Over the past few months, the term “brain rot” has gone from essentially meaning chronically online, to a fully fledged meme and ironic slang language. Adam Aleksic aka “the Etymology Nerd” and Harvard linguistics graduate joins Taylor to break down how the language of the internet is evolving. 

Later, Taylor dives into stories from the week including big announcements from Apple’s WWDC, the shadowy right-wing backers behind a Mr Beast video, BeReals big sale, and a new word to describe AI generated garbage. 

Full video of this episode will be available on Taylor's YouTube channel.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The record-breaking Instagram account @world_record_egg has returned to publicly express its support for Palestine. Trump joins TikTok and immediately amasses millions of followers. Mr. Beast becomes the most subscribed to YouTube channel. Plus, Taylor Lorenz breaks down the 2022 deal TikTok offered the U.S. government, which included a “kill switch” to shut down the app.

Later, Vox’s Rebecca Jennings joins Taylor to discuss crowdsourced surveillance and the ethics of filming strangers in public.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meet the powerful centimillionaire who dreams of a sovereign San Francisco where tech millionaires wear gray T-shirts to signal their allegiance and progressives are locked out. Balaji Srinivasan is one of the most infamous, yet lesser-known, figures in Silicon Valley. Journalist Gil Duran, who reports on tech fascism and billionaire extremism, joins Taylor to discuss Balaji’s ideas, background, and why you should take him seriously.

Full video of this episode will be available on Taylor's YouTube channel

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Have you been on Facebook lately? It’s weird and overrun with bizarre, AI-generated, spammy clickbait. Jason Koebler, co-founder of 404 Media and host of The 404 Media Podcast joins Taylor Lorenz to discuss how this happened and who’s behind it all.

Later, Taylor weighs in on Scarlett Johansson’s accusation that Open AI mimicked her voice, a new video game about influencers risking their lives for content, Belle Delphine’s bathwater, and a baby who’s hyped to go to the Four Seasons Orlando.

Full video of this episode will be available on Taylor's YouTube channel

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, TikTok creators sue the US government over free speech, Bumble tells women to get busy, YouTube’s CEO wants creators to win Emmys, and Google’s new AI gives some bad advice.

Later, Taylor Lorenz chats with Kate Lindsay, co-founder of the Embedded newsletter, about a new social media movement called “Blockout 2024.” The campaign encourages users to block celebrities who haven’t publicly condemned the attacks in Gaza. But is it working? 

Full video of this episode will be available on Taylor's YouTube channel

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bloomberg’s Ashley Carman joins Taylor Lorenz to discuss the current state of audio and its creator economy. They discuss Spotify's impact and how close we are to achieving the decade-long dream of viral audio. Plus, Ashley takes us into the ridiculous world of fake podcast ads on TikTok and the rise of audiobooks and AI narrators.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kanye West accused one of the most popular Twitch streamers, Kai Cenat, of being an “industry plant.” It perpetuated the idea that some internet celebrities became famous thanks to invisible forces pulling the strings. But in a business as fickle as online content creation, is an industry plant even possible? Taylor Lorenz asks Maxwell Mitcheson, a partner at Underscore Talent.

Later, Taylor weighs in on Aaron Sorkin hinting at a possible follow-up to The Social Network, plans for a new tech utopia in San Francisco, Adam Mosseri’s big Instagram update, and Threads hitting 150 million active users.

Full video of this episode will be available on Taylor's YouTube channel

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, President Biden signed a law banning TikTok, assuming it can't work out some long-shot deal to sell to a U.S. owner. TikTok of course is going to fight all this in court. Editor in Chief at The Verge, and host of the Decoder podcast, Nilay Patel joins Taylor Lorenz to discuss TikTok’s uncertain future.

Later, YouTube star Marques Brownlee aka MKBHD stops by to discuss how one critical review turned him into the internet's main character, his favorite tech products of 2024, and where the tech landscape is headed.

Full video of this episode will be available on Taylor's YouTube channel

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

AI is causing chaos and confusion in pop music. Drake and Kendrick Lamar are feuding through diss tracks, but people can’t seem to tell if these songs are real or artificially generated. Taylor Lorenz brings in New York Times pop music critic Jon Caramanica to get to the bottom of it all. Plus, how Chappell Roan broke through the algorithm and Taylor Swift's return to TikTok.

Later, Taylor Lorenz weighs in on an upcoming AI-generated beauty pageant, Elon’s plan to rid X of bots by forcing new users to pay, an open letter from TikTok creators to President Biden, and Marques Brownlee’s scathing review of the Humane AI Pin.

Full video of this episode will be available on Taylor's YouTube channel.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A moral panic has been emerging lately. People in the media, government, and across the internet are declaring that children are suffering an unprecedented mental health crisis and that smartphones and social media are to blame. But is this true?Taylor Lorenz talks to longtime researcher and author Danah Boyd about some of the problems that young people today are facing, why quick fixes like banning social media apps are never the answer, and what we can actually do to help the younger generation.Plus, Taylor weighs in on her latest profile of RFK Jr’s new social media guru, Elon Musk’s secret burner account, why X might get banned in Brazil, a huge investment into the YouTubers Dude Perfect, and why a Chinese glycine factory is going viral on TikTok.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices