Coldplay couple shows real-life implications of social media firestorm
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Toronto Sun
26 minutes ago
- Toronto Sun
Can you ever expect privacy in public? Coldplay kiss camera saga tells us a lot about the answer
Published Jul 22, 2025 • Last updated 0 minutes ago • 5 minute read Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot at the Coldplay concert in Boston. Photo by Grace Springer / TikTok Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. NEW YORK — When the 'KissCam' at a Coldplay concert landed on a couple who tried (but failed) to duck out of the spotlight, the internet immediately got to work. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account In hours, the clip was just about everywhere. Endless memes, parody videos and photos of the pair's shocked faces filled social media feeds. Online sleuths rushed to identify who was on camera. Artificial intelligence and software company Astronomer eventually confirmed that its CEO and chief people officer were in fact the couple in the video — and announced the CEO's resignation over the weekend. The incident's fallout has, of course, generated conversations about business ethics, corporate accountability and the repercussions that conflicts of interest among leadership can cause. But there are also broader implications at play in our increasingly online world — about the state of potentially being visible everywhere you go or tracked through 'social media surveillance.' Experts say it's more and more common for moments that may have been intended to be private, or at least reserved to a single physical venue, to make their way online and even go global today. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. So in the era of lightning-fast social sharing and when cameras are practically inescapable, does being in public hold any expectation of privacy anymore? Is every experience simply fodder for the world to see? Cameras are everywhere It's no secret that cameras are filming much of our lives these days. From CCTV security systems to Ring doorbells, businesses, schools and neighborhoods use ample video surveillance around the clock. Sporting and concert venues have also filmed fans for years, often projecting playful bits of audience participation to the rest of the crowd. In short, the on-scene viewer becomes part of the product — and the centre of attention. And of course, consumers can record just about anything if they have a smartphone in their pocket — and, if it's enticing to other social media users, that footage can quickly spread through cyberspace. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Ellis Cashmore, author of the book Celebrity Culture , proposes that the rapid fame of last week's KissCam moment probably answers a question many have been asking for years: 'Is the private life still what it was? And the answer is, of course, there's no such thing as the private life anymore,' he notes. 'Certainly not in the traditional sense of the term.' 'I'm not sure that we can assume privacy at a concert with hundreds of other people,' adds Mary Angela Bock, an associate professor in the University of Texas at Austin's School of Journalism and Media. 'We can't assume privacy on the street anymore.' Some version of the KissCam has long been a staple at big events — from timeouts during sports games to romantic songs played by artists at their concerts. It's easy to miss, but most venues have signs to inform the audience that they could be filmed during the event. What's been different in more recent years, experts note, is how quickly those moments can travel beyond the physical space where they actually unfold. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. That isn't only limited to what shows up on a jumbotron. Sometimes it only takes one person in the crowd to capture any interaction on their phone and post the video online — where it can zip around the world. 'It's not just the camera,' Bock says. 'It's the distribution system that is wild and new.' Read More Once something's viral, doxing often follows Then there's the second ring of exposure — what happens after the video or photos spread. Experts point to growing instances of social media users rushing to publicly identify, or dox, the people captured on camera _ much like how quickly the internet committed to finding those involved in the Coldplay moment, for example. The LinkedIn pages belonging both to Astronomer's now-former CEO and chief people officer remained disabled on Monday, and The Associated Press could not reach either for comment. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. But it isn't limited to company executives. Beyond someone simply spotting a familiar face and spreading the word, technological advances — including AI — have made it easier and faster overall to find just about anyone in an online post. This can happen with videos and photos shared on social media each day, even if it doesn't go viral, experts warn. 'It's a little bit unsettling how easily we can be identified with biometrics, how our faces are online, how social media can track us — and how the internet has gone from being a place of interaction, to a gigantic surveillance system,' Bock says. 'When you think about it, we are being surveilled by our social media. They're tracking us in exchange for entertaining us.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. And of course, such moments can also impact people who were not actually on camera. As easy as it can be to be identified online today, the internet is notorious for cutting a broad swath or not always getting it right. That sometimes produces harassment of individuals not actually involved. At last week's Coldplay concert, for example, many social media users speculated that a third person seen near the two caught on camera was another Astronomer employee — leading to swarms of posts targeting her. But the company later confirmed that she was not at the event and said no other employees were in the video circulating online. For the now-viral moment, 'we can talk about what's right and wrong, and whether they deserved it,' says Alison Taylor, a clinical associate professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. Still, it's a 'very frightening thing to get a lot of abuse and harassment online,' Taylor notes. 'There are real human beings behind this.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. It's hard to think that that these kind of viral moments will ever go away — and there are few legal restrictions to stop users from sharing clips of interactions recorded from anything from a concert to the street widely online. But on an individual level, Bock says it can be helpful to 'think before you share' and question whether something's really accurate. 'Social media has changed so much,' Bock says. 'But we really have not, as a society, caught up with the technology in terms of our ethics and our etiquette.' —Associated Press journalists Hilary Fox and Kelvin Chan contributed to this report. Sunshine Girls Television Canada Columnists Sunshine Girls
Winnipeg Free Press
26 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Colbert jokes about ‘cancel culture' and has a very pointed message for President Donald Trump
Stephen Colbert returned for his first full program after last week's announcement that CBS was canceling his 'Late Show' with some supportive late-night guests, a joke about cancel culture and an extremely pointed remark directed at President Donald Trump. 'I'm going to go ahead and say it: Cancel culture's gone way too far,' Colbert said to a rambunctious audience that loudly chanted his name. CBS and parent Paramount Global said the decision to end the 'Late Show' next May was purely financial. It hasn't gone unnoticed — and was mentioned by Colbert Monday night — that the announcement came days after the comic had sharply criticized Paramount's $16 million settlement of Trump's lawsuit over a '60 Minutes' interview. Colbert, known for his sharp comic takedowns of the president, said that 'over the weekend, it sunk in that they killed off our show. But they made one mistake. They left me alive.' Now, he said, 'I can say what I really think of Donald Trump, starting right now.' As his audience cheered him on, Colbert said, 'I don't care for him. Doesn't seem to have the skill set to be president.' Colbert's personal message to President Donald Trump He read a passage from a Trump social media message saying that he loved that the 'untalented' Colbert had been fired. 'How dare you, sir,' Colbert said. 'Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism?' The show switched to a close-up camera where Colbert appeared to say, 'f—- you,' the word bleeped out and his mouth blurred. Noting CBS' explanation for his firing, Colbert said, 'how can it purely be a financial decision if the show is No. 1 in the ratings? It's confusing. A lot of folks are asking that question, mainly my staff's parents and spouses.' With some apparent irritation, he said some news stories over the weekend reported the apparently leaked information that 'Late Show' was losing between $40 million and $50 million a year. Ad revenue for late-night entertainment broadcasts has shrunk sharply as the audience, particularly young men, turn to streaming or other priorities. 'I could see us losing $24 million,' Colbert said. 'But where would Paramount have ever spent the other $16 million? Oh, yeah.' Colbert introduced the odd duo of 'Weird Al' Yankovic and Lin-Manuel Miranda to sing Coldplay's 'Viva La Vida.' In a sly reference to the couple caught on camera last week at a Coldplay concert, 'Late Show' cameras panned the audience to find some supportive friends — fellow late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart and John Oliver, as well as Adam Sandler, Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen. Thanking audience members for support Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. Colbert turned serious — briefly — to address people who had expressed support for him since the announcement was made. 'Some people see this show going away as the sign of something truly dire. And while I'm a big fan of me, I don't necessarily agree with that statement,' he said, 'because we here at the 'Late Show' never saw our job as changing anything other than how you felt at the end of the day, which I think is a worthy goal. 'Or,' he continued, 'changing how you felt the next morning when you watched on your phone, which is why broadcast TV is dying.' ___ David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at and
CTV News
5 hours ago
- CTV News
Can you ever expect privacy in public? Coldplay kiss camera saga tells us a lot about the answer
Chris Martin of Coldplay performs during the band's Music Of The Spheres World Tour at D. Y. Patil Sports Stadium in Navi Mumbai, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade, File) NEW YORK — When the 'KissCam' at a Coldplay concert landed on a couple who tried (but failed) to duck out of the spotlight, the internet immediately got to work. In hours, the clip was just about everywhere. Endless memes, parody videos and photos of the pair's shocked faces filled social media feeds. Online sleuths rushed to identify who was on camera. Artificial intelligence and software company Astronomer eventually confirmed that its CEO and chief people officer were in fact the couple in the video — and announced the CEO's resignation over the weekend. The incident's fallout has, of course, generated conversations about business ethics, corporate accountability and the repercussions that conflicts of interest among leadership can cause. But there are also broader implications at play in our increasingly online world — about the state of potentially being visible everywhere you go or tracked through 'social media surveillance.' Experts say it's more and more common for moments that may have been intended to be private, or at least reserved to a single physical venue, to make their way online and even go global today. So in the era of lightning-fast social sharing and when cameras are practically inescapable, does being in public hold any expectation of privacy anymore? Is every experience simply fodder for the world to see? Cameras are everywhere It's no secret that cameras are filming much of our lives these days. From CCTV security systems to Ring doorbells, businesses, schools and neighborhoods use ample video surveillance around the clock. Sporting and concert venues have also filmed fans for years, often projecting playful bits of audience participation to the rest of the crowd. In short, the on-scene viewer becomes part of the product — and the center of attention. And of course, consumers can record just about anything if they have a smartphone in their pocket — and, if it's enticing to other social media users, that footage can quickly spread through cyberspace. Ellis Cashmore, author of the book 'Celebrity Culture,' proposes that the rapid fame of last week's KissCam moment probably answers a question many have been asking for years: 'Is the private life still what it was? And the answer is, of course, there's no such thing as the private life anymore,' he notes. 'Certainly not in the traditional sense of the term.' 'I'm not sure that we can assume privacy at a concert with hundreds of other people,' adds Mary Angela Bock, an associate professor in the University of Texas at Austin's School of Journalism and Media. 'We can't assume privacy on the street anymore.' Some version of the KissCam has long been a staple at big events — from timeouts during sports games to romantic songs played by artists at their concerts. It's easy to miss, but most venues have signs to inform the audience that they could be filmed during the event. What's been different in more recent years, experts note, is how quickly those moments can travel beyond the physical space where they actually unfold. That isn't only limited to what shows up on a jumbotron. Sometimes it only takes one person in the crowd to capture any interaction on their phone and post the video online — where it can zip around the world. 'It's not just the camera,' Bock says. 'It's the distribution system that is wild and new.' Once something's viral, doxing often follows Then there's the second ring of exposure — what happens after the video or photos spread. Experts point to growing instances of social media users rushing to publicly identify, or dox, the people captured on camera — much like how quickly the internet committed to finding those involved in the Coldplay moment, for example. The LinkedIn pages belonging both to Astronomer's now-former CEO and chief people officer remained disabled on Monday, and The Associated Press could not reach either for comment. But it isn't limited to company executives. Beyond someone simply spotting a familiar face and spreading the word, technological advances — including AI — have made it easier and faster overall to find just about anyone in an online post. This can happen with videos and photos shared on social media each day, even if it doesn't go viral, experts warn. 'It's a little bit unsettling how easily we can be identified with biometrics, how our faces are online, how social media can track us — and how the internet has gone from being a place of interaction, to a gigantic surveillance system," Bock says. 'When you think about it, we are being surveilled by our social media. They're tracking us in exchange for entertaining us.' And of course, such moments can also impact people who were not actually on camera. As easy as it can be to be identified online today, the internet is notorious for cutting a broad swath or not always getting it right. That sometimes produces harassment of individuals not actually involved. At last week's Coldplay concert, for example, many social media users speculated that a third person seen near the two caught on camera was another Astronomer employee — leading to swarms of posts targeting her. But the company later confirmed that she was not at the event and said no other employees were in the video circulating online. For the now-viral moment, 'we can talk about what's right and wrong, and whether they deserved it,' says Alison Taylor, a clinical associate professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. Still, it's a 'very frightening thing to get a lot of abuse and harassment online,' Taylor notes. 'There are real human beings behind this.' It's hard to think that that these kind of viral moments will ever go away — and there are few legal restrictions to stop users from sharing clips of interactions recorded from anything from a concert to the street widely online. But on an individual level, Bock says it can be helpful to 'think before you share' and question whether something's really accurate. 'Social media has changed so much,' Bock says. 'But we really have not, as a society, caught up with the technology in terms of our ethics and our etiquette.' ___ Associated Press journalists Hilary Fox and Kelvin Chan contributed to this report. Wyatte Grantham-philips, The Associated Press
