Cancel Culture Insurance

PRESENTED BY VIIA

It’s Thursday, TFP. We have a little more on the egg-price crisis. Just a day after Waffle House announced that it would be applying a $0.50 surcharge on every egg ordered, 100,000 eggs were stolen from the back of a supplier truck in Franklin County, Pennsylvania — a heist worth about $40,000. Are we seeing the rise of a new criminal gang called the “Yolk Folks?” Is the start of a new black market the “Brown Market?” Could this inspire the plot of the next Ocean’s movie? We only know one thing for sure — we’ve all cracked.

DAILY TOP TRENDS

Do You Need Cancel Culture Insurance?

British insurance agency Samphire Risk is introducing insurance to protect celebrities, executives, and other high-profile figures from the potential of getting canceled.

Why It Sells: The fear of getting canceled online — whether deserved or not — has rippled across media and business circles for the past decade. Minimizing the fallout from putting your foot in your mouth (or preventing it altogether) could save careers and millions of dollars for brands.

The Fine Print: The big pitch for Samphire Risk’s new policy, “Preempt,” is that you won’t go viral.

The policy includes:

• A 60-day window where a team will “go to battle against any negative press across social media and traditional media,” per Fast Company.

• Crisis-management communications services and a 24/7 hotline (your worst posts are always in the middle of the night).

• A team of analysts to go over your social media history and flag potential issues.

• Protection from misinformation, deepfakes, extortion, blackmail, and family-related risks.

Closing Thoughts: Samphire — which also insures against extortion, kidnapping, hostage crises, terrorism, and travel to dangerous countries — says that the insurance premiums are calculated by combining a client’s wealth, annual earnings, and an analysis of their past digital behavior. So, someone who’s been on the verge of getting canceled in the past will probably pay more than someone with a squeaky-clean reputation. But Samphire stresses that the focus of the insurance is to protect people from their words being “twisted or taken out of context,” according to policy designer Mark Borkowski.

Considering the current controversy surrounding creatives like It Ends With Us’ Justin Baldoni and Emilia Pérez’s Karla Sofía Gascón, we wouldn’t be surprised if every celebrity and creative takes out a policy the moment they start to get in the spotlight.

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The Next Creators: “Feedfluencers”

The growing popularity of a new tool called Graze, a platform that allows people to build and soon monetize feeds on Bluesky, is showing users and investors the new possibilities of internet curation.

Why It Hits: As decentralized social media platforms take off in popularity, the ability to customize the experience could mint a new kind of influencer.

Behind the Curation: Graze wants to give Bluesky’s 30.3 million (and growing) users the ability to monetize on the platform.

• The app allows users to “build, customize, publish, and manage Bluesky feeds,” per TechCrunch, which is made possible by accessing Bluesky’s open-source “Jetstream.”

• It’s like giving people the power to “create their own algorithm,” using a menu of filters and rules to build a customized social-media experience.

• Soon, users can monetize these feeds with ads, sponsored posts, and subscriptions. Users will have complete editorial control of what brands can be allowed on their feeds, and brands can’t collect user data.

• Graze will take a 30/70 split on the monetized feeds and can even work with brands to identify the best feeds for their ads.

The Future: Despite just finishing up a pre-seed funding round, Graze already has hundreds of thousands of unique users, thanks to strong word of mouth, according to co-founder and CEO Peat Bakke. It’s behind viral Bluesky feeds like “News” and “BookSky” and an in-development “TikTok for Bluesky” app. With Graze, expert Bluesky curators could reach the same level of prestige as in-demand playlist creators on Spotify.

DEEP DIVES

• Watch: WSJ chats with Harrison Ford about his illustrious career in front of the camera.

• Read: NYT interviews The Sims game designer Will Wright for the game’s 25th anniversary.

• Listen: Decoder chats with Bookshop CEO Andy Hunter about being the local bookstore alternative to Amazon.

71% of you voted No in yesterday’s poll: Did you watch the Grammys?

“Yawwwn.”

“Most award shows are a joke and a waste of time to watch. The only true award is a fan-voted award, and that’s who you know is the actual best.”

“I can’t remember the last time I tuned in for the Grammys. I just catch the highlights on social media the next day.”

“Yes! Loved the performances! That’s what I watch for — not the awards — which, whether voted on by industry insiders or the public, are really just a popularity contest. The same with any other award show. The winners are those who have the most influence or sway in the moment or those whom voters feel are due for a win.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

QUICK HITS

→ Entertainment / Media

💻 Disney is planning to make Disney+ the hub for the company’s entire streaming portfolio, including sports.

💸 Ampere Analysis found that streamers will spend more on content this year than broadcasters for the first time.

🎤 Jelly Roll has been named American Idol’s first “Artist in Residence.”

→ Technology

🤖 After six years, Google is ending its promise not to use AI for weapons and surveillance, following a similar move by OpenAI.

🚗 Nissan is pumping the brakes on Honda’s proposed takeover, which would have resulted in the creation of the third-biggest automaker in the world.

😷 The ultra wealthy are adding a little bit of relaxation to their panic rooms.

→ Fashion / E-commerce

🏈 Americans are legally betting a cumulative $1.4 billion on the Super Bowl. Whoa.

👟 WNBA champion A’ja Wilson is debuting a signature Nike shoe this spring.

🥤 Country superstar Kacey Musgraves is launching an Erewhon smoothie, with all the proceeds going to a charity supporting teens who were victims of the Eaton Fire.