There Are No Girls on the Internet
Bridget Todd explores the often-overlooked stories of marginalized communities online and how they have shaped the internet from its earliest days. The podcast aims to build monuments to all the identities that make being online what it is.
Episodes
Scammers are using AI to make you fall in love
What if the person you're falling for isn't who they say they are, and AI is helping them fool you? Romance scammers are using AI to create fake identities, write convincing messages, and even manipulate Google results to build trust and steal money. In one alleged scheme, a man posing as a San Francisco 49ers player used a Google AI Overview to bolster his fake identity. But AI isn't just changin
Polymarket Wants to Girlboss Women Into Gambling
Prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi want more women to start betting, BUT they’re not necessarily calling it gambling. In part two, Bridget looks at how Love Island, influencers, reality TV, and the language of financial empowerment are being used to bring women into prediction markets, why regulators are fighting over whether these platforms are gambling at all, and what happens w
Lindsay Clancy’s Trial Is a Bet on Polymarket. Now Prediction Markets Want Women
Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial became something people could bet on through Polymarket. And it’s part of a much bigger push to get women into prediction markets. In part one of our look at the new gambling frontier, Bridget breaks down how prediction markets like Polymarket are turning everything from Love Island and celebrity gossip to politics and real-life tragedy into something you
Two Big Updates from Bridget
Today, July 14th, is the day my audiobook Love At First Prompt: AI and the Future of Intimacy goes on sale! This audiobook is one of the most personal things I’ve ever made. It’s about loneliness, AI companions, and what happens when technology starts becoming emotionally entangled with our lives. I spent months talking to researchers, reporters, and people who feel they are expe
Epstein’s friendship with Bill Gates; Raw Milk; Jeremy Strong Comes for Zuckerberg; Update about the show - NEWS ROUND UP
We’re taking a short hiatus from publishing here, but will continue publishing weekly news roundups on our Patreon. Anyone can listen for free, without ads, at our Patreon at tangoti.com/roundup . There are new stories there today, so please check it out after you listen to this episode! There Are No Girls on the Internet is a weekly podcast and newsletter hosted by Bridget Todd coveri
Clavicular is back; George Santos scams; Summer House tech drama; Instagram Hacked; Hot Girls Read™ - NEWS ROUNDUP!
We read the internet so you don't have to. There Are No Girls on the Internet is a weekly podcast and newsletter hosted by Bridget Todd covering the tech, internet, and culture stories that deserve more attention — especially when they're about AI, power, gender, race, and who actually gets hurt when systems fail. This week: Meta's AI chatbot helped hackers steal Instagram accounts, a debate
Girlboss Is Back And This Time She's Selling You AI
The girlboss era promised that if women just worked hard enough, leaned in hard enough, optimized hard enough, equality was within reach. It wasn't. And now, a decade later, the same voices are back with the same urgency and the same "you'll be left behind" framing. The product this time? AI. Bridget sits down with Samantha and Anney from Stuff Mom Never Told You to talk about why Sheryl Sandberg,
Elon Musk Hates Lupita Nyong'o; Meta Is Erasing Queer Accounts; AI Is Penalizing Women - NEWS ROUNDUP
There Are No Girls on the Internet is a weekly podcast hosted by Bridget Todd. Every week, we break down the tech and internet stories that deserve more attention — especially when they're about AI, power, gender, race, and who actually gets hurt when systems fail. This week: Elon Musk using a Hollywood casting decision to push white nationalist conspiracy theories. The government is surveil
eBay CEO Devin Wenig Orchestrated a Criminal Stalking Campaign and Walked Away With $57 Million
This is the 2nd episode of a 2-part series about a case where security goons from eBay travelled across the country to stalk and harass a husband-wife journalist duo. If you haven't listened to part 1 yet, you probably should. We published it on May 19, 2026. For over two decades, the pair have been publishing EcommerceBytes, a respected trade publication for eBay sellers. But in 2019,
Elon's Election Interference, JP Morgan's 'Sex Slave' Lawsuit, Charlie Kirk Facebook Post & Take It Down Act Explained — NEWS ROUNDUP
THIS WEEK ON THERE ARE NO GIRLS ON THE INTERNET There Are No Girls on the Internet is a weekly podcast hosted by Bridget Todd. Every week we drop our news roundup — the tech and internet stories that don't get enough attention, the ones about AI, power, gender, race, and who actually gets hurt when systems fail. This week: A man films men at urinals to catch "groomers." A Texas woman gets ar
eBay's Criminal Stalking Campaign Against a Journalist Was Run by Ex-Cops. They Nearly Got Away With It.
This is part 1 of a 2-part arc about one of wildest tech stories I've seen in a long time. For over two decades, a husband and wife duo have been publishing EcommerceBytes, a respected trade publication for eBay sellers. But in 2019, someone started harassing them. It began with a spray painted fence, then quickly escalated to death threats and fetal pigs and a mysterious van outside their house.
Instagram Instants Flop, Bumble Removes Swiping & Elon Musk Trial Juror Speaks Out - NEWS ROUNDUP
There Are No Girls on the Internet is a weekly podcast hosted by Bridget Todd. Every week we drop our news roundup — the tech and internet stories that don't get enough attention, the ones about AI, power, gender, race, and who actually gets hurt when systems fail. This week: A racist streamer livestreams from a stretcher. A mother goes to prison for a Facebook grief post. Elon Musk's USAID
Mark Zuckerberg's AI Era Has a Woman Problem. It Always Did.
In 2026, Meta is racing into AI with all gas and no brakes — and it's giving us serious déjà vu. We invited Samantha and Anney from Stuff Mom Never Told You to revisit The Social Network and examine what the film got right, what it glossed over, and how its treatment of women tells you everything you need to know about tech culture then and now. Plus: the reported sequel center
Jeff Bezos Met Gala; Sarah Paulson Protest Look; OpenAI Stalking Lawsuit; My Handbook App's Fake AI Black Woman Scam - NEWS ROUNDUP
THIS WEEK ON THERE ARE NO GIRLS ON THE INTERNET Hi — if you found us through Instagram, you're in the right place. There Are No Girls on the Internet is a weekly podcast hosted by Bridget Todd. Every Friday we drop our news roundup — the tech and internet stories that don't get enough attention, the ones about AI, power, gender, race, and who actually gets hurt when systems fail. This
TikTok's DoorDash Lady Reported Being Flashed — Now She's the One Facing Charges
You saw the video. A DoorDash driver named Livie goes viral on TikTok after reporting that a customer answered the door naked and flashed her. The internet rallied behind her. And then — the story got complicated. Bridget breaks down what actually happened, why the story became a breeding ground for misinformation and AI-generated fake videos, and what it tells us about where we're at when i
Taylor Swift vs AI Scams; Epstein friendship w Peter Thiel; Andrew Tate loses lawsuit - NEWS ROUNDUP
There Are No Girls on the Internet is an independent media company covering tech, power, and who gets left out. We produce a weekly podcast, viral social content, and in-depth reporting on the tech stories that matter — especially the ones that don't get enough attention. Host Bridget Todd and her producer Mike have been covering these issues for over decade. Bridget's forthcoming audiobook
Clavicular, looksmaxxing, and how extremists hijack the algorithm
This is the second part of a 2-part series, so if you haven’t listened to part 1 (published on April 21, 2026), please listen to that first. In part 1, we explain who Clavicular is, how the media elevated him to national prominence, and why his looksmaxxing ideology is just a new veneer on old tropes of self-harm and white supremacy. What happens when a teenage boy spends his formative
MrBeast Under Fire; Hailey Bieber Dogpile; “Emily Hart” and the AI MAGA scam – NEWS ROUNDUP
In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike cover the tech news stories you might have missed. MrBeast’s Beast Industries Sued by Former Employee Alleging Sexual Harassment and Retaliation; Company Says Suit Is Based on ‘Categorically False Statements’: https://variety.com/2026/digital/news/mrbeast-sued-former-employee-sexual-harassment-retaliation-1236728069/&n
Clavicular and the Looksmaxxing Cult That Almost Killed Him
What happens when a teenage boy spends his formative years on incel forums, starts injecting steroids at 14, hits himself in the face with a hammer in the name of self-improvement, injects his underage girlfriend with unlicensed substances on a live stream — and the response from mainstream media is a New York Times profile and a Fashion Week runway? This week we're digging into looksmaxxing
Reese Witherspoon AI Gender Gap; Lauren Sanchez Cosplays Relevance; Online Assault Academy; Flock Spying; Nigerian WhatsApp Smut – NEWS ROUNDUP
In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike cover the tech news stories you might have missed. TRIGGER WARNING - one story discusses disturbing sexual assaults. . Reese Witherspoon thinks women should embrace AI more. The comments were not kind. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXKphAtkbgW/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== . Gisèle Pelicot's story of being
The Racist AI TikTok Scam That's Flooding Your Feed
Fake AI-generated Black women are flooding your social media feeds, performing self-hatred, pushing porn sites and drop shipping scams, and raking in cash for anonymous creators who'll never be held accountable. Jeremy Carrasco, the internet's go-to AI debunker, breaks down who's behind it, why platforms keep looking the other way, and why one Black student researcher's testimony made him want to
The Drama with Zendaya; BAFTAs Slur Fallout; Sheryl Sandberg Leans AI; Sex Pest Take-It-Down Conviction; Sex Toys Meta Ban; ANTIFA Terrorism Trial – NEWS ROUNDUP!
In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike cover the tech news stories you might have missed. Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In is fighting the gender gap in AI adoption, but raising questions about its own leadership. https://www.fastcompany.com/91521751/sheryl-sandbergs-lean-in-is-fighting-the-gender-gap-in-ai-adoption Gen Z Goes to the Movies! The new Zendaya film 'The Drama' is a sma
Mia Ballard's novel Shy Girl was cancelled for using AI. You only know half the story
You've probably heard about author Mia Ballard. Her debut novel "Shy Girl" has been at the center of a controversy about whether she used AI to help write it. After a New York Times article, her publisher dropped her book. She's since deleted most of her social accounts and gone dark. This story is much bigger than whether one writer did or didn't use AI. It's about the question of who gets
The Goodreads Scandal That Predicted Publishing's AI Crisis
Publishing is having a trust crisis. With AI accusations swirling around authors like Mia Ballard, whose novel Shy Girl was dropped by her publisher despite her denying any AI use, questions about authenticity in publishing have never felt more urgent. But this kind of chaos isn't new. We saw it coming. We're revisiting one of our wildest deep dives: the Cait Corrain Goodreads scandal. Corrain had
Sam Altman Isn’t Building a Company, He’s Building an Empire (with Karen Hao)
Investigative journalist Karen Hao was covering OpenAI years before most of us had ever heard the words "ChatGPT" or "large language model." Her best-selling book, "Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI," paints a gripping and damning portrait of the company's evolution from a sort of nonprofit to an empire-seeking tech juggernaut, drawing on her deep familiarity with the comp
Erika Kirk Druski Parody; Chappell Roan's Bot Army; Meta Loses in Court; & OpenAI Kills Sora – News Roundup
In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike are covering the tech news stories you might have missed. Chappell Roan bodyguard controversy fueled by bots online, research finds: https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/music/news/chappell-roan-bodyguard-backlash-bots-b2947029.html An AI-generated woman in images with President Trump has been going viral on conservative so
Lindy West Told Us Everything in Adult Braces. Was It a Mistake?
Remember the personal essay industrial complex? The 2010s era of Jezebel and xoJane where feminist writers put every raw, messy, private part of themselves on the internet? Lindy West was its brightest star. Her new memoir, Adult Braces, reckons with what that cost her, and with a marriage that turned out to be more complicated than the happy ending she sold us in her first memoir, Shrill. H
Afroman Wins Lawsuit; Buffy Reboot Slain by Hulu; Nicole Kidman Steals Bezos' Spotlight; Zuckerberg's Metaverse Shut Down - NEWS ROUNDUP!
In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike cover the tech news stories you might have missed. Afroman wins lawsuit brought against him by cops who raided his house. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2026-03-19/afroman-verdict-defamation-invasion-of-privacy-lawsuit Afroman's video "Lemon Pound Cake" https://youtu.be/9xxK5yyecRo?si=P7JWA54zklLCWVn
Sam Altman Wants You to Have Sex with ChatGPT
Not long ago, Sam Altman was bragging about how OpenAI doesn't make sex bots. Then, just two months later, announced the company would be rolling out erotic content on ChatGPT. So how's that pivot into adult content going? In the words of Dorinda Medley: "Not well, bitch." Soon after the announcement, there was a high-profile exit from OpenAI — over concerns the company wasn't handling the a
Grammarly Stole Writers' Identities; Heated Rivalry Fanfic; Uber's Women-Only Rides; & Is Instagram Dying? – NEWS ROUNDUP
In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Joey cover the tech news stories you might have missed. Do Normies Have The Right to Read Heated Rivalry Fanfic: https://www.gq.com/story/heated-rivalry-fanfic-privacy A writer is suing Grammarly for turning her and other authors into ‘AI editors’ without consent: https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/12/a-writer-is-suing-grammarly-f
The Woman Who Designed the Face of the Personal Computer
It's Women's History Month — and this year, honoring women's contributions feels less like a celebration and more like an act of resistance. That's why celebrating women's achievements is more important than ever. So in this episode, I want to introduce you to someone who shaped the way we all experience technology, even if you've never heard her name: Susan Kare. She designed the visu
Hallow App Update; Meta Glasses Aren’t Private; Brothel Workers Unionize; Incarcerated Women of True Crime; Gen-Z gender wars – NEWS ROUNDUP!
In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike cover the tech news stories you might have missed. Hallow app beef update. Meta sued over false privacy promises about it's glasses. Gee, what a shocker. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0q33nvj0qpo Google sued for wrongful death after a vulnerable user died by suicide after talking with its chatbot Gemini. https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/04/
Chris Pratt is the Least Interesting Thing About the Hallow App (A Message to Live Action)
In last week's news roundup, we did a short segment about the Hallow App. It's a subscription-based app that helps you pray and learn about scripture with celebrity spokespeople. It's also partially funded by Peter Thiel and JD Vance, people actively involved in building surveillance technology. We had some concerns! A writer named Nancy Flanders did not appreciate the segment! She wro
BAFTAs racial slur; Nicki Minaj bot network; TikTok “Psychic” faces Defamation trial for University of Idaho murders – NEWS ROUNDUP!
Pre-order our forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Love-at-First-Prompt/Bridget-Todd/9781668179826 In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike cover the tech news stories you might have missed. Black History Month: Every time you drop a reaction GIF, thank Lisa Gelobter. She helped engineer the animation tech that made GIFs GI
A TANGOTI Announcement We've Been Sitting On
Something has been in the works. Bridget shares what's next. LoveAtFirstPrompt.AI Let us know what you think by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify! Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social S
Chris Pratt Is Hawking an Anti-Abortion Prayer App; Elon's Grok Is Doxxing Women; DOGE Bros Let ChatGPT Do Their Job; Trump’s Big DEI Loss – NEWS ROUNDUP
In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike cover the tech news stories you might have missed. The story behind Hallow, the Christian app hawked by Gwen Stefani: https://mashable.com/article/hallow-prayer-app-gewn-stefani-jd-vance-peter-thiel Elon Musk's Grok doxes adult performer on X: https://www.404media.co/grok-doxing-real-names-birthdates-siri-dahl/ Sleazy facial recogn
Satanic Panic of the 1980s Is Happening Again — This Time in Minnesota Daycares (w/ Sarah Marshall)
A viral video. A smeared daycare worker. A community in panic. Sound familiar? In the 1980s, a wave of hysteria swept the country, accusing daycare workers of abusing children in Satanic rituals — accusations that ruined lives and were entirely false. Now, a dubious video out of Minnesota is sparking the same kind of moral panic all over again. To make sense of the moment, I sat down with Sa
Amazon Ring Super Bowl Ad BACKFIRES; YouTubers Exploit Women's Arrest Videos; Salesforce CEO ICE "Joke" – NEWS ROUNDUP!
In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike cover the tech news stories you might have missed. Amazon’s Ring, a creepy surveillance product, ran a creepy surveillance ad during the Superbowl that triggered a massive public backlash: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/12/amazons-ring-cancels-flock-partnership-amid-super-bowl-ad-backlash.html Electronic Frontier Foundation explanation of
University of Oklahoma Trans Instructor's Attorney Still in the Fight After Appeal Denied
When graduate instructor Mel Curth gave a student a failing grade for work that didn't answer the assignment, she couldn't have predicted what would happen next. Within days, the student, backed by Turning Point USA and right-wing media, had launched a national campaign. The university removed Mel from teaching. The grade was thrown out. And the student became a conservative media celebrity. Mel&r
Should You Trust Andrew Huberman? What CBS's Epstein Disaster Reveals About Wellness Gurus
Should you trust MAHA's wellness doctors? Dr. Peter Attia's gross emails with Jeffrey Epstein just exposed how mainstream institutions keep platforming these guys—and why they're always caught off guard. We're re-releasing our deep dive into Dr. Andrew Huberman, also a CBS contributor, and why the business model behind 'bro science' takes off online. CBS pulls Peter Attia segment after
WhatsApp Says Your Messages Are Private. They're Not.
Is WhatsApp reading your private encrypted messages? That's what was claimed in a bombshell 2025 lawsuit, which cited whistleblowers from Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is using every tool they have to force tech companies to turn over people's personal communications. Just this morning, the Washington Post published an exclusive invest
Tech Conference Used AI to Fake Female Speakers to Look Diverse – BEST OF TANGOTI
The tech conference Devternity was canceled (not fake canceled, literally canceled) after allegations that the founder has been inventing fake women and catfishing on Instagram for years. Bridget does a deep dive to get to the bottom of it, and what it says about default, dismissive attitudes about marginalized people in tech. There were real women the whole time! Why not invite one of them?! A Te
TikTok’s New Trump-Backed American Ownership Has People Fleeing
After years in limbo, TikTok is now officially operating under American ownership for users in the United States, purchased by a group of investors backed by the Trump administration. And that shift is happening at a moment when a lot of people are already feeling scared, angry, and on edge — including in the wake of yet another killing involving ICE in Minnesota. There’s b
Heated Rivalry's Podcast Drama; White House Posts AI Altered Crying Arrest Photo; Morally Dubious Florida Candidate Dislikes Only Fans - NEWS ROUNDUP!
In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike cover the tech & culture news stories you might have missed. . Oscar nominations are out, and Bridget has opinions! . The Internet is consumed with controversy over two straight hockey podcasters' embrace of the hot and heavy queer series Heated Rivalry after text messages shared with Alex Reimer at Queerty suggest it's all an act. This is
Ashley St. Clair Apologized. Elon Musk Threatened to Take Her Kid
Right-wing influencer Ashley St. Clair has a long history of transphobic behavior, including authoring a children’s book promoting those views. When she recently expressed regret for that past behavior, Elon Musk threatened to petition for sole custody of the child they share. Parker Molloy — writer and editor of the popular newsletter The Present Age — joins me to grapple with S
Elon is Lying About Fixing Grok; Renee Good’s Killer Has a Rulebreaking GoFundMe; Tea App Wants Another Chance – NEWS ROUNDUP!
In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Joey cover the tech news stories you might have missed. Updates on X and Grok creating nonconsensual sex images. They're still doing it, but now they're at least pretending they aren't: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ceqz7pyd303o Our deep dive episode into what’s happening with Grok: https://podcasts.apple.com/xk/podcast/elons-grok-sexuali
Amy Poehler's Golden Globe Win | Renee Good Lies Debunked | DoorDash Hoax Exposed - NEWS ROUNDUP
It's the weekly news roundup! Rare Tuesday edition (it's still January; we'll get back to the regular schedule soon). Bridget breaks down the tech news you might have missed with Producer Mike. Watch ASSSCAT! For free on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4HTxmqNTCY Please look at this picture of the Fresh and Fit podcast with NINE PEOPLE ON MIC ! https://www.imdb.com/title/tt36873819/mediav
Elon's Grok Sexualized Renee Good’s Dead Body — And He's Laughing About It
Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok is generating roughly one nonconsensual sexual image per minute on X. It's not just celebrities - victims include images of children, dead bodies, and Holocaust survivors. This week, users asked Grok to create a sexualized AI image of Renee Good's dead body, the woman shot and killed by ICE in Minnesota. And Elon? He's posting jokes about it. We break down how we got he
The Big AI Podcast Rejection
Happy New Year! We're starting 2026 on a hopeful note. We all know that AI is threatening human labor across a bunch of industries, especially creative work. This episode is about an encouraging win for humans – a case where human creators are being centered, protected, and valued in an increasingly automated entertainment industry. Bridget talks with Will Pearson, head of podcasts at iHeart
Would you rather marry Musk, Zuckerberg, or Bezos— and other burning listener questions answered
You asked and we answered! In this first installment of our first ever listener mail episode, the TANGOTI team reads your emails! Thanks to everyone who submitted a question!! Keep them coming! Let us know what you think by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify. Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || t
Women Use AI Less Than Men at Work. Is That a Bad Thing?
There’s a gender gap when it comes to who is using AI at work. Are women being left behind? The research isn’t so cut and dry. Bridget takes a look at what we know and what it means with Samantha and Anney from Stuff Mom Never Told You.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Why We’re Fighting About Self Checkout – Best of TANGOTI
Bridget and Mike had conflicting and surprisingly strong feelings about self checkout machines. And it turns out, listeners do, too! We got more emails about this seemingly low stakes topic than any other. Why did this touch a nerve?! We don’t know but there’s something there, and we’re here for it. We read some listener emails, which make great points for and against. Are these
Diddy was acquitted of his most serious charges. The Internet blamed a woman who had nothing to do with it.
After Diddy’s acquittal, social media decided it needed a villain. And who better than a random woman?! Through a case of mistaken identity, digital marketing strategist and former journalist Wynter Mitchell-Rohrbaugh, who had nothing to do with the trial, became the target of viral accusations and lies. In this episode, Wynter tells her story of how misinformation, speculation, and In
Karoline Leavit’s lip filler in Vanity Fair; Man Arrested for Charlie Kirk Meme; Heated Rivalry; WaPo AI slop – NEWS ROUNDUP
Bridget and Producer Mike cover the week's tech news that you might have missed in this final News Roundup of 2025. Vanity Fair Goes to the White House, takes some unflattering photos https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/vanity-fair-goes-to-the-white-house-trump-2-edition Washington Post releases an AI-generated podcast. It's filled with errors and hallucinations. https://www.semafor.com/article/
Bot Campaigns Turned Taylor Swift Into a Nazi and Cracker Barrel Into a Culture War
If you’ve ever looked at your timeline and thought “there’s no way this is real,” you’re probably right. In this episode, Bridget and Mike speak to two data professionals about two recent reports from their companies that shed light on how bot networks attempt to hijack our online discourse: the Taylor Swift Nazi narrative after the release of Swift’s albu
Was the Taylor Swift ‘Nazi’ Controversy A Coordinated Bot Attack? EMERGENCY EPISODE!
Did you see the narrative claiming Taylor Swift is a secret “trad wife Nazi” take off across social media? In this emergency episode, we break down a new report from analytics firm Gudea that examines how this discourse spread online, the role bot networks may have played, and what it reveals about misinformation, amplification, and the current internet ecosystem. Stay tuned because we
This Univ. of Oklahoma Essay is So Bad It Launched a Culture-War Career
In a psychology course at University of Oklahoma, junior Samantha Fulnecky was assigned to write a short essay responding to a research paper about social enforcement of gender typicality and children's mental health. Rather than engage with the assignment, she wrote a moralistic screed about demons and God's plan for women to be helpers, citing unspecified parts of "the Bible." Her paper received
Sabrina Carpenter shames Trump; ChatGPT bolstered misogynist stalker; Book festival's AI feud – NEWS ROUNDUP!
In this week's news roundup, Bridget talks with Producer Mike about all the tech news you might have missed. TRIGGER WARNING: One story is about a misogynistic podcaster who says and does some disturbing stuff. Sabrina Carpenter pushes back when the Trump admin uses one of her songs without permission in a hateful video. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/02/sabrina-carpenter-donald-trump-music
Jeffrey Epstein's Creepy Emails with Harvard and OpenAI’s Larry Summers
The newly released Epstein emails offer a troubling look at the people who stayed in his orbit and the ways they interacted with him — including former Harvard president and influential public figure Larry Summers. You may not recognize his name immediately, but Summers has played a major role in shaping tech, academia, and government. We break down what the emails show, why they matter, and
Why aren’t people boycotting Amazon like they’re boycotting Target?
Many people know about the call to boycott Target, but don't understand why Target has been specifically singled out. So we're re-airing this interview to help get everyone on the same page. In 2020, Target loudly pledged to support Black creators and communities. Target spotlighted their products, and made headlines with its public commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion. It was gre
Soledad O'Brien Explores Stand Your Ground in Netflix True Crime Documentary The Perfect Neighbor
It’s not every day Bridget gets to talk to one of her heroes! Soledad O’Brien has built her career on stories that hit hard and stick with you, winning multiple Emmys and Peabody awards along the way. Her work has inspired Bridget since she was a young girl, watching her coverage of the emerging Internet in the 1990s. In this wide-ranging interview, Soledad ta
Meg Thee Stallion fights deepfakes; Wicked's weird press; Welder’s murder highlights dangers for tradeswomen; AI fetish bear – NEWS ROUNDUP!
Bridget is joined by producer Joey Patt to cover the week's tech news that you might have missed. Meg Thee Stallion targeted by racist, sexist deepfakes: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/megan-thee-stallion-responds-sexually-explicit-deepfake-x-rcna156424 Trump Administration planning executive order preventing AI regulation by states: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/19/whit
Andrew Tate is facing sex trafficking charges. He’s getting help from the White House
Andrew Tate is back in the news. ProPublica reports that the White House may have been secretly trying to help him evade sex trafficking charges. Tate is also back on Meta platforms, all while he’s suing Meta for $50 million. Bridget revisits her conversation with Media Matters researcher Justin Horowitz to understand how Tate and the broader manosphere continue to exploit social media syste
Elon Musk Insists He Does Read After Joyce Carol Oates Twitter Beef
Christmas has come early for Bridget, because Joyce Carol Oates is beefing with Elon Musk on Twitter. Bridget explains to Producer Mike what it's about, why Joyce Carol Oates is one of her all-time problematic faves, and why Elon is now performatively demonstrating his commitment to literacy with insightful takes like "great movie" and ads declaring that he likes to read. If you’re listening
The Wellness Influencer Rebrand of Birth Control Misinformation
Birth control is the latest battleground in a wave of online misinformation targeting young women — and doctors and reproductive health advocates are sounding the alarm about its impact. But this isn’t your typical fearmongering about birth control coming from Bible-thumpers or conservative men in suits. This new wave is coming from wellness influencers — the ones in matching pas
Stickergate Drama on Threads; Teen Vogue Layoffs; ChatGPT Suicide Lawsuit; Meta’s ad scam; DC Sandwich Verdict – NEWS ROUNDUP
It’s just turtles and scams all the way down. Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show: https://www.reuters.com/investigations/meta-is-earning-fortune-deluge-fraudulent-ads-documents-show-2025-11-06/ ‘You’re not rushing. You’re just ready:’ Parents say ChatGPT encouraged son to kill himself: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u
From Teen Vogue to Tech, 300K Jobless Black Women are a Warning for Everyone
Black women are leaving the workforce and it’s a warning sign for the entire economy. From media to tech, more than 300,000 Black women have left their jobs in the last year. What’s driving this exodus, and what does it reveal about the state of work in America? Bridget speaks with: Anna Gifty, economist and author of the fascinating new book The Double Tax: How Women of Color Are Over
Meta RayBans Let Creeps Record Women; Flock’s False Accusation; China's New Influencer Law; Nudify App Ecosystem; Librarian Protests Censorship on GoodReads – NEWS ROUNDUP!
Happy Halloween, boys and ghouls! In this week's news roundup Bridget is recapping all the tech news stories you might have missed, so you don't have to. Creeps in Meta Raybans are nonconsensually filming massage women in massage parlors: https://www.404media.co/metas-ray-ban-glasses-users-film-and-harass-massage-parlor-workers/ China implements a new law cracking down on influencers who spread mi
Why TikTok Turned on the DoorDash Lady
We all know the internet loves a viral story. But what happens when that story is about a real woman being harassed and the platforms that ostensibly should be protecting her instead punish her? That’s what happened to Livie, a DoorDash driver in New York State whose story is currently going viral on TikTok. Bridget breaks down what actually happened, why the story is drowning in misinformat
Emiru Attacked at TwitchCon; Tea App Ends with a Whimper; Charlie Kirk Grifters; Spotify ICE Ads; OpenAI's Browser Never Forgets – NEWS ROUNDUP!
Digging into all the tech news you might have missed so you don't have to. Tea App pulled from Apple's app store: https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/22/apple-confirms-it-pulled-controversial-dating-apps-tea-and-teaonher-from-the-app-store/ Spotify running anti-immigrant ads for ICE, bands and labels pull their content: https://www.stereogum.com/2317141/king-gizzard-the-lizard-wizard-remove-their-
Can BlackSky Fix What Twitter Broke Using Bluesky Tech? (w/ Rudy Fraser)
When Elon Musk took over X, a lot of us left the platform, searching for alternatives. One platform that gained attention is Bluesky. It looks a lot like Twitter, but it’s different. Bluesky is built on a decentralized system, and that decentralized nature has allowed powerful pockets of community to emerge. To date, Blacksky is the biggest and most successful effort to take advantage of Blu
Taylor Swift’s “Nazi” necklace controversy; ChatGPT is doing porn; Amazon is exploiting pregnant workers; Pinterest addresses AI slop – News Roundup
Welcome to the weekly News Roundup! Bridget recaps the week's tech stories that you might have missed. Pop superstar apparently pulls controversial necklace after Nazi imagery backlash: https://www.cleveland.com/news/2025/10/pop-superstar-apparently-pulls-controversial-necklace-after-nazi-imagery-backlash.html Here's Bridget's 2016 take on Taylor Swift: https://podcasts.apple.com/dk/podcast/smnty-
Is Taylor Swift a Trad Wife? The Internet Thinks So (w/ Jo Piazza)
Taylor Swift is getting married. And on her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, she sounds over the moon about it. But online, everyone’s asking: Is Taylor Swift a “trad wife” now? In this episode, Bridget dives into the rise of trad wife culture with author and journalist Jo Piazza, host of the podcast Under The Influence and author of the juicy new book about trad wives, Everyon
Drake Defamation Diss; Trump loses Nobel Prize; Robin Williams’ daughter slams Open AI’s Sora; Google Drops Women; YouTuber kills as "vengeance" for Charlie Kirk - NEWS ROUNDUP!
Welcome to the weekly News Roundup! Bridget and Producer Mike recap the week's tech stories that you might have missed. It’s True: The Internet Skews the Reality of Women (and Men) in the Workforce https://www.motherjones.com/media/2025/10/nature-study-berkeley-haas-online-internet-images-gender-bias-workforce-false-reality-women/ Read the study (Guilbeault et al., 2025) https://
Mark Zuckerberg Doesn’t Want You Talking About Abortion on Instagram
Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook is all about free speech, just not when it comes to abortion. New reports from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) reveal how Facebook and Instagram censor abortion content, even when it’s medically accurate and completely legal. Bridget joins Samantha and Anney and Stuff Mom Never Told You to unpack how Meta’s abortion content moderation really works
Elon boycotts Netflix; Ted Cruz Hates Privacy; Kash Patel Calls ADL Terrorists; Extremism is Bad for Marriage; RIP AOL – NEWS ROUNDUP!
Transgender for everybody! Everything is computer! We’re in a silly, tangent filled mood for this one! Every week Bridget recaps the tech news stories you might have missed, so you don't have to. This week she's joined by TANGOTI producer Joey Patt. Elon Musk calls for a Netflix Boycott, but we're not linking to him and you can't make us. Misinformation/disinformation leads to US couples&rsq
Tylenol Autism Claims are Harming Women While Wellness Grifters Profit
Wellness influencers are perfecting the art of turning pseudoscience into profit. Whether they're selling supplements, offering classes, or just chasing engagement, an army of wellness grifters has weaponized mistrust of institutions and Big Pharma, peddling false health claims that trick people into treatments and practices that are ineffective at best, and in some cases outright dangerous.
Charlie Kirk Snitch App Data Leak; TikTok Rapture; David Lynch AI Reddit Revolt; Meta Exploits Parents' Photos – NEWS ROUNDUP
App for outing people who were insufficiently mournful of Charlie Kirk critics leaked its own users’ personal data through security blunders: https://san.com/cc/app-for-outing-charlie-kirks-critics-leaked-its-users-personal-data/ Meta is using parents’ back-to-school photos of their girls to advertise Threads to grown men: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/sep/20/parents
Karen Attiah, last Black columnist at Washington Post, fired for insufficiently mourning Charlie Kirk
In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder, the Trump Administration and their collaborators are prosecuting a widespread crackdown on free expression. Karen Attiah has been a columnist at the Washington Post for 11 years, and was the last remaining Black columnist at the newspaper until last week. She was fired, allegedly for being insufficiently mournful over murdered racist Charlie Kirk, but at
Jimmy Kimmel Fired by Disney; Karen Attiah Fired from the Post; DOJ Hides Far Right Extremism; Ads On Your Fridge! – NEWS ROUNDUP w/ L. Joy Williams
Not gonna lie - it's been a rough week. The Trump administration has used Charlie Kirk's murder to crack down on dissent, shocking even their allies with their willingness to threaten critics and trample First Amendment values. But these authoritarians will fail. Bridget is joined by L. Joy Williams, president of the New York NAACP and host Sunday Civics on Sirius XM and wherever you get your podc
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