Taylor Lorenz’s Power User

FREE SPEECH FRIDAY SUPPORT ME ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/taylorlorenz   Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 https://www.usermag.co     For the first time in fifteen years, there’s a real shot at ending billionaire control of American politics. A groundbreaking legal effort spearheaded by Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig, backed by an unlikely coalition of billionaires like Mark Cuban and Reid Hoffman, is taking direct aim at the legal foundation that created Super PACs. I'm going to be covering this legal fight closely. Larry Lessig joined me on this week's Free Speech Friday to break down his legal fight, where things stand, and what needs to happen next in order to win this fight. If you like this video, please support me on Patreon!! https://www.patreon.com/c/taylorlorenz  Follow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz      https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0     https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz 

SUPPORT ME ON PATREON!!!!!!Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine, to support my work!!!! 🙏 https://www.usermag.co    Over the past two decades, Taylor Swift has dominated the pop charts and risen to the pinnacle of mainstream fame. She has amassed a $2 billion fortune, won 14 Grammy Awards, sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, headlined the highest-grossing concert tour in history, and built a vast real-estate and music catalog empire.But lately, the backlash to Swift is growing louder. She has been criticized for her silence on major political issues, for palling around with Trump supporters, her carbon footprint, and many are calling her latest album a flop. All of this raises the question, has Taylor Swift peaked, not just in popularity, but in cultural authority? Or is this just another cynical reinvention that she'll use to amass even more money and power? Journalist and Swiftie Kat Tenbarge joined me to discuss it all. If you like this video, please support me on Patreon!! https://www.patreon.com/c/taylorlorenz Follow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz     https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0    https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz 

SUPPORT ME ON PATREON!!!!!! https://www.patreon.com/c/taylorlorenz Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 https://www.usermag.co   FREE SPEECH FRIDAY Last weekend, popular cosplay Twitch streamer Emiru was assaulted at a meet-and-greet during Twitchcon. A man cut across several meet and greet lines and attempted to grab her for a kiss. The incident was obviously a catastrophic failure when it comes to keeping women creators safe But, after the Emiru incident, tons of big content creators began piling on on Twitter, pushing out of context clips attempting to show lax security at the event and calling for Dan Clancy's resignation. They began weaponizing the attack on a woman creator to push their own reactionary agendas.  Kat Tenbarge has been covering gender-based violence for nearly a decade and she joined me this week to break down what exactly went down at Twitchcon, why more security doesn't exactly lead to more safety for women, and what the true issue at the heart of all of this is. These attacks on women creators silence women and prevent them from speaking and expressing themselves freely. If you like this video, please support me on Patreon!! https://www.patreon.com/c/taylorlorenz Follow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz    https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0   https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

SUPPORT ME ON PATREON!!! Get bonus episodes and more. Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 As live-streaming becomes an increasingly dominant form of entertainment, Twitch is at a crossroads. Dan Clancy is the CEO of Twitch, and I sat down with him this weekend at Twitchcon to discuss how Twitch is evolving, its broader role in the creator economy over the next 10 years, competition from Hollywood, AI, and how he thinks about balancing streamers' creative freedom with safety concerns. Here's our interview.If you like this video, please support me on Patreon!! Follow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz    https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0   https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

SUPPORT ME ON PATREON!!!Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 https://www.usermag.co  Welcome back to Free Speech Friday!Recently, Trump signed a little-noticed national security directive identifying a slew of views like “anti-Christian” and “anti-American” beliefs as indicators of "radical left violence" and terrorism. The directive is called NSPM-7. NSPM-7carries serious implications for freedom of speech and opens the door to dangerous levels of censorship. In NSPM-7, Trump directs the Justice Department, the FBI, and other national security agencies to fight his version of political violence, retooling a network of Joint Terrorism Task Forces to focus on “leftist” political violence in America. Ken Klippenstein has been covering all this. He joined me today to break down NSPM-7 and what it means for speech in America. Under the new directive, anyone expressing views that could be construed as any of the following, could be classified by the government as a terrorist:anti-Americanism,anti-capitalism,anti-Christianity,support for the overthrow of the United States Government,extremism on migration,extremism on race,extremism on genderhostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family,hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on religion, andhostility towards those who hold traditional American views on morality.Ken's story: https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/trumps-nspm-7-labels-common-beliefsIf you like this video, please support me on Patreon!! https://www.patreon.com/c/taylorlorenz Follow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz   https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0  https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

SUPPORT ME ON PATREON. Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 Hasan Piker has never abused his dog, but you'd never know that from the video clips spreading all over the internet. The backlash that Piker is facing shows the consequences of a world where everyone is constantly being recorded and our internet is built to reward outrage and controversy. In this episode, I dive into the recent viral conspiracy and false claims about Piker and Kaya, unpacking how a single, out-of-context clip spiraled into a full-blown harassment campaign, fueled by bad actors and politically motivated smear tactics. I unpack how the Hasan Piker dog collar incident is a warning sign of a dystopian future where 24/7 video surveillance merges with online outrage farming. As AI and algorithmic amplification make it easier to manipulate and weaponize video, the problems influencers face today will soon affect us all. If you like this video, please support me on Patreon!! https://www.patreon.com/c/taylorlorenz Follow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz   https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0  https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

To listen to this full episode support me on Patreon. SUPPORT ME ON PATREON.Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 We're facing a tsunami of AI-generated music that is rapidly transforming the digital soundscape and expanding far beyond Spotify. It's already beginning to dominate platforms like YouTube, SoundCloud, and other major streaming services. Generative tools are able to produce entire songs complete with realistic vocals, melodies, and high production quality. AI artists are flooding recommendation algorithms and trending charts.Kieran Press Reynolds is a writer at Pitchfork, and he's been covering all of this. He joined me to talk about the rise of AI music and what deepfake vocals, manufactured sounds and this flood of AI generated content means for the future of the music industry and the role music plays in our culture. Follow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz    https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0   https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

SUPPORT ME ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/taylorlorenz Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 https://www.usermag.co  ICE is preparing to deploy a sweeping new surveillance system that would allow it to monitor the real-time movements and online activity of millions of people. Internal documents. The two key tools, Tangles and WebLoc, were originally designed by the Israeli intelligence firm Cobwebs.  Together, they enable ICE analysts to fuse billions of mobile location points with data scraped from platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and Reddit to build detailed digital dossiers on anyone. This expansion of ICE’s data surveillance efforts comes amid broader federal initiatives to monitor social media and suppress dissent. Reports indicate ICE will contract private analysts to continuously scan major platforms for “anti-American” or “anti-Christian” speech under the Trump administration’s new NSPM-7 directive. This is yet another dangerous escalation of mass surveillance and political targeting, undermining First and Fourth Amendment protections. If you like this video, please support me on Patreon!! https://www.patreon.com/c/taylorlorenz Follow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz   https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0  https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

SUPPORT ME ON PATREON!!Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 Nearly a decade ago, Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road dark web marketplace was sentenced to a double life sentence in prison. Now, he's out and has become a powerful influencer and political figure in the MAGA movement.Ryan Mac at the New York Times has been covering Ulbricht for over a decade. He joined me to dive deep into Ulbrict's' past, how the Silk Road transformed the web, and how this crazy alliance between bitcoin billionaires, libertarians, and MAGA die-hards has skyrocketed Ulbricht to fame and set him up for a major role in politics.  If you like this video, please support me on Patreon!! READ RYAN'S FANTASTIC NYT STORY: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/technology/ross-ulbricht-silk-road-comeback.htmlFollow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0 https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

SUPPORT ME ON PATREON!!!!Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 A VPN hides your IP address, making it harder for hackers, corporations and the government to track your activity. Most people know VPNs as a way to get around geogating (like if content is banned in one country you can use a VPN to get around the ban).But as authoritarian governments in places like America and the UK seek to crack down on online speech, VPNs are under attack. It's getting harder and harder to use them effectively, and recently there's even been talk of an outright ban. Lia Holland is an activist at Fight for the Future, a civil liberties group fighting to protect VPN access. She joined me to dig into the political campaign against VPNs and talk about how to fight back. PS: A lot of VPNs are owned by Israel!! Or they trap you into subscription plans. Be careful before downloading one, here's a guide from the EFF on VPNs: https://ssd.eff.org/module/choosing-vpn-thats-right-youFight For the Future's Defend VPNs campaign: https://www.defendvpns.com If you like this video, please support me on Patreon!! https://www.patreon.com/c/taylorlorenzFollow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0 https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

SUPPORT ME ON PATREON!!Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 AI slop is slowly taking over every platform. "But the flood of financially incentivized sloe has also given way to a strange new internet, where social media feeds overflow with unsettlingly lifelike imagery and even real videos can appear suspect," WaPo reports. "Some viral clips now barely rely on humans at all, with AI tools generating not just the imagery but also the ideas."There's YouTube Slop, Instagram Reel Slop, Slop all over TikTokk LinkedIn, and X. But who's behind this deluge of deranged and often extremely surreal content? Drew Harwell is a journalist at the Washington Post and he's been digging into the slop economy. He joins me to talk about the mad rush of creators using AI video tools to flood the internet, how they're making money, and what the future of content looks like as slop eats the world.If you like this video, please support me on Patreon!! Follow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0 https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

Visit https://joindeleteme.com/Taylor20 and use code Taylor20 for 20% off and protect yourself today! SUPPORT ME ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/taylorlorenzAds are following us everywhere, data brokers and hackers are stealing our info, social media companies and AI are hoovering up our data. It can all feel SO overwhelming. In this final installment of my data broker series, I sat down with two of the top security experts on YouTube, John Hammond and Josh from All Things Secured, to break down how vulnerable you might be and what practical things you can do to protect your information online. If you like this video, please support me on Patreon!! https://www.patreon.com/c/taylorlorenzFollow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0 https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

Visit JoinDeleteMe.com/Taylor20 and use code Taylor20 for 20% off and protect yourself today! SUPPORT ME ON PATREON.Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 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. If you like this video, please support me on Patreon!! https://www.patreon.com/c/taylorlorenzFollow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0 https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

SUPPORT ME ON PATREON.Buy a subscription to my tech and online culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 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. If you like this video, please support me on Patreon!! Follow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0 https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

SUPPORT ME ON PATREON!!!Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 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.  If you like this video, please support me on Patreon!!Follow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0 https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

SUPPORT ME ON PATREONBuy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 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.I worked so hard on this video, if you like it please support me on Patreon where I publish bonus episodes, monthly livestreams, and more! Follow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0 https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

[Patreon Preview] To listen to/watch this full episode, ⁠sign up for my Patreon⁠!Signing up for the Patreon will get you access to one bonus episode per month, the ability to listen/watch without ads, and you're helping to support the show. Join today!! 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.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 my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/taylorlorenz

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 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.  Follow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0 https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

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 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. Follow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0 https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

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 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. Follow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0 https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz