Taylor Lorenz’s Power User

AI companies are secretly waging a massive PR campaign targeting women. Support my independent journalism:  🙏 Patreon: ⁠ https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz       ⁠  🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: ⁠ https://www.usermag.co       In the past year, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta have launched an aggressive PR campaign to rebrand artificial intelligence for women, especially moth...

Is Silicon Valley actually making progress, or are they just breaking the world for profit?  Support my independent journalism:  🙏 Patreon: ⁠ https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz     ⁠  🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: ⁠ https://www.usermag.co     ⁠  In this episode of Free Speech Friday, I’m joined by legal scholar and surveillance expert Albert Fox Cahn to dismantle the "Move...

Iranian LEGO videos mocking the US government are taking over the internet.  Support my independent journalism:  🙏 Patreon: ⁠ https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz     ⁠  🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: ⁠ https://www.usermag.co     ⁠  We are living in an era where global internet culture and meme warfare are just as influential as traditional media and LEGOs are being used to create...

Are we losing our right to online privacy entirely?  Support my independent journalism:  🙏 Patreon: ⁠ https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz   ⁠  🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: ⁠ https://www.usermag.co   ⁠  In this episode of Free Speech Friday, I sat down with Cindy Cohn, former head of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and author of the new book Privacy's Defender. We di...

Skibidi Toilet changed how storytelling works on YouTube. But behind the scenes, things got messy. Support my independent journalism:  🙏 Patreon : ⁠ https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz   ⁠  🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: ⁠ https://www.usermag.co   ⁠  Back in 2023, a creator named Alexey (better known as DaFuqBoom) launched a super weird, viral series about a singing head in a toil...

AI Surveillance is taking over our schools. Support my independent journalism: 🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz 🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: https://www.usermag.co Kent Myrtle, a Wichita bus driver, has been blowing the whistle on AI-powered cameras being installed on school buses. From Wichita to Massachusetts, school districts are partnering with companies like S...

Kyle Chayka is a writer for the New Yorker, and on this week's Power User he joins me to break down the rise of AI fruit slop dramas.  Support my independent journalism: 🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz        🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: https://www.usermag.co       Millions and millions of TikTok users are tuning into an AI generated short form show called Fruit...

[SPECIAL BONUS EPISODE] Why the internet is trying to "end" Chappell Roan. Support my independent journalism: 🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz       🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: https://www.usermag.co      Twitch streamer and cultural commentator Caroline Kwan joins me to break down the massive viral controversy surrounding Chappell Roan. What started as...

Everything you've been told about the "social media addiction" trial is wrong.  Support my independent journalism: 🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/taylorlorenz          🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: https://www.usermag.co         Everyone is celebrating the $400 million fine against Meta and Mark Zuckerberg, but it's a massive win for Big Tech. In this episode of Free Speech Frida...

This show created one of the fastest fandoms ever. Support my independent journalism: 🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/taylorlorenz         🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: https://www.usermag.co     Over the past few months, a series born from a niche, self-published Canadian romance novel became one of the biggest cultural phenomenons on the internet. In this episode of Power User,...

The Internet Is Being Deleted.  Support my independent journalism: 🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/taylorlorenz        🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: https://www.usermag.co       We are witnessing a massive, systematic erasure of digital history. From war crime investigations to grassroots activism and historical archives, the "permanent" web is vanishing.  In this episod...

Why Does The Internet Think Every Famous Person Is A Clone? The Jim Carrey Clone Conspiracy Explained Support my independent journalism: 🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/taylorlorenz       🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: https://www.usermag.co      After his appearance at the Cesar Awards in Paris, the internet exploded with a bizarre theory: Jim Carrey had been replaced by a clone o...

What is Section 230 and why is everyone trying to kill it? Support my independent journalism: 🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz     🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: https://www.usermag.co    In the latest episode of my Section 230 mini-series I’m joined by Mike Masnick, founder of Techdirt and host of the amazing Section 230 podcast Otherwise Objectionable.  Mike breaks...

BUY COLA CORP APPAREL: https://www.thecolacorporation.com   (None of this is sponsored, I just really want people to support him!!!!)  Support my independent journalism: 🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz       🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: https://www.usermag.co      What happens when the government doesn't like your t-shirts?  Joe, founder of Cola Corporation, h...

 Is The Nicki Minaj Bot Scandal the Future of Politics? Support my independent journalism: 🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz      🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: https://www.usermag.co     The lines between entertainment, celebrity beef, and political propaganda are blurring. A few weeks ago, a POLITICO report sent shockwaves through Stan Twitter and the MAGA internet....

Are social media algorithms actually destroying the internet?  Support my independent journalism: 🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz      🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: https://www.usermag.co     In this episode of my Section 230 series, I sit down with Eric Goldman, Associate Dean for Research and Professor at Santa Clara Law, and one of the nation's foremost expe...

The AI industry just had one of its biggest controversies ever. Support my independent journalism: 🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz        🗞️ Substack: https://www.usermag.co        A massive conflict between the Pentagon and leading AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI has triggered a nationwide debate about how artificial intelligence should be used in warfare and surveillan...

How Jeffrey Epstein Shaped the Modern Internet: From 4chan to Facebook  Support my independent journalism: 🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz       🗞️ Substack: https://www.usermag.co       Since the release of the Epstein files, we've learned a ton about Epstein's role in the early web. From 4chan to World of Warcraft, to Facebook, and online movements like gamergate and...

How Section 230 Became a Reproductive Rights Issue Support my independent journalism: 🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz      🗞️ Substack: https://www.usermag.co      In this episode of my Section 230 mini series, I break down how anti abortion groups are targeting the internet itself. From the 1873 Comstock Act to modern day efforts to repeal Section 230, there is a long history...

The Trump admin publicly bragged about demanding that Apple and Facebook remove ICE watch apps and Facebook groups documenting ICE activity, and Big Tech is complying. Support my independent journalism: 🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz     🗞️ Substack: https://www.usermag.co     [FREE SPEECH FRIDAY] Since last year, Meta, Apple, and other big tech platforms have been mass removi...

Would you pay $65,000 to have ChatGPT teach your kids? Support my independent journalism: 🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz     🗞️ Substack: https://www.usermag.co     404 Media reporter Emmanuel Maiberg joins to discuss the disturbing truth behind Alpha School, an AI-powered private school that has been getting massive hype from mainstream media. While Alpha School promises pare...

FOSTA/SESTA shows what happens when you "reform" and chip away at Section 230. Welcome back to my Section 230 mini-series, where I break down the most important and misunderstood law about the internet!! Support my independent journalism: 🙏 Patreon : https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz     🗞️ Substack: https://www.usermag.co      FOSTA-SESTA was the first major amendment and carve-o...

Democrats just handed ICE exactly what ICE asked for. [FREE SPEECH FRIDAY] If you value my reporting, please, please support my work 👇👇👇 Join the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz        Subscribe to my Substack:   https://www.usermag.co     Body cameras were supposed to hold police accountable. So why is police violence still rising? Why are cops almost never convicted using bod...

Are dumb phones actually the solution to our anxieties, or are they a $400 scam built on a moral panic? ~~~~~~~~~~ My work is 100% self-funded and this series is not backed by any advertisers or tech giants.  If you value my reporting, please, please support my channel:  Join the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz       Subscribe to my Substack:   https://www.usermag.co    ~~~~~~~~~~...

Sen. Ron Wyden speaks about Section 230, internet freedom, free speech, and how Trump is pushing big tech's policies.  Big Tech interest groups and reactionary non-profits are spending millions to try to get Section 230 revoked. My work is 100% self-funded. This series is not backed by any advertisers or tech giants. If you value this reporting, please, please support the channel:  Join the Pa...