Power User with Taylor Lorenz

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 effort that's been decades in the making. 

David Enrich's forthcoming book, Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful, delves into the organized efforts by elite individuals to challenge longstanding free speech protections and suppress dissenting voices.

David joins me discuss the origins of this legal assault, its implications for investigative journalism in both new media and old, and what this all means for the future of free speech in America.​

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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 transformed the online landscape and the content that you see. It plays a central role in the alt-right pipeline for women. 

I talked to Ophie Dokie, the brilliant content creator and commentator who coined the term, to discuss the origins of misogyny slop, what creators and communities make up this ecosystem, how it became so insanely profitable, and how all of it ultimately funnels women directly into the far right media machine. 

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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 impact of the 00s on our tech landscape. 

Colette gives a nostalgic but critical account of the decade that set the stage for the digital revolution. She discusses what we can learn from the golden age of dial-up internet and tech optimism, and how the aughts ultimately set the stage for today’s hyper-surveilled, algorithm-driven world. 

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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 obsessed with having children and how their vision of the future is entangled with right-wing ideology, eugenics, and genetic engineering. From embryo selection to potential threats to reproductive rights, Julia and Taylor explore the unsettling ways pronatalist thinking is creeping into politics and culture.

What does this mean for the future of parenthood, women’s autonomy, and the broader social landscape? And is this really about saving humanity—or something else entirely?

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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 other tactics the company has employed to squeeze artists and upend the content ecosystem.

They also dig into how Spotify's algorithm-driven playlists have reshaped not just listening habits but also the very nature of music production, artist careers, and industry power structures.

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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 the people Musk is hiring, and what the billionaire is currently doing to the U.S. government.

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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 "Why I left MAGA."

Taylor sits down with Clarkson to talk about the behind-the-scenes reality of being a right-wing content creator, the industry forces that keep influencers tethered to Trumpism, what made him ultimately change his mind, and how he plans to navigate the choppy waters of the internet going forward. 

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 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.