Power User with Taylor Lorenz
Power User explores how technology and the internet are upending our lives and the world around us. Each week, tech journalist Taylor Lorenz explores everything from online fame to emerging platforms, viral phenomena, the creator economy, and much more. Tune in every Thursday for the most influential stories that Silicon Valley often ignores.
Episodes
From middle schoolers riffing on school lunch to kids interviewing political figures, podcasting is no longer just for adults. With high-end mics, massive TikTok followings, and brand deals from major companies, tween podcast hosts are building real media platforms from their bedrooms and local studios.
New York Magazine's EJ Dickson joins me to break down who the major players are in this growing space, including the MD Foodie Boyz...
From Ohio to North Dakota, thousands of people have suddenly gotten brand new newspapers delivered to their doorsteps out of the blue. These newspapers are fake news outlets created by the oil and gas industry to influence public opinion in key districts, and they're having a major impact.
Top investigative journalist Miranda Green has been uncovering these schemes. She joins me to talk about how these shady publications are mimicki...
Since Trump took office, the official White House social media accounts have been posting a bit… differently. Drew Harwell, my former colleague at The Washington Post, has been covering the Trump White House's digital strategy.
Today, he joins me to unpack the White House's hyper-online social media cruelty, the inner workings of its digital team, how the Trump administration has transformed its traditional press shop into a rapid-r...
Ever since Ashton Hall's morning routine went viral last week, I've been dying to chat about it with my friend Matt Bernstein of the podcast A Bit Fruity to about it all.
We joined up to break down the history and evolution of modern masculinity, the allure and absurdity of the modern "alpha male" archetype, the rise of isolationist masculinity and exactly how things ended up this way, and what videos like Ashton Hall's can tell us...
Over the past few weeks, Tesla has been crumbling. The company's stock, which was once considered invincible, has now plunged to around $250 a share, down from nearly double that in December. Sales are plummeting, dealerships are overrun with protests, and Teslas on the street are being subject to petty vandalism.
All of this is happening because of Elon Musk. Since Trump took office and appointed Musk as the head of the very poorl...
Chair of the Federal Communications Commission Brendan Carr has quietly positioned himself as one of the most dangerous figures in the Trump administration’s ongoing war on free speech.
Carr is using his government position to intimidate journalists, punish media outlets, and pressure tech companies into cracking down on free expression. And he has done all of this while building his profile as a "free speech" influencer o...
In 1964, the Supreme Court passed a landmark case called The New York Times v Sullivan, that established the right to a free press by protecting the media against erroneous lawsuits. The ruling has been instrumental in allowing journalists to scrutinize public figures, powerful corporations, and political leaders without undue fear of litigation.
But now, that landmark decision is in jeopardy thanks to a coordinated right wing legal...
Have you been bombarded with non stop content about Blake Lively vs Justin Baldoni? The Misogyny Slop Ecosystem is a sprawling network of online creators and communities that manufacture and boost smear campaigns against women who speak out for women's rights, or have been victims of gender-based crimes like sexual assault, harassment, or abuse.
Though you might have never heard of it, the misogyny slop ecosystem has radically tran...
The 2000s were a formative decade for tech. From the dot com bubble to the rise of social media, to the chaotic days of early blogging, the iMac, and emergence of the PayPal Mafia, the 00s shaped our online world in ways we’re still reckoning with.
Colette Shade is the author of the brand new bestselling book Y2K: How the 2000s Became Everything (Essays on the Future That Never Was). Today she joins Taylor to unpack the lasting impa...
Last week, it was revealed that Elon Musk had welcomed his 13th child into the world several months ago with a conservative influencer. But he’s not the only tech mogul fixated on boosting birth rates. In this episode, journalist Julia Black joins Taylor to discuss the rise of pronatalism in Silicon Valley—a growing movement encouraging people to have as many babies as possible.
They unpack why tech billionaires are so suddenly obs...
No platform has had more of impact on what we listen to over the past decade than Spotify. This week, Taylor is joined by journalist Liz Pelly, to discuss her new book "Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist."
They discuss the profound impact Spotify has had on the music industry, culture, and the way we consume sound.
Pelly reveals the truth about so-called "ghost artists" and oth...
Over the past week, Elon Musk has been engaged in a near wholesale takeover of key areas of the U.S. federal government. Working under the newly minted "Department of Government Efficiency" aka DOGE, Musk and a group of young Gen Z loyalists have begun wreaking havoc on our institutions.
Online culture journalist Ryan Broderick joins Taylor to break down who exactly these young men are, what their backgrounds say about ...
Clarkson Lawson was a prominent MAGA influencer on TikTok who amassed over 31 million likes on his videos. He built a platform as an outspoken Gen Z conservative making pro-Trump content. But in the months leading up to the election, something changed.
Despite building a massive audience on pro-Trump messaging, he had a change of heart and voted for Kamala Harris. Lawson announced his political pivot in a video titled "W...
Family vlogs are a huge category of online content. At their best, they show real parenting and the entertaining and relatable moments of family life. However, the content category has been plagued by accusations of child exploitation and new laws targeting creators claiming to protect children. Fortesa Latifi covers the space in-depth and joins Taylor to set the record straight.
Remember Gamergate? Well… it's happening again. After writing an exposé about how a video game consultancy was attacked, journalist Alyssa Mercante found herself in the crosshairs of a targeted harassment campaign.
Alyssa joins Taylor to discuss what it's like being at the center of an organized smear campaign, how she's fighting back.
Social media as we know it is in chaos. The landscape is becoming more centralized and creators are facing more challenges than ever. On top of all that, the very notion of a follower is dying and there's uncertainty about what that means for the future.
Jack Conte, the CEO and co-founder of Patreon, joins Taylor to discuss how to better serve creators.
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