VidAngel is back, and taking out Netflix’s garbage

Neal Harmon, CEO of the content-filtering company VidAngel, is on a mission to help families enjoy the best Hollywood has to offer while tuning out the worst. The company unveiled a new filtering service for Netflix and Amazon videos nearly seven weeks ago to overwhelming demand.

In the first 30 days, the service “had over five times the number [of subscribers] we had hoped to have,” Harmon told me. Harnessing the power of VidAngel costs $7.99 a month and takes a little bit of tech know-how to complete the sign-up, log-in, and filter-setting process. But it’s no harder than setting up the Netflix or Amazon Prime accounts needed to make VidAngel work.

While VidAngel does filter out specific vulgarity, it doesn’t take into account overall worldview. Plenty of the titles available on the platform, such as House of Cards, Dexter, or Breaking Bad, would still be unsuitable for children even after the smut is cut. There are videos on VidAngel that Harmon won’t watch himself.

“There are a lot of TV-MA titles and rated-R titles that I fundamentally disagree with the storyline and the premise of content,” Harmon said. “I had to ask the question, do we choose what gets published on VidAngel, or do we allow people to use the tech for what they choose they want to use the tech for?”

VidAngel execs went the latter route, relying on ratings, box office returns, and customer requests to decide which videos to filter. The surgical precision of the technology allows users to block instances of objectionable content in a show individually or as a whole. So, let’s say a family doesn’t mind seeing hand-to-hand combat, but doesn’t want to watch blood and gore. Under the “violence” category, mom and dad can choose to block “a woman’s bloody leg is visible” but leave “a man punches several men,” both references from the latest Hunger Games movie. Or they can block all violence with one click of the remote.

VidAngel could be a Godsend for many media-conscious families, but a devil is lurking in the details. Disney, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Bros. oppose the company’s model and have sued for copyright infringement. In December 2016, a judge issued a preliminary injunction against VidAngel, which had to close down its filtering service for a time.

Before the injunction, VidAngel used a complicated checkout, check-in system to let users watch titles as they came out on DVD. Studios got paid the full market price of the DVD each time a user watched a video. After the injunction, the company revamped to filter Netflix and Amazon content, and the service reopened June 13. But Disney has notified the court it still opposes VidAngel, and the future of the service remains unclear.

VidAngel has mounted a robust legal and public relations defense, arguing the federal Family Movie Act of 2005 allows filtering and the service causes no financial harm to the studios since viewers already pay for the content—first by paying for DVD copies of the film and now by paying for their existing streaming accounts. At the same time, VidAngel has started producing original content, including more than two-dozen clean comedy specials. Several of the specials are among the service’s most popular titles, beating out some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters. (Remember, “clean” doesn’t necessarily mean “Christian,” and subscribers should still watch with caution.)

Harmon hopes the studios will take note and instead of fighting VidAngel, listen to the demands of the company’s customers.

“VidAngel’s goal is to fight not only for the right of families to filter in the modern age on modern devices, but it’s also our second goal … that the filter choices of families and of individuals become a feedback loop for artists and creators,” Harmon said.

Religion in the White House

Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody is writing a “spiritual biography” of President Donald Trump for release in February 2018 by HarperCollins. Brody has conducted numerous interviews with Trump about his faith in the past decade. In 2011, Trump told him, “I believe in God. I am Christian. I think the Bible is certainly, it is ‘the’ book. It is the thing.” Scott Lamb of The Washington Times will co-author the book.

If the tone of the announcement on CBN’s website is any indication, readers can expect Lamb and Brody to praise the president’s religious views and practices. “He has surrounded himself with believers who think he is the one guiding figure who can return us to the traditional values—hard work, discipline, duty, respect, and faith—that have long been the foundation of American life and truly make America great again in all ways,” according to the announcement.

Former Vice President Joe Biden also plans to release a memoir soon recounting the year his son, Beau Biden, died from brain cancer. The book, titled Promise Me Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose, also is expected to shed light on Biden’s decision not to run for president in 2016, which cleared the way for Hillary Clinton to make a nearly uncontested bid for the presidency. The memoir is due out in November. —L.L.

A true believer?

Justin Bieber canceled the remaining dates on his Purpose world tour Monday, and rumors are flying that the singer’s growing devotion to Jesus played a role in the decision. Bieber has a well-known, close relationship with Carl Lentz, lead pastor of Hillsong Church in New York City. The two appear regularly in each other’s Instagram feeds: On July 13 Bieber posted a photo of the two of them with the caption “THIS IS MY DOG TIL THE DAY I DIE.” (“Dog” is hip-hop for “good friend.”)

Bieber’s dabbling in Christianity is nothing new. Last year, Lentz related in an interview with Oprah Winfrey how Bieber came to him in 2014 and begged for guidance after a run of highly publicized bad behavior. The then-19-year-old reportedly asked Lentz to baptize him that night, and he did. In May of this year, Bieber posted an Instagram photo of the phrase, “I follow Jesus.” That was just after he released a remix of the single “Despacito,” a Spanish ode to lust. (Don’t Google the English translation of the lyrics if you blush easily).

When asked this week by a photographer if he canceled the tour because of religion, Bieber said no. He certainly didn’t do it for popularity; the decision has angered not only fans but also employees and others who counted on the tour for income. His manager, Scooter Braun, defended the decision Monday night, saying, “A man’s soul and well-being I truly care about came first and we must all respect and honor that.” —L.L.

Point and shoot

Google is working to train computers to create professional-grade photos using an algorithm that measures visual properties such as lighting, saturation, and object placement. Researchers programmed a computer to crop and filter panoramas of nature from Google Street View into aesthetically pleasing images. In a blind test, professional photographers rated a mix of computer-generated photos and human-snapped pictures. “Experiments show that a portion of our robot’s creation can be confused with professional work,” researchers Hui Fang and Meng Zhang wrote. —L.L.

Waiting for Gadot

Moviegoers who loved Wonder Woman this summer—so, pretty much all of them—will be glad to learn Warner Bros. has set a release date of Dec. 13, 2019 for its sequel. Of course, Gal Gadot will return to the screen sooner than that as the Amazonian-turned-hero in Justice League this November. —L.L.