There Are No Girls on the Internet

This week on the Patreon: Bridget remembers the time she met Sheryl Sandberg. https://TANGOTI.com/patreon  Google promised to delete sensitive location data about abortion clinic visits. A new study finds that it still isn’t living up to that promise: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/jan/16/google-keeps-location-history-data-abortion-clinics-despite-delete-pledge  Teen deepfake victim pushes for federal law targeting non-consensual, AI-generated explicit content - the Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/deepfake-law-ai-new-jersey-high-school-teen-image-porn-rcna133706  OpenAI quietly removes ban on military use of its AI tools: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/16/openai-quietly-removes-ban-on-military-use-of-its-ai-tools.htm AI already being used to select bombing targets in Gaza:  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/01/the-gospel-how-israel-uses-ai-to-select-bombing-targets  Formula E Team Fires Its AI-Generated Influencer after Fans Balk: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a46353319/formula-e-team-fires-ai-generated-influencer/ It's not just you, Google Search really has gotten worse: https://mashable.com/article/google-search-low-quality-research  The Self-Checkout Nightmare(?) May Finally Be Ending: https://gizmodo.com/the-self-checkout-nightmare-may-finally-be-ending-1851169879 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tech expert Bridget joins the hosts to discuss leaving behind negativity in tech for the new year. They delve into the impacts of AI and unethical practices on women online, the challenges faced by women and marginalized groups, and the importance of diversity in the tech industry.

Topics include Substack's Nazi content removal, dating app shortcomings, eBay's harassment scandal, SEC misinformation, Elon Musk's controversial tweet, George Carlin AI stand-up, and video game voice actors' criticism of AI technology.

Harvard donor Bill Ackman pushed for the resignation of Harvard's first Black woman president, Dr. Claudine Gay, for what he says is a history of academic plagiarism. An independent review panel cleared her of misconduct, but the allegations continued and led to her resignation. Now Ackman’s wife, Dr. Neri Oxman, is also being accused of plagiarism in her academic work.    In the aftermath of Dr. Gay’s resignation from Harvard, here’s how Ackman has responded to the allegations against his wife. Meanwhile, their troubling connection to Jefferey Epstein resurfaces.    Full video of this episode is available on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/tangotiSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The podcast discusses the resignation of Dr. Claudine Gay, the first black woman president of Harvard, and explores the campaign led by right wing activist Christopher Rufo to get her fired. It highlights the role of legacy media outlets in legitimizing his bad-faith framing and celebrates her resignation as evidence of a return to meritocracy. The hosts also touch on controversies in higher education, dynamics of having a Black woman leader, the misconceptions surrounding DEI and Black women's success, and the frustration of constantly defending their existence.

Have you been seeing a lot of content on social media romanticizing women not working outside of the home?  Jo Piazza, host of the hilarious and insightful podcast Under the Influence, breaks down why we're seeing so much trad wife content right now.   #TradWives: sexism as gateway to white supremacy: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/countering-radical-right/tradwives-sexism-gateway-white-supremacy/ Listen to Under the Influence: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/under-the-influence-with-jo-piazza/id1544171101See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Netflix’s Inventing Anna presents a flashy version of fake German heiress Anna Delvey’s scams. Rachel Deloache Williams was scammed out of $62,000 by Anna on a disastrous trip to Morocco.  Rachel discusses true crime shows like Inventing Anna and Hulu’s The Dropout and what it means for all of us when liars and scammers are elevated and amplified.   Anna ‘Delvey’ Sorokin Almost Ruined My Life. Now She’s Being Rewarded for Her Crimes: https://time.com/6146419/inventing-anna-rachel-williams-anna-delvey/ Check out Rachel’s book My Friend Anna: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/My-Friend-Anna/Rachel-DeLoache-Williams/9781982114107See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rudy Giuliani has been ordered to pay Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss, two election workers he baselessly maligned in Georgia, almost 50 million dollars. And they might even sue him again! Here’s how we got here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're taking a break from our usual content to share a new podcast from iHeart's Outspoken network, Afterlives: The Layleen Polanco Story. You can check out the rest of the show here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-afterlives-the-layleen-po-127683074/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cait Corrain is an author who had a highly anticipated book called Crown of Starlight coming out in May of 2024. But now her book has been shelved after she admitted to using Good Reads to review bomb a bunch of other writers’ forthcoming books. Most of her targets were Black or queer, while Corrain is white. This story has a LOT of twists and turns, including her inventing an obviously fake conversation with an obviously fake person. Canadian author Xiran Jay Zhao was the first person I saw to bring it to wider attention online. They first noticed that Cait’s book Crown of Starlight was getting good reviews from the same accounts who were trashing other books, some of which were not even out yet.  Xiran Jay Zhao also created a 31-page Google document of screenshots showing a bunch of the alleged-but-now-admitted fake GoodReads accounts, screenshots of conversations, and other damning receipts. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1__mO1uqIqcmupBAPKwXDzlUbZIwtY6fKf0S1Y0SNz0E/edit See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.