The Culture War - Tim Pool - December 02, 2025


Gen Z Influencer Gives MACHETES & BOOZE To Homeless, Social Media PSYCHOSIS Is Here


Episode Stats


Length

31 minutes

Words per minute

176.65749

Word count

5,560

Sentence count

540

Harmful content

Misogyny

6

sentences flagged

Toxicity

14

sentences flagged

Hate speech

5

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Viral videos of a man handing out machetes to the homeless have gone viral, and the media is fixated on it. But is it really about getting attention, or is it about radicalizing young people online?

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 keeping the homeless in the streets. A series of viral videos captured the attention of the press.
00:00:07.220 A man was giving out machetes, fireball cigarettes to the homeless. We have now seen videos popping
00:00:14.920 up of homeless people angrily swinging machetes walking down the street. And why did this man do
00:00:21.340 it? Because he is desperate for you to know who he is. He doesn't care about doing something good.
00:00:29.580 He cares about eyeballs because in the influence economy, capturing attention is all that matters.
00:00:36.440 And this man has gotten millions of views by doing this. Now, it does appear that TikTok has
00:00:42.420 begun to remove many of these videos. And on YouTube and Instagram, there's not really much
00:00:47.380 viewership at all. But these TikTok videos, they hit the millions. And when questioned, he said,
00:00:53.640 so what? You got to do it to get the views. There is a sliding scale from mass shooter
00:01:00.060 to, I don't know, influencer vlogger. And that is, there are people online that genuinely have
00:01:09.400 something they're passionate about, something they want to say. I don't put them in the scale.
00:01:12.140 That is, if you're a chess player, you make chess videos because you like talking about chess.
00:01:15.900 Me, I like talking about news. Some things I talk about don't get as many views as something else.
00:01:20.620 There's certainly ways to improve your viewership. But then there are people who are desperate for
00:01:25.400 attention. And so they will make shock content to various degrees. Some people who engage in the
00:01:31.260 utmost violence do it because they are desperate for recognition. Will anyone ever remember who they
00:01:37.580 were? Then you have people like this that fall somewhere in between, creating very serious social
00:01:43.740 problems because he knows it's shocking. I'm going to get attention. This phenomenon has been going on
00:01:49.560 for about 10 plus years since the dawn of social media, to be completely honest. People used to do
00:01:54.260 these prank videos where they dress up like killer clowns and jump out and lunge at people. And they'd
00:01:59.240 get, they'd make a lot of money from it. There were people who would go into black neighborhoods and
00:02:03.820 throw racial slurs around and secretly film it. There are viral videos where people go to casinos, throw
00:02:09.400 fake money on the ground, and then get into fights with people. I don't mean like physical fights,
00:02:13.420 because it's shock content. What we're looking at is a very similar component. It is the other side
00:02:22.260 of the coin to what we see with the rise of the woke cult. And that is, what you experience online
00:02:30.000 and your worldview is, it's a component of who you already are. So you will become more, you'll become
00:02:39.740 more extreme in whatever it is you're already doing. What we end up seeing is liberals who hold
00:02:46.420 this neoliberal, neoconservative worldview, and we say liberal now in the modern political context,
00:02:52.520 believe the craziest things. They think that Donald Trump called Nazis fine people. He never did.
00:02:57.360 They believe these things because videos emerged that played to their expectations,
00:03:03.220 that made these media companies money, and then drove these people to a world of insanity
00:03:09.440 and has created a political conflict. But what happens if you're a young person growing up in
00:03:13.360 this world, and you don't actually have a moral worldview because you're a very young person,
00:03:17.080 or you have a limited moral worldview? Well, you fall into radicalization, various cults,
00:03:22.000 sex, or otherwise, or you become like this and go hand out machetes because the only thing that
00:03:29.000 matters is that people see your face. And this is where we currently are. Now, there's a bunch of
00:03:36.640 other trends that we've seen emerge that have resulted in young people getting hurt.
00:03:39.660 We have seen the trend of quitting your job go viral because people get views from quitting their
00:03:44.420 jobs. It is making us insane. But, my friends, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
00:03:52.320 Another big trend that's happening now is Gen Z's just logging off. They're getting offline. And there's 0.99
00:04:00.400 more and more reports talking about it, which is very interesting. And people are starting to
00:04:04.820 recognize these views. They are all fake. I actually tend to believe that most of the top personalities
00:04:12.680 have fake views. And Twitch is getting called out very heavily for it because people are paying for
00:04:21.020 bots. They're paying tens of thousands of dollars so they can just claim to the press they're the biggest 0.99
00:04:26.040 streamer. If you're rich, why not? You only need a little bit of action on your stream. You buy the rest.
00:04:34.700 And there you go. So, let me just say it like this. As we get into the story and break down exactly
00:04:40.980 what's going on, and I'll show you these videos, I would like to throw one thing your way, my friends.
00:04:46.660 There are many funny memes about TimCast and Tim Pool money that my friends have made, people you may
00:04:54.080 know. Seamus Coughlin made a promo for his show, Freedom Tunes, where he says, we don't have Tim Pool
00:04:58.620 money. Jeremy Hambly made a similar joke about how he was raising money to go to AmFest saying,
00:05:03.560 we don't have Tim Pool money. I'm not doing it to humblebrag. I'm doing it to make a point.
00:05:08.780 Tim Castile averages between YouTube and Rumble around 40,000 concurrent viewers.
00:05:14.540 All legitimate. All real people. I just make videos, got millions of subs. There are other
00:05:20.900 popular streamers who have comparable live viewership or better, but for some reason,
00:05:28.080 don't have nearly as much money. Why? Well, these accounts are spending the money they make to make
00:05:35.360 it look like they're big, whereas for us, we are just actually as big as we are, and we sell ads,
00:05:41.120 and we make money, and we use it to launch skate events, and to build studios. Interesting, isn't it?
00:05:47.720 You see, the reality is the internet's largely fake, and everyone's desperate to claim they have merit,
00:05:51.960 even when they don't. Fake it till you make it to an extreme degree. So let's start here with who this
00:05:57.580 influencer is and why he's giving out machetes, and then we'll look at more. Before we do, we got a
00:06:01.860 great sponsor for you. It is Beam Dream, my friends. Go to shopbeam.com slash TimCast, and you can get to
00:06:09.880 50% off your nighttime blend to support better sleep. I am the biggest fan of Beam Dream. I drink it
00:06:17.200 every night before bed, and I sleep like a rock. Seriously. It's got L-theanine. It's got melatonin.
00:06:24.460 It's got magnesium, and the magnesium really was it for me, because when I work out a lot,
00:06:29.940 you'll get cramps afterwards. I wasn't getting the magnesium that I needed, and all I know is
00:06:34.380 every night before bed, I have a delicious cup of cinnamon hot cocoa. They got a bunch of flavors,
00:06:37.700 by the way, and it is delicious, and then I sleep beautifully. So I got a sleep score. I think
00:06:43.860 today my sleep score was in the 90s. Yeah, I'm not even kidding. Actually, I'm going to prove it.
00:06:49.780 Here we go. 94. 94 is my sleep score from last night. 100% quality, consistency, slept for seven
00:06:56.440 hours, all the good stuff, and I'll even brag about resting heart rate 44. 44. Take a look at that.
00:07:04.080 Check out shopbeam.com slash TimCast. Use code TimCast. Get up to 50% off. Do it now,
00:07:09.860 but let's get to the news, and we'll start by actually showing you what this guy was doing.
00:07:15.680 We have this video. Let's play it.
00:07:19.740 So he's handing homeless people machetes, and they're all just laughing and taking them.
00:07:26.520 There it is. For those that are just listening, just walking up and handing out machetes to people.
00:07:40.480 There you go.
00:07:42.200 Here's him handing out booze and machetes. Full bottles of, I can't tell, but it looks like vodka.
00:07:48.140 Vodka and machetes. This is wild.
00:07:58.500 Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you.
00:08:00.540 Oh, I think we can see what kind of booze that is. Looks cheap.
00:08:05.600 Stroy, Stroyski? Never heard of that.
00:08:10.240 There it is. Plastic bottle booze. Here's more machetes.
00:08:13.980 He's also got a video. I don't know if they have it in here. Here we go.
00:08:16.220 Where he gives cigarettes and fireballs.
00:08:18.120 Let's feed the homeless. 1.00
00:08:19.920 Today, I'm going to be making something special for people in need.
00:08:22.320 Because of the government shutdown being in effect, there are a lot of struggling people out here.
00:08:26.260 Everyone deserves a good meal, and I'm very grateful to be able to use it.
00:08:28.820 My privilege is to give back however I can.
00:08:31.340 Okay, I'm going to be honest.
00:08:33.180 If the only thing he did was lay out cigarettes and fireball, I would be laughing.
00:08:39.000 And then he kicked it over and said, I'm not giving people booze and cigarettes.
00:08:42.260 That'd be really funny. Nah, he actually goes and does it.
00:08:46.220 Dude, this is messed up, dude.
00:08:49.640 Seriously, sick stuff. 0.95
00:08:51.580 This dude should be banned from every platform. 0.67
00:08:54.240 Look, it's one thing if there's political speech that you don't like.
00:08:58.480 You're allowed to express your opinions.
00:09:00.220 It's another thing when you are giving out booze, cigarettes, and weapons to people for clout.
00:09:06.420 I think we should absolutely ban this stuff.
00:09:08.460 This is not free speech.
00:09:09.380 This is, look at this.
00:09:11.240 Nah, I mean, I think it's fair to say these people are all over 18.
00:09:17.220 But clearly, these are not people he should, it's wild, dude. 1.00
00:09:25.160 This dude is sick in the head. 0.99
00:09:27.660 The New York Post reports, 1.00
00:09:30.460 A wannabe social media influencer went viral this week when he handed out 18-inch machetes and booze to homeless people.
00:09:36.880 Keith Castillo, who goes by POV Wolfie, posted the video on Thanksgiving on TikTok, and he garnered more than 14 million views.
00:09:43.060 I gotta be honest.
00:09:43.960 I was on Instagram, and it recommended this video to me.
00:09:47.180 Here, you want one of these?
00:09:48.020 Hell yeah, man.
00:09:48.900 Looks like TikTok has deleted it.
00:09:50.240 A caption reads, keeping the homeless in the streets, apparently mocking the plight of those without a place to call their own.
00:09:57.600 The stainless steel Gordon brand machetes were still wrapped in packaging.
00:10:02.200 Castillo told the Post he purchased them in bulk from online retailer Harbor Freight for less than five bucks each.
00:10:09.140 In another video posted on November 2nd, Castillo hands out four unwrapped machetes alongside handles of vodka.
00:10:16.240 Handles to people on an unidentified Big Easy back road.
00:10:21.240 In a November 20th post, the influencer distributed seven machetes that he termed a Big Ass Swords,
00:10:27.560 in which he claimed it was an effort to keep the homeless folks safe.
00:10:30.440 Keeping them safe?
00:10:31.180 No, making them dangerous.
00:10:32.200 Yes.
00:10:32.840 The 29-year-old told the Post he was on a nationwide tour, which began in October, and is currently in Little Rock,
00:10:38.500 where he once again is handing out alcohol and machetes.
00:10:41.360 I have like 30 machetes in my car right now.
00:10:43.500 Dude, they're cheap.
00:10:44.540 I travel around, bulk record in one day, and then for my safety, go to another city, do the same thing.
00:10:49.740 There for like two weeks and kind of travel around.
00:10:53.260 So far, he's armed homeless folks in Austin, New Orleans, and Little Rock, but he has his sights on larger skylines.
00:10:58.920 He said, I have plans to go to Vegas Skid Row.
00:11:01.880 I should be in New York in January.
00:11:04.460 The Corpus Christi, Texas native, said he spoke to the police about handing out machetes and was assured he wasn't doing anything illegal.
00:11:11.060 Castillo also doesn't think he's doing anything immoral and believes homeless will not use the blades to hurt him or anyone else.
00:11:18.840 These are for like tool purposes.
00:11:20.800 They have zero intent for what people are claiming they want to do.
00:11:24.420 There's already videos popping up where someone filmed a homeless guy walking down the street swinging a machete and just pointing and screaming at people. 0.98
00:11:32.480 This dude is insane and should be banned.
00:11:34.740 He expressed no second thoughts on handing out alcohol to potential substance abusers. 0.98
00:11:40.240 He says, honestly, I really don't care, bro.
00:11:41.860 It's good for the clicks and the views, you know.
00:11:44.160 Got to do what we have to do so we eat.
00:11:48.340 Sounds like a cocktail for disaster.
00:11:51.280 Alcohol and machetes. 1.00
00:11:52.400 Could we get any dumber? 0.98
00:11:54.180 Said retired NYPD sergeant and John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor, Joseph Giacalone. 0.98
00:12:01.200 Indeed, my friends.
00:12:03.620 Well, you take a look at where he was and he had 3.9 million views in the Google cache.
00:12:10.820 It's gone now.
00:12:12.360 It's been deleted.
00:12:14.660 I'm pretty sure if you click on it, it just outright says it is unavailable.
00:12:19.760 Now, here's the thing.
00:12:21.020 Why was he doing it?
00:12:22.240 3.9 million views.
00:12:24.500 Take a look at his page now with those videos taken down.
00:12:27.360 20,000.
00:12:29.120 8,000.
00:12:29.940 Eh, someone's got 63,000 for sure.
00:12:32.080 100,000 here.
00:12:33.240 But he doesn't really get that much.
00:12:34.900 These aren't particularly notable videos of him apparently just playing Fortnite.
00:12:39.020 So he decided to go cause problems.
00:12:42.000 I'm going to be honest with you.
00:12:43.360 I believe TikTok followers are largely fake.
00:12:46.200 My opinion, I don't have any, my reason to believe it is that you don't know who this guy is.
00:12:52.220 And that he had to go do this to get attention.
00:12:54.400 And so I often wonder why it is.
00:12:57.040 There's, here's his YouTube.
00:12:58.660 There's a prominent podcaster who gets real big guests and he's got millions of followers.
00:13:06.120 And for some reason, no one ever comments, no one ever likes, but the views are there.
00:13:10.740 Because I'm going to tell you, my friends, it's all botting.
00:13:13.660 Now, check this out.
00:13:16.460 It's not just this guy.
00:13:18.160 We've got this video from EAT on X.
00:13:21.420 This is, he says, Rakai runs off after giving flowers to a woman without paying for them.
00:13:25.520 Watch this video.
00:13:26.500 And let's take a look at Gen Z social media psychosis. 0.94
00:13:29.020 So here, for those who are just listening, he walks up to a bunch of flowers that are for sale.
00:13:38.540 It appears to be like a Walmart or something.
00:13:41.640 He grabs them.
00:13:44.140 Have a beautiful day.
00:13:45.360 You too.
00:13:46.120 That's for you.
00:13:47.040 Are you serious?
00:13:48.060 Yeah.
00:13:48.620 He's handing the flowers to a woman.
00:13:50.020 God bless you.
00:13:51.000 Did you already pay for them?
00:13:52.260 Yeah.
00:13:52.680 Oh, thank you.
00:13:53.380 She said, did you already pay for them?
00:13:54.780 He goes, yeah, I did.
00:13:55.400 God bless you.
00:13:56.200 All right, bye-bye.
00:13:59.080 Looks like Walmart.
00:14:00.880 And this woman walks out having no idea what just happened. 1.00
00:14:03.740 Now, let's be honest.
00:14:04.560 This dude shoplifted, not her, by claiming he already paid for it.
00:14:07.900 When she was checking, she's receiving stolen property from this guy.
00:14:14.000 But they get attention.
00:14:16.940 How insane is it that these people are willing to literally commit crimes on camera?
00:14:22.660 You know what it is?
00:14:24.160 The penalty for shoplifting and what he did is less than the reward he gets from the social media.
00:14:29.580 Where did you get this?
00:14:33.400 Wild.
00:14:38.380 You know what's crazy is that this isn't new.
00:14:40.380 Don't touch my throat.
00:14:43.000 I say this dude should be perma-banned from every platform. 0.77
00:14:49.400 You commit a crime on camera, you get banned.
00:14:52.880 Gone.
00:14:54.320 I'm assuming he's on Twitch, but don't worry.
00:14:56.300 Twitch is fake anyway.
00:14:58.180 Don't ask me.
00:14:58.840 I got the proof.
00:14:59.360 We'll get there.
00:15:00.400 This is just more video.
00:15:01.460 This is the same videos we already showed from the other guy.
00:15:03.620 But we have this.
00:15:04.960 The five most deadly TikTok challenges, including one that's killed over 100 people.
00:15:10.520 There are fake videos emerging where people wash meat with dish soap.
00:15:14.040 It's not real.
00:15:14.920 There are, man, there's so much fake stuff that's crazy.
00:15:19.240 You ever see these videos?
00:15:21.420 There are these fake cooking videos where women will go to their, they have like an island 1.00
00:15:26.800 counter in their kitchen.
00:15:28.280 And they'll dump out a bunch of spaghetti sauce, sprinkle cheese just straight on the counter.
00:15:33.760 And then they'll take a block of Velveeta and start ripping it into chunks.
00:15:37.160 And then they'll take a bunch of nachos and put it on there. 0.86
00:15:39.820 And then they'll mash it together into a paste.
00:15:42.120 And you're like, this is disgusting.
00:15:43.760 And they're acting like this is a great recipe.
00:15:47.200 And then they mix it up.
00:15:48.400 And then they bake it.
00:15:49.720 And then they put it on a pizza crust.
00:15:51.800 And you know what it is?
00:15:53.720 You've been watching the whole time.
00:15:56.220 They pretend that it's a real recipe, but it's not.
00:16:00.020 They'll take eggs and crack them. 0.96
00:16:01.760 And they'll mix the eggs, the shells into it and break it up and say, the shells are a
00:16:06.280 great source of calcium.
00:16:07.420 You want to get it in there.
00:16:08.580 And, you know, it doesn't even affect the flavor.
00:16:10.820 And you're sitting there watching this being like, what is wrong with these people?
00:16:14.500 But the reality is, what's wrong with you?
00:16:17.040 You watch it.
00:16:18.800 So the algorithm shares it more.
00:16:21.660 I mean, look at this.
00:16:22.080 They're dumping dish soap and mouthwash onto their meat.
00:16:26.620 There's a viral video of a woman taking ground beef, pouring dish soap all over it and washing 1.00
00:16:30.280 it, cleaning it off, and then cooking it.
00:16:33.600 They're not real.
00:16:35.780 They'll film that, throw it away, take regular ground beef, cook that, and then eat it and make
00:16:40.520 you think they did.
00:16:43.040 Because it gets views.
00:16:44.720 The Tide Pod Challenge, remember this?
00:16:47.440 It actually resulted, or first we have the blackout challenge.
00:16:51.040 A hundred people have died where they would, I'm not going to explain what they do, mind
00:16:56.100 you, strangle themselves so that they could pass out.
00:17:00.500 A hundred people have died as a result.
00:17:02.360 A 12-year-old boy died in the UK.
00:17:05.640 Crazy.
00:17:06.120 The Tide Pod Challenge resulted in 35,000 emergency room visits.
00:17:10.640 Now, the truth is, nobody was actually eating Tide Pods.
00:17:13.680 They would put it in their mouth as a joke.
00:17:16.700 But guess what?
00:17:17.820 For many of these people, your saliva would break the plastic, whatever coating was, dissolves
00:17:24.640 in water.
00:17:25.660 And so there was one well-known story where a dude put it in his mouth, and it broke open,
00:17:30.060 burning his tongue, and he went, and he aspirated, and he sucked a bunch into his lungs, and they
00:17:36.660 started coughing and wheezing, struggling to breathe.
00:17:38.800 They call an ambulance.
00:17:40.180 He has scar tissue in his lungs, reducing his capacity to take in oxygen, destroying his
00:17:45.060 life.
00:17:46.360 Because they thought it was a joke.
00:17:47.780 Do not do this stuff.
00:17:49.700 The milk crate challenge was actually kind of interesting.
00:17:54.080 It wasn't telling anybody to burn yourself.
00:17:56.960 The issue is, climbing across milk crates, they're not stable.
00:18:01.440 And the challenge was to walk across it.
00:18:03.440 The problem is, people who have physical abilities fell from a great height.
00:18:07.180 Not great, but five or six feet.
00:18:09.260 Some people permanently paralyzed themselves.
00:18:12.340 Some people broke their spines, and fortunately, weren't paralyzed.
00:18:15.780 But they're going to have that for the rest of their lives.
00:18:18.100 I don't think the milk crate challenge falls in the same category as many of these things.
00:18:21.380 Because if you're a professional athlete, you're not really batting an eye at something
00:18:25.000 like this.
00:18:25.500 But if people decide to do feats of athleticism they can't do, I mean, you know, that's not
00:18:31.660 the same thing as eating a Tide Pod.
00:18:33.700 The fire challenge is one of the worst.
00:18:36.120 People are putting alcohol on their skin and setting it on a fire.
00:18:38.780 Do not do this.
00:18:40.500 People have gotten seriously hurt.
00:18:42.120 One kid burned his entire back and will now have to wear special liners and lubricants on
00:18:48.600 his back forever.
00:18:50.240 Don't do it.
00:18:51.920 The Benadryl challenge.
00:18:53.000 Kids are overdosing on Benadryl, having seizures and giving themselves brain damage.
00:19:00.160 Crazier still is the quitting challenge.
00:19:02.860 Where Gen Zers, who don't value work because they don't make enough money, they're never 1.00
00:19:06.520 going to own a house, and there's no light at the end of the tunnel, I don't really blame
00:19:08.700 them, have found that quitting can make you go viral.
00:19:12.220 Indeed.
00:19:12.940 Literally quitting.
00:19:15.020 Quit.
00:19:16.020 Quit your job.
00:19:17.020 Who cares?
00:19:17.420 You can't buy a house.
00:19:19.300 You can't have a family.
00:19:20.660 You can't afford health care.
00:19:21.780 So what are you working for anyway?
00:19:23.540 Go on EBT.
00:19:25.680 What's happening is these young people have figured out that if they quit their jobs, they
00:19:30.740 can get millions of views.
00:19:32.860 There was one viral video.
00:19:34.560 Let me pull this one up.
00:19:35.340 This is from a long time ago, and wow, look at this one, quitting my toxic job.
00:19:44.440 Actually, I'll slide this over.
00:19:46.380 Quitting my toxic job, 6.4 million views.
00:19:52.160 Let me find this video from 10 years ago.
00:19:56.300 Here we go.
00:19:57.400 Wow, it's from 12 years ago.
00:20:00.980 Oh, man.
00:20:01.780 I don't know how many of you know about this video, but here you go.
00:20:07.140 Let's play this classic.
00:20:09.220 Classic video.
00:20:10.700 It's 4.30 a.m., and I'm at work.
00:20:13.200 Uh-oh. 0.99
00:20:13.900 And I'm not going to play the yay song because I don't get them flagging me or whatever stupid 0.90
00:20:17.840 thing they're going to do, so we'll just mute it. 0.55
00:20:19.640 And it's her dancing at her job, where she says, I work for an awesome company that produces
00:20:23.560 news videos.
00:20:25.320 And then she basically goes on to say that she's quitting, and this is the video she's making
00:20:29.180 for it.
00:20:29.680 And this video's got 19 million views.
00:20:34.760 So Gen Z didn't discover this, but they're embracing it.
00:20:38.820 So what's happening now is some of these young people have jobs that are actually fine, but
00:20:42.100 they're like, if I quit and just say bad things, I can make way more money.
00:20:48.120 The truth is, my friends, it's all fake.
00:20:51.200 Take a look at this from Yeet.
00:20:53.540 Stable Ronaldo reveals that he has an upcoming meeting with Twitch about their view-botting
00:20:57.060 problem.
00:20:57.500 I'm having a meeting because I'm over it.
00:20:59.960 I sent them a whole thing.
00:21:00.880 I said, I want a meeting Thursday, doing a meeting with a lot of people.
00:21:03.480 Let me tell you why.
00:21:05.040 If you're actually popular, if you actually work really hard, but you never get ranked,
00:21:10.860 you never get attention, but you do have that popularity, the point, what these people
00:21:17.580 are going to see is they're going to say, listen, if the view-botters, if the fake
00:21:22.080 views weren't there, I'd be number one.
00:21:24.260 I would be explaining why I'm successful, why people like watching my content.
00:21:27.540 Instead, people assume the view-bots are the real content, and they're not.
00:21:34.100 So high-profile people who don't view-bot are getting pissed off because they're ending
00:21:38.600 up like ranked number 10, and the person who's number one has zero comments.
00:21:42.800 Why does Twitch allow this?
00:21:46.180 Viewbotter.com, the best Twitch viewer bot that uses AI for authenticity, supercharge
00:21:50.900 your stream.
00:21:51.940 What's this?
00:21:52.960 Viewbots.com, next generation Viewbot tech.
00:21:56.140 And then we have another video.
00:21:58.760 Julia Kin says Viewbot pricing can go up to $50,000 per month.
00:22:02.540 Listen to this.
00:22:03.340 Chad, I'm not doing it.
00:22:05.060 I can't afford to bought 12,000 people.
00:22:09.380 Y'all know how much that costs?
00:22:11.720 That's like $50,000 right there.
00:22:14.760 Really?
00:22:15.180 Well, to do it like per month.
00:22:17.820 Is it, right?
00:22:18.840 Wait, how do you know that?
00:22:19.920 Yeah, how do you know the pricing on it?
00:22:22.680 I have friends in the industry.
00:22:25.560 I have friends who have shown me screenshots.
00:22:28.760 What?
00:22:29.740 Not to say any names of any names, but...
00:22:32.160 Interesting.
00:22:32.520 Man, I gotta be honest.
00:22:35.400 If someone asked me, like Tim, how do you know the cost of Viewbotting?
00:22:39.500 And I'd be like, I went to a couple of Viewbotting websites to see how much it costs.
00:22:43.560 Like, that's it.
00:22:45.540 I Google searched this.
00:22:47.240 I found these companies.
00:22:49.160 It's extremely expensive to do.
00:22:51.420 But imagine you're someone with like 20,000 concurrent viewers.
00:22:55.680 And so at that level, and if you're doing consistent work, you could be making millions
00:22:59.960 of dollars.
00:23:00.380 So you decide that if you're making, well, I mean, it's pretty crazy, 50,000 per month.
00:23:07.120 But let's say you're somebody who's making, I don't know, 150,000 per month.
00:23:12.580 And you're thinking, I can put myself at number one.
00:23:15.740 So you do it.
00:23:17.700 Here's what I think.
00:23:18.520 I think this lady just looked it up.
00:23:20.600 There's nothing wrong with looking it up.
00:23:22.200 And you're curious about what people are doing, how they're doing it.
00:23:26.240 Sure.
00:23:26.980 Me personally, I spend all my money on skateboarding.
00:23:30.060 And while we do rank really well on Timcast IRL, we actually were doing fairly well.
00:23:36.840 I don't know where we're at right now.
00:23:38.380 Over during the election, we were number two, just behind Steven Crowder.
00:23:41.640 Pretty crazy, right?
00:23:42.300 The second biggest live stream in the country.
00:23:44.680 I think we're around like seven or eight now.
00:23:48.020 We're not in a political season.
00:23:49.660 It is what it is.
00:23:50.980 But, you know, that's the way it goes.
00:23:53.020 You know what I find really fascinating?
00:23:54.720 The truth is everyone's botting and all of it's fake.
00:23:57.440 You want to know how I know?
00:23:58.320 Or at least why I think that's the case.
00:24:01.120 When we sell ads, for some reason, our advertisers always come to us and they say,
00:24:05.860 your conversion rates are amazing.
00:24:07.460 And I say, well, the truth is, I think I do a pretty good job of selling products.
00:24:13.400 I used to do nonprofit fundraising.
00:24:15.240 And so like the ad I did for Beam earlier, for which I really am a fan,
00:24:18.860 hey, it was a pretty good ad.
00:24:20.000 I think so.
00:24:21.020 I showed you my sleep score.
00:24:22.260 That's legit.
00:24:23.040 That's actually my Sleep 8 mattress sleep score, 94.
00:24:27.280 So if you're like a lot of these channels where you just do a straight up ad read and you say,
00:24:31.480 make sure you go to whatever.com, check it out.
00:24:33.360 Anyway, back to the news.
00:24:34.420 People aren't really moved by that.
00:24:35.620 They might know about it.
00:24:36.340 But I think the truth is, aside from the fact that maybe I do better sales pitches,
00:24:41.660 maybe I don't, we have real viewers.
00:24:44.920 Y'all are real viewers.
00:24:46.600 This video might get 80,000 views, I think, on a good day.
00:24:49.660 This channel used to get way more, but we changed the format and it is what it is.
00:24:54.520 I don't need to buy views or do whatever.
00:24:56.900 I have no problem saying four years ago, this channel was getting 500,000 views per video,
00:25:01.560 once per day.
00:25:02.260 And now those same videos are doing sometimes 200, but usually around 50 to 100.
00:25:07.980 Because the people who, the schedule changed.
00:25:10.300 I stopped making the videos and so people stopped coming for it.
00:25:12.340 It happens.
00:25:13.080 I have no reason to buy fake viewers for this channel.
00:25:16.140 We just do the content we do.
00:25:18.260 And because of that, the conversion rates are normal.
00:25:21.880 But what if you're buying ad reads from somebody who's botting?
00:25:26.480 Well, unfortunately then, you're not going to convert anything because the viewers aren't
00:25:30.420 actually watching.
00:25:32.240 That's the terrifying reality.
00:25:34.520 Twitch cracked down a couple months ago and 24% of their viewership dropped off.
00:25:40.240 Strange.
00:25:40.760 Now, as bad as crazy as everything is, my friends, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
00:25:47.400 And I think we have this here.
00:25:49.660 They grew up online.
00:25:51.020 Now, some teens are choosing to log off.
00:25:54.260 Take a look at this from First Post.
00:25:56.780 Why nobody is posting on social media anymore.
00:25:59.620 Vantage with Palky Sharma.
00:26:01.900 I actually have other theories about this.
00:26:03.960 I think there's a high probability the population is much lower around the world than people
00:26:10.460 realize.
00:26:11.760 There's a viral video where this guy says China's population may actually be 500 million, not
00:26:17.120 1.4 billion.
00:26:19.420 Malls seem empty.
00:26:20.520 Streets are empty.
00:26:21.680 I agree.
00:26:22.400 But here's the thing.
00:26:23.540 When I talk about empty city streets, people say, Tim, it's because they're at home and they're
00:26:26.440 online.
00:26:27.380 Then why aren't they posting on social media anymore?
00:26:31.240 Now, what I can say is Occam's razor.
00:26:33.080 The likely scenario is young people are leaving social media, and we've heard this trend for
00:26:37.900 a while, because it's become painfully inauthentic.
00:26:42.380 They know it's not real.
00:26:43.920 Check this out.
00:26:48.640 For our next story, let's talk about the internet.
00:26:51.660 It has never felt louder and busier.
00:26:55.360 Ads, reels, AI slop, viral videos.
00:26:58.040 It's like a constant digital screaming match.
00:27:00.580 And that seems to have put off the people who make the internet, because they are going
00:27:06.900 quiet.
00:27:08.440 Let me show you a study.
00:27:10.140 It says that social media activity is dropping across the world.
00:27:14.440 This study was conducted in 50 countries.
00:27:16.980 It involved more than 250,000 people.
00:27:19.760 That's a pretty decent sample size.
00:27:21.680 And here's what it found.
00:27:22.600 Social media usage is down by 10%.
00:27:26.100 People are leaving.
00:27:28.060 And it's mostly young people.
00:27:29.740 The people who grew up with their phones.
00:27:31.800 They're turning away.
00:27:33.500 Turns out this trend also has a name.
00:27:36.160 It's called Posting Zero.
00:27:38.640 It's a fancy name for a simple reality.
00:27:40.540 Basically, people have stopped posting their lives on social media.
00:27:44.040 That is Posting Zero.
00:27:46.220 And here's why it's happening.
00:27:47.480 The study has given three reasons.
00:27:48.700 First, the polished nature of social media.
00:27:51.780 When these platforms first came, they weren't so curated.
00:27:54.900 They were breakfast photos, pet photos, gym selfies, random life updates that no one really
00:28:00.000 asked for.
00:28:00.780 It was chaotic, but it was also human.
00:28:03.040 Not true.
00:28:04.520 But I'll get to that in a second.
00:28:05.440 It was messy.
00:28:06.460 But apparently, that was the point of it.
00:28:09.940 But look at your feed now.
00:28:11.860 It looks like a shopping mall designed by an AI bot.
00:28:14.780 Yep.
00:28:15.100 Every scroll shows you a skincare ad, a reel that you've already seen 11 times, a guy
00:28:20.660 explaining how to make your first million by the age of 24, and an AI model who is definitely
00:28:26.080 not real.
00:28:27.340 Yep.
00:28:28.420 Slowly, the real people disappeared.
00:28:31.580 Indeed.
00:28:32.760 The reason it's not true is that social media has always been the highlight reel.
00:28:35.640 It's never been real.
00:28:36.480 It's always been curated, but not in the same way.
00:28:38.300 So I respect that.
00:28:39.560 I remember when Friendster first started getting into popular.
00:28:42.620 We used You Journal back in the day.
00:28:43.940 We had, everybody had a GeoCities.
00:28:46.820 We had our own little GeoCities websites.
00:28:49.060 And, you know, your GIF of the Incredible Hulk or the Banana Guy doing the peanut butter
00:28:52.980 jelly dance.
00:28:54.380 And Friendster is when things started to get more social.
00:28:57.580 People were posting photos and images.
00:28:59.140 MySpace eventually took over.
00:29:00.580 Then Facebook came around.
00:29:01.980 But I remember seeing the images from people.
00:29:04.460 You know, they're driving in a car, and they're taking that selfie shot.
00:29:07.480 They're at the club and the party, and it looks like it's so much fun.
00:29:09.660 And I'd see these from my friends, and then we'd go out on a Friday night, and we'd be
00:29:15.240 hanging out at a diner, and they'd be like, let's get a great photo together.
00:29:18.200 And then I'd see that photo later and be like, it was not nearly as fun as that photo makes
00:29:22.440 it look.
00:29:23.080 It was always the highlight reel.
00:29:24.920 But here's what's true.
00:29:26.300 It's all inauthentic.
00:29:28.320 Videos you see on Instagram, they're advertisements.
00:29:32.160 You'll see a commercial, or you'll see a video where a guy's like doing a man in the
00:29:35.340 street interview.
00:29:35.860 And then abruptly, in the middle of it, he'll be like, what kind of skincare product do you
00:29:38.900 use?
00:29:39.460 And it turns out a skincare company hired the guy to make it look like an authentic man
00:29:43.860 in the street viral video, and then inject an ad in the middle of it.
00:29:47.320 It's getting boring.
00:29:49.040 If you're not competing, what are you doing?
00:29:51.460 So this guy is handing out machetes.
00:29:53.380 He's not posting zero.
00:29:54.520 He's saying, please look at me.
00:29:55.960 I'm desperate.
00:29:57.320 Everybody else is saying, bro, I'm not interested in playing that game.
00:30:01.740 And so they're leaving.
00:30:02.660 I do think it's fair to point out that the young generation is much smaller.
00:30:08.280 So it could be a false positive.
00:30:11.900 The reason why we're seeing less posting from the younger generation is because there's
00:30:14.660 less young people.
00:30:15.760 But as long as they're accounting for demographic size, and it's posts per capita or however
00:30:19.560 you want to do it, then, yeah, it's probably happening.
00:30:22.940 Now, these people are still scrolling social media.
00:30:25.180 They're just not posting.
00:30:26.640 The question will be, are you going to be real and authentic, and will you make it through?
00:30:29.720 I don't know.
00:30:31.980 I don't know about you.
00:30:33.180 Some people will.
00:30:34.540 Many people will not.
00:30:36.160 The one thing I can say is that while some people are stopping the posting, many others
00:30:40.860 are going insane.
00:30:43.440 And it's sad.
00:30:45.020 They believe crazy things.
00:30:47.460 There's channels that make it look like they're botting so they look popular so they can say
00:30:51.300 crazy things and build cultures and communities.
00:30:54.460 I hope we break through it and find some authenticity.
00:30:58.300 But I suppose we won't know for sure for 20 years, because this psycho generation of young 1.00
00:31:06.200 social media-obsessed people, it's their whole worldview, and you can't shake it from them.
00:31:11.380 But I suppose this is just one more instance, and we'll see where the trend takes us.
00:31:17.480 But I'm going to wrap it up there, my friend.
00:31:18.680 Smash the like button.
00:31:19.620 Share the show with everyone you know.
00:31:21.420 Thanks for hanging out.
00:31:22.660 We're back tonight at 8 p.m. for Timcast IRL.
00:31:25.180 Check us out, don't miss it, and we'll see you all then.