Issue #80

Coinbase claims ads got banned, YouTube overtakes traditional TV, ChatGPT accidentally leaks chats, and more.

News from 31 July - 7 August 2025

Coinbase Claims Ads Got Banned

The crypto exchange Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong falsely claimed the exchange's provocative British adverts had been banned by UK regulators, when in reality they were simply rejected for failing to meet advertising standards.

The two-minute film presents a dystopian view of Britain, showing residents singing "everything is just fine" whilst living in rat-infested streets with power cuts. Other scenes depict shoppers celebrating £100 grocery bills and affluent couples fleeing to Dubai. The ad generated millions of views, though some Reddit users called it "predatory" for suggesting volatile crypto could solve the cost-of-living crisis.

Investigation revealed that Clearcast, the agency responsible for ensuring that ads meet legal standards, rejected it for presenting cryptocurrency as an economic solution "without sufficient evidence". Clearcast spokesperson: "We did not 'ban' the ad, as that can only be done by the regulator after an ad makes it to air."

Source

ChatGPT Accidentally Leaks Chats

OpenAI removed a sharing feature after over 110,000 private ChatGPT conversations were inadvertently made public and indexed by search engines.

These leaked conversations include an Arabic-speaking user asking ChatGPT to write a story criticising Egypt's president, and one leaked exchange involving an Italian-speaking lawyer for a multinational energy corporation seeking advice on displacing an Amazonian indigenous community to build a hydroelectric plant. 

OpenAI scrambled to de-index the conversations from Google, though over 110,000 remain accessible via Archive.org. This comes after Meta's AI chatbot leaked private conversations earlier this year. ChatGPT user: “How can we get the lowest possible price in negotiations with these indigenous people?”

Source

North Koreans Infiltrate Western Companies

CrowdStrike has identified over 320 incidents in the past year where North Koreans posing as remote IT workers infiltrated Western companies to fund the regime's nuclear weapons programme, marking a 220% increase from the previous year.

The scheme involves North Koreans using false identities, fabricated CVs, deepfake technology to alter their appearance during remote interviews, and stolen work histories to secure developer roles at unsuspecting companies. Once hired, they steal sensitive data for later extortion whilst generating billions of dollars for Pyongyang's sanctioned nuclear programme.

The Department of Justice has targeted US-based facilitators who operate "laptop farms" - racks of open laptops allowing North Koreans to work remotely whilst appearing to be physically located in America. Some crypto companies now ask prospective employees to criticise Kim Jong Un during interviews, a request that the highly monitored North Korean workers cannot fulfil.

Source

Bulletin Board

• Reddit Wants to Be a Search Engine. Reddit CEO Steve Huffman announced plans to transform the platform into a major search destination, unifying its search function with AI-powered Reddit Answers. The move capitalises on users increasingly appending "reddit" to Google queries to find authentic answers. This comes after the company reported 78% revenue growth to $500 million in Q2. CEO Steve Huffman: "Reddit is one of the few platforms positioned to become a true search destination." Source
• Italy Fines Shein €1m for Greenwashing Claims. Italy's competition authority fined Chinese fast fashion retailer Shein €1 million for "misleading or omissive" environmental claims about its products. The regulator criticised statements suggesting products were fully recyclable, which "does not reflect reality", given current recycling systems. This follows a €40m French penalty for deceptive commercial practices. Source
• Gen Z Moves Midwest for Affordable Homes. Seven of the top ten US metros for young homeowners are in the Midwest, where housing costs are up to 50% less than in coastal cities. Omaha leads with 18.2% homeownership under 35, followed by Grand Rapids (21.1%) and Des Moines (19.8%). Gen Z and millennial remote workers comprise 30% of interstate movers, with Indiana and Wisconsin seeing significant population gains. Source
• YouTube Overtakes Traditional TV. According to a study by Ofcom, YouTube has become the UK's second most-watched service after the BBC, with viewers spending an average of 39 minutes on the platform daily. Meanwhile, 16-24 year olds watch only 17 minutes of live TV daily. Ofcom noted that half of YouTube content increasingly resembles traditional TV. Ofcom Interim Group Director for Strategy and Research Ed Leighton: “Public service broadcasters are recognising this shift - moving to meet audiences in the online spaces where they increasingly spend their time.” Source
• China Offers Cash for Babies. The Chinese government will provide annual subsidies of 3,600 yuan ($500) per child to parents to control plummeting birth rates. Raising a child to the age of 18 costs more than $75,000 in China, which is over six times the GDP per capita. The population has shrunk for three consecutive years amid soaring youth unemployment and unattainable housing prices. Beijing student Li: “Having kids would only bring more hardship. I’m not a capitalist or anything, and my kid probably wouldn’t have much of a good life either.” Source

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