By Ramishah Maruf, CNN

New York (CNN) — The CPAP Baddies assembled in Vancouver, Canada.

The first official hangout for users of the sleep apnea treatment device was an influencer-style event hosted by medical company ResMed, complete with merchandise, hors d’oeuvres and a photobooth.

At a podcast-style corner, a host asked the attendees, who scored invites through an Instagram link open to the public: “When you first heard ‘CPAP baddie,’ what did you think?” Their answers were later posted on social media.

ResMed, which dominates the market for the medical devices, is among the companies shifting towards influencer-style videos – but with regular customers and employees, not cultivated internet personalities. This can mean having employees post content with a fuzzy mic while on the clock, hosting influencer-type events for customers or other efforts.

These tactics often cater to baddies — Gen Z-speak for any fashionable, confident person — to reach younger, usually female audiences. ResMed started its baddies page this spring and began creating social media content with CPAP users.

Last year, Polymarket started Telegram and X pages for the “Baddies of Polymarket” last year for girlies who want to get into betting markets. And Starbucks announced last year that some of its employees would create social media content like influencers for the company’s official accounts.

Brands are “recognizing that ‘normal people’ content outperforms polished campaigns,” Keith Bendes, chief strategy officer at influencer marketing agency Linqia, told CNN over email. ResMed said the CPAP Baddies pages reached 4.2 million views over the past 30 days and have 6,200 followers across Instagram and TikTok.

But even if the content with “normal people” seems authentic, it’s part of a detailed strategy from companies that often have huge marketing budgets. Some of these “baddies” are paid through brand partnerships or ad revenue on posts. (The CPAP Baddies attending events did not receive any extra cash.)

And influencer-style marketing doesn’t always work. The Baddies of Polymarket page, for example, hasn’t posted anything since April on X , and the company faced fierce scrutiny this year for its deceptive marketing tactics using paid creators.

At the end of the day, these campaigns are “essentially brands spinning up a ‘fan account’ that they themselves operate,” Bendes said.

The era of anti-marketing

Anti-marketing is the vibe companies are going for these days. Consumers have outgrown TV commercials and billboards, and a review from an influencer can come off as more authentic t han a TV advertisement.

A GoDaddy survey of 1,000 consumers in 2024 showed that 40% of Gen Z trusted a product posted they’re by an influencer over a business, and more likely to buy something recommended by an influencer over a friend.

“You’ve probably never seen (our ads) on linear television,” ResMed Chief Marketing Officer Katrin Pucknat told CNN. “We are running a lot of experiments to see what works.”

But paid influencer marketing might have reached its peak – and not every company has the kind of trendy product influencers want to work with. Instead, companies like ResMed are now seeing a payoff from more organic ambassadors.

The internet was charmed earlier this year by the “Staples Baddie

By Karina Tsui, CNN

(CNN) — Four New York Times journalists who reported on security concerns surrounding a Qatari-gifted jet serving as the new Air Force One have been subpoenaed by the Justice Department, the news outlet reported Friday.

The journalists –– Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmitt –– have been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan next week, according to the Times, which noted federal agents delivered some of the subpoenas to reporters’ homes.

Times attorney David McCraw condemned the move in a statement included in the outlet’s report Friday.

“This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs,” McCraw said.

CNN has reached out to The White House, the US attorney in Manhattan’s office and The New York Times.

The subpoenas came after the Times reported Wednesday that President Donald Trump left Turkey this week on the old Air Force One over security concerns from the Secret Service. CNN reported Thursday that security personnel felt more comfortable with the president aboard the older vessel — which was built from scratch with Trump’s safety in mind — rather than the plane that had recently been retrofitted after it was donated by Qatar.

The Times reported a senior FBI official contacted them to request that the Wednesday story not be published over a national security issue, but the official declined to say what the issue was. The subpoenas issued Friday also lack detail, the Times reported, saying the journalists are being asked to testify “in regard to an alleged violation of criminal law.”

The outlet said the subpoenas were issued by Southern District of New York US Attorney Jay Clayton, who was nominated by Trump last month to be the next director of national security.

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By Holly Yan, CNN

(CNN) — It’s been one week since Nolan Wells and his friends went on a Fourth of July trip to Horn Island – an uninhabited stretch of pristine wilderness off the Mississippi coast with no shelters, no facilities and no communications.

His friends made it back home. Wells, a student and wide receiver at Southwest Mississippi Community College, did not. His body was found by a National Park Service agent face-down in the water off the shoreline Monday morning.

Now, many questions remain unanswered: Why didn’t he return on the boat with his friends? Why didn’t he have his cellphone with him? Was Wells involved in an altercation? Did he break off from his friends to speak with a girl on the island?

While the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department is still investigating, Wells’ death has stoked speculation and distrust in part due to Mississippi’s fraught racial history, the fact that Wells appeared to be the only person of color in an image with friends on the trip, and an earlier comment from the sheriff saying he didn’t suspect foul play – but didn’t explain why.

“This does not smell right,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said at a news conference Friday. “Some people are saying, ‘Reverend, are y’all bringing in race?’ Well, we’re not bringing in race. But we’re not discounting race, either, because we don’t know what it is. So, to tell us, ‘Don’t rush to judgment saying it was racist’ is fine. But then I’m telling you, don’t rush to judgment saying it was not racism, because we do not know.”

But nothing about the case – other than speculation about race – is particularly unusual, CNN law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey said. It’s quite common for law enforcement officers to take a week or longer to gather all the necessary evidence and interviews to determine what caused a death.

Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter did not respond to CNN’s questions Friday, such as whether all of Wells’ friends from the trip had been interviewed. But Ledbetter previously told CNN affiliate WXXV, “It’s gonna take a lot of hard work” to get to the bottom of this case.

Here’s what that work could entail:

Key interviews

It’s important to interview each of the friends Wells traveled with, anyone who was on the beach at the time, and a girl he was purportedly talking to on the island, Ramsey said.

“They’ve got to interview them one at a time, individually, to make sure the story is consistent,” said Ramsey, who previously led the Philadelphia and Washington, DC, police departments.

Attorney Ben Crump, who’s representing Wells’ family, said he’s dismayed by the lack of clear details that have emerged in the case.

“A young woman he was talking to says that ‘Well, Nolan said he was going back to get on the boat with the boys.’ The boys say that Nolan told them he was going to stay and talk to the young woman. It’s a contradiction,” Crump said.

Questions about Wells’ phone

One of the stranger parts of the case involves Wells’ cellphone. Crump said it’s bizarre for a teenager to not have his cellphone and noted that Wells’ parents managed to find the phone before police did.

The parents said location history data found in apps on the phone left them with questions. They also expressed concerns that messages or images may have been deleted from Wells’ phone.

There’s also been speculation that Wells was in an altercation shortly before he was reported missing.

Wells’ mother said her son was not

By Billy Stockwell, CNN

(CNN) — Greg Morley has spent decades sailing around the world on LGBTQ+ cruises with his husband, visiting far-flung destinations across the Americas, Asia and Europe – all from the safety of a ship where, he says, “everyone belongs.”

So, when the 59-year-old Philadelphian, who now lives in Paris, embarked on his latest “Athens to Venice” voyage, overseen by LGBTQ travel company Atlantis Events, he said he couldn’t wait to see the “amazing and iconic” sights on offer.

But those plans were derailed on Thursday when Egyptian authorities blocked the ship, the Scarlet Lady, from entering its waters at the last minute, according to Atlantis Events, days after the vessel was refused entry to Turkey.

“We had full approval and they denied us clearance at the 11th hour,” Rich Campbell, the president and CEO of Atlantis Events, told CNN.

In a memo to passengers on Thursday morning, seen by CNN, Campbell said: “I know how much this visit meant to so many of you. We successfully sailed a similar itinerary last year without issue, so we were surprised by this unfortunate decision.”

For Morley, the last-minute turnaround brought a huge feeling of disappointment, but he said passengers have turned their frustration into a sense of “recommitment to the community,” including those living in Turkey and Egypt where human rights groups warn of eroding LGBTQ rights.

CNN has reached out to Turkish and Egyptian authorities for comment.

‘Two countries in one week’

Last week, Turkish authorities blocked the Scarlet Lady cruise ship, which is hosting more than 1,000 passengers from the US, from docking in two of the country’s ports, with officials claiming the vessel was chartered by groups “known for behaviors incompatible with the fabric of our society and our moral values.”

Atlantis quickly diverted the ship to Cairo, but Egypt followed Turkey’s lead and moved to ban the cruise from entering its waters, according to Campbell, who called the decision “outrageous.” On Friday, the cruise ship sailed to the Greek island of Crete instead.

“My mind went to the LGBTQ communities in Egypt and Turkey where LGBTQ individuals don’t have the opportunities to just sail away,” passenger Morley told CNN. “Discrimination and the lack of opportunities that come with the shortsighted marginalization of LGBTQ people and other minorities damages far beyond a cruise ship rescheduling.”

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party has adopted increasingly harsh rhetoric against the LGBTQ community over the past decade, sparking condemnation from rights groups. Authorities have banned Pride marches in Istanbul since 2015, citing public safety and security concerns.

Meanwhile, in Egypt, morality laws are often used to prosecute LGBTQ people, with the UK-based organization the Human Dignity Trust reporting that members of the community are subjected to frequent arrests, harassment and the forced payment of bribes.

For some cruise passengers, like UK-based actor Rob Houchen, the bans have been a “real wake-up call” regarding the plight of LGBTQ rights globally.

“Things aren’t getting better, and there needs to be awareness of that,” he said on Thursday on social media. “Look out for all those around you, all those queer people, and keep them safe.”

Morley said it was time for the LGBTQ community to “recommit how we spend our considerable discretionary travel dollars.”

Approximately 1,100 of the 1,900 guests on the voyage are from the US, according to Campbell. The remaining travelers are from the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, among other nations.

Impact on local businesses

Passenger Randy Slovacek, who CNN Read more

By Jon Sarlin, CNN

(CNN) — This World Cup, a bunch of people decided to gamble millions on whether soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo would cry during a match.

The bet, which happened on Polymarket, isn’t weird for the wild world of prediction markets. Like whether aliens will be announced by the US government, whether a coup attempt will take place in Russia — even whether the earth is flat. (One trader lost $915 betting against the earth’s sphericity).

So traders looking to get an edge began closely examining Ronaldo’s long, storied career for evidence of crying. There were tears of despair, like from Portugal’s heartbreaking 2022 World Cup loss, in which he kneeled on the grass while weeping. There was also a record of happy tears, like this year, when he helped his club secure the Saudi title for the first time during his tenure.

This week, the odds had settled at around 70% favoring tears.

Monday’s match was to be Ronaldo’s last of this World Cup, ending in heartbreak for the 41-year-old soccer legend, with Portugal falling to Spain 1-0. It could be his final World Cup match ever.

So did he cry or what?

“You see Ronaldo here, obviously very emotional,” a FOX broadcaster remarked as the Portuguese legend wiped his face and walked off the pitch.

But exactly how emotional was he? The harder they looked, the less everyone agreed. Then the investigations began.

Enhance!

After the match, users on Polymarket’s Discord channel began downloading and scrutinizing zoomed-in photos of Ronaldo’s scrunched face. The odds shot up and down as new evidence came in.

Arrows were added pointing to potential tears on Ronaldo’s right eye and nose. Newly found video angles were scrutinized frame-by-frame.

“Only sweat and glistening skin,” said one user in the “no-crying” camp. “Yes, he is tearing up, fighting it. But clearly there are no tears.”

Another pointed to Ronaldo’s previous, wetter sobs, listing three “good examples” of Ronaldo “clearly shedding tears in the past,” including Ronaldo’s acceptance speech for winning the 2013 Ballon D’Or during which falling liquid can clearly be seen on the right side of his cheek.

But those in the pro-crying wing dismissed the so-called “sweat theory.”

“Yes, he cried, and we all know he cried,” one Discord user wrote. “It’s possible to draw this conclusion from the micro-expressions of sadness in the videos and photos.”

Some in the pro-crying camp pointed to articles and headlines as proof.

The BBC’s headline read “Ronaldo’s World Cup career ends in tears…,” while ESPN also included a sorrowful description: “A visibly emotional Ronaldo wiped tears from his eyes as he applauded the fans.”

“You cannot wipe tears that don’t exist,” the poster noted.

Crying foul

Polymarket’s procedures call for disputed markets to be adjudicated by the company’s internal markets team and then formally voted on by holders of the cryptocurrency UMA.

After the debate started brewing, Polymarket flagged the market for review, eventually making a determination: yes, they said. He