Power User with Taylor Lorenz

Since the election, Democrats and the media have been in panic mode, trying to figure out “the manosphere.” It’s a vast network of influencers, podcasters and streamers who speak to young men in a way traditional media has failed to. Many of its personalities are Trump supporters, including Joe Rogan. The left has been asking itself how it can win back young men without radicalizing them further. Is there a left-wing Joe Rogan?

To help crack the manosphere, Taylor talks to Josh Citarella, host of the podcast “Doomscroll.” He’s been studying the radicalization of young men online for a decade.

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This year, pumpkin spice lattes are being served with a side of AI slop. Autumn vistas generated by artificial intelligence tools are clogging up Pinterest and Instagram. Taylor talks to Vox’s senior correspondent Rebecca Jennings about how AI is warping our perspective of what nature actually looks like. They also discuss Rebecca's recent reporting on “The cultural power of the anti-woke tech bro" and “The Carrie Bradshaws of TikTok."

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Anthony Po is a creative genius who has a knack for organizing viral events in New York. This past weekend, he was responsible for a Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest attended by the actor himself. In April, he went viral after he assembled a crowd to watch him eat an entire jug of cheeseballs in the disguise as “Cheese Ball Man.” He's infiltrated a cult, hosted a dating show, faked an alien invasion and more. Taylor talks to Anthony about making things that matter in culture and bringing back 2014 internet.

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Over the past few months, a father-son duo known as the Costco guys has become inescapable online. Their family-friendly videos about the grocery chain's chicken bakes and double-chunk chocolate cookies have earned them over 62 million likes on TikTok.

This week, AJ Befumo joins Taylor to discuss how he went from former pro wrestler to king of the Costcoverse.

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This week Taylor Lorenz dives into the charged content world of Jubilee Media with its founder Jason Y Lee.

Jubilee is quickly becoming a YouTube behemoth. It’s amassed 9.2 million subscribers on its main channel alone by producing social experiments and debates over polarizing questions such as ‘is being fat is a choice?’, or ‘can someone stop being gay?’ and other hot-button topics.

The company's stated goal is to spark conversations that matter and help us all come together more around our shared humanity. Is their model working? And how is Jubilee expanding its empire outside of YouTube?

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Taylor explores the inner workings of modern office life through the world of corporate influencers. She’s joined by Ross Pomerantz aka ‘Corporate Bro’, a successful corporate influencer who simultaneously parodies the entire genre.

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This week Taylor Lorenz talks about going independent and launching her new online culture newsletter, User Mag!

Later, Taylor is joined by entertainment culture critic Coleman Spilde to explore how nostalgia accounts are rewriting pop culture history.

Subscribe to User Mag here!

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If you do a lot of online shopping, you may be experiencing deja vu. Amazon, AliExpress, WalMart, Temu, eBay, the TikTok shop, even Etsy all seem to be selling the exact same, cheaply made products from China. How did this happen? Have we reached some sort of eCommerce singularity? And what does this say about the future of online shopping? Are we all doomed to have shitty cheap products forever? Taylor is joined by New York Magazines John Herman to discuss.

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Description: Age verification technology is becoming increasingly commonplace as lawmakers seek to enact deeply concerning restrictions in the name of “child safety.” Washington Post technology reporter Drew Harwell joins to discuss the threats to our freedom of speech, expression, and privacy this new software unlocks.

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You can spend hours carefully curating your algorithms on TikTok and YouTube, But there’s one place where the algorithm doesn’t seem to care about what you want to see: Instagram Reels. Business Insider’s Katie Notopoulos joins Taylor to dive deep into the strangest corners of IG Reels and unpack how the platform became such an unusual place online.

Then, Taylor weighs in on the latest news, including Taylor Swift's stance on AI, right wing YouTubers getting paid millions by a Russian propaganda group, why Facebook keeps removing emergency fire alerts, and the new iPhone.

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