After the election, Mark Zuckerberg announced that he was doing away with Facebook’s fact-checking apparatus in the US. With content creators getting paid based on reach, and content spreading wider and faster the more extreme it is, is Facebook the perfect environment for misinformation to flourish? 

Guest: Craig Silverman, technology reporter for ProPublica.

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Candice Lim and Kate Lindsay have been tracking the many influencers “coming out” as Republicans, as well as what they all have in common: their makeup. Bad eyeliner aside, this new cast of conservative creators are younger, trendier, and ditching the typical influencer hub of Los Angeles for Nashville. With Republican influencers looking a lot different than they did five years ago, Candice and Kate break down what this could mean for the influencing industry as a whole.

This podcast is produced by Alexandra Botti, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim, and Kate Lindsay.

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To understand the second Trump administration, you have to understand the internet culture that gave birth to it.

Guest: Elle Reeve, CNN correspondent who reported on the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA for Vice News.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell and Patrick Fort.

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Candice Lim and Kate Lindsay check in on Meghan Markle’s current relationship with the internet. First, they give their takes on With Love, Meghan, a Netflix lifestyle show created by and starring the Duchess of Sussex that brings her old, new, and famous friends into her Montecito lifestyle. Then, culture critic and Daily Fail host Kristen Meinzer joins to take a bigger look at how Meghan and Harry’s relationship with the public, the media, and themselves has changed in the last five years.

This podcast is produced by Alexandra Botti, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim, and Kate Lindsay.

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Everyone’s talking about the price of eggs—so why are they so expensive? And when can we expect—if ever—the price to come back down?

Guests: 

Dr. Jada Thompson, associate professor at the University of Arkansas

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This week: Trump has proposed a $5 million “gold card” for US citizenship, suggesting that the US could sell 10 million of them to pay off the national debt. Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers discuss the logic behind this considering the similar programs that already exist and the possible pool of candidates. Then, they discuss guest Kyle Chayka’s recent piece in the New Yorker comparing Silicon Valley invasion of the government, led by Elon Musk, to the “techno-fasiscts” of 1930s Japan. And finally, the danger of black plastic kitchen utensils was debunked after the discovery of a simple math error. But the “zombie fact” is still affecting sales. 

In the Slate Plus episode: The $19 Strawberry and Rise of Luxury Food

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Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth.

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To celebrate the end of awards season, Candice Lim and Kate Lindsay pay tribute to the true heroes behind Hollywood’s most talented stars: their fan accounts. While Club Chalamet’s lore is deep enough to deserve its own biopic, a number of internet moments and figures were responsible for the success—and downfall—of this year’s nominees. The pair explain it all, and the creator behind fuckyeahdanielradcliffe.tumblr.com is finally unmasked…

This podcast is produced by Alexandra Botti, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim, and Kate Lindsay.

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Federal workers in the U.S. Digital Service resigned in protest over what they viewed as indiscriminate, irresponsible firings coming from the DOGE office. While lawsuits are entering the courts and protests are taking to the streets, will any of this make a difference to the chainsaw-minded leaders of DOGE? 

Guest: Ryan Mac, tech reporter at the New York Times and co-author of “Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter.”

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell and Patrick Fort.

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Kate Lindsay and Candice Lim break down YouTuber Ethan Klein’s attack on Fauxmoi and why public figures are starting to fire back at snark pages. Earlier this month, Klein’s wife Hila became a topic of discussion on Fauxmoi, a popular celebrity subreddit, after she posted an Instagram story that claimed a potential collaboration fell apart due to anti-semitism. Posts of problematic behavior and language the Kleins have exhibited on camera soon flooded the subreddit, calling out the podcasters for their past controversies. Since then, Ethan has used his platform to threaten multiple subreddits and seemingly gear up to come after Fauxmoi with lawyers. The Kleins’ battle against Fauxmoi begs the question: can you sue a subreddit for defamation? And should snark pages prepare for public figures to fight back?

This podcast is produced by Alexandra Botti, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim, and Kate Lindsay.

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The crypto industry threw its weight and money behind Donald Trump, in hopes of legitimizing the industry. Before his Inauguration Day was over, Donald Trump was already enriching himself via a memecoin, one of the scammier, least legitimate-looking uses of crypto.

Guest: David Yaffe-Bellany, reporter covering cryptocurrency for the New York Times.

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