There Are No Girls on the Internet
- Episodes
- 424
- Released
- weekly
- Latest episode
- Nov 12, 2026
About the podcast
Marginalized voices have always been at the forefront of the internet, yet our stories often go overlooked. Bridget Todd chronicles our experiences online, and the ways marginalized voices have shaped the internet from the very beginning. We need monuments to all of the identities that make being online what it is. So let’s build them.
Episodes 424
Elizabeth Holmes and Nathan Fielder in You Can See Everything
Bridget does a deep dive with Producer Mike into the new Nathan Fielder Lance Oppenheim documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, You Can See Everything. It's not just a film, it's a mind-bending journey into …
Show notes
Bridget does a deep dive with Producer Mike into the new Nathan Fielder Lance Oppenheim documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, You Can See Everything. It's not just a film, it's a mind-bending journey into deception, manipulation, tech, gender, the nature of truth itself, and good old fashioned scamming. Buckle up.
Bridget had so much to say that we split it into two episodes. After you listen to part 1 here, head over to our Patreon at patreon.com/tangoti to listen to part 2. It is completely free for anyone, no paywall, and no ads.
One of the heroes of the Theranos scandal was whistleblower Erika Cheung. Since then, she's been using her platform to advocate for protections for other whistleblowers like her, to protect their ability to speak up when they see bad stuff happening. Learn more about how you can support the the AI Whistleblower Protection Act at www.whistleblowers.org/campaigns/aiwpa/ .
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Let us know what you think about this episode by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
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Get your copy of Bridget's audiobook "Love At First Prompt: AI and the Future of Intimacy" at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com !
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Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social
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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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 changing how people get scammed. From Tinder and Bumble to flirting with help from ChatGPT, it's increasingly shaping how we meet, date, and connect with real people. Bridget Todd explores what happens when technology can manufacture the very things that make romance feel real, and why verifying someone's identity is getting harder.
Get Bridget’s audiobook Love at First Prompt: AI and the Future of Intimacy at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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 when practically anything becomes something you can bet on.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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 can put money on.
Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
Follow Bridget: Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Bluesky
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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 experiencing real relationships with AI. I also talked with experts about the risks of people using AI in this way, and the idea that we're so busy gawking at and judging the individuals involved, we're letting the tech companies that actually MAKE these products avoid the scrutiny they actually deserve.
Here is an excerpt from the audiobook featuring our conversation with journalist and cofounder of 404 Media Sam Cole that asks what happens to humans when AI is used for sexual and erotic role play.
You can check out LOVE AT FIRST PROMPT at www.LoveAtFirstPrompt.AI or wherever audiobooks are sold.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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 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.
We read the internet so you don't have to.
This week: The Social Network is getting a sequel and Jeremy Strong is playing Zuckerberg, a bombshell ProPublica investigation into raw milk and the kids it's put in the hospital, and Bill Gates testified before Congress about Jeffrey Epstein — totally voluntarily, he cannot stress this enough.
🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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 over who owns the phrase "Hot Girls Read," new AI legislation, and more.
🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify
⬇️ Some of these stories were discussed on this week's episode. Others appeared in our social media roundup but didn't make the final show.
HERE'S WHAT WE'RE WATCHING THIS WEEK:
🔗 Meta replaced human customer support with an AI chatbot and gave it the ability to reset passwords. Hackers figured out they could just ask it to hand over any account — and it would. Obama's old White House account posted pro-Iranian content for hours before anyone noticed. A former Meta security engineer had her own account stolen. Meta says it's fixed — but also claims it had nothing to do with the high profile hacks that happened at the exact same time it existed. 404 Media
🔗 Men in Brussels have been secretly filming women in public using Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses — often as content for "seduction coaching" businesses. The glasses have an almost invisible camera and tutorials for disabling the recording indicator are easy to find online. A dating coach in Spain was arrested for the same thing. Meta says users must comply with local laws. Experts say that's not enough. Brussels Times
🔗 Meta quietly added face recognition code to its smart glasses app on millions of phones without telling users. The feature, called Nametag, can identify strangers in real time just by looking at them. It was rolled out silently — no announcement, no opt-in. Researchers discovered it by reverse engineering the app. Wired
🔗 George Santos is out of jail and allegedly back in the scam saddle. Prediction market platform Kalshi flagged him to the DOJ after detecting he had been publicly telling his followers he would attend Trump's State of the Union — while privately betting against his own attendance. He did not show up. He has acknowledged the DOJ might be looking into him. NBC News
🔗 Labour MP Jess Asato spoke out when Grok went viral for generating millions of sexualized images of women without their consent. Musk retweeted abuse directed at her — and a user responded with an AI-generated video of her being prepared for sexual assault. She is now suing Musk at the UK High Court, arguing the company deliberately chose not to install guardrails. More victims have since come forward, and women in her constituency told the BBC they have stopped posting photos of themselves online out of fear. BBC
🔗 Dan Berulis filed a whistleblower complaint saying DOGE had broken into his federal agency's systems and was stealing sensitive data. He went public. A threatening note with drone photos of him walking his dog appeared on his door. Then Elon Musk called him a liar to his millions of followers and named him personally. The next day someone cut his brake lines. The police case is now inactive. He is suing Musk for defamation. Wired
🔗 Karen Attiah spent 11 years at the Washington Post as its last full-time Black opinion columnist. The day after Charlie Kirk was killed she posted about America's double standards around political violence. She was fired by email the next morning — no warning, no disciplinary process. The Post called it gross misconduct and claimed her posts endangered staff safety. Her union says the firing was retaliation dressed up as personnel policy. Her arbitration hearing was this week. WTOP
🔗 Dalton Eatherly, known online as Chud the Builder, built his following by filming himself hurling racial slurs at Black people in public. He showed up outside a Tennessee courthouse where Joshua Fox, a Black disabled veteran, was attending a child support hearing — and shot him multiple times. Fox was airlifted for emergency surgery. Eatherly's fans crowdfunded him nearly $300,000. A judge ruled he cannot use that money toward his $1 million bond and refused to lower it. Fox 17
🔗 Joseph Nelzy had zero disciplinary actions in seven years at Accenture — one of the world's largest tech companies. Then he grew dreadlocks, a sacred practice of his Rastafarian faith. His manager was recorded saying his hair would hold him back and make clients uncomfortable. He was fired two months after filing a discrimination complaint. Accenture dropped all its DEI commitments in 2025. Gothamist
🔗 Dr. Steven Kahn runs the UW Diabetes Research Center and edits the American Diabetes Association's own journal. He flew to the ADA's national conference in New Orleans and handed out an editorial criticizing Trump's cuts to medical research funding. Police and security guards escorted him out of the building and threatened arrest if he returned. The ADA told him he violated the code of conduct. Kahn believes professional organizations are self-censoring out of fear of losing their nonprofit status under the Trump administration. Seattle Times
🔗 Trump signed an executive order asking AI companies to voluntarily share their most powerful models with the government before launch. Voluntary means they can say no — and the order explicitly bans any mandatory review requirement. An earlier stricter version was scrapped after Elon Musk and other tech executives lobbied against it. The result is an executive order that looks like AI oversight but gives the government no actual power to act on anything it finds. CNN
🔗 A swimwear brand told a talent manager in writing that they would not collaborate with Black creators for an upcoming campaign. The talent manager posted the email publicly, writing "this is racial discrimination, it is illegal, and it happens in influencer marketing more than anyone wants to admit — usually just more quietly than this." The brand fired the employee and issued an unsigned apology. People
🔗 The drama from the Bravo TV show Summer House FINALLY has a tech angle! We're talking about location sharing and want to know your thoughts. New York Times
🔗 Women's magazines have been enormously important to society and to Bridget personally, which is why it's sad to see Glamour — a publication that once stood with Anita Hill and fought for paid family leave — reduced to an aggregator site for affiliate shopping links. New York Times
🔗 Braden Peters, the streamer who goes by Clavicular, is back at it — showing up at industry events to humiliate and degrade women on camera for clout and engagement. This story is GRIM. Wired
🔗 A graphic designer trademarked the phrase "Hot Girls Read" and the book community is furious. Parade
Want to hear us break these stories down? There Are No Girls on the Internet drops a new episode every Friday. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify
ABOUT BRIDGET
Bridget Todd is the host of There Are No Girls on the Internet and author of the forthcoming Simon & Schuster audiobook Love At First Prompt, an exploration of AI, intimacy, sex, and modern relationships.
Pre-order at LoveAtFirstPrompt.ai
Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
Follow Bridget: Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Bluesky
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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, Reese Witherspoon, Mel Robbins, and the original girlboss herself Sophia Amoruso are all suddenly very invested in getting women onto AI platforms and why the women who aren't rushing to adopt it might actually be the ones paying closest attention.
Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
Bridget's forthcoming audiobook with Simon & Schuster, Love At First Prompt, explores AI, sex, and intimate relationships. Pre-order at LoveAtFirstPrompt.ai
Follow Bridget: Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Bluesky
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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 surveilling people who oppose data centers as potential terrorists. The DOJ is going after a billionaire who helped fund E. Jean Carroll's lawsuit against Trump. And researchers who study online hate speech being threatened with deportation.
If that sounds like your thing — Apple Podcasts | Spotify | and come back every week.
HERE’S WHAT WE’RE WATCHING THIS WEEK:
🔗 Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, is partnering with Jared Leto — a man with nine sexual abuse allegations — to scan people's eyeballs. Altman's company World has already been banned in multiple countries for exploiting people in impoverished nations for their biometric data. Now it's partnering with Jared Leto — who has nine sexual abuse allegations against him, including behavior toward a minor — to scan fans' irises to buy concert tickets. Altman himself has also faced his own sexual misconduct allegation.
🔗 Lupita Nyong'o was cast as Helen of Troy. Elon Musk is using it to push white nationalist conspiracy theories. Christopher Nolan cast Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy in The Odyssey. Musk spent days melting down about it. Experts say it's the "great replacement" theory — a white nationalist belief that white people are being deliberately replaced by people of color — applied to a casting decision.
🔗 The government is now surveilling people who oppose AI and data centers as potential extremists. Leaked documents show the FBI and Homeland Security have created a new threat category called "anti-tech extremism." A nonprofit called More Perfect Union made a video about the harm data centers cause to communities — nothing illegal, nothing violent. The feds flagged it as a potential terrorist threat. Meanwhile Trump, his sons, and his administration all have direct financial stakes in AI data center expansion.
🔗 The DOJ is trying to unmask anonymous Reddit and X users who criticized ICE. Jeanine Pirro's office has subpoenaed Reddit and X for the names, addresses, and financial data of users who made negative comments about ICE online. No charges have been filed. No one has been notified.
🔗 A federal investigation has been opened into the tech billionaire who funded E. Jean Carroll's lawsuit against Trump. He says it's retaliation. Reid Hoffman donated money to support Carroll's sexual abuse and defamation lawsuits — lawsuits a jury ruled in her favor. Now those donations are under federal criminal investigation. Hoffman says Trump is using the government to silence anyone who supports women who speak up against him.
🔗 Meta keeps deleting LGBTQ+ accounts with no explanation. Now they're getting sued. Queer nightclubs, magazines, and sexual health organizations kept waking up to find their Instagram accounts gone — no warning, no explanation, no real way to appeal. Global nonprofit Repro Uncensored and a coalition of Dutch LGBTQ+ organizations are taking Meta to court for discrimination in the first case to use the EU's Digital Services Act to challenge discriminatory content moderation by a major platform.
🔗 The Trump administration is threatening to deport researchers who study online hate speech. A lawsuit just hit federal court. The government can now deny or revoke visas for foreign nationals who do trust and safety research, fact-checking, and content moderation work — framing it as protecting Americans from "censorship." Researchers have already left the country, stopped publishing, and self-censored. The Coalition for Independent Technology Research just sued to stop it.
🔗 The Department of Labor told employees to report coworkers for DEI activities — going back three years before Trump even took office. Employees could be reported for DEI work that was literally required by their job under the previous administration. One employee called it "pure witch-hunt territory."
🔗 A study found that when men and women use AI for their resumes, women get judged way more harshly — even when the resumes are identical. Researchers created identical resumes for "Emily Clarke" and "James Clarke." Emily was twice as likely to have her competence questioned. Reviewers said James "just needed help." They said Emily "can't even write a CV herself."
🔗 86% of the workers most likely to lose their jobs to AI are women. They're being told to just figure it out. Administrative assistants — one of the most female-dominated fields in the country — are racing to learn AI out of fear, not enthusiasm. If they use it, they get called lazy. If they don't, they risk being automated out of a job. Employers are giving them no plan.
🔗 Software engineering is being transformed by AI and new mothers are being left behind. Women who took maternity leave in 2024 came back to jobs that had been completely transformed by AI. One woman sent out 40 applications and got one interview. She's now considering landscape architecture.
🔗 The White House launched a website comparing immigrants to aliens. It listed over 700 American citizens as people who were arrested. The arrest counter on the homepage is completely fake and runs on a timer. The data listed over 700 American-born citizens as arrestees. The site appears to be using a pirated X-Files theme song. This is a real government website.
🔗 Meta, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube agreed to pay a Kentucky school district $27 million for harming kids. Over 1,300 school districts have sued social media companies for deliberately creating addictive products that cause depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and suicide in young users. They settled for a fraction of what was demanded, made no admission of wrongdoing, and walked away. Bloomberg estimates all the lawsuits combined could cost them $400 billion.
🔗 Most Americans don't want data centers in their communities. Women oppose them the most. A new Gallup poll found more than two thirds of Americans oppose data centers. Women oppose them more intensely than men and are leading the fight in communities across the country — because they bear the most direct environmental and health costs.
🔗 A Google engineer misused confidential internal data to gamble on Polymarket and made $1.2 million. The FBI caught him. He had access to data showing which celebrities would top Google's most searched list before it went public, placed $2.7 million in bets on Polymarket, and won with near-perfect accuracy.
🔗 AI is still getting things wrong — it's just gotten much better at sounding confident while doing it. When people pushed back on wrong answers in one study, the AI responded with flattery instead of corrections. Experts call it a "plausibility engine" not a truth engine.
🔗 People are building their own technology and rejecting the version Silicon Valley is selling. A growing movement of women, queer people, and artists are building custom devices from salvaged parts — and imagining a version of technology that serves communities instead of extracting from them.
Want to hear us break these stories down? There Are No Girls on the Internet drops a new episode every Friday. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
Bridget's forthcoming audiobook with Simon & Schuster, Love At First Prompt, explores AI, sex, and intimate relationships. Pre-order at LoveAtFirstPrompt.ai
Follow Bridget: Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Bluesky
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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, 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. Eventually, they discovered that eBay's own security team was behind it all, with the campaign put into motion by then-CEO Devin Wenig. This bizarre and frightening story is a cautionary tale about the rise of private armies. It starts in San Francisco, takes us to the small community of Natick, Massachusetts, and ultimately takes TANGOTI listeners right back to Madison Square Garden. Buckle up.
Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
Bridget's forthcoming audiobook with Simon & Schuster, Love At First Prompt, explores AI, sex, and intimate relationships. Pre-order at LoveAtFirstPrompt.ai
Follow Bridget: Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Bluesky
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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 arrested for a Facebook post about brown water. And the word "Black" keeps disappearing from places it needs to be.
Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. New roundup episode every Friday.
📰 Here's what we were watching this week:
Schools posted photos of their students online — now criminals are turning them into explicit deepfakes and demanding money. For years, schools have proudly posted photos of their students online. Now criminals are scraping those photos, using AI to create explicit images of children, and blackmailing schools to keep them quiet. One UK school had 150 images made from their website alone. Experts are now urging schools to take all student photos down immediately. 🔗 The Guardian
A female JPMorgan banker was accused of turning her male colleague into a sex slave — now she's suing him back, saying he made it all up. Last month, a JPMorgan VP accused his female colleague of coercing him into sex, threatening him with racial slurs, and saying she "owned" him. The story went viral. Now she's fighting back, saying he fabricated everything to get money and attention — and that the lies have destroyed her life with nonstop harassment and memes. JPMorgan offered him $1 million to settle before he even filed. 🔗 The Guardian
Elon Musk's ex says he told her he had secret access to real-time election data before the results came in. Ashley St. Clair, who dated Elon Musk, is claiming he bragged to her about having access to election numbers before they were publicly announced — and that he knew Trump was going to win hours early. He also allegedly referenced "10,000 lasers in space" and an "anomaly in the matrix." Musk's team is calling it total nonsense. She has no proof — but the internet has thoughts. 🔗 Yahoo
A new law now forces social media platforms to remove explicit deepfakes and revenge porn within 48 hours of reporting — or face massive fines. The Take It Down Act is now fully in effect. If someone posts explicit images of you without your consent — real or AI-generated — platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit are legally required to take them down within 48 hours of reporting. Companies that don't comply face fines of over $53,000 per violation. It's already led to one conviction. But critics warn the law could be abused as a censorship tool — and Trump himself joked at his State of the Union that he planned to use it for himself. 🔗 The 19th | 🔗 The Verge
A man was jailed for 37 days for sharing a meme after Charlie Kirk was killed — a court just ordered the sheriff to pay him $835,000. After conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed last year, a Tennessee man shared some memes on Facebook. His local sheriff decided that was a threat and had him arrested in the middle of the night. His bail was set at $2 million. He sat in jail for over a month before the charge was dropped. Now the sheriff owes him $835,000. 🔗 The New York Times
The DOJ just punished PayPal for creating a fund to help Black-owned businesses — and called it illegal discrimination. In 2020, PayPal created a $530 million fund to help Black and minority-owned small businesses. The Trump DOJ investigated it as illegal discrimination against white people. To settle, PayPal must now redirect that support to veteran-owned and farming businesses instead. No law was found to have been broken — but PayPal caved anyway. 🔗 Reuters
Congress quietly removed the word "Black" from a bill designed to save Black mothers' lives — and advocates are furious. Black women in America are three times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. Congress has been trying to pass a bill to fix this for years. It was called the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act. Now, under pressure from Trump's anti-DEI crackdown, lawmakers have stripped "Black" from the title and almost everywhere in the text. Supporters say it had to be done to survive. Critics say a bill that won't name Black women can't save them. 🔗 What I'm Reading
A white doctor is suing a directory called "Find A Black Doctor" for not letting him list his practice on it. "Find A Black Doctor" is a directory founded to help Black patients find Black physicians. A white Colorado dermatologist, backed by a conservative anti-DEI group, is now suing it for not listing him. The same group previously went after a Coca-Cola distributor for hosting a women's empowerment event. 🔗 Black Enterprise
A Texas woman posted on Facebook that her town's water was making people sick — the city had her arrested for it. Jennifer Combs posted on Facebook that residents in Trinidad, Texas were being hospitalized from bacteria in the water. The city arrested her for "filing a false report." But the water was brown. A boil notice was later issued. The mayor admitted the pipes date back to the 1950s. She's now suing the city for political retaliation. 🔗 FOX 4
A man who wore Meta smart glasses to a Pride event to catch "groomers" was arrested for secretly filming men at the urinals. A Florida man wore Meta smart glasses to a Pride event, claiming he was there to expose child groomers. He used them to secretly record men at the urinals and posted the video online. The men he filmed were undercover cops. He also tried to bring a gun — then came back with an AR-15. Naples Pride responded: "A man who publicly accused our community of 'grooming' now stands accused of unlawfully recording people in a place where privacy is expected. The irony is difficult to ignore." 🔗 LGBTQ Nation
Bridget's forthcoming audiobook with Simon & Schuster, Love At First Prompt, explores AI, sex, and intimate relationships. Pre-order at LoveAtFirstPrompt.ai
Follow Bridget: Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Bluesky
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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. Eventually, they discovered that eBay's own security team was behind it all, with the campaign put into motion by then-CEO Devin Wenig. This bizarre and frightening story is a cautionary tale about the rise of private armies. It starts in San Francisco, takes us to the small community of Natick, Massachusetts, and ultimately takes TANGOTI listeners right back to Madison Square Garden. Buckle up.
Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
Bridget's forthcoming audiobook with Simon & Schuster, Love At First Prompt, explores AI, sex, and intimate relationships. Pre-order at LoveAtFirstPrompt.ai
Follow Bridget: Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Bluesky
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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 cuts may kill 9 million people. And Peter Thiel found a way to let anyone punish journalists for $2,000.
Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. New roundup episode every Friday.
📰 Here's what we were watching this week:
Black Google employees said the company called them "not Googly enough" — Google just paid $50M to settle the lawsuit. A 2022 class action alleged Google hired Black employees into lower-paying roles, hazed them in interviews, and retaliated when they spoke up. The $50M payout comes with promises of pay equity audits and limits on forced arbitration. 🔗 AP News
A woman posted about her stillbirth on Facebook. Police showed up and sent her to prison for 2 years. A broke single mom in Nevada was charged with manslaughter after an online grief post tipped off a deputy. Her conviction was eventually vacated — but the deputy who investigated her went to the funeral home, took her baby's ashes, and brought them to her own home in Texas. The mother still doesn't have her son's remains. At least 412 women have faced criminal charges related to pregnancy loss since Roe was overturned, even in states where abortion is legal. 🔗 CNN
A female Twitch streamer's fan tried to break into her room. She broadcast the whole thing live. Streamer Jinny was cycling through Poland when a man she'd briefly met in her hotel lobby showed up at her door that night trying to get in. She barricaded herself with a chair, cried quietly on stream, and called emergency services while her chat contacted police on her behalf. He fled before they arrived — and was never caught. 🔗 Dexerto
Elon Musk bragged about feeding USAID "into the woodchipper." Scientists now say 9 million people could die because of it. USAID was the world's largest humanitarian aid agency before DOGE shut it down in 2025. A study published in the journal Science found the cuts triggered an immediate spike in violent conflict across Africa — in the places that needed the aid most. Scientists say even if USAID were restarted tomorrow, the trust is gone for good. 🔗 The Independent
George Floyd's 11-year-old daughter is being bullied at school by classmates repeating right-wing talking points about her father — as MAGA figures push to pardon his killer. Gianna Floyd is being mocked at her middle school by kids repeating false claims about her father's death. Right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro is leading an online campaign to pardon the police officer who killed George Floyd — falsely claiming Floyd died of a drug overdose despite the medical examiner ruling his death a homicide. A pardon would free the man currently serving 22½ years for his murder. 🔗 BET
Peter Thiel used his billionaire money to destroy Gawker. Now he's backing a startup that gives anyone that same power for $2,000. A new billionaire-backed startup called Objection lets anyone pay $2,000 to have a panel of AI models rule on whether a news story about them was fair. The journalist doesn't have to participate — a verdict gets published either way. Critics are calling it a censorship tool disguised as accountability. 🔗 TechCrunch
A racist streamer shot a Black disabled veteran and was shot himself in the altercation. He livestreamed from the stretcher. Dalton Eatherly, known online as "Chud the Builder," films himself hurling racial slurs at Black people in public. Last week he was arrested for refusing to pay a $370 restaurant bill after being kicked out for livestreaming racist content. Days later, he shot a Black disabled veteran outside a courthouse, was shot himself, and livestreamed from the stretcher. He's been arrested three times in six months. 🔗 CNN
Meet the "Sad Wives of AI" — women running their households while their husbands chase the AI hype. A Wired longform profiles the women left holding everything together while their partners spiral into AI obsession. It's a portrait of a certain kind of tech marriage in 2026. 🔗 Wired
YouTube will now scan its entire platform for deepfakes of your face — if you ask it to. YouTube is expanding its AI likeness detection tool to all adults with an account. You submit a selfie-style scan, and YouTube hunts for videos using your face without your consent. If it finds a match, you can request removal. The stakes for regular people are very real. 🔗 The Verge
Bumble just killed the swipe — and replaced it with AI dating agents. The app that built its brand on women making the first move is now letting AI make moves on your behalf. Whether that's progress or the end of something is a question worth sitting with. 🔗 The New York Times
A commencement speaker told arts and humanities graduates that AI is "the next industrial revolution." They booed her off the stage. When a real estate executive told the University of Central Florida's graduating class of film, animation, and media students that AI would transform their world, the crowd erupted. One graduate summed it up: "A lot of us are worried that companies are using this technology to replace artists rather than work alongside them." The revolution is not being applauded. 🔗 The Independent
Bridget's forthcoming audiobook with Simon & Schuster, Love At First Prompt, explores AI, sex, and intimate relationships. Pre-order at LoveAtFirstPrompt.ai
Follow Bridget: Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Bluesky
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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 …
Show notes
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 centered on Frances Haugen's findings inside Facebook, and why that story might be the one that actually matters.
If you’re listening on Spotify, you can leave a comment there to let us know what you thought about these stories, or email us at [email protected]
Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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 week: AI-enabled stalking lawsuits. Fake AI-generated identities. Labor protests outside billionaire-sponsored galas. Kids bypassing online safety systems with fake mustaches.
Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. New roundup every Friday.
🎧 Here's what we covered this week:
A porn site built a business out of videos of unconscious women being assaulted. It just got shut down. Gisèle Pelicot's husband drugged and assaulted her and invited dozens of men to do the same. Motherless.com built a business out of hosting thousands of videos exactly like it. In the wake of a viral CNN investigation, the site was temporarily taken offline. 🔗 CNN investigation
A book app used a fake AI Black woman to launch — and the app was supposed to be AI-free. Handbook App launched with an AI-generated image of a Black woman in Random House's offices and a false claim that the founder worked there. She has since apologized. The app was marketed as AI-free. The founder image was AI. 🔗 Viral breakdown | More context
Someone stole a Cambridge academic's face to promote a fetish site — and is lying about her to do it. Dr. Ally Louks went viral for her Cambridge PhD on the politics of smell. Now large accounts are using her likeness to falsely advertise a fetish marketplace, implying she's selling smelly used clothing. Her own research, weaponized against her. Platforms are doing nothing. "Being a woman on the internet is a special kind of hell," she says. 🔗 Vox | Dr. Louks' original post | Guardian / UN Women
The person giving you health advice online is probably trying to sell you something. A major new Pew study found only 17% of health influencers have real medical credentials. The rest are coaches, entrepreneurs and self-proclaimed experts — many earning a cut of every supplement bottle they sell. 🔗 Pew Research
A woman is suing OpenAI after ChatGPT helped her stalker terrorize her. Her ex used ChatGPT to fuel his delusions and generate fake psych reports he sent to her family, friends, and employer. She reported it to OpenAI. They never followed up — even though their own systems had flagged his account for mass casualty weapons activity. He was later arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and a bomb threat. She's suing to preserve his chat logs before he's released. 🔗 Futurism
AI writing tools are grading kids differently based on race and gender. A Stanford study found AI gives Black students more praise and less criticism than white students — while pushing white students to sharpen their arguments. As lead researcher Mei Tan put it: "Maybe a takeaway is that we shouldn't leave the pedagogy to the large language model." 🔗 Hechinger Report
Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary wants to build a 40,000 acre data center in Utah — and locals are furious. After hundreds of Utahns showed up to protest, O'Leary claimed 90% were "bused in" and paid by "professional protesters." He provided zero evidence. A Salt Lake Tribune reporter at the meeting saw no buses. 🔗 Salt Lake Tribune
Hackers stole data from 9,000 schools and held it for ransom. A breach of Canvas — used by 41% of North American colleges — forced universities to cancel final exams. 275 million students and staff may be affected. One cybersecurity expert's advice: "Assume your name and email are now in criminal circulation." 🔗 Krebs on Security
Jeff Bezos bought his way into fashion's biggest night. He and Lauren spent $10 million to chair the Met Gala while Amazon workers staged their own fashion show outside. SEIU President April Verrett said: "Labor is art." 🔗 Democracy Now
Kids are beating age verification checks with drawn-on mustaches. Half of all kids surveyed said age checks were easy to bypass. Some drew facial hair on themselves with a makeup pencil — and it worked multiple times. Meanwhile Meta wants to use AI to analyze bone structure to guess if users are underage. 🔗 TechCrunch
Bridget's forthcoming audiobook with Simon & Schuster, Love At First Prompt, explores AI, sex, and intimate relationships. Pre-order at LoveAtFirstPrompt.ai
Follow Bridget: Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Bluesky
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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 it comes to women speaking up online.
Plus the update nobody was expecting: Livie is now facing charges for posting the man naked without his consent.
Is this justice? A technicality? Or proof that the system was never built to protect women like her in the first place?
See Livie's video(s) for yourself: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19jTtPWjZH/?mibextid=wwXIfr
MuURLS, a creator on TikTok was cloned by AI: https://www.tiktok.com/@muurlz/video/7563725293693783309?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
NotKristen’s TikTok on AI clones: https://www.tiktok.com/@notkhristen/video/7563433687476358430?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
Liberal feminist “triggered”: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Maxime-Dafaure/publication/343261281/figure/fig4/AS:918257242501121@1595940995904/Triggered-Feminist-Ficki-Fiona-MFW-My-Face-When-Someone-Tells-Me-There-Are-Only-Two.png
The real “triggered feminist” video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byOlBCpNKeM
If you’re listening on Spotify, you can leave a comment there to let us know what you thought about these stories, or email us at [email protected]
Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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 with Simon & Schuster, Love At First Prompt, explores AI, sex, and intimate relationships. Pre-order it at LoveAtFirstPrompt.ai.
If you found us through our Instagram carousel, welcome!
Here's everything we covered this week with links to the original reporting:
🔗 A man sued his female JPMorgan boss for sexual coercion. It went viral, AI harassment videos followed, and the lawsuit has since been pulled from court records. AI-generated videos recreating the allegations spread on X before anyone verified a single fact. More on the AI component here.
🔗 Taylor Swift is trademarking her own voice because AI scams are out of control Scammers are using AI-generated versions of celebrities to steal people's personal information — and the platforms aren't stopping it.
🔗 Cops are using Flock surveillance cameras to stalk their exes A new Institute for Justice report found at least 14 cases of police abusing license plate readers to track romantic interests.
🔗 A university destroyed an Asian American scientist's career in a racist federal witch hunt that found nothing Jane Wu's family is speaking out one year after her death and has filed a lawsuit against Northwestern. NBC News coverage here.
🔗 Men built a business turning women's Instagram photos into AI porn — and taught other men how to do it Three Arizona men sold a course teaching subscribers how to scrape and sexualize women's photos. Three women are now suing.
🔗 A new UN report found AI is making online violence against women dramatically worse Nearly a quarter of female journalists surveyed have been diagnosed with anxiety or depression because of it.
🔗 The Oscars just banned AI actors and AI-written scripts from winning awards The Academy's strongest stance yet on AI in film.
🔗 Andrew Tate sued Meta for banning him and lost A federal judge threw out his $50 million lawsuit. The First Amendment doesn't apply to private companies.
🔗 New reporting reveals how close Peter Thiel and Jeffrey Epstein really were Private emails show Epstein was actively coaching Thiel on how to get embedded in Trump world.
🔗 A murder suspect allegedly used ChatGPT to research how to dispose of a body. OpenAI had no comment. Prosecutors allege he asked ChatGPT about disposing of a body three days before two doctoral students went missing.
New to the show? Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and follow Bridget on Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Bluesky
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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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 …
Show notes
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 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: where it actually came from, what the TikTok version obscured, and why a movement rooted in white supremacist beauty standards got repackaged as self-help. Then we talk about Braden Peters, the influencer known as Clavicular, and make the case that the media didn't just cover his rise — it manufactured it.
Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
Pre-order Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com !
Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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/
IG video from the plaintiff: https://www.instagram.com/p/DXcvv2xAfcw/
'I think we can all agree we owe Hailey Bieber an apology.' https://www.mamamia.com.au/hailey-bieber-apology/
The Shocking Secrets of Madison Square Garden’s Surveillance Machine
https://www.wired.com/story/madison-square-garden-jim-dolan-surveillance-machine/
This Scammer Used an AI-Generated MAGA Girl to Grift ‘Super Dumb’ Men: https://www.wired.com/story/ai-generated-maga-girls/
I Started the Media Men List My name is Moira Donegan: https://www.thecut.com/2018/01/moira-donegan-i-started-the-media-men-list.html
'The Comeback' Season 3 review: Lisa Kudrow warns us of the AI apocalypse: https://mashable.com/article/the-comeback-season-3-review-ai
Here’s a few other stories we’re watching:
OpenAI CEO Apologizes for Not Warning Authorities About Mass Shooting Suspect: https://www.pcmag.com/news/openai-ceo-deeply-sorry-for-not-warning-authorities-about-mass-shooting
Elon Musk does not appear at hearing in French prosecutors’ X probe: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/musk-summoned-by-french-prosecutor-x-probe-unclear-if-he-will-comply-2026-04-20/Amazon employees say they were told to work as employee lay dead: https://www.newsnationnow.com/business/amazon-employees-forced-work-corpse/App Stores Push Users Toward Nudify Apps, New Research Shows: https://www.404media.co/app-stores-apple-google-nudify-undress-deepfakes/
Forbes Prediction Market Gamifies Story About Mass Shooting of 8 Children: https://www.404media.co/forbes-prediction-market-gamefies-story-about-mass-shooting-of-8-children/
Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
Pre-order Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com !
Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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: where it actually came from, what the TikTok version obscured, and why a movement rooted in white supremacist beauty standards got repackaged as self-help. Then we talk about Braden Peters, the influencer known as Clavicular, and make the case that the media didn't just cover his rise — it manufactured it.
Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
Pre-order Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com !
Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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==
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Gisèle Pelicot's story of being drugged and raped by her husband and other men for a decade captured headlines. A new CNN investigation reveals a large ecosystem of men helping each other commit similar crimes around the world with something like an "online rape academy." https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2026/03/world/expose-rape-assault-online-vis-intl/index.html
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Lauren Sanchez Besos is a cultural force, revolutionizing the way Americans live, and inspiring everyone with her embrace of joy and her perfect marriage to Jeff Bezos. Right? RIGHT?! (wrong) https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/11/business/lauren-sanchez-bezos-jeff-bezos.html?unlocked_article_code=1.blA.i7qg.dQZ7G1_RUIcF&smid=url-share [gift link]
Anti-Occupy Wall Street Champagne Toast Later Today? https://gothamist.com/news/anti-occupy-wall-street-champagne-toast-later-today
Rich people watching Occupy protestor: https://www.threads.com/@yungbooks/post/DEEOKfUOXkA
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Workers at surveillance company Flock inexplicably accessed cameras in a gymnasium and pool, prompting the city of Dunwoody, Georgia, to delay their contract renewal after a citizen's open records request revealed anomolies in the logs. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/apr/06/flock-cameras-privacy-concerns
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Why Are Flock Employees Watching Our Children? https://jasonhunyar.substack.com/p/why-are-flock-employees-watching-720
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Women in northern Nigeria have been writing steamy romance books for decades. They are fighting morality censorship by innovating new models of distribution and monetization on WhatsApp. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/article/love-is-universal-but-nigerias-romance-lit-market-is-one-of-a-kind and https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/world/africa/nigeria-erotica-writers-censors.html
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Here are more stories we were watching this week:
NAACP lawsuit accuses Elon Musk’s xAI of polluting Black neighborhoods near Memphis: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/14/naacp-lawsuit-elon-musk-xai-memphis
A Redditor Criticized ICE. Trump Is Trying to Unmask Them by Dragging the Company to a Secret Grand Jury: https://theintercept.com/2026/04/10/reddit-ice-protest-grand-jury/
What is dynamic pricing at grocery stores? Maryland now bans it: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2026/04/15/maryland-bans-dynamic-pricing-practice-popular-among-retailers/89621751007/
Meta’s new rules let it ban users or suppress comments that include the word “antifa” alongside “content-level threat signals.” https://theintercept.com/2026/04/14/facebook-instagram-antifa-censor/
Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
Pre-order Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com !
Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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 do something about it.
AI Blackface: Profiting on racist depictions at scale: https://www.riddance.ai/p/ai-blackface-profiting-on-racist
AI videos of sexualised black women removed from TikTok after BBC investigation: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c070e283k8vo
Bridget explains the evolution of digital Blackface from its antebellum roots in this Youtube video: https://youtu.be/yh-2il78AEA
Digital rapper FN Meka and the new era of digital Blackface: https://omny.fm/shows/there-are-no-girls-on-the-internet/digital-rapper-fn-meka-and-the-new-era-of-digital
Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
Pre-order Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com !
Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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 smash hit. Younger Audiences Are Driving Box Office Sales, Study Shows
https://variety.com/2026/film/box-office/gen-z-driving-box-office-1236703551/
The FBI was able to recover deleted Signal messages from a user's phone because they were stored in his notification history. Check your Signal settings now to stay safe "Settings > Notification > Store" https://www.404media.co/fbi-extracts-suspects-deleted-signal-messages-saved-in-iphone-notification-database-2/
She Was in Labor at a Florida Hospital. Then She Was in Zoom Court for Refusing a C-Section. https://www.propublica.org/article/florida-court-hearing-c-section
BBC breached editorial standards over BAFTAs racial slur but no big deal, BBC investigation finds. https://news.sky.com/story/bbc-breached-editorial-standards-over-baftas-racial-slur-investigation-finds-13529270
Ohio creep becomes first to be convicted under new Take-It-Down law for sexually explicit images:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/08/ohio-man-convicted-ai-sexually-explicit-images
Instagram reportedly deletes Bellesa sex toy shop account for using the word 'clitoris': https://mashable.com/article/instagram-deletes-bellesa-shop-account-with-700000-followers
‘This Is Not Me’: Inside the AI Scams Driving Musicians Crazy: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/ai-scams-musicians-streaming-services-spotify-1235535753/Let us know what you think about these stories by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
Pre-order Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com !
Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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 …
Show notes
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 to set the standard in AI and creative work? And more importantly who gets protected, and who gets sacrificed to it?
Subscribe to Drey's excellent substack for sharp reporting and open source investigative journalism into tech and power: https://thedreydossier.substack.com
Read / Watch Drey’s reporting on Shy Girl: https://thedreydossier.substack.com/p/the-shy-girl-ai-scandal-is-way-worse
Follow Drey on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok: @thedreydossier
Read more about the limitations of AI-detection software, and why many of the country's most respected universities have banned it. https://timrequarth.substack.com/p/why-you-shouldnt-trust-ai-detector
Read Thad’s blog post called Shy Girl: The Background to the New York Times Story: https://thefutureofpublishing.com/2026/03/shy-girl-the-background-to-the-new-york-times-story/
Bridget’s SMNTY ep about ShyGirl: What the Shy Girl Conversation Says About AI and Art: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-stuff-mom-never-told-you-21123631/episode/what-the-shy-girl-conversation-says-about-ai-and-art-328745937
Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
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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 …
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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 a highly anticipated debut novel, Crown of Starlight, coming out in 2024 — until she admitted to using fake Goodreads accounts to review bomb other writers' forthcoming books. Most of her targets were Black or queer authors. Corrain is white.
The story has a lot of twists and turns, including a fabricated conversation with a completely made-up person that Corrain invented to take the fall.
Canadian author Xiran Jay Zhao was the first to bring it to wider attention, noticing that Crown of Starlight was getting glowing reviews from the same accounts trashing other books — some of which weren't even out yet. Zhao also compiled a 31-page Google document of screenshots and receipts: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1__mO1uqIqcmupBAPKwXDzlUbZIwtY6fKf0S1Y0SNz0E/edit?tab=t.0
Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
Pre-order our forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com !
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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 …
Show notes
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 company as well as candid accounts from insiders.
She is one of the most influential and respected tech journalists covering the AI industry today.
In this interview, she shares the story of how she came to journalism, what she's learned from a decade of covering OpenAI and Sam Altman, and what she sees as the biggest threats of AI to intimacy, the environment, privacy, healthcare, and democracy.
Karen has a new podcast published by the BBC called "The Interface," and it is brilliant. Make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, or by following this link: https://link.mgln.ai/theinterface-TANGOTI
Conversation with Karen is featured prominently in Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships, "Love At First Prompt." Pre-order your copy today at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com !
Let us know what you think about this interview by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
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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 …
Show notes
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 social media: https://wapo.st/3NtfbUi
Meta and YouTube lose two landmark court cases about harm to users:
. . California woman sues Meta and YouTube https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/technology/social-media-trial-verdict.html
.. New Mexico Attorney General sues Meta https://mashable.com/article/new-mexico-meta-court-case-meta-loses
Comedian Druski published a hilarious short video titled "How Conservative Women in America act" and MAGA is real mad: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fauxmoi/comments/1s48bw5/druski_parodies_erika_kirk_in_a_new_skit_how/
..Druski church parody: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/58hfPPHCRIU
..Druski NASCAR parody: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/G32siPZXgx0
Barely six months after AI-video app Sora was released to much hype, OpenAI announced they are shutting it down:
https://variety.com/2026/digital/news/openai-shutting-down-sora-video-disney-1236698277/
. . Listen to Bridget predict Sora's demise back when it was announced, in our episode from Oct 10, 2025: https://app.omnystudio.com/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/programs/ad016d13-045e-48f3-9aa5-ae280172b27d/clips/66368931-ff00-467b-97fe-b3730017b21b/details
. . Some of Sora's main use cases are filling the internet with racist and misogynistic slop:
..Disney's Sora Disaster Shows AI Will Not Revolutionize Hollywood: https://www.404media.co/disneys-openai-sora-disaster-shows-ai-will-not-save-hollywood/
Black filmmaker Nina Lee asked audiences to watch an unrelated Black rom-com in theaters to help convince studios that Black films are viable. We support Black filmmakers, but in Bridget's opinion this way of thinking is a trap. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/you-me-tuscany-black-rom-coms_n_69c57cb8e4b0a6ee60c3dfa3/amp
Judge dismisses lawsuit by Musk's X Corp accusing advertisers of illegal boycott: https://www.reuters.com/world/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-by-musks-x-corp-accusing-advertisers-illegal-boycott-2026-03-26/
Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
Pre-order Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com !
Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social
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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 …
Show notes
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.
Her book sent the internet into a spiral, enraged conservatives, disappointed some feminists, divided the polyamory community, and inspired her husband to send a very intense email to a Slate writer.
Writer and comedian Ashley Ray joins Bridget to talk about the book, the discourse, and what all of it says about feminist writing, parasocial fandom, and whether the personal essay industrial complex of the 2010s has run its course.
Ashley’s Harper’s piece - Lindy West and the Trap of Perfect Polyamory: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-books-music/a70801519/lindy-west-adult-braces/
Scaachi’s Slate piece - Lindy West’s How-Not-To Guide to Polyamory: https://slate.com/life/2026/03/lindy-west-polyamory-open-marriage-husband-roya.html
She Had a Cat Hair Ball in Her Vagina — or Did She? https://www.thecut.com/2015/09/she-had-cat-hair-in-her-vagina-or-did-she.html
Check out Ashley’s Substack Deep Trouble: https://www.deeptrouble.net/
Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
Pre-order Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com !
Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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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 …
Show notes
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=P7JWA54zklLCWVnM
Afroman's video "Will You Help Me Repair My Gate" https://youtu.be/oponIfu5L3Y?si=cgLpG_T6A-JPBbW-
Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot cancelled in strangely cruel and surprising manner by Hulu. https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/buffy-reboot-dead-hulu-sarah-michelle-gellar-chloe-zhao-1236692284/
Nicole Kidman glides behind Jeff Bezos and his girlfriend at the Academy Awards, stealing all attention: https://www.threads.com/@rachelarich/post/DV8aFlADT6Q?xmt=AQGzqaZ-H3abT0EW2lfRTONANK8dwciIx844aGm48QTIrQ
Former Rolling Stone editor Noah Schactman lands new job at NYT, despite controversial role in misleading reporting to protect a personal friend. https://www.cjr.org/laurels-and-darts/noah-shachtman-nyt-rolling-stone-baltimore-banner-tristan-king-missing-st-helens-oregon-corruption-scandal-mayor.php
Columbia Journalism Review analysis on Rolling Stone's inaccurate story about campus rape at University of Virginia: https://www.cjr.org/investigation/rolling_stone_investigation.php
Celebrated relationship therapist Esther Perel has a guest on her podcast who is in a relationship with his AI chatbot: https://www.estherperel.com/podcast
Mark Zuckerberg finally calling it quits on the Metaverse (mostly): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/technology/mark-zuckerbergs-metaverse-vr-horizon-worlds.html
Playwright Jeremy O. Harris called Sam Altman a nazi at a party: https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/tracewilliamcowen/jeremy-o-harris-openai-sam-altman-nazi
Specifically, Friedrich Flick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Flick
Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or leaving a comment on Spotify.
Pre-order our forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com !
Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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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 …
Show notes
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 adult content pivot responsibly. And now Sam Atlman says it’s been postponed.
So what does it all mean? Bridget sat down with friends Samantha and Anney over at SMNTY to break it all down.
Pre-order our forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com !
Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social
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