Weekly Internet Roundup: Reddit Blackouts, Grimace Shakes, and Failed Gatekeeping of Bagels

Welcome. Another week has passed, and therefore another week of internet shenanigans have ensued. As usual, it's time to take a look at few of them. Let's go.

Happy Birthday, Grimace!

It seems like it's been a while since McDonald's brought out a product that appeases all the fast food loving memers. Remember the Travis Scott meal? It takes a special kind of celebrity partnership to really get social media talking about it these days, and McDonaldland resident Grimace has been the perfect candidate recently.

Ronald McDonald's best buddy has been kicking about since June of 1971, and this year the fast food giant decided to introduce a meal in his honor. The highlight was a luminous purple ‘Grimace Shake’, the which has been the subject of intense sh*tposting. It's nice to see people united around a massive corporation for once.

Rainbolt: Still the Scariest Man on the Internet

It's a miracle that GeoGuessr king @georainbolt hasn't been hired by the CIA already, but perhaps part of that reason is because he'd rather stay doing side quests. Clearly, he's been getting bored of pinning places on the map from upside down, black and white, pixelated pictures, because he has captured attention this week for a lesson in petty revenge.

When fellow creator @Casketpaint shared what he claimed to be the best sandwich he ever had, he refused to divulge the location. Enter Rainbolt, with a determined mission objective of identifying the bagel — and getting it named after him.

Unfortunately, this tale of silly online rivalry doesn't have a very nice ending. What started as an intense but ultimately lighthearted mission ended up making the thwarted TikToker the focus of prejudiced abuse. Yet more evidence that we need to be periodically reminded that things are rarely, if ever, that deep.

The Great Reddit Revolt of 2023

If you happen to be a fan of a le epic Reddit moment, you're probably aware that large swathes of the front page of the internet went dark earlier this week. Redditors have been using a blackout to protest a raise in the price of API access, in a move that is likely to kill many popular third-party Reddit apps. Almost half of all subreddits participated in the strike, and many are promising to continue it. There have been accusations that Reddit execs were deliberately replacing the admins of big subs by replacing their admins, too. 

All in all, it is a worrying development for one of the most useful places on the mainstream internet. It's going to suck using Google without putting Reddit at the end of every search query.

The Final Boss of Engagement Bait

We know by now that there is no limit to what certain people will do for the sake of the views. Still, we can't help but stop and stare every time somebody acts distastefully on the internet. This week's main character in this regard has to be David Baerten, a Belgian TikToker who made headlines this week by faking his own death. 

Claiming that he wanted to make his social circle appreciate him more, this bozo let his close family in on the prank. He even got his daughter to post a weepy Facebook eulogy. Turning up to his own funeral in a helicopter, the whole thing was a stunt to make even the mighty MrBeast quake in his boots. No more prank videos, please!

That will be everything for now. We could go on for longer, but it would start to get exhausting for everyone involved. We have to save some of that steam for next time, y'know. Bye!