Hello and welcome to Outspoken, your dose of the hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm Amy Torbert and I'm joined by my sisters and journalist Kate and Sophie. On today's show, Addis Paul confirms he and his famous family are moving out of the rental he shared with his now ex Mikayla Tester, The advertising watchdog stings, two controversial mummy bloggers, and the anonymous question app that has everyone talking. But first, Jonathan Sour has proven he
definitely has a type. The former boyfriend of Madison Woolly and Shanie Grummond is now dating Instagram model Sky Moody. Over the weekend, Instagram account Influence Updates Au Spilt the Tea, sharing screenshots of Jonathan and Sky in the same locations. Now, Kate, this is a very juicy one. Can you tell us more?
Well, it's what the influencers like to call a soft launch. So both Jonathan and Sky shared inst stories about their date on the Gold Cost which they see to have quite the day of it. So first they went to the gym, of course, and they followed it up by going to the Corumban Wildlife Sanctuary where they saw animals and they did a tree top challenge. So Jonathan even posted a photo of Sky from the back doing the tree climb. He of course didn't tag her because that's
not how soft launchers work. Now the date wrapped up in influencer style with a helicopter ride across the coast.
Now things seem to be quite serious, considering Jonathan flew from Sydney to spend the weekend with Sky, who lives on the Gold Coast. And it does seem quite ironic because Jonathan was originally Brisbane based, but he actually moved to Sydney to be with his ex girlfriend Madison Woolly.
So perhaps we may see another change in location. Oh, definitely, Jonathan is just happy to move wherever there is an influencer potential influencer girlfriend, I think yeah, And he was formerly based in Brisbane, so I think a move is definitely on the cards.
Now, Amy, what do we know so far about Sky, Well, it is the.
First time she's come on to my radar. She has one hundred and two thousand followers on Instagram and around eight thousand on TikTok, so according to her talent management bio, she's twenty four and has lived on the Gold Coast her whole life. She says she has a passion for travel, fashion, and fitness. It almost sounds like a bratstole, I've got it, and she's currently studying a CIRT three and four in fitness. They's a quite a good match. Yeah, I think so
as well. So Sky said she'd like to use her platform to educate and motivate her followers on how to have a balanced, healthy, happy lifestyle while finding the best versions of themselves. She's also modeled for brands including ride Aware and Freddie Jean. So maybe these two have met each other on a shoot. That's a possibility.
Well, I do wonder if this is the girl that Madison Wooly spotted Jonathan on a date with the night before she flew to Europe. The timelines match up because Jonathan and Sky started liking each other's posts around April, and while Sky does live on the Gold Coast, she could have been over on a trip visiting him because it would make sense because Madison Wooley got the vibe that it wasn't a first date. It looked like a
bit of a low key kind of takeaway vibe. Or if she that could really fit in or if she's.
A model, she also probably does travel for work, so it does all make sense now. As for Madison, she is now back from her euro summer, and prior to leaving, she did tease on her podcast that she would be having a hot girls summer and hooking up with lots of guys in Europe. Now, Kate, how did things go for her? Well, it appears the trip wasn't ultra successful from a holiday romance perspective. Madison said she wasn't blown away by the men in Europe and the talent was lacking.
She then shared this video of her drunk in a day club in santro Pei, complaining that there were no hot guys.
Now, I think this would be a good time actually to maybe perhaps play them a lovely audio. Oh my god. Okay, wait, I'll get this up. We actually need to post this somewhere because this video is too funny to not be shared with the world. Okay, so this is a clip that I'm going to play guys from when I was really really drunk in Saint Tape at a day club and there was just no hot guys and I started
crying uncontrollably because there was no hot guys. It was like a hot guy that video, like is basically accurate representation of my experience.
You're gonna cry again.
I was just so drunk at this day club and there was just no hot guy.
So I started, now, what did everyone think of the video?
I actually could relate to this when I was in my early twenties. It was nothing worse than when you bothered to do yourself up go out in the freezing cold to a nightclub and there were no hot guys in the nightclub.
I actually think it was brave of her to share, because normally she shares such a curated feed. It was on TikTok though.
Yeah.
Well, she said on her podcast that she was hoping to get one hundred thousand likes because she said it was so humiliating that at least if it went off it would be worth it. But it's only sitting around just under the six thousand. Like Mark, I think she needs.
To move into this sort of direction, because I do find her a lot more relatable and likable on her podcast because I think she's just being herself.
I think when she puts on the.
Persona of being this rich, perfect it girl on her YouTube, I don't think it's as likable, but you.
Can't say she doesn't do that on her podcast.
But she seems to own it more. She seems to own I feel like I kind of agree with what Sophie is saying in terms of you see more into her real life, you see her talking with her friends. I actually think that it's a really good move for her to have this podcast because you see a totally different side to her than you do on her YouTube.
She's just unashamable.
I hate the word sassy, but she's kind of sassy on there, and you kind of like, for along at some of her stories. She's literally Jamaici. She was last time she was talking a podcasts, and I know they said months ago on their podcast that they almost felt like the Jamaican podcast had targeted them. But she is hers, she is, and I do love jamaking.
That's the thing I actually have been enjoying listening to her escapades. But I think it can come across as you're listening to the popular girls at high school talk, and I think that's why it can actually be quite entertaining. Now, while Madison was playing down the lack of male talent. On her trip, she did say that she met up with a group of well known English soccer players and
I would absolutely love to know who they were. I did do a bit of a stalk of who she's following and could not find any soccer players in there. That she did mention that he was following her though, and I didn't have time to look through eight hundred and twenty thousand followers.
I got the vibe that maybe these soccer players were married. I'm not one hundred percent sure, but it almost sounded like there was something a bit dodgy going on. Well, I did enjoy the fact that Madison said she got the ick from one of the soccer players because he got the hiccups midway through talking to her. That's a newyck. I haven't heard of that one before. I can kind of see where she's coming from, though.
Yeah, because obviously they were drunk, I didn't even speak apparently. Also on her European holiday, she was she met up with a group and they racked up one hundred thousand euro bill on a table.
So that's almost two hundred Australian dollars on food at a day club.
And drinks.
Now, how do we reckon that Madison is feeling now that Jonathan has soft launched his relationship and she has come back from this pretty disappointing European trip.
Well, she has been playing it up on her podcast that she's putting together a roster and she's having this hot girl summer, and she's dating a lot, and she has been talking a lot about casual dating and hooking up with guys, which is really interesting to listen to. I did pick up that on the podcast on her most recent episode that she said that she wasn't in the right head space to pursue guys while she was on holiday.
She is going to go out with mister Bodels or whatever his name is though, or mister Worldwide.
Yeah. Well see, that's the thing. I don't know if it's just an excuse because she couldn't find anyone good enough to hook up with on the trip, or if she saw Jonathan on his date the day before she went to Europe and that put her off, because I think that's it seems like she was the one that dumped him. But it's always different if you've dumped someone and then see them with someone else. You kind of always want what you don't have.
It is quite refreshing, though, to hear that there weren't heaps of hot guys on the trip, because I feel like I have been on countless overseas trips where you sit on your son bed, you take a look around and you're like, oh, fuck sake, there's no one good here. It's always like you get stuck in that result and there's just older people or kids, and you're like, what.
Well, I am interested to see if this means we're finally going to get some more tidbits about Madison and Jonathan's breakout, because I feel like once someone moves on and that there's no chance of them getting back together, that's when some of the truth starts coming out of open.
Slather, isn't it.
Yeah?
Well?
I also noticed on Madison cryptically shared a bunch of flowers on her Instagram story with the caption you know those like love hear hands and a bit of a giggling like secret emoji. So I wonder if this is in response to Jonathan soft launching his relationship with Sky Moody.
They're from her parents. I feel like every time she gets really nice flowers they seem to be from her parents.
I did laugh watching.
Some of her videos, her European trip videos, because the first leg of the trip, the parents seem to be staying around like a bad smell, and you can see the oh no. But I actually think, you know, it is actually so fun to go on holiday with your parents. I actually feel like those girls would have had the best time when the parents are paying for everything. It's only fun when you're in your thirties and you've got someone.
I suppose you just enjoy their company. You're not aggravated by their company.
We have had two hours of sleep and we have seven hours of a stopover in Dubai, and we're not going to stay in the airport.
We're gonna walk around.
So I'm gonna show you. Adams Paul has confirmed he and his family are moving out of the rental he shared with former girlfriend Mikayla Tester. Adis has been traveling around Europe with his family since announcing the split from his long term girlfriend in early June. The Paul family returned home on Sunday, but it seems like there's no need to unpack because Adis revealed their moving very soon.
I feel like Adis and MICHAELA must coordinate their Q and a's that they do because they always seem to drop juicy details at the same time of each other. So Michayla originally answered a question where a follower asked what her living situation was, She replied, now, I live alone in that big ass house. It's just me and mckel. I'm definitely going to get Michel a brother so he's not lonely now for those wondering, michel is a cat now. Adams followed up by responding to a follower who asked
if they'll be living in the same house. He said, we actually got a new house. We're moving in very soon.
I feel sorry for Paul mcel He's going to really miss Nutsack when Adams take that. Of course, is his cat clarified? Ky, because I feel like a lot of people would not.
Know that his feel my mom might have spat out her tea at this point.
What Is the Other? Podcast has always good at providing clarification of what's going on in the influencer world.
Why is the other cat? Gold?
That's another crude name.
Isn't it something to do with like Ahmi wanted to give you I do wonder if Mikayla is sort of cheering a little bit, Like I know, it seems like she's very down about the breakup, but it seems like she's going up in the world considering she's now having her in.
Laws move out. Because as much as I love my in laws, I don't think anyone wants to actually live twenty four to seven with their in laws.
I think you'd have to have really really amazing in laws to make it work in terms of, you know, a mum and dad who are willing to stay out of your business, know their boundaries, or like a really big house.
Staying out of you know, how do you feel your only fans content when you've got your in laws around you?
Well? Also, it's pretty strange because their parents are divorced, so you've also got that awkward factor in there well, and they lived together. Yeah. In conclusion, what did you think about having people insult you anonymously on the internet?
Genuinely funner than I thought.
Agree.
A new Instagram story trend allowing users to ask anonymous questions has been dominating our feeds. And if the premise sounds familiar, that's because it is. Amy. Can you tell us more yakay.
So the app is called NGL, which stands for not Gonna Lie, and it's been all over my Instagram feed this week. So some of Australia's most well known influencers have been embracing NGL, which is used in conjunction with
Instagram and it allows users to ask anonymous questions. So millennials will remember a number of similar concepts in the early two thousands, including ASKfm, live Journal, and Tumblr, which all featured the ability for users to ask one another anonymous questions, and these sites were a breeding ground for bullying, which is why so many people are concerned about the
emergence of NNGL. Even when I worked at Today Tonight, I remember doing a story on the dangers of OURSKFM, as did so many other media publications, and it was such a hot topic at the time, and all of this backlash actually led to a number of the sites being shut down. The scary thing about these apps are just how addictive they are, because as soon as I saw everyone else putting out their anonymous questions, I really
wanted to do it. So we have actually put one up on our Instagram page and I know you guys actually haven't seen the app for itself, but you keep having these little message boxes pop up, these little envelopes, and you're like, ooh, what's this and you click on it and it goes from orange to.
Gray and I don't know.
Something exciting about these new messages popping up? Who is it? What could it be? And even though you're almost waiting for someone to say something offensive to you, it's almost a sigh of relief when a positive message comes through. Well, that's actually what the allure of these apps are is that, even though you know it could be a bad question coming your way, this is hit of dopamine that you
get if the comments or questions are actually nice. Because it seems like we all have this innate desire to be liked by strangers. I think it's also the curiosity of what do people want to know about me but they're too scared to ask. And I think it's also that often our family and friends will say nice stuff to us.
If we're like, oh, do we look nice?
You know, they'll of course say yes because they know us, whereas a stranger is always going to be honest or perceived as being more honest. I think what's worrying a lot of people is the mounting concerns over the impact social media has on the mental health of young people. So last year, it was suggested in leaked documents published by The Wall Street Journal that Instagram was harmful for
a significant percentage of its young users. And it does come after Snapchat suspended rival apps Yolo and YMK, which also allowed users to send anonymous questions, and these apps were integrated with Snapchat's messaging service. So Snapchat pulled the pin on the apps last year after a lawsuit was filed by a US mother whose teen sadly took their own life after allegedly receiving bulling messages for months on
the app. So the case alleges that Yolo and YMK violated consumer protection law by failing to live up to their own terms of service and policies. So the lawsuit stated anonymous messaging apps facilitate bulling to such a degree that they should be considered a dangerous product, and this case is still being heard in court now. Interestingly, late
last month, Instagram briefly blocked links to the NGL app. However, they're now back up and running, so it will be really interesting to see whether Instagram chooses to block the links. After the findings from the court case, there definitely should be age parameters put on the app in my opinion. Well, it is clear that NGL has seen what's going on in court because they've been quick to market their safety features.
So according to NGL's website, they're tackling the issue of blood by using world class automated intelligence content moderation technology to keep users safe. So it's using character pattern matching algorithms to filter out bad language and bullying, and it can apparently even pick up the meanings of different emojis. I don't know how well that's working considering some of the messages we've been sent through. I mean, they haven't
been terrible. No one said go kill yourself or you're ugly or anything like that, but they have not yet well not yet, I haven't.
Checked it for a while.
But in saying that, there are still comments that could be badly offensively just taking out swear withs like, you can say really offensive things without swearing, Well, you do have to put in your Instagram handle, So I'm assuming that there would be a particular age they could somehow judge by your profile how old you want? Yeah, well, but most people they put a fake age in order
to get on Instagram. How's this though, because on their website it actually says we have designed NNGL to be a safe place for young people because they don't have the space to share their feelings without judgments from friends or societal pressures. And NGL has provided this safe place. How laughable is this? Oh? A safe place to ask awful questions for each I feel like just owner. It clearly is not providing a safe space. It's providing a space for gossip to run. Wow.
Of course. Now, Forbes actually did a bit of an investigation into the app and they found that the messages containing profanity in English were blocked. However, explicit slang terms along with French, Spanish and German profanities were not blocked. It also found that the knife and dagger icons were not blocked. And it's pretty scary to think about it, because I feel like the Internet is already quite a dangerous place. People troll others, even in their own name.
So what is this veil of anonymity going to be doing? Like, what are people going to be saying? Now?
Well, there has been a lot of discussion about whether the app is actually as anonymous as it suggests, and this is because NGL has managed to monetize the app, unlike its competitors who failed to do so. So for a fee of nine dollars ninety nine per week, you can become a pro member of NGL. This sounds like an AD, it is not.
An AD, which means you're able.
To receive hints about who has anonymously messaged you, and these hints are limited to broad locations, so a hint may be oh, the person lives in Adelaide or the type of device they used to send the message. However, it is believed that these type of hints will increase over time. It is pretty disgusting though, that they are trying to make money from consumers, because hearing that, it makes it evident that they are actually aiming for that
teen demographic that really does care what people think. Because if you're a huge influencer that's getting these questions sent in, you're hardly going to be paying and being like, oh, I know who that is.
That's you know it's going to be You're going to use her to do it.
Yeah, But it's more if you're a teenager and you're trying to track down whether your friends has been sending you in comments. That's literally the only you. The thing is, if you're an influencer and you're receiving thousands of comments, it's hardly going to whittle it down saying oh, this person's in Adelaide. However, if you're a teenager and you've only received five messages and you've only got twenty friends, you're gonna know, Oh, that's so and so as my
asshole friend with the Samsung Galaxy that's trolling me. Okay, so part of my collab was staying at Paradise Resort is that I would talk to you about some of their activities and features.
Influencers have been put on notice as the Advertising Watchdog finally stings two high profile mummy bloggers for breaching standards. So what has gone down?
Well, controversial mummy blogger Sophie Kesia has landed herself in hot water with not only ad standards, but also the brand she was working with, after she failed to make it clear her Instagram post was a paid advert. Now, the adding question was for tech accessory brand Signet, and Sophie was promoting one of their phone charging cables, which she described as life changing. The Instagram post featured Sophie holding up a charging cable with the caption found my
baby and tagged Signet. She continued, nobody charges my phone like this cord here. Whenever I lose it, it's devastating. In brackets aka Bobby steals it for his iPad. I will never go back to any other cord, not spawn, just simply life changing when you need your phone constantly and charged so fast. This was also accompanied by a link to Signet's website.
I don't know aber anyone else, but when I use something like a phone charger, I just feel like telling the world about it. Not sponsored.
The only time I've ever felt compelled to put something up on Instagram about a product is when I got a Dyson, and I feel like that's something everyone who turns thirty they always are raving about their vacuum cleaner and also, most recently, my wheat bag. You're saying that, yeah, but you're not going to take a photo of yourself with your fucking wheat bag on your lap and say, oh hey, guys, probably just snapchat or say it on
the podcast or something like. This was a very orchestrated post sitting on a table with the charger, like it was very obvious what was going on?
Yeah, I'm sorry. I mean, you're not gonna put a feed post about your wheat bag? Well, I hope not.
Now, for those who aren't in the pr and marketing space, when influencers accept a paid brand deal, they must make it clearly distinguishable that the post is branded content. So the bare minimum influencers are required to do is use the hashtag ad or sponsored. Now, clients can request additional hashtags such as ambassador, collab, and paid partnership, So I mean it's not.
Very difficult to do these things.
Now. For short videos, the brand association must be declared through the use of screen soupers at the beginning of the videos, whereas in long videos, the brand association must be declared within the first thirty seconds, both verbally and visually. Now, Instagram has even introduced in built Instagram ad tools to make it very imp and these rules were introduced in October twenty twenty, so influencers and brands have had adequate time to get to know these rules and get around them.
Well.
According to The Daily Mail, it was actually one of Sophie's followers who made the complaint to add Standards. So the complaint read, Sophie is obviously getting paid to be an ongoing ambassador for this product brand and should clearly display that it is a paid post. Now, the watchdog determined that her post did breach section two point seven of the AANA Code of Ethics, which requires advertisers to make it clearly distinguishable that a post is branded content.
So the tech brand Signet hit back, blaming the incident on Sophie, claiming she uploaded the post without prior approval and that they shouldn't be held responsible for it. So the team from Signet also responded to ad Standards, saying it had an agreement with Sophie Keisha regarding paid brand endorsements on social media, but that this post was shared outside Miss Caaisha's paid agreement with the brand and was
not included in the content calendar. Signet through further shade, saying if an influencer decides to post without permission or knowledge of a brand, why is the brand being held responsible.
I'm pretty shocked that Signet have turned on Sophie because she has been a long time ambassador for the brand. She's even got them listed in her Instagram bio. So it's just really weird how that this is playing out. It seems like, you know, she's in it for herself and the brands in it for herself. I'm not shocked by this at all.
Sophie was in the wrong in this situation. She put up a post that was not agreed upon by them, and she said, oh, not spon con. Even though she's clearly an ambassador of theirs. They're deeply embarrassed by this. They probably want to distance themselves from her. I remember there was a similar issue where it was an Adelaide influence. So he shared a post I think it was about a fast food chain, so he had an existing relationship
with them. He wasn't paid to share about the fast food chain, but he actually liked it and shared, oh you know, I'm having mac Donald's night or something along those lines. And he got in trouble as well well, because they said, well, you have this existing relationship, you're being paid by them, so anything you post about them, it's sort of skewed. Well, I think the worst thing Sophie did was put in the caption not spon con because this was deliberately misleading to her audience when there
was an ongoing relationship with this brand. So the ad standards panel ruled that her post had many hallmarks of sponsored content, including a link to Signet's website, the positioning of the product, and a glowing endorsement. They also noted that Sophie's long standing relationship with the brand was another indicator that the post was an advertisement, and that an explicit inclusion of the word not spawn further obscured the
post distinguishability as advertising. Now Mummy bloggers Sarah Kerns found herself in a very similar situation, so a follower complained that Sarah failed to properly indicate the nature of her relationship with Thermomix on an Instagram story image of the product. So the text read, Okay, Tuesday is normally quick dinner slash takeaway as Knox has art until and we aren't home till six tonight. I made butter chicken in less time than it would have taken to grab a takeout.
We'll keep the Thermo mix updates coming for those interested. The complaint read the Thermo Mix was gifted to Sarah Kerns for promotional reasons. It has not been declared as a paid advertisement or listed as gifted or anything to indicate a relationship between Thermo Mix and Miss Kerns. Thermo Mix is tagged in very small white writing hidden against a white bench top. Now you may be wondering what is the go with gifted products. So in this situation,
Sarah was paid to promote Thermo Mix's cordless vacuum. However, the Thermomix appliance that she used in the offending post formed part of her reimbursement. So it's believed that she was paid money and they must have thrown in a Thermo Mix. Now, when an item is gifted, it's pretty simple. You just have to declare it's gifted by writing hashtag gifted. In this situation, I think Sarah probably could have also
gotten away with using the term collab or partners. Yeah. Now, Thermo Mix responded to the Ad Standards Panel saying Ms Kerns was engaged to promote only the vacuum cleaner and she had no authority, direction, or retain it to promote the Thermo Mix appliance. Any promotion of that appliance, if it had occurred, was without the company's knowledge or approval,
nor as a paid sponsorship. Now, the panels say that while the post was made at the discretion of the influencer, it did still fall reasonably within the control of the advertiser as the product had been provided as part of a broader sponsorship and ambassadorship deal. Thermomix actually intends to appeal against this ruling. It kind of sounds like people
aren't educated on what they can and can't post. They think they're helping the brand out by posting more and trying to impress them, I feel, and it's interesting to see how quickly these brands are just willing to turn on the influencers.
Now you may be wondering what other consequences for these breachers. Now, the Code of Ethics itself is not enforceable in the same way that Australian Consumer law is. However, if a complaint is raised to add standards, the panel may report it to the relevant government agency or industry body. Now this includes the a Triple C, which enforces the Australian Consumer Law. So under the Australian Consumer Law, advertising must not mislead or deceive consumers. So basically, if an influencer
doesn't disclose a sponsor on their page. This could be considered misleading or deceptive conduct. Therefore, they could actually be found in breach of the Australian consumer Law and liable to pay a significant fine. Now it hasn't happened yet, but it could only be a matter of time.
Well that's all the influence and news we have for you guys today. This podcast was recorded on the traditional land of the Garner people of the Adelaide Planes. We pay respect to elders past, present and emerging And if you did enjoy today's episode with love, if you could go and leave us a five star review and don't forget to follow us on TikTok and Instagram at Outspoken Underscore The Underscore Podcast