Help! My manager is an algorithm!

KATY IS BACK! And we are proud to report that her new baby no longer looks like far-right French politician Éric Zemmour. Relief all around! 

 

It’s been a hectic time in Europe, but we’re happy to be covering it all—or, you know, a sizable sliver of it—starting with Latvia’s potential withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention and the European Parliament’s call for new regulation of algorithmic tech in the workplace. Algorithmic management has made its way into all sorts of industries; we dig into whether or not that’s a good thing and how new legislation might help to protect us all.

 

Then it’s off to Paris, where tens of thousands of shoppers have already flooded the aisles of the new brick-and-mortar Shein store and thousands of others have been protesting its very existence. That’s not only because of Shein’s environmentally toxic business model but because of the recent appearance of some despicable products on its website—which has led the French government to threaten to ban the fast-fashion giant. To break it all down, we rang up Paris-based fashion journalist Dana Thomas, author of the book Fashionopolis and host of the podcast The Green Dream.

 

Mentioned in this episode:

 

• ‘“Cynical and completely reckless” Latvia has the highest femicide rate in Europe — including Russia. Its parliament just voted to exit a treaty protecting women from violence.’ - Meduza, November 4, 2025
• EU study: 37% of employees are monitored for working hours
• 1 in 4 workplaces make decisions with algorithms
• Case studies in algorithmic management
• Dana’s book Fashionopolis
• Dana’s newsletter, The Style Files

 

This week's Inspiration Station recommendations are the Rosalía album Lux and the podcast series Where Is Jón?, a co-production of RTÉ in Ireland and RÚV in Iceland. 

 

We don't often have sponsors on this podcast but this week, we do: Patagonia. Three years ago, Patagonia named Earth as its only shareholder. But moving more profits to environmental causes hasn’t made them a perfect company—let alone a sustainable one. Out now is Patagonia's 2025 Work-in-Progress report: the raw truth about where they’re messing up, but also, the latest ways they’re rethinking business as usual. You can check out the report here.

This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. But it’s contributions from listeners that truly make it all possible—we could not continue to make the show without you! If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (in many different currencies), or you can gift a donation to a superfan. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

01:21  Katy's back!
05:33  Bad Week: Latvian politicians
19:08  Good Week: All European workers! (Maybe)
30:48  Interview: Dana Thomas on France's threat to ban SHEIN
46:00  The Inspiration Station: 'Lux' by Rosalía and 'Where is Jón'?
50:46  Happy Ending: Europe's first major elephant sanctuary


Produced by Morgan Childs 
Editorial support from Katz Laszlo
Mixing and mastering by Wojciech Oleksiak
Music by Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

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