00:04:27.380 with algorithms that yeah and i can actually say my experience as a female streamer you know it's
00:04:32.660 very frustrating when everyone else is cheating and i'm not saying i don't cheat a little bit you
00:04:37.220 You know, like I'd fake hair for a while.
00:04:39.640 I'll get a little bit of makeup, but it's just really, how do I put it?
00:04:44.620 It's just kind of frustrating when everybody has this like fake face and I have to pretend
00:04:50.840 you're not faking it.
00:04:52.160 You know what I mean?
00:04:52.620 Like, why do I have to pretend?
00:04:53.840 I generate one perfect face and paste it onto everyone.
00:04:57.900 Then there's self-objectification.
00:04:59.940 When you spend hours monitoring your appearance, treating your face like a product.
00:05:04.420 You got to think about what this, what the implications are for society.
00:05:08.240 Like women start to think even your phone smooths out your skin a little bit.
00:05:12.360 So we're more chopped than we think.
00:05:14.560 We are absolutely more chopped than we think we are.
00:05:17.580 ...and perfected.
00:05:18.960 Studies show it leads to anxiety and depression.
00:05:22.280 You stop being a person.
00:05:24.000 You become a project.
00:05:25.900 Reality has gotten so distorted that a new medical term has been coined.
00:05:30.220 Snapchat dysmorphia.
00:05:31.780 Women are now seeking plastic surgery to look like their filtered selves.
00:05:35.360 They don't even want to look like models.
00:05:37.140 They want to look like the algorithm's version of them.
00:05:39.800 These filters didn't just change how we look.
00:05:41.800 Like that is diabolical.
00:05:43.560 Four, maybe five.
00:05:45.860 Five, seven, five.
00:05:49.220 It's like two points it gives you, these filters.
00:05:51.960 Online.
00:05:52.600 They've changed what our brains believe we should look like in reality.
00:05:56.380 So why is China banning them?
00:05:58.560 the official reason is to improve content quality and crack down on misleading visuals
00:06:03.180 but dig further and deeper reasons that is hilarious actually that is so funny all these
00:06:08.540 girls made like careers off of being hot and it's like the middest mids it's crazy
00:06:13.960 this isn't just about vanity it's about fraud chinese netizens started calling it out directly
00:06:21.340 streamers making money through excessive beautification are basically committing fraud
00:06:25.380 But the damage goes far beyond individual deception.
00:06:28.860 It's social poison.
00:06:30.380 One Chinese commentator explained it this way.
00:06:32.940 Men no longer watch TV.
00:06:34.900 They don't look at their own wives.
00:06:36.480 They just scroll on their phones to look at pretty girls who look like fairies.
00:06:40.240 But those fairies aren't real.
00:06:42.020 Do you think this is beneficial to relationships?
00:06:44.460 To lowering divorce rates?
00:06:46.520 He called it spiritual poisonous grain, not inferior to opium.
00:06:51.380 Women using filters started believing their own illusions.
00:06:53.880 they look at their filtered face and think i'm a nine out of ten yeah and it's the same
00:06:58.260 same thing with makeup women start to think we look like that i mean look i could even speak
00:07:04.060 like the attention you get super dolled up as a woman is completely different like if i put in
00:07:09.540 full hair extensions a really nice dress like you get it's so different but it's not real like i
00:07:14.740 personally just cannot maintain that maybe i'm lazy right i don't know but yeah you know it's
00:07:20.820 just not real i deserve a wealthy tall handsome man their standards skyrocketed but walk down
00:07:27.260 the street you wouldn't see a single woman who looked like her online and all the catfishes um
00:07:32.220 life does check them right actually i wonder if that fat chick wants to come back on i'm gonna
00:07:37.100 message her hold on sona beauty mode made them lose themselves china isn't banning beauty filters
00:07:44.200 because they're vain they're banning them because they've become a form of mass psychological
00:07:48.340 manipulation here's what the chinese government isn't saying out loud across the developed world
00:07:53.540 something catastrophic is happening birth rates are collapsing marriage rates are plummeting
00:07:59.380 young people aren't dating they're not having relationships they're not forming family yeah
00:08:04.180 and it's because um women need attention we don't necessarily need sex as much as men
00:08:09.220 i mean we want it at certain points from certain men but um yeah so um we can when we get attention
00:08:16.820 from the world we can kind of live without it the united states most of europe china japan south
00:08:23.140 korea the pattern is everywhere and nobody can pinpoint exactly why except what if social media
00:08:30.260 is part of it think you want to see me mog someone i'm too chopped i wish i could but you know god
00:08:35.860 had other plans you know about it men scroll through thousands of digitally perfect women
00:08:42.740 every day women no real person could ever compete with so why would they pursue real relationships
00:08:49.140 oh my god i like how women have been committing fraud like that's what this is women are committing
00:08:55.140 fraud and somehow they're the victims isn't that incredible i mean the media is incredible women
00:08:59.540 committed fraud now women are the victims why settle for reality when the fantasy is always
00:09:04.260 one swipe away and women compare themselves to these impossible standards and feel worthless or
00:09:10.020 they demand partners who meet the same fictional criteria they see online both sides are chasing
00:09:15.620 illusions and by the way if you suffer from debilitating period symptoms check out paramo
00:09:20.420 it's an all-natural drink that replenishes the nutrients your body discount link in description
00:09:25.220 one chinese man described meeting a woman from a dating app after seeing her real face he deleted
00:09:30.820 the app entirely how many millions of potential one in the chat if that's happened to you
00:09:35.860 if you've met a woman i mean that would happen i would get catfished when i did casting for my show
00:09:40.980 you know potential relationships died exactly like that how many marriages never happened
00:09:46.100 because someone couldn't live up to their filtered profile meanwhile the divorce rate
00:09:50.340 climbs both men and women scroll through endless fantasy oh my god i like how women are so great at
00:09:57.460 obfuscating the blame like they're like you know it's both men and women that are addicted and
00:10:03.220 harmed by social media men aren't really on social media i like i think i had rachel on the show
00:10:09.060 love rachel nothing against her i just disagree with this argument she made the argument that
00:10:13.220 men had equal social media accounts like on instagram and i'm thinking it's just not the
00:10:18.100 same because if you go out and about like women are on their phones men are the ones like i mean
00:10:23.620 they have an account but they just don't post on it like that who is this troll today yeah convinced
00:10:30.740 they're settling for less convinced their reality isn't good enough filters might be destroying our
00:10:35.940 ability to form real human connections to see real people as attractive and to accept reality
00:10:41.620 as good enough china's birth rate is in free fall their economy depends on population growth so this
00:10:47.700 isn't just about beauty anymore this might be about survival when the ban was announced the
00:10:53.060 panic was immediate 90 of streamers will all lose their jobs one broadcaster predicted okay well
00:11:00.340 okay if you lose your job because you were committing fraud like that's like me like
00:11:05.700 imagine if we had sympathy for jordan belford and said jordan belford didn't like he's gonna
00:11:11.620 lose his job we're like yeah we're making fraud illegal and they're like well but jordan's gonna
00:11:17.060 lose his job it's like incredible this is incredible if those female streamers turn off
00:11:22.980 that beauty filter they really cannot be looked at it will scare the viewers so much they'll doubt
00:11:27.940 life she said these women built everything on a digital mask their entire persona their income
00:11:34.820 and their identity so what happens when that mask is ripped off viewers will stop donating the men
00:11:41.060 who've spent thousands supporting their favorite streamers will feel betrayed yeah because it's
00:11:45.860 fraud right but nobody it's so incredible women get frauded by um i don't know that guy um
00:11:53.460 um simon or whatever the tinder swindler and they get a movie women fraud men and it's still we feel
00:12:00.700 bad for women this is incredible incredible raid careers will collapse overnight some women fought
00:12:07.060 back defensively i paid thousands for this phone i'll use beauty mode if i want what does it have
00:12:12.620 to do with you others insisted fraud even with beauty mode you need good bone structure if you're
00:12:19.740 ugly even level 10 beauty mode can't save you but underneath the anger was fear because they know
00:12:26.200 the truth they built their careers on deception and now they're being forced to show their real
00:12:31.340 faces good good and that doesn't get the same view count so could america be next well it's
00:12:40.460 already starting here tiktok announced they're banning certain beauty filters for users oh that's
00:12:45.380 awesome under 18 filters like bold glamour that dramatically reshape facial features
00:12:50.980 gone for minors and in europe they're investing nearly 2 billion euros into safety initiatives
00:12:56.900 whatever that means mental health experts are calling this a necessary step if teenagers stop
00:13:02.900 using filters now they might gradually normalize a more authentic online presence china bans it
00:13:09.300 tick tock restricts it for minors instagram and snapchat are watching closely the domino effect
00:13:15.140 has begun but here's where it gets complicated on one hand there's a strong case for bans
00:13:21.140 we're protecting young girls from impossible beauty standards we're ending mass deception
00:13:26.260 we're forcing people to be this is incredible i hope this happens any information that aims
00:13:30.900 for emotional response is propaganda oh that's interesting any information that aims for an
00:13:36.340 emotional response is pro i like that authentic sincere and real but on the other hand isn't it
00:13:43.700 your face your choice film and television use makeup color grading and effects why are filters
00:13:49.940 different some women genuinely feel empowered and confident using them who gets to decide what's too
00:13:56.340 much and government censorship is an extremely slippery slope give an inch and they'll take a
00:14:02.020 a mile before you know it you won't be able yeah but i just think this is too far do you know what
00:14:07.940 i mean it's like if we really wanted the birth rate to go up we would ban social media i think
00:14:13.960 that's kind of impossible now but like that that would be a step in the right you know conservatives
00:14:19.340 always talk about like porn and i'm like uh women are leaving their families um because of social
00:14:26.540 media so to log in online without three layers of biometric identification and here's the
00:14:32.380 uncomfortable middle ground what if the problem isn't the filter what if the problem is that we
00:14:37.700 created a world where women felt they needed to hide their real faces to be valued a band
00:14:42.600 oh my gosh so women like imagine if men fake having money and they're like well we created
00:14:47.880 and a guy lying about having money we said well men we created a world where men feel like they
00:14:54.420 have to have money to be valued. You wouldn't really be like, no, you chose to lie. And just
00:14:59.520 like these women are choosing to lie. I might not ever fix that. An entire industry has been built
00:15:04.780 on women who don't exist in reality. Billions of dollars, millions of hours, all spent on faces
00:15:11.500 that were never real. Now the Chinese government is forcing them to face reality and people are
00:15:16.660 calling it oppressive. But ask yourself this, if someone built their entire career on catfishing
00:15:22.400 millions of people would you defend that because that's what this is mass catfishing yes at scale
00:15:29.680 for profit and it isn't just that filters deceived us it's that we wanted to be deceived
00:15:35.680 we chose the beautiful lie no because i think do you know what i mean like if men wanted to be
00:15:42.860 deceived they don't have a choice like you have to give them the choice but now there's no choice
00:15:47.980 i mean uh one in the chat if you've matched with a girl on a dating app who dating app who fat
00:15:53.660 fished you you thought she's gonna be hot and she was fat you know over the ordinary truth
00:15:58.260 and maybe that's the real reason this band cut some of us so deeply it's not taking away filters
00:16:04.040 it's taking away permission to live in denial so i've got a real question for you if every filter
00:16:11.400 disappeared from your phone right now how would you feel relieved or terrified if it's a second
00:16:17.460 one. That's the problem they're trying to solve. Not the filter itself. The fact that you need it
00:16:23.000 to feel worth looking at. An entire generation of women grew up believing their real faces
00:16:28.340 weren't good enough. That pores were mistakes. That texture was a flaw. It's just crazy. Women
00:16:34.680 committed fraud and get sympathy. Is there anything we can do and not get sympathy? Is there anything?
00:16:41.600 that aging was something to hide fix and erase we didn't just normalize filters we made them
00:16:48.160 feel mandatory so if you made it this far let me know honestly would you support a filter ban
00:16:54.220 i would i think i think that i think this is like women you've gotta go you've gotten up this has
00:17:00.200 gotten out of hand this has gotten out of hand and you need to stop this we have given you too
00:17:05.220 much power so yeah but anyways let me know what you guys think of the comments um do you like
00:17:11.100 Do you agree? Do you disagree? How do you feel about a mass ban on social media filters? Let
00:17:18.900 me know in the comments, like the video, and I'll see you next time.