When negativity and dissent are scrubbed from the internet and criticizing a leader can land you behind bars, protests take on interesting forms. In China, nationwide protests against President Xi Jinping and his government’s “zero Covid” policies are some of the boldest, most defiant, and most creative displays of opposition against authority in the country in years.

Demonstrations demanding greater freedom (and not just from restrictive Covid policies) have not only spread to several cities in the country, but also across Chinese social media platforms like WeChat. And protesters are managing to get their message across both IRL and online despite the country’s notoriously tough censors.

Evading the mods

Demonstrators are displaying blank white sheets of paper—a form of protest seen before in Hong Kong and Russia—symbolizing what censorship doesn’t allow dissenters to say. Meanwhile at Xi’s alma mater, student protesters held up a formula by physicist Alexander Friedmann, alluding to the term “free man.”

Since China’s internet is suppressed by firewalls and monitors, messages with double meanings that lack obviously flagged keywords are gaining popularity, as they’re tougher to find and sanitize. Since the protests began, social media posts sarcastically repeating words like “good” or “correct” have proliferated.

But, Chinese censors are still not easy to overcome:

• China’s state-owned television station appears to be limiting (maskless) crowd shots in World Cup broadcasts to fend off comparisons to other nations’ handling of Covid.
• On Twitter (where Elon Musk recently fired the anti-propaganda team) search results for major Chinese cities were flooded with pornography, escort services, and gambling content from bots—making it difficult to find news about the protests.

Are the protests working? As of yesterday, state media was still praising zero Covid measures, a sign that the government is sticking with the policy for now.—MK

The world’s largest active volcano erupted in Hawaii. Mauna Loa, a part of the chain of volcanoes that formed the Hawaiian islands, started spewing lava on Sunday night for the first time since 1984. The eruption ended the volcano’s longest dormant period in recorded history. Though it rained ash nearby, which prompted warnings to residents of the Big Island, the US Geological Survey said yesterday that lava flows were not threatening populated areas.

BlockFi files for bankruptcy as FTX fallout grows. The company, which lends money to customers using their cryptocurrency as collateral, had reached a deal to be bailed out by FTX when the crypto market tanked, but now that it turns out FTX wasn’t really in a position to rescue anyone, BlockFi has started Chapter 11 proceedings. BlockFi owes its top 10 creditors nearly $1.2 billion, and it’s too soon to know what will happen to its customers.

Elon Musk questions Apple’s commitment to free speech. Twitter’s new CEO tweeted that Apple is threatening to pull the app from the App Store and has stopped advertising on the social media platform. As a result, the always understated Musk questioned whether the tech giant hates free speech in America and called out CEO Tim Cook directly. A fight with Apple won’t help Musk get back his $44 billion investment: Getting booted from its store would limit access to new users, and, according to the Washington Post, Apple was the platform’s top advertiser in Q1.

In an apparent attempt to be edgy in its advertising, Balenciaga vaulted right over the edge into the abyss. Last week, the fashion house had to apologize twice in one day for two separate ad campaigns that seriously “missed the mark” as ad folk say. Now, #BalenciagaGate is trending online, and Kim Kardashian publicly denounced the brand.

The backlash began when Balenciaga unveiled its holiday campaign, featuring photos of children holding teddy bear-shaped bags that wore leather harnesses, chains, and other BDSM-style gear. After seeing those images, internet sleuths noticed inappropriate documents scattered on a desk in a photo from Balenciaga’s Spring 2023 campaign: It was a printout of a Supreme Court decision that prohibited the promotion of child pornography.

• This all proved too much for Kardashian, who has walked in a Balenciaga runway show and worn the brand to the Met Gala. She said yesterday, “As a mother of four, I have been shaken by the disturbing images” and she’s “re-evaluating [her] relationship with the brand.”

After apologizing for both campaigns, Balenciaga announced that it’s suing the production company and set designer who chose the court papers as a prop for $25 million in damages. But the designer’s agent told WaPo the brand was very involved with the ad and her client is “being used as a scapegoat.”—JW

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It’s 2022 and “gaslighting” is in: Merriam-Webster Dictionary chose it as its word of the year.

Interest in “gaslighting,” which the dictionary defines as “psychological manipulation over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts,” is at an all-time high. The term for your ex’s favorite activity was searched on Merriam-Webster’s website 1,740% more than in the previous year.

The sustained high volume of queries on m-w.com earned “gaslighting” its word of the year status, as the selection process is based solely on data, according to the brand.

While it may be the word of the moment, the modern definition of “gaslighting” dates back to the 1938 hit play Gas Light. The onstage thriller and its two screen adaptations chronicle a man’s diabolical attempts to convince his wife that she’s going insane by telling her that she’s imagining the dimming of the gaslights in their apartment.

The play made “gaslight” the verb it is today, though for a long time it was seldom used by anyone outside the psychology community. But starting in the 2010s, “gaslighting” steamrolled its way into common parlance.

Today, you’d be hard-pressed to find an internet rant about a bad relationship that doesn’t involve someone getting called out for being a “gaslighter,” and in some corners of the internet its imperative form frequently appears alongside the words “gatekeep” and “girlboss.”—SK

Stat: Major motorcycle rallies that bring hog enthusiasts together are linked to a surge in organ donations in the surrounding areas, a study published yesterday found. The seven largest US rallies were associated with a 21% boost in organ donors compared to the time periods before and after. It’s not the first study to link rallies to traffic fatalities, and the researchers stressed that safety measures should be increased. Still, amidst a major shortage of organ donors, they also said efforts should be made to “translate eligible deaths from these events into organ donations.”

Quote: “If you want a big hat, let me know.”

Brian Robinson Jr. led the Washington Commanders to victory Sunday night, but all anyone could talk about yesterday was his post-game style. This might be because he opted to wear a comically large baseball cap emblazoned with the team’s logo. Seems Robinson wanted to get everyone talking to help drive business to a friend’s big hat company. And it wasn’t the oversized chapeau’s first big publicity play: The company behind it, Noggin Boss, also appeared on Shark Tank and scored an investment offer from Daymond John.

Read: How hospice became a for-profit hustle. (The New Yorker)

Just in time for today’s match: The story of why watching soccer only gets popular in the US every four years.

Imagine what could have been…Here’s your chance to watch unaired TV pilots.

Penny for your inflation thoughts: We asked Morning Brew readers for their thoughts on inflation and what they’re doing to combat it. Here’s what you had to say.

Personal finance tips: Money Scoop is a thrice-weekly personal finance newsletter that makes you smarter about your money. You’ll learn how to better invest, budget, spend, manage your taxes, and much more, all for free. 

Made to give: Give a feel-good gift that gives back. For every pair of Bombas socks purchased, one pair is donated to those in need. Gift cozy and give back.*

Our gift picks: The Brew editors scoured the web to find the perfect gifts for the WFH devotee, the gadget obsessed, the peeps who practically live at the airport, and everyone in between. Check it out.

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Brew Mini: “Rickrolling and Distracted Boyfriend, e.g.” (five letters) is your sample clue of the day. See if your hunch is correct here.

Music trivia

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Digital Transformation Success: IT professionals know achieving this isn’t easy. IT Brew has five tips to help you get started.

Airbnb co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Nathan Blecharczyk shares his insights on the current climate in Silicon Valley, and reveals how the company bounced back from pandemic layoffs. Listen here.

Don’t miss our FREE 75-minute workshop discussing innovation with David Epstein, author of Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World on Wednesday, Nov. 30. Register here.

Listen in on Baked by Melissa’s thoughts on brand evolution, successful partnerships, and what it means to have over a million followers on TikTok.