Gm. The Twitter Files are my Super Bowl.

FRESH POWDER

Looking at three funds that recently topped up their coffers.

TWITTER

Who was shadow banned?

The first set of Twitter Files was a major disappointment.

Bari Weiss's drop today was next-level crazy. Weiss revealed that Twitter was indeed shadow banning people despite saying they did not do such a thing in 2018.

That may be because Twitter had a codename for it: Visibility Filtering.

Twitter Files go Brrrrr

Weiss listed off a few examples:

• Stanford's Dr. Jay Bhattacharya argued that COVID lockdowns were bad for children and Twitter put him on a "Trends Blacklist" which prevented him from trending

• Right-wing talk show host Dan Bongino was slapped with a "Search Blacklist" making it so he wouldn't appear in the search function.

• Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was labeled "Do Not Amplify"

"We control visibility quite a bit. And we control the amplification of your content quite a bit. And normal people do not know how much we do," one Twitter engineer told Weiss.

But wait there's more.

Of course there is.

Beyond the rank-and-file moderators existed SIP-PES (Site Integrity Policy, Policy Escalation Support). What a terrible name, oh my.

Weiss said that this secret group included Head of Legal, Policy, and Trust (Vijaya Gadde), the Global Head of Trust & Safety (Yoel Roth), subsequent CEOs Jack Dorsey and Parag Agrawal, and others.

The SIP-PES squad decided on accounts like the controversial @libsoftiktok, which was suspended 6 times in 2022 and designated with a mark not to take action on the account without talking to SIP-PES. When @libsoftiktok was doxxed with her full name and address, SIP-PES chose to let the tweet stay (and it is still public).

Whatever side of the political spectrum you're on, you can admit that this was a gross oversight of power and a web of lies. In the words of writer and Founders Fund VP Mike Solana, "they lied, relentlessly to our faces, for years. we were right about everything" to which Elon replied "Exactly."

SO THIS IS WHY MY THREADS ABOUT GOOGLE CHROME EXTENSIONS HAVEN'T BEEN POPPING OFF LATELY. THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT THESE FREE WEBSITES.

— Jason Levin (@iamjasonlevin)

BLOCKCHAIN

Enter The (Starbucks) Odyssey

What happens when you put together some above-average coffee, NFTs, and the Polygon blockchain?

You get the loyalty reward program of the future: The Starbucks Odyssey.

The Odyssey

For those of you whose bodies aren't 75% Starbucks (cough, Jason, cough), Starbucks already has a popular loyalty program. The existing program is useful, but it’s regular. It’s 2019, not 2022.

That is changing with the release of Odyssey, now in beta testing.

In the Odyssey, people go on “journeys” ranging from playing a game to taking coffee knowledge quizzes to even trying out new Starbucks drinks. If you channel your inner Odysseus and complete the journey, you receive a “journey stamp” NFT.

These stamps come in varying levels of rarity and are accrued over the span of a year. The lower levels reward you with prizes such as online coffee-making classes or merch, while the highest-level journeyers are flown out to the Starbucks coffee farm in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica, Starbucks, and NFTs.

Is this heaven?

Brands <> NFTs

Starbucks is far from the only legacy brand jumping into NFTs, despite the current brutal NFT bear market. In recent weeks and months, we’ve seen:

• Reddit NFTs onboard 3 million new users.

• Instagram and Facebook unveiling NFT integration.

• Nike making $185.3 million from NFT sales.

• Disney releasing NFTs.

All hail the JPEGs.

— Steve Flanders (@steveflanders22)

QUICK HITS

Seed Round

Stat: 13 years: The number of years that former Theranos Chief Operating Officer will serve in prison. Still waiting on the SBF charges.

Story we’re watching: Apple is releasing three new security encryption initiatives to protect consumers’ data. Matthew Green has a good thread on why it’s a big deal.

Rabbit hole: A Year of New Avenues (Robin Sloan)

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON

• Twitter Blue is going to cost $11 on iPhones to offset the Apple 30% tax. Still probably going to buy it tbh.

• Elon installed washing machines in the Twitter HQ. People are mad. I don't have a washing machine in my NYC apartment. There's an arbitrage opportunity here I'm still trying to figure out...

• Kim Kardashian won the lawsuit over EthereumMax investors who were suing her for promoting a token. Never underestimate a Kardashian in court.

• Google has released its most searched terms in 2022. If you put money on Wordle, go cash that ticket.

GUESSTIMATE

NYC is officially the most expensive city in the world. How much higher is the cost of living in NYC than Philly?

FUNDRAISING FRIDAY

Aaron Harris released a nice video on how Deel got to be worth $5.5 billion.

LAYOFFS TRACKER

Notable layoffs this week:

Voi: 95 people (13%)

Glints: 198 people (18%)

Loft: 312 people (12%)

FOUNDERS CORNER

The best resources we came across this week that will help you become a better founder, builder, or investor.

🧠 Morgan Housel shares ideas that changed his life.

💡 Just bought a selfie light with a 40% discount. Time to post some goofy TikToks.

💬 VC Julie Fredrickson posted a short essay about the pros and cons of self discipline. Loved it and related too much. Hard to relax sometimes when you're working so hard.

GUESSTIMATE ANSWER

130%. $230,000 in NYC is the same as $100,000 in Philly. That’s that NYC premium baby.