There Are No Girls on the Internet

There’s a lot going on with Twitter! It’s been a few weeks since we’ve done an installment of our segment, “What’s Elon Done Now?” because we were sick of talking about him. But some big things happened this week, so Bridget sits down with Producer Mike to recap and talk about what it all means.  From Elon boosting antisemitic tweets and calling it “actual truth” to Media Matters releasing a damning report about hate speech on the platform and major advertisers pulling the plug, it’s been an eventful week.  Media Matters report on Twitter ads being placed next to nazi content: https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/musk-endorses-antisemitic-conspiracy-theory-x-has-been-placing-ads-apple-bravo-ibm-oracle  How Elon Musk came to have so much leverage over the U.S. government, and the U.S. military’s uncomfortable reliance on Starlink. (it’s a long read but a good one): https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/08/28/elon-musks-shadow-rule  Dr. Caroline Orr Bueno’s Twitter thread on informational dark spaces: https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/1726851801658589525 Elon Musk’s ‘thermonuclear’ lawsuit over hate-adjacent ads on X… actually confirms them: https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/20/elon-musks-thermonuclear-lawsuit-over-hate-adjacent-ads-on-x-actually-confirms-them/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Learn more about Joey’s new podcast with Raquel Willis Afterlives: https://www.them.us/story/afterlives-layleen-polanco-trans-incarceration-podcast?utm_source=twitter&utm_brand=them&utm_social-type=owned&utm_medium=social Dear Video Game Industry, Please Name A Woman: https://kotaku.com/pc-gamer-30th-anniversary-women-games-1851021562 FCC moves to help domestic violence victims with new rules around cellphones: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/fcc-moves-help-domestic-violence-victims-new-rules-cellphones-rcna124902 Haley walks back declaration that all social media users must be verified: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/15/nikki-haley-social-media-anonymous/ YouTube will label AI-generated videos that look real: https://www.npr.org/2023/11/14/1212986395/youtube-will-label-ai-generated-videos-that-look-realSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is it just me or are ads everywhere on TikTok right now? Welcome to TikTok Shop. Is this the new normal? TikTok creator PrettyCritical joins Bridget to discuss. Follow Pretty Critical: https://www.tiktok.com/@prettycritical?lang=en Teens are trying to cash in on the TikTok Shop gold rush between classes: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/tiktok-shop-teens-high-school-open-how-to-make-money-long-deliver-us-rcna102788 The Junk Is Winning TikTok’s experiment in shopping has quickly become another place to hawk products: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/10/tiktok-shop-cheap-products/675761/ TikTok cashing in on sale of counterfeit cosmetics and prescription skin creams: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/apr/23/tiktok-cashing-in-counterfeit-beauty-products-skin-gels  TikTok Forced to Close Shopping Feature in Its Second-Largest Market: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/05/business/tiktok-shop-indonesia-ecommerce-ban.html HERE’S HOW TO BLOCK TIK TOK SHOP: https://www.tiktok.com/@thomasgermain/video/7270529252703898922?lang=enSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“We got the yacht!”  https://www.bravotv.com/the-real-housewives-of-new-york-city/season-8/episode-17/videos/sonja-we-got-the-yacht Actors strike wins concessions that will impact AI and streaming for decades: https://www.wired.com/story/hollywood-actors-strike-ends-ai-streaming/ Zuckerberg personally and repeatedly blocked efforts to make Meta's products less harmful: https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/08/tech/meta-facebook-instagram-teen-safety/index.html How to be a whistleblower with Sophie Zhang: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-be-a-whistleblower-with-sophie-zhang/id1520715907?i=1000539829571 Building a Better Internet with Carrie Goldberg: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/building-a-better-internet-with-carrie-goldberg/id1520715907?i=1000489091000 Omegle’s goodbye: https://www.omegle.com/ Advertisers Don’t Want Sites Like Jezebel to Exist: https://www.404media.co/advertisers-dont-want-sites-like-jezebel-to-exist/ Jezebel and the Question of Women’s Anger https://newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/jezebel-and-the-question-of-womens-angerSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the wake of Britney Spears’ hit memoir, are social media bots changing the conversation? Bridget does a deep dive into how social media bots are changing the landscape of social media discourse. From celebrity disputes to television reviews and political discourse, the threat of bots and inauthentic accounts are shaping how we think and how we talk to each other, whether they’re real or not.  Massive Twitter Bot Farm Is Heaping Praise on Trump and Trashing DeSantis” https://gizmodo.com/twitter-bots-trump-desantis-maga-facebook-1850199161 Is There a Bot Behind That Tweet? https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/is-there-a-bot-behind-that-tweet Bots on X worse than ever according to analysis of 1m tweets during first Republican primary debate: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/09/x-twitter-bots-republican-primary-debate-tweets-increase Even a few bots can shift public opinion in big ways: https://theconversation.com/even-a-few-bots-can-shift-public-opinion-in-big-ways-104377See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Joy Buolamwini has been raising the alarm about the harm of AI for years, through her research and advocacy. People are finally starting to listen. Dr. Buolamwini is a 2020 Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards honoree and 2023 featured presenter.  Learn more about the Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards: https://www.vitalvoices.org/news-articles/news/honorees-22nd-annual-global-leadership-awards Check out Dr. Buolamwini’s new book Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines: https://www.amazon.com/Unmasking-AI-Mission-Protect-Machines/dp/0593241835 Dr. Buolamwini runs the Algorithmic Justice League. Find out more about her work: https://www.ajl.org/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Scream was created against the backdrop of increasing anxiety about tech and media. And the film is practically screaming at all of us about it.  In this special Halloween episode, Bridget joins Annie and Sam from Stuff Mom Never Told You to examine how our collective fears about technology, fame, and the media play out in the lives (and deaths!) of the movies’ teenagers.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Calif. DMV says Cruise hid video of SF crash, suspends driverless car firm's permits: https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/cruise-driverless-permits-suspended-dmv-18445296.php Meta and kids lawsuit from 41 state Attorneys General: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/10/24/meta-lawsuit-facebook-instagram-children-mental-health/?utm_source=reddit.com Don’t be misogynistic! Gender pay and promotion discrimination at Google: Google owes executive $1 million after losing gender bias lawsuit  Our episode with Ifeoma Ozoma: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pay-us-what-you-owe-why-black-women-in-tech-are-tired/id1520715907?i=1000509470950 Read more about Ifeoma’s Silenced No More Act: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/24/technology/pinterest-whistle-blower-ifeoma-ozoma.html UCLA report on young people and what they want to see in the media. Spoiler: it isn’t drugs or toxic relationships: https://www.scholarsandstorytellers.com/css-teens-and-screens-2023-report  Employees are so sick of the five-day workweek that most would take a pay cut to make a four-day week happen: https://fortune.com/2023/10/20/uk-workers-four-day-week-pay-cut-work-less/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Julia Mazur, host of the great podcast Pretty Much Done, made an innocuous TikTok about how she spent her weekend as a single woman with no kids. And then a mob of right wing extremists attacked her for it.    Julia joins to tell her story, and what it tells us about being a single woman online.    Follow Julia’s podcast Pretty Much Done: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pretty-much-done/id1644967912 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last week, we looked at how Twitter is creating more chaos in the Israel / Palestine conflict. Now, a look into how things are going on Instagram (not great!): https://www.404media.co/instagram-palestinian-arabic-bio-translation/ Why I'm not expecting my friends to make social media posts about Israel: https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/israel-hamas-conflict-social-media-pressure-rcna119596 A far-right Twitter troll was sentenced to seven months in prison for his 2016 election tweets: https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/19/23923733/douglass-mackey-twitter-troll-2016-election-voting-conspiracy Former Fugees rapper Pras is in a whole lot of very serious legal trouble. So why did his legal team use his trial to boost their AI platform? https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/convicted-fugees-rapper-pras-michels-lawyer-used-ai-draft-bungled-clos-rcna120992 Elon Musk talked a big game on keeping child exploitation off Twitter...now he’s being fined for doing such a bad job of it: https://apnews.com/article/twitter-esafety-fine-child-sexual-exploitation-feb129047a29eca1f950e815484f08b2 VR might help people with hoarding disorder: https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2023/10/vr-hoarding-disorder.htmlSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.