What went viral this week: A British student's 'holiday' in Afghanistan, OnlyFans banning hardcore porn, and 'Broke Bobby'

Back in June, Ethan Klein and Trisha Paytas, popular YouTubers who co-hosted "Frenemies," one of the most successful podcasts on YouTube, had a cataclysmic on-air argument about finances that appeared to lead to the end of their partnership and friendship.

The aftermath of the fight played out online on nearly every popular social media platform, from TikTok to Twitter.

The dispute between the two has been bubbling on in the YouTube community ever since, but this week it was reignited when a photo emerged showing that Paytas would be appearing on Mom's Basement, another YouTube commentary podcast hosted by Daniel Keem, aka Keemstar.

Keem and Klein have had a separate long-running feud that came to a head just last week. This worsened tension between Klein and Paytas, with Klein's mother even tweeting that Paytas was a "weasel."

You can read more about Klein and Keem's latest dispute here, and the comments from Klein, his mom, and Paytas' response here and here.

For more on the backstory of "Frenemies," you can read a timeline of Paytas' turbulent history Klein, from body-shaming to Paytas quitting 'Frenemies' here, and a complete run-down of how the podcast crashed and burned in less than a week here.

On Monday, it was reported that Miles Routledge, a 21-year old Loughborough University physics student, was stuck in Afghanistan in the midst of the Taliban's takeover.

"I was under the impression that the country wouldn't fall for another month, so I thought it was going to be fine," he told The Spectator of his decision to visit Afghanistan last week.

Routledge appeared to document his trip extensively online, posting to 4Chan, Twitch, and Facebook about his whereabouts, eventually saying he had been evacuated to Dubai by the British Army.

On Twitter, several people accused Routledge of acting out of privilege and taking an escape opportunity that could have gone to an Afghan citizen. Many people in Kabul who want to leave in the face of Taliban rule remain stuck in the nation.

Following the widespread backlash, Routledge appeared to delete the footage and photos from his social media accounts.

Insider spoke to Routledge about his experience, you can read the full interview here.

Over the course of the week, numerous false or misleading videos and photos about Afghanistan circulated online.

One of the major videos shared by several verified accounts purported to show Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fleeing the Taliban when it took control of Kabul over the weekend. But in truth, the footage showed Ghani boarding a plane to attend a conference in Uzbekistan in July, before the Taliban's takeover.

A number of other photos and videos were similarly called out for being shared without context or under misleading framing.

One was a doctored picture purporting to show a CNN broadcast in Kabul with a chyron reading, "Violent but mostly peaceful transfer of power." Another featured a misleading side-by-side photo sequence of the Kabul-based CNN journalist Clarissa Ward wearing no head covering next to a picture of her wearing a head covering. Ward later said the photo of here without the covering was taken in a private compound.

You can read Insider's reporting on the spread of these photos and videos here, and follow Reuters' fact-checking Twitter account for ongoing examples of the continuing phenomena.

Earlier this week, The Guardian Australia's TikTok account posted a video that purported to be a "crash course with all the basics that you need to know" about Afghanistan falling to the Taliban.

The two-minute video was viewed 4.6 million times on the platform, where many of the comments were critical of its framing, suggesting it didn't emphasize America's participation enough.

The video was then re-posted to Twitter by Dave Jorgenson, a producer at The Washington Post who features in the outlet's own TikTok videos. Jorgenson praised the video.

It was quote-tweeted over 300 times, with a number of people taking issue with the tone and the aesthetics. Comedian Aamer Rahman called it "embarrassing and insulting, bordering on parody."

However, others disagreed.

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden tweeted in response to the criticism, suggesting there is value in explainers for younger generations who may not remember historical events like the September 11 attacks.

The debate plays into an ongoing discussion around how news is presented on social media.

On Tuesday, a man named Tom Cruz uploaded a video to Instagram Reels that showed a spreadsheet he and his friends kept to help them organize trips together.

It was organized according to income, with the top person on the list appearing to make $5 million a year. The lowest earner was listed under the name "Broke Bobby," despite his purported earnings being $125,000 per year. According to US Census Bureau data, "Broke Bobby" makes more than double the 2019 real median earnings for men who worked full-time, year-round jobs ($57,456). The median household income was $68,703 in 2019.

The moniker of "Broke Bobby" struck a chord with people online. The nickname trended on Twitter on Thursday as the video sparked outrage, memes, and social commentary.

You can read Insider's in-depth explainer of the viral video, its background, and the response here.

Bloomberg News reported Thursday that starting in October, OnlyFans will ban creators from posting material with "sexually explicit conduct" on its website, although nude photos and videos would still be allowed.

As Insider reported, the decision reflects a major branding change for OnlyFans, which has gained much of its success from pornographic content. To date, the site hosts over 130 million users and has paid creators over $5 billion since it was created in 2016.

A number of high-profile influencers also post content on OnlyFans. In a recent profile with BuzzFeed News, Trisha Paytas estimated they make around $150,000 a month from the platform.

Influencers were among those who criticized the decision, saying it would have a detrimental impact on sex workers. Vlog Squad member Corinna Kopf, who joined OnlyFans in June and said she made $1 million in her first 48 hours on the platform tweeted that sex workers were being "directly attacked" by the decision.

"Bella Thorne" also trended on Twitter after the announcement, as people referenced the influencer's early decision to join the platform which many sex workers criticized as a warning sign of the platform's future.

For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.