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The Daily Dot

Alexandra Samuels is a national political reporter and contributor to the Daily Dot, where she started as an intern covering politics in the summer of 2016. She enjoys all things Marvel, keeping up with the latest TikTok trends, long walks with her pup, and reading murder-mystery novels.

Alexandra Samuels

catfished by a village in china fake moon vacation travel

catfished-by-a-village-in-china-fake-moon-vacation-travel.png

“A fake moon is diabolical”: Traveler in China says they were “catfished” into vacationing at a theme village

Rachel Kiley is a writer who sometimes writes things and sometimes is based in L.A., but is definitely always on Twitter @rachelkiley.

Rachel Kiley

Left; Man in a hat under caption reading, "American speechless after trying robot legs in China." Right: Man in "robot legs" walking up the stairs.

china-robot-legs-.jpg

“This is literally the future”: Tourist in China rents robotic legs for under $1,000—Americans joke it’d cost 10x more here

Lindsey is a Seattle area writer interested in all things society, including internet culture, politics, and mental health. Outside of the Daily Dot, her work can be found in publications such as The Mary Sue, Truthout, and YES! Magazine.

Lindsey Weedston

the-red-string-theory.png

Culture

“I believe”: The Red String Theory binds TikTok with stories of fateful love

Ljeonida is a reporter and writer with a degree in journalism and communications from the University of Tirana in her native Albania. She has a particular interest in all things digital marketing; she considers herself a copywriter, content producer, SEO specialist, and passionate marketer. Ljeonida is based in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Ljeonida Mulabazi

2 panel image of the shopping site Temu and a hundred dollar bill with a red downward facing arrow

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“It is making people buy from companies like Amazon”: Temu loses half of its U.S. daily users amid tariffs

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“Even more reason to buy more lower priced brands”: e.l.f. Cosmetics will raise the price of all products by $1, citing tariffs and inflation

3 panel image: the Amazon logo, a person explaining, the Chinese flag.

amazon_china_tariff_tiktok.jpg

‘It’s not just Amazon’: Woman warns Amazon shoppers to look at these details before buying. It could save you time and money

Anna is a freelance writer with far too much time on her hands. When she&#8217;s not writing about memes and internet slang, she can be found running TTRPGs online.

Anna Good

Donald Trump answering reporter question with Lucille Bluthe from 'Arrested Development' overlay meme reading "I mean it's one doll Michael what could it cost? $1000?" trump dolls meme

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Memes

‘Donny Two Dolls’: Trump’s out-of-touch comment on the economy is getting meme’d—20 of the best

Katherine Huggins is a New York-based journalist and freelance contributor to the Daily Dot&#8217;s tech and politics section.

Katherine Huggins

Trump in Colored Overlay with Covid.gov website in background

covid website

White House deletes COVID resource site—to launch ‘lab leak’ promo page

man shares luxury brands are made in china(l) Woman ordering products from china(c) Woman shares sales happening in china with luxury products(r)

chinese luxury

TikTok falls hard for ‘Chinese manufacturers’ claiming Americans can now get luxury goods for cheap

trump supporter shares on TikTok his disappointment with tariffs(l)(r) Trump smiling and pointing(r)

trump tariffs

‘Build your own manufacturing’: Trump-voting business owner stung by tariffs savaged after asking for ways to keep company afloat

Photo collage of the Chinese flag and the Signal logo.

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Trump fans now claim Signal chat leak was the work of a Chinese spy

Hope Talbot is a freelance journalist currently based in New York City. Her work has appeared in The Daily Express, Euronews, and Bristol24/7, to name a few.

Hope Talbot

Screenshot of a tweet from @WilliamYang120: "I, along with more than 1000 colleagues at @VOANews, were forced to put on leave indefinitely yesterday. While we have been bracing for this to happen, the suddenness of this development was still shocking to all of us." with the reply from @chenweihua: "Good to know many who made a living by badmouthing and smearing China are likely to be jobless.". Background: the header image from @VOAnews's X profile of Washington D.C.

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Trump’s defunding of VOA praised by Chinese state media

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‘I never thought he would tariff MY imports’: America is learning how tariffs work in real-time, and these 25 memes say it all

Roy Stephen is a N.Y.-based freelance journalist covering the gig economy for the Daily Dot. His work was previously featured on Inc. Magazine, the US Sun, and the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Roy Canivel

Illustration showing an eye symbol with both the Chinese and United States flag in it. Surrounded by branching circuitry.

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‘So what?’: Privacy warnings about DeepSeek fall on deaf ears

Mikael Thalen is a tech and security reporter covering social media, data breaches, hackers, and more.

China