Taylor Lorenz’s Power User

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.

  1. 1 DAY AGO

    The Public Health Internet Is Crumbling

    Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 https://www.usermag.co  The internet has become the primary way that people get public health information. Especially since the pandemic began in 2020, millions of people have turned to platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and newsletters to keep up to date on things like food recalls, infectious disease reports, and more.  But now, CDC social media channels have gone dark, and the agency's public health communication across the internet is being cut off and dismantled. Chiara Eisner is an investigative reporter at NPR and she's been covering the fiasco at the CDC. We talk about the crucial role that the internet plays in public health and why what's happening right now under Trump and RFK and why it might set us back decades.  Follow me: https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz  https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0  https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

    29 min

  2. 3 DAYS AGO

    How Companies Learned Everything About Us

    I'm proud to partner with DeleteMe. Get 20% off their plans: joindeleteme.com/taylor20 This is the first video in my new series on data brokers and the dark history of digital surveillance. I dig into how surveillance capitalism evolved, the companies profiting from intimate details about your life, and how it all began long before the internet. I reveal the industry's origins from early government tracking systems to invisible surveillance networks fueling ultra-targeted ads. How corporations are able to build data profiles so detailed that they can predict when you’re going to get sick, where you're likely to live, and even discover you're pregnant before your own family. Let me know what you think in the comments! I worked so hard on this one 🙏 Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 https://www.usermag.co  Follow me: https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz  https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0  https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

    36 min

  3. 6 DAYS AGO

    ICE Is Building a Nationwide Tracking System (and Your Data is In It)

    Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 https://www.usermag.co  The U.S. government is quietly building the largest surveillance system in modern history. In this episode of Free Speech Friday, I break down how agencies like ICE, DHS are weaponizing your personal data including tax filings, medical records, license plate scans, and more, to hunt innocent people down across the country. The Department of Homeland Security is also exploring ways to access IRS data on millions of U.S. citizens "associated with criminal activity" or who have shown support for "terrorism." I break down ICE’s growing surveillance empire, the risks of government data abuse, and the terrifying consequences for civil liberties if we don't fight back.  ProPublica article: https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-irs-share-tax-records-ice-dhs-deportations Subscribe to my newsletter: ⁠⁠https://www.usermag.co⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz  https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0  https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

    13 min

  4. 23 JUL

    Why we can’t stop doxxing people for fun

    Last week, a couple featured on the Jumbotron during a Coldplay concert in Boston went viral for being caught cheating. Within minutes of the video spreading on TikTok and X, users rallied together to identify the couple in the video using AI and facial recognition tools. Crowdsourced social media investigations are becoming more and more common, and the people conducting them are leveraging increasingly dystopian surveillance tech that police and the feds are using against undocumented immigrants and marginalized groups. Meanwhile, all of our privacy is being eroded. Jason Koebler from 404 Media joined me to dig into the origins of the surveillance-entertainment economy, how and why it evolved, and what we can do to protect ourselves. ***** Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 https://www.usermag.co ***** Follow me: https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0 https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz Subscribe to 404 Media: https://www.youtube.com/@404Mediaco

    41 min

  5. 18 JUL

    AI Deepfake Panic is Killing Free Speech

    There's a bill right now in congress  called the NO FAKES act that claims it will protect you from deepfakes. "In this new era of AI, we need real laws to protect real people,"  Rep. Maria Salazar said when announcing the bill. "The NO FAKES Act is simple and sacred: you own your identity, not Big Tech, not scammers, not algorithms."  As usual, none of this is what the law actually does!!!!!  The NO FAKES act is actually an incredibly sloppy and dangerous piece of legislation that could destroy lives, eradicate privacy, and lead to sweeping censorship of journalistic and constitutionally protected speech. There's a reason that major civil liberties orgs are sounding the alarm about this proposed law.  The NO FAKES act is "something that could change the internet forever, harming speech and innovation from here on out," The Electronic Frontier Foundation recently declared.  This bill would be a disaster for online speech and free expression. The Center for Democracy and Technology published an open letter opposing the proposed law. Kate Ruane is the director for the Center for Democracy and Technology's Free Expression Project. She joined this week's episode of my Free Speech Friday series to break down what the NO FAKES act really says and why we need to fight back against it. ***** Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 https://www.usermag.co *****  Subscribe to my newsletter: ⁠⁠https://www.usermag.co⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz  https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0  https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

    24 min

  6. 16 JUL

    Diddy And The Death of #MeToo: How Diddy’s Trial Was Weaponized Online

    Earlier this month, Sean “Diddy” Combs was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering after a high-profile federal trial. The acquittals show how high profile men accused of sexual abuse and wrongdoing still often escape justice.  Already the outcome is being co-opted by the far right and manosphere spaces who are spinning it as proof that movements like #MeToo are overreaching.  Today we're talking about why the Diddy case was a pivotal moment online and why celebrity trials like this do matter in the political sphere now. To break it all down I brought on Caroline Kwan, a prolific Twitch streamer who covers pop culture and political news, and Kat Tenbarge, a phenomenal independent journalist. ***** Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 https://www.usermag.co *****  Subscribe to my newsletter: ⁠⁠https://www.usermag.co⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz  https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0  https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz https://bsky.app/profile/taylorlorenz.bsky.social

    54 min

  7. 11 JUL

    Is a YouTuber Using Copyright Law to Silence Speech?

    [FREE SPEECH FRIDAY] For decades, content creators have fought against oppressive copyright law. Copyright claims have been wielded by powerful corporations to take down videos, suppress criticism, and stifle parody through rigid enforcement of online speech. But now, a troubling shift is unfolding: legal attacks that were once used almost exclusively by powerful media companies, are being weaponized by a big content creator against smaller content creators. Meredith Rose is a senior policy counsel at Public Knowledge, a non profit promoting freedom of expression and an open internet. She joins me to talk about how copyright law and discussions of fair use are central to the fight over free speech in the digital age! ***** Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 https://www.usermag.co *****  Subscribe to my newsletter: ⁠⁠https://www.usermag.co⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz  https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0  https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz https://bsky.app/profile/taylorlorenz.bsky.social

    37 min

  8. 9 JUL

    MAGA's Epstein Crashout And What's Next w/ Will Sommer

    After years of hype and promises to destroy the deep state, the Department of Justice and FBI publicly declared there is no “client list” linking Jeffrey Epstein to prominent figures, this week. They also confirmed Epstein died by suicide and said told all of MAGA basically to drop the issue.  Now, MAGA influencers are accusing Trump of a cover up, the right wing internet is in disarray, and it remains unclear what will happen next. The Epstein cover up has been the defining conspiracy on the right linking MAGA factions together. Will Sommer is a reporter at The Bulwark who covers the right wing internet. He joined me to break down what's going on and what's next for the right.  ***** Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 https://www.usermag.co *****  Subscribe to my newsletter: ⁠⁠https://www.usermag.co⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz  https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0  https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz https://bsky.app/profile/taylorlorenz.bsky.social

    31 min
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About

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.

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