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Welcome back to Free Speech Friday:

Nearly a month ago peaceful student demonstrators protesting corruption in Nepal were shot and killed, sparking nationwide outrage. Government buildings were set in fire, leaders were forced out, and the prime minister resigned, leaving the country’s future uncertain.

But that's not how the mainstream media reported it. They misrepresented Nepal's Gen Z youth movement, portraying young protesters as spoiled children upset about losing social media access, rather than as citizens fighting corruption and authoritarian suppression of free speech. It was a lot of the same framing that the media has used over other authoritarian crackdowns on speech like the TikTok ban here in the U.S. 

I brought on Bala Krishna Sha, one of the top journalists in Nepal, who writes for The Himalayan Times, the country's number 1 English language newspaper. He joins me to break down exactly what happened in Nepal, what the real story is that you won't see in traditional western media, and why the free speech fight happening in Nepal has global implications. 

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From Israel to Saudi Arabia to Russia to the UAE and more, influencers are increasingly being used for political propaganda and foreign influence campaigns. 

Makenna Kelly is a senior reporter at WIRED and she joined me to talk about how foreign governments are leveraging content creators to quietly push political propaganda and shape foreign policy, how MAGA influencers are embracing these campaigns, and the big money behind it all. 

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WELCOME BACK TO FREE SPEECH FRIDAY! 

Earlier this week, ABC and Nexstar yanked Jimmy Kimmel's show off the air after he made a joke about Charlie Kirk's death that the Trump admin didn't like. FCC commissioner Brendan Carr called the comments “offensive and insensitive,” and warned ABC and Disney that there could be regulatory consequences if the network didn’t respond.

All of this is a gross assault on free speech, and to discuss it (and more!) I brought on Ari Cohn, Lead Counsel for Tech Policy at the Foundation For Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). He's one of the leading first amendment lawyers in the country.  

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People on TikTok, YouTube and X are recreating 1950s style racism towards robots. Using slurs like “clanker,” “wireback,” and “cogsucker,” content creators are framing robots as a marginalized group, parodying old racist stereotypes in a retro aesthetic. The videos have gone viral and amassed millions of views. 

But while you might think this is just an excuse for creators to be racist, the trend reflects something a lot deeper. I dive deep into the phenomenon of "robot racism" or "robophobia" and unpack where these terms like clanker are coming from, what they say about our culture and society, automation, exploitation, and how technology is entangled with race and power.

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We're all familiar with the concept of deepfakes, but now, AI is being harnessed in a new way to deceive. AI generated TikTokers are reciting the actual words of real people, right down to the stumbles, "ums" and "uhs."

This new form of AI-driven identity theft is slipping past moderation filters, misleading millions, and leaving creators feeling powerless. Bobby Allyn is a reporter who's been covering this phenomenon and the rise of TikTok deepfakes, he joined me for this bonus episode of Power User to break it all down and explain why this is happening.

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When a powerful right-wing figure like Charlie Kirk is attacked or killed, political leaders and media rush to mourn them as a martyr and condemn "political violence."

But what does political violence actually mean? While violence against elites is treated as a national tragedy, violence against poor, Black, immigrant, queer, and disabled people is sanctioned. The truth is that political violence has always been part of life in America, but somehow it only becomes a “national emergency” when that violence threatens power. 

In this video, I talk about the history of "political violence" in the U.S., what the term actually means in practice, how it's weaponized, and what we need to do if we actually want to put a stop to it.  

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In the early days of the internet, social media offered a space where anyone could casually share their daily thoughts, fleeting moments, and observations about the world. Casual posting was the norm, and this extension of everyday life still felt spontaneous and personal. 

But lately, that culture has disappeared. It has been replaced by highly curated influencer content, manufactured viral slop, and it feels like everyone is just posting… less. 

Kyle Chayka is a writer at The New Yorker and he recently explored this phenomenon in a piece. He joins me to talk about the death of casual posting and what this shift says about the future of the internet. 

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ICE agents will soon have access to one of the world’s most sophisticated hacking tools thanks to a government contract with Paragon Solutions, an Israeli spyware company that lets people hack into any mobile phone without the person even clicking a link or opening a document. 

The new agreement between Paragon and ICE gives ICE access to the Israeli spyware platform, Graphite. Once Graphite infects your phone it can see everything you do on your phone, even stuff on encrypted apps, and you wouldn't even know it's there. I break down what that means for activists, journalists, dissidents, and how Paragon is already rolling out in other countries across the world. I also discuss how to keep yourself as safe as possible from this new tech. 

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SUPPORT ME ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/taylorlorenzBuy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 https://www.usermag.co Dark money orgs spend millions to shape our political system without having to reveal where their money comes from. Now, they're paying influencers too. Last week, I published an article on WIRED titled "A Dark Money Group Is Secretly Funding High-Profile Democratic Influencers." The story describes an initiative aimed at boosting Democrats online that offers influencers up to $8,000 a month in dark money funding. Since the story came out, a bunch of influencers in the program have tried to mislead people about what dark money is and isn't. Anna Massoglia is one of the top journalists in the country covering dark money. She is the director of investigations at the Sunlight Research Center and writes the newsletter Influence Brief. We break down what dark money is, what it isn't, who the biggest dark money power players are, and why even left-leaning undisclosed dark money can harm our political system. We also chat about how dark money is increasingly shaping content on the internet and being used for foreign propaganda campaigns. OPEN SECRETS GUIDE TO DARK MONEY: https://www.opensecrets.org/dark-money READ MY WIRED STORY: https://www.wired.com/story/dark-money-group-secret-funding-democrat-influencers Follow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0 https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

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SUPPORT ME ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/taylorlorenzBuy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 https://www.usermag.co Data brokers vacuum up information about us, what we buy, where we drive, what we watch, when we sleep, where we worship, and, increasingly, information about our faces and bodies and how we move through the world. They stitch these fragments into profiles that are bought, sold, licensed, and shared by advertisers, insurers, political campaigns, hedge funds, and even government agencies. In part two of my series on data brokers I dive into all the crazy ways data brokers harvest your information and how they're doing it in extremely sneaky ways!! I promise this will shock you and you might think twice before doing some daily activities. Follow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0 https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz