TED Talks Daily | “Going viral taught me the internet is broken — but fixable”
Speaker: Deja Foxx
Host: Elise Hu
Date: October 6, 2025
Episode Overview
In this TED Talk, activist and content creator Deja Foxx shares her transformative journey after a viral moment at age 16, exploring both the empowering and damaging effects of online fame for young women. She details how confronting online harassment inspired her to build and advocate for girl-led digital spaces, ultimately calling for a more equitable, safer internet designed by and for women. Through poignant personal stories and promising case studies, Foxx sketches a blueprint for creating a new “Girl Internet” where respect, ownership, and community are foundational.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Personal Journey to Online Advocacy
- Background: Raised by a single mom in Tucson, Arizona, Foxx moved out at 15 due to her mother’s struggles with substance abuse.
- Turning Point: At 16, after her senator voted to cut essential birth control funding, she confronted him at a town hall. The viral video catapulted her into national attention.
- “My life went from private to public... Social media put me, a 16-year-old girl working at a gas station, on even footing in the public discourse with a United States senator.” (Deja Foxx, 03:33)
2. The Double-Edged Sword of Virality
- Opportunities: Gained a powerful platform, media requests, and new career opportunities.
- Harms: Became a target of mass online harassment, especially during the pandemic isolation.
- “Four days later, hundreds of thousands of impressions... and this cyber mob had filled my DMs and comments across all social media platforms.” (Deja Foxx, 05:10)
- Emotional Toll: Woke up to threats and invasive comments, highlighting the lack of platform-level solutions for hate and harassment.
- “Social media platforms didn't have a solution for the hate that they facilitated, but young people in my community did.” (Deja Foxx, 06:36)
3. Building Girl-Led Digital Communities
- Gen Z Girl Gang: Founded out of her dorm in 2019 as a digital collective redefining sisterhood online.
- “In 2021, we had never met in real life, but when I needed her, [Maya] was there... She went in and deleted hateful comments and DMs before I could ever even see them.” (Deja Foxx, 06:52)
- Mutual Aid Examples: Pandemic support chats saw young women helping each other financially and professionally.
4. Envisioning the ‘Girl Internet’
- Archive of Our Own (AO3): A volunteer-driven, non-commercial fandom archive showcasing a survivable, scalable alternative structure.
- Innovative Women-Led Platforms:
- Lore: AI-powered search for fangirls, built from Stan account experience.
- Sunroom: Monetized content platform with content moderation focused on a woman’s perspective; zero tolerance for harassment.
- dm: Anonymous Q&A app built by and for women, crucial for reproductive health privacy during political upheavals.
- “They reward conversations that train their algorithm with gems. They work a lot like credit card points... I even saw a dad of two little girls coming to DM to ask for advice.” (Deja Foxx, 10:54)
5. A Case for a Safer, More Accountable Internet
- Main Point: Platforms profoundly shape civil discourse and economic opportunity—participation shouldn’t require weathering hate.
- “We should not be forced to participate in hate-for-profit business models just to participate in that public discourse.” (Deja Foxx, 11:48)
- Historical Perspective: Reminds us of the youth and original problematic motivations behind today’s dominant platforms.
- “These social media platforms... are by and large younger than me and I was born in 2000. Not to mention that many of the men who founded them were younger than me too, and in the case of Facebook... more interested in rating their female classmates than democratizing who gets to participate in our political and public discourse.” (Deja Foxx, 12:09)
6. The Promise and Hope of the Digital Age
- Personal Validation: The internet enabled her to win scholarships, work on a presidential campaign, and run for office.
- Call to Action: Invites all generations to join her in creating a better digital future.
- “I believe in the promise of the Internet and I'm asking you to join my generation to fight for it. Let's build our digital future together.” (Deja Foxx, 12:31)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- “My world has opened up in unimaginable ways because of social media, both good and bad.” (Deja Foxx, 04:01)
- “We deserve respect for our rights, privacy and safety by design, not as an afterthought.” (Deja Foxx, 07:46)
- “In my experience, it is teenage girls that are the digital strategists of our time.” (Deja Foxx, 08:49)
- “So let me be the first to welcome you to the Girl Internet.” (Deja Foxx, 09:16)
- “While these apps are built by and for the girls, their benefits go far beyond — they model an internet with respect, control, ownership.” (Deja Foxx, 11:12)
Timestamps for Key Segments
- 02:40 — Deja Foxx’s origin story and going viral
- 03:33 — The impact of virality & sudden fame
- 05:10 — Online harassment and its fallout
- 06:36 — Community-led support against online abuse
- 09:16 — Examples of women-led digital spaces
- 10:54 — “dm” app and its impact on reproductive health info
- 11:48 — Critique of hate-for-profit social media models
- 12:09 — Reflecting on social network founders
- 12:31 — Closing call to action: building the internet’s future together
Conclusion
Deja Foxx’s TED Talk vividly illustrates both how the current internet system can fail vulnerable users, and how communities—especially young women—are actively building a better digital future. Her personal narrative and practical models for change point listeners toward a more inclusive, respectful, and empowering web.