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From Ohio to North Dakota, thousands of people have suddenly gotten brand new newspapers delivered to their doorsteps out of the blue. These newspapers are fake news outlets created by the oil and gas industry to influence public opinion in key districts, and they're having a major impact.
Top investigative journalist Miranda Green has been uncovering these schemes. She joins me to talk about how these shady publications are mimicking legitimate local newspapers to spread propaganda and influence public opinion.â
The fake outlets are already playing a major role in influencing public opinion and even jury pools, such as in the recent $666 million judgment against Greenpeace related to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. Miranda reveals the oil and gas industry's fake news playbook and how it's eroding our news environment.
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Since Trump took office, the official White House social media accounts have been posting a bit⊠differently. Drew Harwell, my former colleague at The Washington Post, has been covering the Trump White House's digital strategy.
Today, he joins me to unpack the White House's hyper-online social media cruelty, the inner workings of its digital team, how the Trump administration has transformed its traditional press shop into a rapid-response influencer operation, and how the Democratic Party is responding in the online arena.
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Ever since Ashton Hall's morning routine went viral last week, I've been dying to chat about it with my friend Matt Bernstein of the podcast A Bit Fruity to about it all.
We joined up to break down the history and evolution of modern masculinity, the allure and absurdity of the modern "alpha male" archetype, the rise of isolationist masculinity and exactly how things ended up this way, and what videos like Ashton Hall's can tell us about the future of masculinity.
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Over the past few weeks, Tesla has been crumbling. The company's stock, which was once considered invincible, has now plunged to around $250 a share, down from nearly double that in December. Sales are plummeting, dealerships are overrun with protests, and Teslas on the street are being subject to petty vandalism.
All of this is happening because of Elon Musk. Since Trump took office and appointed Musk as the head of the very poorly named Department of Government Efficiency, Musk has facilitated the undue firing of tens of thousands of government employees.
Now, it's looking like Tesla is in trouble and Musk's involvement in politics and increasingly radical actions could be the company's downfall.
Journalist Miles Klee has been covering it all, and today he joins me to break down the Tesla takedown movement began, why it matters, and if Tesla could ultimately be Musk's achilles heel.
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Chair of the Federal Communications Commission Brendan Carr has quietly positioned himself as one of the most dangerous figures in the Trump administrationâs ongoing war on free speech.
Carr is using his government position to intimidate journalists, punish media outlets, and pressure tech companies into cracking down on free expression. And he has done all of this while building his profile as a "free speech" influencer on X.
If left unchecked, Carrâs censorship crusade could fundamentally reshape our information ecosystem and have massive consequences for anyone seeking to speak freely without fear of government retaliation.
Mike Masnick, founder of TechDirt, joins me to break down who Carr is, why his agenda is so dangerous, what exactly he's doing to dismantle free speech protections in America, and how it all fits into a much bigger movement to control who can speak freely online.
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In 1964, the Supreme Court passed a landmark case called The New York Times v Sullivan, that established the right to a free press by protecting the media against erroneous lawsuits. The ruling has been instrumental in allowing journalists to scrutinize public figures, powerful corporations, and political leaders without undue fear of litigation.
But now, that landmark decision is in jeopardy thanks to a coordinated right wing legal effort that's been decades in the making.
David Enrich's forthcoming book, Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful, delves into the organized efforts by elite individuals to challenge longstanding free speech protections and suppress dissenting voices.
David joins me discuss the origins of this legal assault, its implications for investigative journalism in both new media and old, and what this all means for the future of free speech in America.â
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Have you been bombarded with non stop content about Blake Lively vs Justin Baldoni? The Misogyny Slop Ecosystem is a sprawling network of online creators and communities that manufacture and boost smear campaigns against women who speak out for women's rights, or have been victims of gender-based crimes like sexual assault, harassment, or abuse.
Though you might have never heard of it, the misogyny slop ecosystem has radically transformed the online landscape and the content that you see. It plays a central role in the alt-right pipeline for women.
I talked to Ophie Dokie, the brilliant content creator and commentator who coined the term, to discuss the origins of misogyny slop, what creators and communities make up this ecosystem, how it became so insanely profitable, and how all of it ultimately funnels women directly into the far right media machine.
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The 2000s were a formative decade for tech. From the dot com bubble to the rise of social media, to the chaotic days of early blogging, the iMac, and emergence of the PayPal Mafia, the 00s shaped our online world in ways weâre still reckoning with.
Colette Shade is the author of the brand new bestselling book Y2K: How the 2000s Became Everything (Essays on the Future That Never Was). Today she joins Taylor to unpack the lasting impact of the 00s on our tech landscape.
Colette gives a nostalgic but critical account of the decade that set the stage for the digital revolution. She discusses what we can learn from the golden age of dial-up internet and tech optimism, and how the aughts ultimately set the stage for todayâs hyper-surveilled, algorithm-driven world.
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Last week, it was revealed that Elon Musk had welcomed his 13th child into the world several months ago with a conservative influencer. But heâs not the only tech mogul fixated on boosting birth rates. In this episode, journalist Julia Black joins Taylor to discuss the rise of pronatalism in Silicon Valleyâa growing movement encouraging people to have as many babies as possible.
They unpack why tech billionaires are so suddenly obsessed with having children and how their vision of the future is entangled with right-wing ideology, eugenics, and genetic engineering. From embryo selection to potential threats to reproductive rights, Julia and Taylor explore the unsettling ways pronatalist thinking is creeping into politics and culture.
What does this mean for the future of parenthood, womenâs autonomy, and the broader social landscape? And is this really about saving humanityâor something else entirely?
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No platform has had more of impact on what we listen to over the past decade than Spotify. This week, Taylor is joined by journalist Liz Pelly, to discuss her new book "Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist."
They discuss the profound impact Spotify has had on the music industry, culture, and the way we consume sound.
Pelly reveals the truth about so-called "ghost artists" and other tactics the company has employed to squeeze artists and upend the content ecosystem.
They also dig into how Spotify's algorithm-driven playlists have reshaped not just listening habits but also the very nature of music production, artist careers, and industry power structures.
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Over the past week, Elon Musk has been engaged in a near wholesale takeover of key areas of the U.S. federal government. Working under the newly minted "Department of Government Efficiency" aka DOGE, Musk and a group of young Gen Z loyalists have begun wreaking havoc on our institutions.
Online culture journalist Ryan Broderick joins Taylor to break down who exactly these young men are, what their backgrounds say about the people Musk is hiring, and what the billionaire is currently doing to the U.S. government.
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Clarkson Lawson was a prominent MAGA influencer on TikTok who amassed over 31 million likes on his videos. He built a platform as an outspoken Gen Z conservative making pro-Trump content. But in the months leading up to the election, something changed.
Despite building a massive audience on pro-Trump messaging, he had a change of heart and voted for Kamala Harris. Lawson announced his political pivot in a video titled "Why I left MAGA."
Taylor sits down with Clarkson to talk about the behind-the-scenes reality of being a right-wing content creator, the industry forces that keep influencers tethered to Trumpism, what made him ultimately change his mind, and how he plans to navigate the choppy waters of the internet going forward.
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âFamily vlogs are a huge category of online content. At their best, they show real parenting and the entertaining and relatable moments of family life. However, the content category has been plagued by accusations of child exploitation and new laws targeting creators claiming to protect children. Fortesa Latifi covers the space in-depth and joins Taylor to set the record straight.
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Remember Gamergate? Well⊠it's happening again. After writing an exposé about how a video game consultancy was attacked, journalist Alyssa Mercante found herself in the crosshairs of a targeted harassment campaign.
Alyssa joins Taylor to discuss what it's like being at the center of an organized smear campaign, how she's fighting back. -
Social media as we know it is in chaos. The landscape is becoming more centralized and creators are facing more challenges than ever. On top of all that, the very notion of a follower is dying and there's uncertainty about what that means for the future.
Jack Conte, the CEO and co-founder of Patreon, joins Taylor to discuss how to better serve creators.
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2024 was wild! "Brain rot" was the Oxford word of the year. TikTok's days away from being banned. The CostCo Guys and the Hawk Tuah girl were everywhere. Taylor is joined by Sam Sanders, host of the Sam Sanders Show on KCRW to break down the biggest online moments of 2024.
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Last week, TikTok lost its challenge to stop a ban or forced sale in the United States. WIRED senior business editor Louise Matsakis joins Taylor to discuss what happens next and if this is really the end of the road for TikTok.
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A moral panic about kids' social media and smartphone use in schools has been sweeping the country. But are cell phones really the problem? And is removing them entirely the best approach?
Taylor chats with educator Brandon Cardet-Hernandez, president of education media company Mrs. Wordsmith, about how smartphones can be used in the classroom, and how a ban would impact marginalized students the most.
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Are women abstaining from sex to protest Donald Trump’s re-election? That’s the impression you’d get if you spent time reading the media over the past few weeks. Since the election, the “4B Movement” has been gaining traction online. But where did it come from, how does it work, and could something like this really take off in America? The Cut’s EJ Dickson joins Taylor to discuss.
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Since the election, Democrats and the media have been in panic mode, trying to figure out “the manosphere.” It’s a vast network of influencers, podcasters and streamers who speak to young men in a way traditional media has failed to. Many of its personalities are Trump supporters, including Joe Rogan. The left has been asking itself how it can win back young men without radicalizing them further. Is there a left-wing Joe Rogan?
To help crack the manosphere, Taylor talks to Josh Citarella, host of the podcast “Doomscroll.” He’s been studying the radicalization of young men online for a decade.
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