Lately: Underground Meta brokers, AI startups and the Labubu craze

Welcome back to Lately, The Globe's weekly tech newsletter. I'm Jacob Dubé from the audience team, covering for Samantha Edwards this week as she hikes through Newfoundland (hopefully, with little screen time). If you have any newsletter feedback or just want to say hello to a real-life human, send us an e-mail.
📵 The Meta employees charging to get your account back from hackers
👩🏼‍⚖️ Why experts say 'consent videos' won't hold up in court
🌞 How to reduce your kids' screen time this summer
👹 Inside the Labubu blind box craze
For some, a social-media account isn't just for doom-scrolling and keeping up with friends. If you have a business, maintaining your online accounts can be the difference between staying afloat and going under. Bobby Monks, a dog walker from Toronto, said she didn't know where to turn after her growing Instagram account was hacked, and she received no customer service support from Meta. Not knowing what else to do, she took a friend's recommendation to reach out to a broker who, for a couple thousand dollars, could instruct an internal Meta employee to get her account back — right under the company's nose. Kathryn Blaze Baum and Alexandra Posadzki dive into the underground world of brokers and Meta employees who are profiting off hacking victims.
Consent videos are playing a key role in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial, after two videos were submitted as evidence, while one of the accused was grilled in court as to why they felt the need to record one in the first place. Consent videos are recordings usually taken before, during or after a sexual interaction as a means of documenting consent to pre-empt accusations. Under Canadian law, these videos don't hold up as proof of consent, which needs to be continuing and voluntary, and can be revoked at any time.
The language around consent has become more mainstream — especially in the wake of #MeToo — but young men are still struggling to grasp how to initiate these conversations. To find support or validation, these young men are increasingly turning to YouTube, podcasts and dating-coach influencers for advice. Experts said these consent videos don't hold up in court, but that hasn't stopped some male-dominated corners of the internet to advocate for their continued use to protect themselves against any accusations, sometimes referring to them as 'rape insurance.' Samantha Edwards writes about how the manosphere is giving young men the wrong idea about consent.
In an effort to stop the infamous tech 'brain drain' — home-grown Canadian talent leaving the country for greener pastures elsewhere — a group of University of Toronto professors and entrepreneurs are aiming to launch 50 AI companies in the next five years. U of T prof Daniel Wigdor says the new venture, Axl, wants to encourage more Canadian talent to stay on this side of the border. Joe Castaldo writes about why they say they're not worried if their startups get gobbled up by big American tech down the line.
Meanwhile, as Chris Wilson-Smith writes, major employers around the world are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to perform a share of work – eliminating some positions while raising the bar for new recruits. The spread of AI could mean fewer early-career jobs for new workers, while increasing work expectations for those who remain. The lucky ones who actually manage to land a job at some of these companies are immediately put in higher-responsibility positions. While that may seem like a good thing, experts say those workers lose out on the hands-on experience of starting lower on the corporate ladder.
Summer vacation is almost upon us. And while kids are counting the days before school is out, parents are scrambling to keep them occupied for the next two months. But Katherine Martinko, author of the 2023 book Childhood Unplugged: Practical Advice to Get Kids Off Screens and Find Balance, says that parents have to work against the growing temptation of tech and a seemingly endless deluge of screentime. Read Martinko's tips for a screen-free summer here.
ArriveCAN Was a Fiasco—and Just the Tip of Ottawa's Failing Tech Strategy (The Walrus)
The AI Slop Fight Between Iran and Israel (404 Media)
3 Teens Almost Got Away With Murder. Then Police Found Their Google Searches (WIRED)
Move over, Sonny Angels — or is it Smiskis, or Monchhichis, or Tamagotchis? I can't keep up — there's a new adorable little accessory in town. You can't go a few blocks in Toronto without seeing a Labubu, a plush creature with cute bunny ears and a Gremlin-esque toothy grin, dangling from the keychain of a fashionista. Created by Chinese company Pop Mart, these Labubus have been selling like hotcakes, especially its series of collectible blind boxes. Shoppers are rushing to stores with any stock, and the creatures are selling for hundreds of dollars each on the secondary market. A piece in the New York Times suggests that the toy's popularity is a big win for China, who has been seeking to grow its cultural influence in the West. But only time will tell if the Labubu craze is here to stay, or if it'll go the way of the Funko Pop.
The full-length trailer for Ari Aster's highly-anticipated film Eddington — in theatres July 18 — is finally out, and I'm sure that everybody is absolutely thrilled to return to the chaotic and uncertain world of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Whether it felt like last week, five years, or a decade ago, the trailer will evoke flashbacks of the tense dynamics that emerged from that era. The film pits Joaquin Phoenix's small-town sheriff against Pedro Pascal's faux-progressive mayor in a fight that goes from unhinged TikTok videos to brawls in the streets of a small New Mexico town. Film editor Barry Hertz caught the film at Cannes last month: read his thoughts here.

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