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TL;DR: Live stream PSG vs. Man City in the Champions League for free on Virgin Media Player. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
The next round of Champions League fixtures showcases some big games between the biggest teams in Europe, but PSG vs. Man City might be the biggest of the lot. Both sides are struggling to secure a place in the knockout rounds, but everything is still to play for.
If you want to watch PSG vs. Man City in the Champions League from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.
When is PSG vs. Man City?PSG vs. Man City in the Champions League kicks off at 8 p.m. GMT on Jan. 22. This fixture takes place at the Parc des Princes.
How to watch PSG vs. Man City for freePSG vs. Man City is available to live stream for free on Virgin Media Player in Ireland.
If you're abroad for this fixture, you might need to use a VPN to access Virgin Media Player. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in Ireland, meaning you can unblock Virgin Media Player to stream the Champions League for free from anywhere in the world.
Live stream PSG vs. Man City for free by following these simple steps:
Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
Open up the app and connect to a server in Ireland
Visit Virgin Media Player
Watch PSG vs. Man City for free from anywhere in the world
The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can access free live streams of the Champions League without actually spending anything. This obviously isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream PSG vs. Man City (plus more Champions League fixtures) before recovering your investment.
What is the best VPN for Virgin Media Player?ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on Virgin Media Player, for a number of reasons:
Servers in 105 countries including Ireland
Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure
Fast connection speeds free from throttling
Up to eight simultaneous connections
30-day money-back guarantee
A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee.
Live stream PSG vs. Man City in the Champions League for free with ExpressVPN.
TL;DR: Live stream Shakhtar vs. Brest in the Champions League for free on Virgin Media Player. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
The next round of Champions League fixtures includes some really interesting matchups, like Shakhtar vs. Brest. The French side have been the surprise package this season, and will be confident of securing another three points against the struggling Shakhtar.
If you want to watch Shakhtar vs. Brest in the Champions League from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.
When is Shakhtar vs. Brest?Shakhtar vs. Brest in the Champions League kicks off at 5:45 p.m. GMT on Jan. 22. This fixture takes place at the Veltins-Arena.
How to watch Shakhtar vs. Brest for freeShakhtar vs. Brest is available to live stream for free on Virgin Media Player in Ireland.
If you're abroad for this fixture, you might need to use a VPN to access Virgin Media Player. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in Ireland, meaning you can unblock Virgin Media Player to stream the Champions League for free from anywhere in the world.
Live stream Shakhtar vs. Brest for free by following these simple steps:
Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
Open up the app and connect to a server in Ireland
Visit Virgin Media Player
Watch Shakhtar vs. Brest for free from anywhere in the world
The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can access free live streams of the Champions League without actually spending anything. This obviously isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream Shakhtar vs. Brest (plus more Champions League fixtures) before recovering your investment.
What is the best VPN for Virgin Media Player?ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on Virgin Media Player, for a number of reasons:
Servers in 105 countries including Ireland
Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure
Fast connection speeds free from throttling
Up to eight simultaneous connections
30-day money-back guarantee
A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee.
Live stream Shakhtar vs. Brest in the Champions League for free with ExpressVPN.
TL;DR: Live stream the 2025 Club World Cup for free on DAZN. Access this free streaming service from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
A quick look at the calendar suggests that there's an absence of a major football tournament this summer. There's no World Cup, European Championship, or Copa America. What are fans supposed to do with all this free time?
Do not fear, because FIFA has identified this glaring lack of tournament football and come up with something special. How does 32 top teams from all over the world competiting in a traditional World Cup format sound? Pretty epic, right?
If you want to watch the 2025 Club World Cup for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.
What is the Club World Cup?The FIFA Club World Cup is an international club soccer competition organized by FIFA. The FIFA Club World Cup has historically been held annually in December, with only the winners of continental club competitions competing for the trophy.
In 2025, the expanded tournament sees 32 teams divided into eight groups of four, with the top two teams in each group qualifying to the knockout stage. This new version of the competition will take place every four years.
When is the 2025 Club World Cup?The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is the 21st edition of the FIFA Club World Cup. This year's competition will take place in the United States from June 14 to July 13.
How to watch the 2025 Club World Cup for freeAll 63 matches of the 2025 Club World Cup are available to live stream for free on DAZN.
These free live streams should be available all around the world, but if you're having problems accessing this popular streaming platform, you can consider using a VPN. These tools can hide your digital location and connect you to a secure server in another location. This simple process bypasses geo-restrictions so that you can secure access to free live streams from anywhere in the world.
Unblock free live streams of the 2025 Club World Cup by following these simple steps:
Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
Open up the app and connect to a server in a location with access to DAZN
Visit DAZN
Stream the 2025 Club World Cup for free from anywhere in the world
The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but leading VPNs tend to offer free-trial periods or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can gain access to free live streams of the 2025 Club World without committing with your cash. This is obviously not a long-term solution, but it does mean you can bypass content restrictions to stream live sport before recovering your investment.
What is the best VPN for DAZN?ExpressVPN is the best service for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream sport for free, for a number of reasons:
Servers in 105 countries
Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
Strict no-logging policy so your data is always secure
Fast connection speeds
Up to eight simultaneous connections
30-day money-back guarantee
A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee.
Live stream the 2025 Club World Cup for free from anywhere in the world.
This content originally appeared on Mashable for a US audience and has been adapted for the UK audience.
Most fitness trackers are designed to get wet. It just makes sense that fitness trackers and fitness-focused smartwatches should be able to handle sweaty workouts, rainy weather, and in most cases, swimming.
Indeed, if your workout routine involves the deep end of the pool, you'll need a waterproof fitness tracker. While most trackers on the market can hold up to a few splashes or be worn in the shower, you'll want to look for certain features — like a good water resistance rating and open water and pool tracking — before you take the plunge.
But where to begin when choosing one? Here's some helpful information before you dive in and make a purchase — plus a round-up of the best waterproof devices.
What makes a good waterproof fitness tracker?If you're planning on using your tracker in the water regularly, there are a few things to look out for. First, you'll want a water resistance rating of at least 30 metres (read more on water resistance below). Second, look for watches that can track open water swimming, pool swimming, and can give you lap times. Bonus points if the watch supports underwater heart rate tracking. Lastly, check to see if the watch has a specific water lock feature. Water locks prevent accidental screen touches while submerged, so you'll never send a text or open apps while you're swimming.
How is water resistance measured in fitness trackers?The terms water-resistant and waterproof are used pretty much interchangeably with fitness trackers these days. But, if you're looking to go for a dip with your smartwatch on, you'll want to make sure it's safe to be fully submerged at least 30 metres. Most fitness trackers on this list (and in general) have a water resistance rating of WR50, 5 Bar, or 50 ATM. All of these measurements mean exactly the same thing: That these trackers are waterproof up to 50 metres.
A water resistance rating of 50 metres means that open water and pool swimming is totally fine. However, if you're interested in an activity that's more intense than swimming or one that requires long-term submersion — like water skiing, snorkelling, or surfing — you'd probably do best with a watch that's more durable and has a higher water resistance rating. You'll need an outdoor sport-focused fitness watch like one from Garmin or Polar for the more extreme water sports if that's your thing. All of the trackers on this list are waterproof at least up to 50 metres.
What is the most accurate waterproof fitness tracker?The Garmin Vivoactive 5, Polar Grit X2 Pro, and Garmin Swim 2 are the only fitness trackers on this list that truly support underwater heart rate monitoring, so these are the most accurate for swimming purposes. The Apple Watch Series 10 can also track heart rate during swimming workouts. Fitbits, on the other hand, don't support underwater heart rate tracking at all. Both Apple Watches and Fitbits rely mainly on their accelerometers to measure calories burned while swimming.
What is the best waterproof fitness tracker?Whether you're a casual swimmer looking to track laps or a water sports athlete in need of a durable smartwatch, you'll find something in these top picks.
These are the best waterproof fitness trackers in 2025.
Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for today's Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable What is Connections?The NYT's latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications' Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
Tweet may have been deletedEach puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.
Tweet may have been deletedPlayers can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
SEE ALSO: NYT's The Mini crossword answers for January 22 Here's a hint for today's Connections categoriesWant a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Yellow: College classes
Green: Dig this
Blue: Jobs that require loose, flowy garments
Purple: Things that involve the word "up"
Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:
Yellow: Types of Academic Courses
Green: Results of Some Digging
Blue: Ones Wearing Robes
Purple: ___Up
Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today's Connections #591 is...
What is the answer to Connections todayTypes of Academic Courses: DISCUSSION, LAB, LECTURE, SEMINAR
Results of Some Digging: DITCH, HOLE, PIT, TRENCH
Ones Wearing Robes: BOXER, JUDGE, MONK, WIZARD
___Up: BATTER, BOTTOMS, CHIN, LAWYER
Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for January 22Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.
If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Connections.
Oh hey there! If you're here, it must be time for Wordle. As always, we're serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today's answer.
If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections today: Hints and answers for January 22 Where did Wordle come from?Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once.
Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.
What's the best Wordle starting word?The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.
What happened to the Wordle archive?The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.
Is Wordle getting harder?It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn't any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle's Hard Mode if you're after more of a challenge, though.
SEE ALSO: NYT's The Mini crossword answers for January 22, 2025 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:Extend or attain.
Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?There no recurring letters.
Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...Today's Wordle starts with the letter R.
SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. The Wordle answer today is...Get your last guesses in now, because it's your final chance to solve today's Wordle before we reveal the solution.
Drumroll please!
The solution to today's Wordle is...
REACH.
Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.
SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for January 22Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.
If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Wordle.
Connections: Sports Edition is a new version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.
Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable What is Connections Sports Edition?The NYT's latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication's sports coverage. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
Tweet may have been deletedEach puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.
Tweet may have been deletedPlayers can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
Here's a hint for today's Connections Sports Edition categoriesWant a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Yellow: Baseball stat for pitchers
Green: Ways you might try to score in basketball
Blue: Sites for winter medaling
Purple: Teams that share a mascot
Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:
Yellow: "WHIP" in baseball
Green: Basketball offenses
Blue: North American Winter Olympic hosts
Purple: Tigers
Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today's Connections Sports Edition #121 is...
What is the answer to Connections Sports Edition today"WHIP" in baseball - HITS, INNINGS, PITCHED, WALKS
Basketball offenses - MOTION, PICK AND ROLL, PRINCETON, TRIANGLE
North American Winter Olympic hosts - LAKE PLACID, SALT LAKE CITY, SQUAW VALLEY, VANCOUVER
Tigers - AUBURN, DETROIT, MEMPHIS, MISSOURI
Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.
If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Connections.
If you're reading this, you're looking for a little help playing Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game.
Strands requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.
SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on MashableBy providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.
If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle, we've got all the NYT Strands hints for today's puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.
SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for January 22 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for January 22 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Pixar thisThese words are cartoon films.
Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explainedWords are all made by the production company Pixar.
NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?Today's NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.
NYT Strands spangram answer todayToday's spangram is Animation.
Featured Video For You Strands 101: How to win NYT’s latest word game NYT Strands word list for January 22Brave
Ratatouille
Elemental
Cars
Onward
Soul
Animation
Looking for other daily online games? Mashable's Games page has more hints, and if you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now!
Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Strands.
At Donald Trump's post-inauguration rally on Monday, presidential adviser, DOGE head and world’s richest human Elon Musk twice made a gesture that many identify with a "seig heil," the infamous Nazi salute.
The X, Tesla and SpaceX CEO thanked the assembled crowd saying, “I just want to say thank you for making it happen,” before biting his lip, dramatically slapping his chest with his right hand and sending his right arm skyward, palm out. Musk turned around and made the gesture again, adding, “My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured.”
Tweet may have been deletedAs Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) laid out during Tuesday's confirmation hearings for Trump’s future UN ambassador, it wasn’t just left-wing activists and anti-Musk figures who considered the gesture an ode to the genocidal German leader: “Evan Kilgore, a right-wing political commentator, wrote on X, Holy crap, did Elon Musk just heil Hitler at the Trump inauguration rally? This is incredible. We are so back'…the Proud Boys chapter in Ohio posted the clip on a Telegram channel with the text, ‘Heil Trump.’ A chapter of the white nationalist group White Lives Matter posted it on Telegram, ‘Thanks for hearing us, Elon. The white flame will rise again.”
SEE ALSO: Elon Musk's weirdest weekend, explainedFor his part, Musk — who recently voiced support for far-right political parties in both the U.K. and Germany — wrote on X that "The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired." He followed that up by reposting right-wing images of Democrats like Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, and Hillary Clinton making out-of-context motions with their hands that could scarcely be described as similar to his.
Tweet may have been deletedAndrea Stroppa, a right-wing Italian friend and supporter of Musk, took the discussion in a whole different direction on Monday when she posted on X that Musk’s salute had Italian origins: "Roman Empire is back starting from Roman salute.”
Tweet may have been deletedSome of Musk’s fans and followers on X hopped on the Roman bandwagon, claiming it absolved the titan of hate-mongering since it was less Hitler and more Nero.
The Roman salute's originsThe problem with claiming Musk was simply showing an appreciation for chariots and gladiators is there is no proof of the gesture being used in ancient Rome, according to historian Martin M. Winkler, who wrote a book about the salute. There is no Roman art, writing, or coins that display the gesture, according to Winkler. "The gesture of the raised right arm or hand in Roman and other ancient cultures that is attested in surviving art and literature had a significantly different function and is never identical with the modern straight-arm salute," Winkler wrote in his book, The Roman Salute.
Instead, the hand motion like that used by Musk was popularized in 19th-century books, toga plays and, later, early 20th-century films as a fictional fixture of ancient Rome, the Guardian reports. Through those media depictions, the so-called Roman salute then became a favorite of 20th-century Hitler ally/Italian fascist Benito Mussolini and his political party. "...the salute as a unifier — and as a path to punish those who don't conform by immediately raising their arms — was present before Hitler came to power," according to Forward.
Upon gaining power in the late 1920s, Hitler and his cronies adopted the Italian gesture for themselves, according to to the BBC, and it symbolized fealty to the leader and his racist, anti-Semitic, xenophobic principles. Once World War II began in 1939 following Germany's invasion of Poland, pro-Hitler gestures and pronouncements had penetrated daily life. "In public, ordinary Germans were expected to praise Hitler and give the so-called German greeting ("Heil Hitler!")," according to the Holocaust Encyclopedia, which is hosted by the U.S. Holocaust Museum.
The Roman salute is conditionally allowed in Italy and outright banned in Germany. German chancellor Olaf Scholz responded to Musk's gesture by saying, "We have the freedom of speech in Europe and in Germany," he said, "what we do not accept is if this is supporting extreme right positions."
I come to you bearing bad news: Instagram is showing your friends which Reels you've liked.
It might encourage more engagement on Instagram Reels, but at what personal cost to us all?
At the top right of the Reels, you might see some of your friends' profile photos with little hearts in the corner of their images. Click that, and you'll be taken to the "With friends" tab. Each video will show you which of your friends liked the video, with your friend's image and a heart overlaid on the image in the bottom right.
SEE ALSO: Instagram unveils Edits, a video editing app to rival CapCutThis new feature is intended to get you to stay on the app longer and encourage you to comment, like, and share Reels with your friends like you might with TikTok. And it's not the only effort Instagram is making to keep TikTok users on the app while TikTok is off the app stores (but still working on desktop and your phone if you have it downloaded already). The platform is reportedly paying influencers thousands of dollars to post on Reels before posting on TikTok. It replaced its classic square grids with rectangles to prioritize Reels; released a new video editing tool called Edits, much like TikTok's CapCup; and extended the maximum length of Reels to three minutes.
You can find out which Reels you've been inadvertently sharing with your friends by following a few steps.
Navigate to your profile and click the menu icon in the top right. Select "Your Activity," then select "Likes." This will show all of the posts and Reels you've liked. To only see the Reels you've liked, click the "All content types" dropdown and filter by Reels,
Wanna say something absurd on Facebook without anyone to tell your audience it's wrong? Make it a paid ad, I guess.
In early January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that his platform would be getting rid of its fact-checkers in favor of Community Notes. It turns out, those Community Notes meant to keep posts factual and accurate won't apply to paid ads, Reuters reports, citing an anonymous source. The only content that community notes will apply to is "organic content," and fact-checking will still not apply to any content at all. As The Wall Street Journal first reported, aspects of the program might still change.
Meta's decision to move towards Community Notes, a decision that copies Elon Musk's move at X, was met with its fair share of criticism. Free Press Senior Counsel and Director of Digital Justice and Civil Rights Nora Benavidez said in a press release posted after Zuckerberg's announcement that content moderation isn't a "tool to repress free speech," but is, rather, "a principle that the platforms themselves developed to promote dialogue and protect truth for users."
"While Zuckerberg characterized the platform giant’s new approach as a defence of free speech, its real intentions are twofold: Ditch the technology company’s responsibility to protect its many users and align the company more closely with an incoming president who’s a known enemy of accountability," Benavidez said in the press release.
SEE ALSO: Mark Zuckerberg wants more 'masculine energy' in corporate AmericaMaking paid ads exempt from the scrutiny of Community Notes nods towards something Zuckerberg has been pretty clear about since the beginning of Facebook: profit over people, every time.
When X decided to move towards community notes, it lost a significant amount of money in ad revenue, because community members could leave notes on paid ads that pointed issues such as dropshipping, mobile game ads that don't match the game play, and AI-related copyright issues. Meta, it seems, is working to avoid that type of ad loss by not allowing Community Notes on paid ads at all. It's not yet known if they'll be allowed on paid endorsements from celebrities and influencers.
It seems these decisions — removing fact-checkers in favor of Community Notes, lifting prohibitions on certain forms of hate speech, scrapping DEI initiatives, removing trans-inclusive features, and more — were made in haste to appease President Trump's administration. So it might take time to see how each of the changes roll out onto each platform.
After a quarter of a century in wrestling, John Cena is retiring from in-ring action later this year. However, the longtime WWE superstar (and recent Hollywood mainstay) has no dearth of projects to keep him busy. He's been a part of Vin Diesel's Fast & Furious family for two (going on three) entries. He's hosted several game shows, including Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader, Wipeout, and American Grit. He even has a leading role in the superhero series Peacemaker, which returns to Max in August. However, his latest series — Roku reality show What Drives You, which he also executive produced — stands apart.
The show, a combination of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and MTV Cribs, isn't exactly original in format, but with Cena at the helm, it's surprisingly fun. With the snappy editing and thumping soundtrack of mid-2000s VH1, Cena briskly introduces the concept at the start of each 20-minute episode, then picks up his celebrity guest at their home and has them drive him to a place they like to visit. That's it. But the simplicity results in surprising intimacy, much of which is owed to Cena's self-deprecating charm.
As it happens, the first four guests on the show are much like Cena himself: people whose careers have hopped the line between wrestling and other Hollywood ventures. There's YouTube star Logan Paul, who found recent in-ring success as WWE's United States Champion. There's Mike "The Miz" Mizanin, who started out on MTV's The Real World, broke into wrestling through WWE's reality show Tough Enough, and eventually competed in the main event of WrestleMania (against Cena, no less). There are also musical artists like country rapper Jelly Roll and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, who have performed on some of WWE's biggest stages.
But does that make What Drives You a wrestling show, or even a wrestling-adjacent one? Not quite. Cena had some interesting opinions on the subject during our chat, many of which he expressed in distinctly automotive metaphors; for instance, wrestling occupying a “parking spot” in people’s brains. (Whether it’s media training or simply Freudian, it’s a delightful quirk.) He also had illuminating thoughts on how the series' camera setup bolsters its authenticity — and what that word even means in the age of reality TV and, as WWE is often called, "sports entertainment."
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Mashable: Wrestling is everywhere, especially with the recent expansion of WWE to Netflix, but it's been everywhere for a while. Your four initial guests on What Drives You all have something or the other to do with wrestling. Was that your intent going in as an executive producer, or is that just how it worked out?John Cena: It's more the second, I think. WWE, and sports entertainment in general, casts a very wide net and affects a lot of people. Man, I have never met anyone who hasn't had some sort of wrestling story, or sports entertainment story. They might talk about a certain era, like “I remember Hacksaw Jim Duggan, or Hulk Hogan, or the Undertaker.” But it seems like everyone has a parking spot in their brain for sports entertainment. It just reaches a lot of folks, and it's also an environment where we welcome any and all guests to come in and be part of the energy and enthusiasm.
The show uses automobiles as an inroad to people's lives. Do you see cars as an expression of people's personalities, almost in the way that a costume or a theme music might be in wrestling?You're close to the mark with me. I think we're all human, and in this human part of our brain system lives snap judgment. So you see a car, see someone driving it, and make assumptions about them. And I really like being able to subdue your snap judgment, especially if it's in a case that's nonthreatening to your existence, because you'll end up learning something. You learn if you are absolutely right, or if you were misguided a little, or you didn't get the whole picture.
I believe a car is like a fashion choice, and it does say something about us. It doesn't mean you have to drive a Hypercar or a pickup truck or, heck, even own a car. You can take a rideshare and you can have people make assumptions. But as long as you don't speak in absolutes, and ask questions, you give your guests a chance to respond. And in that back and forth is where you get to know people, and that's what the show's all about.
Past that snap judgment, the exterior of the car, you have the interior where these intimate conversations take place. What's it like for you to have to create that sense of intimacy? You've hosted shows before, but this is one where you're ceding space for other people's stories. How do you make people feel comfortable enough to open up to you?The environment does a lot of the work. If we do an in-person press interview for, let's say, a movie junket, there's a camera pointed at me, a camera pointed at you. There's a person behind my camera, there's a person behind your camera. They have us both lit quite brightly. The seat might be comfortable, it might not be comfortable. There's a boom mic hanging over each of us. People don't understand, because they just see the nice shot. But because we filmed this all in a car, the cameras were super small. They're mounted in a place that can't block the driver's vision. The car's mic is deep in the console. We can get sound, but it's not obstructive. And it's an environment that our guests are familiar with.
You just lose yourself in the drive. Honestly, it’s one of the easiest environments, because you forget you're even being filmed. I think that's what led to some great conversation. You don't feel the bright lights because it's not that type of show. I'm not trying to put pressure on [the guests] to do a bit, or entertain the audience. Once you shut the doors of the car, man, it was just us.
It was striking how personal and authentic a lot of it gets. Between your appearances in films, in wrestling, and also what we're doing now, the media sit-downs, there's a need to be authentic. But at the same time, do you ever find there being pressure to put forth a manufactured authenticity? You've come up in wrestling, where there's a very weird blurred line between reality and fiction.I've been fortunate enough where entertainment has been really good to me. I'm finally retiring from the WWE after almost 25 years. And after that amount of time, if you're putting on a veneer, people eventually see through it. I don't think there is such a thing as manufactured authenticity. I think those things are so juxtaposed that it would either be manufactured or authentic.
We have a saying in WWE: The people who connect with the audience the most are people whose personalities you get, just kind of turned up to 11. I really think that rings true. I think the people that connect with the audience the most are their most authentic selves.
Because if you are a success in the WWE, you spend a lot of time with the audience, and our audience is really smart, and they'll be able to see through it.
I've been lucky enough to be on a long drive, and over that course of time, maybe I've tried out certain facets of a personality, or made some mistakes when I've made choices that weren't exactly authentic. But over the long haul, because it's been such a journey, you kind of get me for who I am.
Whether you just started dating or you’re practically engaged, shopping for the perfect Valentine's Day gift for your boyfriend can be a surprisingly tricky task. How much should you spend? Are you going for a big romantic gesture or keeping it simple? And what about the classic "we’re not doing gifts this year," but you still "surprise" each other with gifts anyway thing? Seriously, though — what *is* that? If you're stuck in a gift-giving rut, our best advice is to zero in on the items he uses daily and the topics he brings up whenever you hang out — these are easy jumping-off points for Valentine's Day gift ideas that'll make him feel seen. Below, we've rounded up a list of Valentine's Day gift ideas for boyfriends that say "I love you and I get you" without being totally cliché. Spoiler alert: There will be no mention of whiskey stones or beard oil. Need even more ideas? Peep our list of unique gifts for men and check out the best Valentine's Day gifts for dudes.
In the fallout of Elon Musk’s baffling appearance during President Donald Trump’s inauguration, a curious new front in the ongoing online culture war has emerged: a push by Reddit sports mods and users to ban links to X (formerly known as Twitter).
On Tuesday, users in various Reddit sports communities — starting with r/hockey, which has 2.7M members, and spreading to individual Canadian hockey subreddits and then Premier League and NFL forums — began talking about whether it’s time to officially cut X out of their lives, with massive amounts of approval for the action from its users.
The discussions center on a mounting frustration with Musk’s leadership, including the platform’s apparent embrace of hate speech and far-right agitators, its increasingly user-hostile interface changes (such as forcing non-logged-in users to create accounts to view posts), and, of course, Musk himself.
Reddit Reddit Reddit RedditIf it seems surprising that sports subreddits are leading this charge, it shouldn’t be. These communities thrive on user-posted game highlights, many of which are linked to X posts that a significant number of users can’t access. Sports news also tends to break on X, but with the rise of alternatives like Threads and Bluesky, more Reddit users are voicing their desire to move away from X entirely.
There have already been multiple pushes for X users to migrate to alternative platforms. After the election, thousands of accounts tied to journalism and politics made the jump to Bluesky. However, sports have remained a major anchor keeping many regular users on X. That said, a shift may be underway — many professional teams and beat writers, both at the national and local levels, have started posting on Bluesky, signaling a potential change in the platform’s utility for sports fans.
Not all communities are on board with the push to ban X links, and some are facing backlash for it. A moderator in the r/Chelsea forum has drawn criticism from users for quickly shutting down any posts advocating for an X ban, sparking frustration among the subreddit’s members. Similarly, subreddits for the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings have been swift to remove posts on the topic, prompting further debate and discontent among their users.
This discourse is still in its early stages, and it remains uncertain how many subreddits will ultimately update their community rules. In nearly every subreddit with posts on the topic, the top pinned comment from moderators mentions "internal discussions" about the future of X links.
However, there has been some movement: A few subreddits, such as the one for Nottingham Forest, have already implemented bans on X links. While this shows progress, the overall momentum remains relatively slow and scattered.
Various pages about LGBTQ rights and lives in the U.S. have been wiped from the official White House site, LGBTQ media advocacy organization GLAAD has reported.
Whitehouse.gov received a makeover on Inauguration Day, and not only in looks. Information shared by the Biden administration has been deleted and replaced with profiles on Trump administration officials and his day one actions. The deleted information includes pages about the LGBTQ community. Various search terms, like "lesbian," "gay," and "bisexual," only contain a single result: a rollback of Biden-era executive orders, including "Advancing Equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Individuals" from 2022.
SEE ALSO: Is Instagram blocking the #Democrat hashtag?"Transgender" turns up two results, the aforementioned and Trump's new executive order stating, among other things, that there are only two genders.
"LGBTQ" turns up no results. Some pages removed, according to GLAAD and confirmed by Mashable, include:
fact sheet on expanding HIV medication access (current 404 page)
the Department of State's LGBTQ Rights page (current 404 page)
the Department of Labor's page on LGBTQ policy (current 404 page)
Other removed pages Mashable found include a fact sheet on the accomplishments of LGBTQ Americans (current 404 page) and a proclamation on Pride Month 2024 (current 404 page).
This move aligns with actions Trump promised to do during his inaugural speech, including removing diversity programs and creating an official policy that there are only two genders.
"President Trump claims to be a strong proponent of freedom of speech, yet he is clearly committed to censorship of any information containing or related to LGBTQ Americans and issues that we face," GLAAD's president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. Ellis refers to Trump stating yesterday that he will "bring back" free speech.
"This action proves the Trump administration's goal of making it as difficult as possible for LGBTQ Americans to find federal resources or otherwise see ourselves reflected under his presidency," she continued. "Sadly for him, our community is more visible than ever; and this pathetic attempt to diminish and remove us will again prove unsuccessful."
Meta is reportedly on its hands and knees, begging influencers to use Instagram instead of TikTok.
According to a new report from The Information, Instagram is offering creators monthly bonuses ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 for posting their videos on Instagram Reels before posting them on other platforms, including TikTok. Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Mashable.
It's unclear what kind of a lasting impact this will have on creators. Meta has attempted to draw creators onto its platform with promises of financial gains before, but those incentives were always temporary. For instance, the platform got rid of its Reels Play bonus program, a similar program to TikTok's Creator Fund, that left creators looking for new ways to find the additional $500-$1,000 they had counted on each month. This newly reported bribe or, whoops, sorry, "incentive" doesn't seem to promise longevity, either.
SEE ALSO: As TikTok faces a ban, creators brace for an uncertain futureIt's not the only step Instagram has taken over the past few days to attract users away from TikTok. Square grids have been replaced with rectangles to prioritize short-form videos like Reels in a highly polarizing move that most creators don't like. Instagram also released a new video editing app called Edits, which was seemingly unveiled specifically to rival TikTok's CapCut. The app extended the maximum length of Reels to three minutes.
This comes after Meta gave its all to ensure that TikTok gets banned in the U.S. But, unfortunately for Meta, the payoff of its hard work and lobbying was short-lived. After less than a full day of being offline over the weekend, TikTok returned — for now. It's still absent from U.S. app stores, but if you didn't delete the app from your phone, you can still access new videos, and all users can find what they're looking for on the desktop version of TikTok.
Meanwhile, many creators are uninterested in pivoting their attention to Meta-owned platforms after CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a new decision to bend at the knee of President Donald Trump's administration. The company has eliminated fact-checkers in favor of Community Notes, lifted prohibitions on certain forms of hate speech, scrapped DEI initiatives, removed trans-inclusive features on its apps, and reinstated political content recommendations.
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