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check bro’s hard drive
So you’re back again, huh? Fair dos. New year, same old YOU!
But seriously, we’re happy to have your engagement, I mean clicks, I mean attention again. What’s it been six days… maybe seven? (I missed the memo on whether we’re doing that in 2026).
Speaking of throwing crap on the rubbish heap, that tenuous theme sort of encapsulates this week’s newsletter (cough, Grok), and we’re hoping it makes your sodden Tuesday afternoon marginally more cathartic, or perhaps even enjoyable. Pfft.
Grab a coffee, or a carcinogenic energy drink of your choice, and get ready for a brief peruse.
📰 thred focus
UK to bring into force law this week to tackle Grok AI deepfakes – bbc
Well, wouldn’t you know it. Elon Musk is getting it in the ear from public figures and MPs for letting X users run rampant on his nonconsensual, revenge porn, nudify machine. If you’re unacquainted with Grok, it’s X’s AI image and video generator. Given Musk’s penchant for reposting pervy anime creations himself on it, it’s no surprise that thousands of deviants have taken to creating sexually illicit stuff on Grok featuring real people. A week ago, public comment sections were filled with digital reimaginings of unwitting subjects (mostly women and girls, shock) rendered in micro bikinis and covered in ‘donut glaze’, all instantaneously delivered by any comment started with @Grok. Musk responded to public heat over the weekend by making the tool on X exclusive to paid subscribers only, but essentially monetising the ability to digitally nudify didn’t prove a sufficient placation – who would’ve thought? The UK government now has it’s foot on X’s neck, and has made it illegal to distribute, threaten to distribute, or privately generate sexualised images without consent. The issue has also been escalated to the forefront of the UK’s Online Safety Act, and Ofcom is investigating whether X took the appropriate steps to moderate content, and remove non consensual intimate images and child sexual imagery. Meanwhile, the native Grok website and app haven’t received any further safeguards or limitations in the last weeks. The whole thing has felt ridiculously out of keeping with society’s drive for greater protection online and has undermined the UK’s endeavour to prioritise user safety and consent. Musk’s belligerence has finally gone a step too far. Free speech isn’t going to land as an excuse this time, Unc.
💬 culture corner
Why are Gen Z suddenly so nostalgic for 2016? – thred
2026 has just begun, and yet we’re all straight up glazing 2016. In the last year, Gen Z searches for ‘2016’ increased by 71% and the pining shows no immediate sign of abating. We recently discussed how 2025 was the year of yearning, but why is any mention of 2016 drumming up such a palpable sense of nostalgia and melancholy among folks who haven’t even turned 30 yet? Do you sickos want to relive Harambe’s tragedy all over again? Our own Charlie Coombs suggests that it probably has more to do with younger Gen Zers having been at school at the time, coming of age in a less algorithmic, AI centric world. They had Snapchat and Insta, sure, but tech moguls hadn’t yet obliterated our attention spans with short-form video and dopamine hits. Their early adult lives have also been practically synonymous with divisive political changes and societal chaos, not forgetting several lockdowns when many would’ve been enjoying freshers week. Large parts of the generation are still resigned to not being able to afford property or children before middle age, if they can even navigate the fickle and soul destroying process of dating on apps in the first place. It’s no wonder pessimism reigns supreme. Nostalgic TikTok compilations continue to make the rounds late into January showing off snapchat dog filters, B-rolls of palm trees, and pre-Wicked Ariana Grande going platinum with a thirsty banger every month. Every generation yearns for a specific time period claiming it was peak, but given how neurotic and fear mongery everything has become in the last decade, it’s hard not to believe Gen Z actually believes 2016 was the pinnacle.
Gen Z report highest levels of gratitude, wonder, and spirituality – the tablet
The upside to all of this construct-based nihilism, apparently, is that Gen Z hasn’t completely descended into narcissism or forgone any sense of greater perspective. On the contrary, people aged 18-34 are significantly more likely than older age groups to say they experience ‘profound awe or wonder at the universe’ on daily/weekly basis, according to the ‘Grateful Britain’ study carried out by the Policy Institute of King’s College London. 21% of Gen Zers said their brains are wired this way, compared to just 11% of people aged 35-49 and 17% aged over 65. Correlating with what we know about Gen Z’s plunge into religion in recent years, the figures reveal that 51% of 18-34 year olds believe in God ‘to some extent’ – which also explains the seismic uptick in Bible sales over the last five years (£2.69 million to £6.3 million). For context, between 2008 and 2019 Bible sales grew by just £277,000. Is Gen Z more enlightened, or grasping for any semblance of higher meaning? Check out the article and decide for yourself.
