"And now for some finishing touches" said a particular 12-year old blue cat to his adoptive goldfish brother.

It was a normal evening in Elmore, California. And activity in the Wattersons' house was as per usual. Nicole had just returned from work and was getting dinner ready, Richard was laying on the couch watching TV, Anais was hosting a tea party with her Daisy the Donkey doll, and Gumball and Darwin were trying to hold in their laughter as the former proceeded to Shotofop a video from Elmore Stream-It.

"Imagine the face on Tobias when he sees this" said Darwin, struggling to let his words out while trying not to giggle at the edit Gumball was making.

"And....done" Gumball announced to his brother as he finished editing one of Tobias' "X-Treme Pranking" videos; the result showing Harold Wilson not only slipping on the skateboard, but also flying through the door at high speed, through many global landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and Sydney Opera House, into outer space, with the audio being repeatedly edited and mangled with as he flies faster and faster through space, into the light-speed effect from Stellar Odyssey, back into his house, crashing into Tobias and causing an explosion on the spot.

Darwin of course couldn't hold in his reaction to the edit any longer and the laughter bursted right out of him.

"Dude, it's so awesome how we can just edit these videos without any restrictive bots interfering" said Darwin, now taking deep breaths following his laughter attack.

Gumball, also calming down from a crazed howl of laughter, responded with "And the owners of the copyrighted videos aren't really noticing anything".

This caused them to laugh some more, pointing out the fact that Elmore Stream-It either takes copyright too seriously or just doesn't bother taking down videos that use copyrighted content.

"Okay" said Gumball, shedding a tear induced by the pressure of the humorous reaction to his own statement. "Time to bring ourselves into recognition among the Elmore Stream-It meme community" he continued in an epic sounding voice.

"We're only one of millions of Stream-It users" replied Darwin, confused at what his brother said.

"Then we'll be recognized in the next few years when our video becomes old and widely viewed on the internet" said Gumball, grabbing Darwin while slowly motioning his paw to his left in a dramatic way meant to symbolize the entire world.

Darwin still wasn't sure their content would be that popular, but went along with Gumball's words.

"Besides, I don't know how to exactly say this, but do you ever get the feeling that we're already widely popular? Like as if we're television stars?" Said Gumball, releasing Darwin.

"Yeah, I kinda do actually" Darwin agreed. Both of them had no idea how popular they really were. And not just on Elmore Plus, on the internet, in Elmore, or in the entire world.

"But that doesn't matter" said Gumball, grabbing the mouse. "Let's grab some views!" they said in unison, pulling off sparkly-eyed excited faces as they began the usual process of uploading on the website.

Gumball selected the file...

...clicked upload...

...and...

...a window popped up, reading "Is this video for kids or not for kids?" with the options "Yes, it's for kids" and "No, it's not for kids".

"What the what?" gasped Gumball, clearly never encountering this in the process of uploading on Stream-It. "Stupid pop-ups".

Gumball closed the window and clicked upload again...

...the same window popped up asking the same question with the same options.

"I said no!" Gumball said in a growing fit of frustration as he closed the window again and reclicked upload...

..."Is this video for kids or not for kids?" asked the same window.

"No!"

Upload...

..."Is this video for kids or not for kids?"

"No!"

Upload...

"Is this video for kids or not for kids?"

"No!"

Upload...

"Is this video for kids or not for kids?"

"NO!"

Upload...

...

...and...

...

..."Is this video for kids or not for kids?"

"WHAT THE WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM!?" Gumball screamed, almost on the verge of ramming his clenched fist into the screen, just like his mother would.

"Let me take a read at it" said Darwin. "Is this video for kids or not for kids, yes it's for kids, no it's not for kids?" he read out loud. Both of them were now confused. What was this new implementation on the way they use their local video-sharing site? Was this a joke? A test of a new feature? A glitch? A hack? What the what was going on?

"When the heck was this here? Did our computer just call in sick with a virus?" said Gumball. What Darwin just read didn't clear up the situation they were currently facing. "Did this just happen overnight?"

"Maybe it's not just us" said Darwin, suggesting that everyone else was encountering the same issue. He grabbed hold of the mouse and searched online for some articles and pages relating to the window.

The results were news articles with titles like "Big changes coming to Elmore Stream-It", "Users scramble to mark their videos after Stream-It announces revision of rules and guidelines ", "DAO threatens to fine Elmore Stream-It for collecting data from children", "Stream-It violates FOTOL says DAO", and "New age for users of Elmore Stream-It" among others.

"FOTOL?" said Gumball. "Oh come on! First, they make children lie about their age to enter Elmore Plus, and now they toy with the daily lives of Elmore Stream-It users? It's not gonna make the internet any safer."

"If anything, they're only suppressing free-speech and other rights of the First Amendment" added Darwin.

"I know, right?" Agreed Gumball. "What's going on with the DAO? They're making no sense" he continued as he motioned the clickpoint over to Stream-It's terms of service guidelines page. He began to read the text on the page out loud.

Update: we're updating our site and terms of services to comply with the Federal Online Threat Obliteration Legislation (FOTOL) following the threat of a lawsuit from the Daily Activity Oversight (DAO). We're letting everyone know about the changes in order to get everyone prepared for the future. Content will be split into two different categories; one for kids and one not for kids, content for kids includes cartoons, toy reviews, videos with child models, childrens' characters, phrases like hello and good, superheroes, etc. The age of a kid is around 1-11 years old Violations of these rules will result in consequences from the DAO.

"WHAT THE WHAT IS HAPPENING?" screamed Gumball.

He couldn't comprehend what he just read. The guidelines were so vague they sounded like they were written by aliens from an extraterrestrial world far beyond their dimension. It was so strange he was beginning to think he had just fallen asleep while editing their video and was having a surreal nightmare. "SNAP OUT OF IT! SNAP OUT OF IT! SNAP OUT OF IT! SNAP...OUT...OF..IT!" he shouted as he began slapping himself in the face hoping to awaken from this weird fantasy, but it was clear that any avail was nonexistent.

"DUDE, CHILL OUT!" shouted Darwin as he grabbed Gumball and slapped him in the face three times, each one synched with his three words, before shaking him violently to pull his brother out of his current state of mind.

Gumball began taking deep breaths to calm himself down before finally speaking again. "How could this get any worse!?" He said on the verge of a breakdown. Just as he said that, he also noticed in the update that if a video is marked for kids, it gets automatically demonetized and other important features like the likes and dislikes are disabled.

Gumball and Darwin couldn't believe what they were reading. Were they now targets of a new game the DAO and Stream-It were playing? Were they doomed to fail in following the guidelines and rules of this vague law? Which videos are for kids? Which ones aren't? Why wasn't Stream-It being clear on any of this? The two of them couldn't take it anymore and released all their confusion and uncertainty vocally as they screamed with their arms flailing. They just kept screaming for the rest of the day...

...during the night...

...during breakfast...

...on the bus...

...at the school...

...in class...

...at lunch

...in the principal's office...

...in detention...

...on their way home...

...in their room...

...at dinner...

...while sleeping...

...and while having breakfast, they were still screaming at the realization of what Elmore Stream-It has become. No one else in the house understood what the heck was going on with the two and it was starting to make everyone uncomfortable. So Nicole decided to speak.

"How long have you been screaming like that?" she asked.

"For about 27 hours" said Gumball with his inside voice before resuming his screaming.

"It felt more like 27 seconds" said Darwin, obviously pointing out at how quick that montage played out, before he too resumed screaming.

"OKAY, WHY ARE YOU TWO SREAMING!?!?" she yelled as loud as she could over the deafening screams of her kids, making sure she was heard.

The two kids exhaled uncomfortably long and loud before finally speaking. But all that escaped their mouths was incoherent gibberish. Normally, Nicole would guess that this form of language was part of their ridiculously childish games. But this sounded like it was fueled by fear and confusion over something big that they heard was coming. "Calm down! Talk slowly" she said trying to get the two to explain their situation properly. Gumball and Darwin stopped and explained the same nonsensical statement again, except this time in slow, low pitched voices. Nicole facepalmed, obviously getting nowhere with her panicked children.

"Let me try" piped in Anais, before she asked her mother's question about Gumball and Darwin's dilemma. Again, her brothers responded the same way they did before. But Anais, having the most functional brain in the house despite being four-years old, was able to translate stupidity to english, and spoke everything the young cat and goldfish said in a comprehensible manner.

"Elmore Stream-It is making huge changes after being accused by the DAO of collecting data from children, the rules and guidelines for their new system make so little sense they sound alien, and anything automatically marked for kids has multiple features disabled like monetization and comments" she said, translating the words of Gumball and Darwin.

"Thanks you, Anais". Everything was starting to make sense to Nicole, but she still needed answers regarding the matter.

"How long ago did you two receive this update?" the mother feline asked them.

"From what I remember, it was around three days ago" replied Darwin. "I still have yet to know when the DAO filed that accusation".

"But it's still a horrific sign of doom to us all!" Gumball almost screamed over-dramatically.

A gasp was heard from Richard before the big pink rabbit said "Is the supermarket getting rid of it's best brands of chocolate!?", everyone looking at him confused in response.

"Did you hear anything of what we were just talking about?" asked an annoyed Nicole, guessing that Richard fell asleep.

"All I heard was your first question, Gumball and Darwin briefly responding, you asking your second question, Gumball and Darwin taking a deep breath, some nonsense, Anais saying something about monetization and comments, your third question, and the response from Gumball and Darwin" replied Richard, implying he got lost in his train of thought while Gumball and Darwin started their incoherent rambling.

Nicole facepalmed again, this time joined by the kids, knowing that Richard clearly wasn't paying attention. She then resumed the conversation with Gumball and Darwin.

"Look, I'm sure it's not as bad as you think it is. Maybe it's just an exaggeration to get everyone prepared for what's to come" she said, trying to calm her panicked children.

In the kids' room...

"Okay, this is not making any sense" said Nicole, finally getting the younger cat and goldfish's point after looking at the page on the screen.

"I still don't get why words and phrases such as good and hello count as content for kids. Adults use them too" said Darwin.

"Yeah. This doesn't feel right" replied Nicole. "FOTOL has confused us about how the internet is supposed to function before, but this is getting ridiculous. Maybe if we take a look at how the DAO explained all this, it'll start to clear up".

And as Nicole said that, she grabbed to mouse and keyboard, searched for the DAO's page regarding FOTOL and clicked on the main result. Most of what they saw didn't confuse them any less as a lot of it was the same as what was shown on Elmore Stream-It's page. However, the new information was something else. Nicole took a closer look at the information that was not on Stream-It's page, which read;

If your video contains said content, it automatically qualifies as something for children. If your video contains content for kids but is incorrectly marked, you'll face heavy consequences. If you mark an inappropriate video as content for kids, the same applies. Either way, the fine stands as high as $50,000,000. These new updates will keep the children on social media secure and safe for the years to come. While all the uncaring lazy parents just lounge around with their own matters, we'll do the job they should be doing and make sure the crooks of the internet are brought to justice.

"$50,000,000!?" said Gumball after a brief silence. "Are you kidding me? No one is gonna be able to pay that unless you're someone like the president of the nation or something!"

"I know. It's the most ridiculous punishment for anyone who can't just follow these incomprehensible rules. No uncaring lazy parent is gonna want to..." Nicole replied before pausing.

"What did that page say about parenting?" She finally spoke.

Darwin read out part of the final paragraph again. "While all the uncaring lazy parents just lounge around with their own matters, we'll do the job they should be doing and make sure the crooks of the internet are brought to justice."

"Uncaring lazy parents" echoed those words inside Nicole's head.

She couldn't believe what the DAO said about parenting. Her parenting to be exact. She wasn't a horrible mother. She wouldn't let her kids face the dangers of the internet just like the DAO said she would.

Her face showed an obvious clash of emotions going on inside her head. Her smile showed that she was trying to stay positive and ignore that statement. But her shrunken pupils and twitching eye were clear signs of a growing victory-bound rage.

Knowing what was about to happen, Gumball and Darwin just silently left the room.

Outside the house, a loud scream of fury from a certain mother was heard, soon joined by the sound of smashing and objects breaking.

A stop-motion steampunk robot passing the house heard the commotion and decided to see what was going on. He looked at the window on the top level and stood still when he saw a drawer from a shelf being propelled out the window, landing only a few inches from him.

Upon closer inspection, what he saw was the sight of Nicole tearing the room apart, screaming with a face that read "UNCARING AND LAZY PARENT HUH!? THAT'S HOW IT'S GONNA BE HUH!? THAT'S YOUR GAME HUH!?" while throwing more drawers out of the shelf. She briefly stopped to look out the window, knowing that someone was staring at her. She quickly calmed down and made an embarrassed yet polite smile that read "Oh, good morning. Nicole Watterson. Is anything the matter today? How may I help?".

The robot took it as a request for him to mind his own business, guessing how embarrassed the blue cat must be. So he kept on walking, the sound of screaming and smashing resuming once he was clear of the block.