AOC and Taylor Swift AI Deepfakes; TeaOnHer App; Crypto Bros Harass WNBA; Meta Loses Flo Lawsuit – NEWS ROUNDUP!

Summary

There Are No Girls on the Internet: News Roundup – August 8, 2025 Host: Bridget Todd Producer/Co-Host: Mike
Podcast: There Are No Girls on the Internet (iHeartPodcasts)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Bridget Todd and producer Mike dive into a whirlwind of internet news stories impacting marginalized communities and the intersection of tech, gender, and privacy. They bring sharp analysis and a dose of humor to hot topics, from the spread of AI-powered deepfakes and app privacy scandals to misogynistic stunts at WNBA games and a major lawsuit against Meta. Throughout, the hosts emphasize how internet culture—and its dysfunctions—disproportionately affect women and other underrepresented groups.

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Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. AI Deepfakes: Grok Imagine and Taylor Swift (08:09–15:13)

• Grok Imagine, X's (formerly Twitter) new AI tool, is generating sexually explicit deepfakes of Taylor Swift entirely unprompted, simply upon activating “spicy mode.”
• Lack of Guardrails: Unlike other AI tools like Google’s Imagen or OpenAI’s Sora, Grok Imagine does not clearly prohibit sexual/pornographic or nonconsensual celebrity content; its Acceptable Use Policy only tiptoes around explicit nudity.
• Gendered Harms: Prior viral Taylor Swift deepfakes on X show this is not new; tech companies’ “free speech” arguments often ignore nonconsensual sexualized content’s real harms.
• Quote (Bridget, 10:54):

  “Most mainstream AI companies will usually have a rule that is spelled out explicitly prohibiting folks from creating harmful content... Not at X. They have no such qualms.”

• Satirical Reflection (Mike, 14:51):

  “Communities can't have clean water or clean air, but we can be served up AI videos of Taylor Swift undressing without even asking for it... That is the future.”

• Analysis: The hosts are critical of X/Elon Musk’s choices, showing how the company enables the spread of harmful, misogynistic content through tech negligence or profit-seeking.

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2. The Tea/TAPP and Tea On Her App Data Breaches (18:31–36:24)

• App Wars: After the women-focused “Tea” app for sharing dating info was breached (exposing IDs, selfies), a copycat “Tea On Her” app targeting men also exposed users’ sensitive info—including government IDs.
• Hypocrisy & Gender Wars: Social reactions to leaks are gendered. Women faced blame, while little outrage greeted men’s data exposure. Both platforms failed at basic security.
• Quote (Bridget, 19:44):

  “I envision a world where all genders can have our data privacy compromised by sketchy apps in the name of gender equality.”

• Notable Segment:
  • Bridget points out how Manosphere voices hijack data breaches for “gender war” narratives, while good-faith conversations about trust/privacy get lost (23:07).
  • Mike raises tinfoil-hat doubts about whether the quick, copycat launches are grifts or just incompetence (31:30).
  • Bridget sums up:

    “People who might actually be trying to use these apps to keep themselves safe are being exploited by people who do not actually care about that, that are selling them a false bill of sale.” (36:18)

• Analysis: The hosts are scathing about how these ‘dating safety’ apps become vectors for exploitation, both through bad security and by fueling toxic gender politics online.

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3. Privacy & Period Tracking Apps: Meta Loses Flo Lawsuit (39:14–49:10)

• Context: After Roe’s overturn, people worry about period tracking app privacy. Flo, a leading app, was sued for sharing sensitive menstrual data with Meta and other third parties, despite confidentiality claims.
• Legal Victory: A jury found Meta illegally collected health data, violating California’s wiretap law. The core debate: does period tracking data count as protected health info?
• Quote (Plaintiffs' Attorney, relayed by Bridget, 41:55):

  “This verdict sends a clear message about the protection of digital health data and the responsibility of big tech companies... Profit from users’ most intimate information must be held accountable.”

• Mike’s Legal Insight: Many health/therapy apps dodge “health information” rules and HIPAA’s strict requirements; most users have a false sense of HIPAA protection (45:21).
• Takeaway (Bridget, 48:46):

  “How much do you trust Mark Zuckerberg with this kind of information about yourself? I don’t trust him at all.”

• Practical PSA: Always double-check app privacy, especially with health or location info. Don’t trust “delete” promises at face value.
• Analysis: Even landmark privacy wins may bring little financial penalty, but publicizing tech firms’ behavior helps educate and warn users.

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4. Instagram/Meta’s New Map Feature & Mass Distrust (49:10–57:49)

• Feature: Instagram rolled out a real-time location-sharing map (opt-in, but check your settings!).
• Distrust: Despite Meta’s claims, users (rightfully) fear involuntary sharing and mass data leakage, given Meta’s record of broken promises.
• Quote (Product Designer, relayed by Bridget, 55:07):

  “The real takeaway is no matter how clearly a new feature is explained, people won’t read the explanation or give it a try before rushing to alarm the world about it. Shruggy emoji.”

• Bridget’s Response:

  “That coming from somebody who is an internal product designer at Instagram tells me so much. These people simply do not get it... the reasons why people are not willing to trust them.” (55:55)

• Analysis: The hosts highlight the genuine foundation for consumer mistrust of big tech—and skewer Meta’s dismissive, out-of-touch attitude toward its user base.

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5. AOC and Sydney Sweeney Deepfake: Journalists Falling for Fakes (61:28–70:43)

• Incident: Chris Cuomo (ex-CNN, now News Nation) shares a deepfake video of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) criticizing a Sydney Sweeney jeans ad, failing to notice a clear AI-generated watermark.
• When called out, Cuomo doubled down:

  “You are correct, that was a deepfake... but it really does sound like you” before pivoting to another unrelated demand for AOC.

• Quote (Bridget, 66:32):

  “It can be difficult to see, like, oh, this is not real. I am getting taken by a fake video. So even though, in my opinion, this was very obviously AI... the fact that it aligns with Cuomo's worldview... I think that is why we see Cuomo now basically saying, well, it doesn't matter whether or not she actually said this.”

• Dark Implications (Mike, 67:46):

  “It just really illustrates exactly the way that AI is, like, destroying society, destroying democracy... someone who purports to be a journalist would just act like that distinction doesn’t even matter.”

• Analysis: This episode is a microcosm for democracy’s challenge: AI fakes will be weaponized, and even journalists may prioritize pre-existing bias over truth.

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6. Crypto Bros, the WNBA, and Sex Toy Harassment (71:20–80:13)

• Story: Crypto group “Green Dildo Coin” orchestrated the mass throwing of green sex toys onto WNBA courts as an “awareness” campaign for their meme coin, under the pretense it’s a protest against crypto influencers.
• Athlete’s Response, paraphrased by Bridget:

  “The sexualization of women is what is used to hold women down and this is no different... we need to take action. We're not the butt of the joke, they are.”

• Bridget’s Anger (78:35):

  “Do you think the women whose games you are disrupting give a crap about your crypto meme stock?... I cannot imagine a more pathetic way to spend your time.”

• Mike points out: If it’s really “all sports,” they’d do it at NFL or UFC events—“but they never would.” (78:56)
• Bridget sums up:

  “It has everything to do with humiliating women... I will not have it.” (79:07)

• Analysis: The event demonstrates the intersection of online misogyny, toxic crypto culture, and real-world harassment—the “prank” is transparently about targeting and humiliating women in public spaces.

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7. Bonus Moment: Linda McMahon and the A1 Steak Sauce Gaffe (80:21–81:44)

• Comic Relief: Playing circus music and the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” theme was used to drown out Linda McMahon’s clumsy attempt at talking “AI and education,” accidentally calling it “A1, like a steak sauce.”
• Bridget: “Chef’s kiss, no notes.”

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Notable Quotes

• On AI and deepfakes:

  “Most mainstream AI companies will usually have a rule... Not at X. They have no such qualms.”
  —Bridget (10:54)

• On gender and data breaches:

  “I envision a world where all genders can have our data privacy compromised by sketchy apps in the name of gender equality.”
  —Bridget (19:44)

• On privacy and period data:

  “How much do you trust Mark Zuckerberg with this kind of information about yourself? I don’t trust him at all.”
  —Bridget (48:46)

• On Meta’s user trust:

  “A lot of companies are like this, but Meta is like at another level.”
  —Mike (50:16)

• On journalists’ responsibility in the AI era:

  “It just really illustrates exactly the way that AI is, like, destroying society, destroying democracy...”
  —Mike (67:46)

• On crypto misogyny:

  “I cannot imagine a more pathetic way to spend your time... you fuck if anybody from this group is listening.”
  —Bridget (78:35)

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Key Timestamps

• 08:09 – AI Deepfakes & Grok Imagine’s harmful design
• 18:31 – TAPP & Tea On Her: Gender, hacking, hypocrisy, and app privacy
• 39:14 – Period tracking app lawsuit: Meta, Flow, & defining health data
• 49:10 – Instagram’s new map, privacy, and why no one trusts Meta
• 61:28 – Cuomo’s AOC deepfake blunder, journalists & AI fakes
• 71:20 – WNBA, sex toys, and the misogynistic crypto coin protest
• 80:21 – Linda McMahon’s A1 steak sauce AI gaffe (comic relief)

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Overall Tone & Style

• Clever, punchy, direct—Bridget and Mike blend righteous anger, sardonic humor (“Go choke on your green dildos”), and sharp critique of tech industry failings.
• Deep empathy with marginalized voices, especially women caught in the online crossfire.
• Well-researched, with references to legal cases, journalistic missteps, and platform policies.

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Conclusion

This news roundup unpacks a barrage of tech and culture stories revealing the internet’s endemic sexism, ongoing privacy risks, and the way bad actors—whether tech CEOs, crypto bros, or lazy journalists—keep exploiting existing inequalities. For listeners, it’s both a cathartic vent and a wake-up call: Stay vigilant, demand better, and never take what Big Tech tells you at face value.

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For more info, transcripts, or to contact the show, visit tangoti.com or reach out at helloangodi.com.

Transcript

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Thursday nights on Fox. There Are no Girls on the Internet. It's a production of iHeartRadio and unbossed creative. I'm Bridget Todd and this is There Are no Girls on the Internet. Welcome to another episode of There Are no Girls on the Internet where we explore the intersection of identity, technology and social media. And this is another iteration of our Pangoti Week news roundup where we summarize and break down the news online that you might have missed so you don't have to. I am joined by my producer Mike. Mike, thank you for being here. Welcome back to the show, Bridget.

[D]

Thanks for having me back. Always such a pleasure to be here with you on the Tangodi News roundup.

[A]

Okay, so listeners, settle a bet for me or weigh in on a conversation. So I was telling Mike off mic how much I wanted to watch this new movie, War of the Worlds with Ice Cube. Cube. And the reason I wanted to watch this movie is because it has achieved something truly historic, which is a less than 5% fresh rating on rotten Tomatoes. And I honestly think there's maybe there's like, two movies in the whole world that have ever had such a low rating on Rotten Tomatoes. To me, when the rating is very high or very low, they kind of achieve the same thing in that. I'm just so curious what's going on? I was like, mike, we should watch this and talk about on the podcast. You were like, absolutely not. I don't want to know what's going on with a movie that is this badly reviewed.

[D]

So last time I checked, its rating was not just less than 5%, it was 0%. It had a 0% rating of rotten Tomatoes, which, I don't know. Ordinarily I would be with you. Like, let's watch this train wreck. I'm there for it. I love bad movies. I love Mystery Science Theater. 3000 bad movies are great. But we watched the trailer. You got me sufficiently interested to watch the trailer, and it didn't do it. It was like, the whole thing is shot on Microsoft Teams.

[A]

Yes. Spoiler alert. The entire movie takes place on Microsoft Teams, which I feel like is the kind of idea that somebody in a pitch meeting said. And they were like, oh, that sounds good. And then when you actually see it, you're like, oh, no, this is not good.

[D]

It's like a sick joke. Like, nobody wants to do anything on Microsoft Teams, let alone like, spend 90 minutes recreationally watching a movie. It was just like jerky and bouncing around. I couldn't make out what was going on. I didn't want to make out what was going on. The dialogue was stilted and bad. Ice Cube looked stressed.

[A]

He even Ice Cube is like, how did I get roped up into this? Like, who? Like, where? What? What ball was dropped on my team that I am here on teams? In this remake of War of the Worlds, one of the reviews I read was in the mini. In the many remakes of this movie, War of the Worlds, I remember the Tom Cruise remake. I think in, like, the early aughts, this is the worst one. And again, that that piqued my interest. So I guess what I'm hearing is you are not interested in watching this and recapping it for the podcast. If I, if I want to do that, I have to. I have to get somebody else to be on the other end of the microphone is what I'm hearing.

[D]

Yeah, I mean, I, you know, I, I love your ambition that you're just going to go for it, to bring this hard hitting news to the listeners. But I just. That trailer, I don't know, it. It did not look good. Like, what did it. Did any part of it leave you wanting more?

[A]

Only reading the reviews because the reviews are so bad that if you're. If the reviewers were trying to make me not curious to see this movie, they did the opposite. Because I was like, well, dang, this sounds so bad. I have to see what's going on with this.

[D]

You know what it kind of reminds me of is Megalopolis. You remember that movie?

[A]

Did you ever end up seeing that?

[D]

I didn't, but I wanted to and I still want to. I have not made it a priority.

[A]

It is absolutely one of my favorite things in life is to read the reviews of a movie that has just been panned. I've not seen it either. But the reviews of that movie are also similarly. They're just so bad that I wasn't really that keen to see it. The reviews made me keen to see it because they're like, I almost want to. Let me see if I can pull some up.

[D]

Yeah, you look for some reviews because. So that's a movie that. The reviews, at least the early reviews were universally terrible. Like, this is the worst movie ever made. What was Francis Ford Coppola smoking like? And that made me want to watch it. Like, I still want to watch it because it sounds interesting. Like there was, there was ambition there. The synopses that I read sounded insane and like, like disconnected plot points. That's a movie that I want watching. Ice Cube, like, look around from one corner of his screen to another while glitchy news reports come in about aliens. I guess that. No, just. No.

[A]

I will say that the reviews of Megalopolis are now, I would call them mixed. They were not as, like, universally bad as when I first checked in. But my favorite though is from Johnny Olensky from the New York Post. A zero star wacko disaster. Right?

[D]

A wacko disaster. I'm here for a wacko disaster. I do not want to see a 90 minute Microsoft Teams disaster.

[A]

Okay, well, if you watch War of the Worlds with me, to recap it for the podcast, I will. I will watch Megalopolis with you. We'll do a. Like, we'll do a little agreement.

[D]

Okay. And then we'll, like, force our listeners to listen to recaps of these two terrible movies.

[A]

We will lose every listener that we have. Okay, wait. Well, speaking of wacko disasters, let's talk about Elon Musk.

[D]

Yeah. The most wacko, the most disaster.

[A]

Yeah. Do you remember when Elon Musk had these big, grand plans to make updates to his chat bot, Grok? And then, like, a day later, Grok started praising the Nazis and saying that my name is no longer Grok. My name is Mecca Hitler.

[D]

Oh, yeah, I remember. I mean, he made those updates. He trained it on 4chan and X and probably some other cesspools of hate and unleashed it on the world. He achieved his goal.

[A]

Okay, well, don't worry, because now it's also creating deep fake images of Taylor Swift completely unprompted.

[D]

Oh, good. Oh, good.

[A]

So we're right on. We're right on schedule because Grok Imagine, which is xai's new generative AI tool, created explicit deep fakes of Taylor Swift without even being specifically prompted or asked to do so. This is according to new reporting from the Verge. Now, folks will remember this is not the first time that X has been used in kind of a similar way. Back in January 2024, AI generated Taylor Swift deepfakes went viral on X. We'll drop the episode that we did from 2024 about that in the show notes, just in case you missed it. So if you're curious what happened this time. Well, Jess Weatherbed of the Verge discovered that Grok Imagine spit out uncensored topless videos of Taylor Swift the very first time she used this tool. She did not direct or ask the bot to depict these images, but once she turned on Grok Imagine's spicy mode, which is the setting that Elon Musk promoted in the days right after its launch, it churned out a video in which Taylor Swift tore off her clothing and began dancing around in a thong. And again, this was not something that she asked for. It's like, oh, let me see what this AI tool is doing. Oh, it's spitting out videos of Taylor Swift undressing. Now, this is not terribly surprising. There was a really good report in Mashable that pointed out all the ways that Grok Imagine lacks even the most basic guardrails around sexual deepfakes. Right now, the X AI Acceptable use policy prohibits users from depicting the likenesses of persons in pornographic manners. Unfortunately, there is some distance between sexual and pornographic, and Grok Imagine seems to be carefully calibrated to take advantage of that specific gray area. Grok Imagine will readily create sexually suggestive images and videos, but it does stop short of depicting actual nudity or sex acts. Huh.

[D]

So it's like the whole thing about the definition of pornography being I'll know it when I see it. We've now left that to Grok and Elon Musk to define pretty much.

[A]

Pretty much, you know, and most mainstream AI companies will usually have a rule that is spelled out explicitly prohibiting folks from creating harmful content which typically calls out by name sexual material or celebrity deep stakes. Right. You know, rival AI generators like Google VO3 or Sora from OpenAI usually have these built in protections that, that are an attempt to stop users from creating this kind of content. So you could not just type in, for instance, Taylor Swift deepfakes and actually generate them. When those Taylor Swift deepfakes went viral on X this the last time around, users had these workarounds to create it. So obviously explicitly prohibiting users from making this kind of sexually charged imagery doesn't stop the problem, but it arguably does create a bit of a barrier.

[D]

Yeah, and it just kind of, I don't know, like, appeals to common decency that you shouldn't be promoting non consensual nude imagery of people, even if they are celebrities. Like, it's just unsavory. And it seems like polite society shouldn't be pushing those tools onto everyone else.

[A]

Well, not at X. Because unlike its rivals, XAI does not shy away from not safe for work content in Grok. And folks might remember that it recently introduced ani, which is kind of a flirty sex bot anime avatar that will engage in not safe for work chats. Mashable reports that Grok's image generation tool does let users create images of celebrities and politicians. So it's telling to me that the competitors of Grok and Imagine spell out like, hey, don't use our platform in this way. Not at X. They have no such qualms.

[D]

It's like tempting to go down the free speech rabbit hole and be like, well, you know, the, the rules about free speech and First Amendment rights are different for celebrities and politicians. Like, you don't want to limit speech about them. But this just sounds like really gross. Setting aside the fact that that Verge reporter didn't even ask for, you know, nude images of Taylor Swift, it just, it feels super gross. You know, we know that Elon Musk has written a bunch of like highly specific rules into Grok. He's had or had his engineering teams do it because he I don't think can write code at all. But he's written a bunch of very specific stuff into Grok where before Grok answers a question, it will search Elon Musk's tweets to see how he what he thinks about an issue before providing a response. And so I was curious whether something like that might exist to prevent images of Elon Musk. So I don't pay for Grok premium or whatever it is because I'm not a Nazi so couldn't test out Grok imagine I think that's only available to to those folks, Nazis, Nazis and X users. Almost a Venn diagram that is almost a perfect circle at this point. But so I just asked like I asked it to draw me an image of Elon Musk in a bikini and and it did and it was terrible. And so I do have to give him that that he didn't add special rules to exempt himself from being depicted by Grok, at least in Grok 3.0, which I guess is a couple models below this new imagine one. But it was still terrible and I didn't feel any better after having done it. But I was curious and that curiosity has been satisfied and. And it was terrible.

[A]

Yeah, I mean you can really see what they mean when tech leaders tell us that this kind of technology, this is going to be the linchpin of our entire economy. Communities can't have clean water or clean air, but we can be served up AI videos of Taylor Swift undressing without even asking for it or going looking for it. That is the future.

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[D]

Oh, thank goodness, because I heard that actually it's been a problem lately.

[A]

Don't worry, we've. We've solved it because we have another update about the continuing fallout of the T app. That's right, the app designed for women to share information about men that they might be dating. We did a whole episode about this where we talked about how men were saying we should have our own TF where men can talk about the women. Notwithstanding the fact that do you think that men need a dedicated app to do this? Men have been like sharing like pictures of women and talking about women on group chats since forever. They don't need it. You don't need a dedicated platform to do it. But whatever. So the T on her app was meant to be exactly that. And TechCrunch reports that the tea on her app, the app for men to talk about women, has also exposed users personal information, including government IDs and selfies, a step in the right direction when it comes to gender equality and progress.

[D]

No, just classic race to the bottom stuff like no one can have anything nice. If everyone has nothing then then we're equal.

[A]

You know, I envision a world where all genders can have our data Privacy compromised by sketchy apps in the name of gender equality. The tea on her app, which launched on the Apple App Store earlier this week and shot to number two in the lifestyle category on the App Store. It borrowed language from the original T app for women in its Description. Here's what TechCrunch found TechCrunch found at least one security flaw that allows anyone to access data belonging to T on her app users, and including their usernames and associated email addresses, as well as driver's licenses and selfies that users uploaded to the app. Images of these driver's licenses are publicly accessible web addresses, allowing anybody with the links to access them using their web browser. In one case, TechCrunch saw a list of posts shared on the tee on her app, appended with each user's email address, display name and self reported location. It gets worse, because TechCrunch also identified a potential second security issue in which an email address and plain text password belonging to the app's creator was left exposed on the server. The credentials appeared to grant access to the app's admin panel. TechCrunch did not use the credentials because doing so would be illegal, but it does highlight the risks of inadvertently leaving admin credentials exposed to the web. What are we doing?

[D]

Oh really? That's risky.

[A]

You're not. That's risky. You shouldn't do it.

[D]

I'm not supposed to Explain expose your admin credentials to the entire Internet.

[A]

I mean, I wouldn't.

[D]

No, I. I generally keep my admin credentials to myself.

[A]

What's interesting to me is that the conversation when the TAPP breach first happened, where all of these women who had uploaded their driver's licenses and their selfies to this app had their personal information leaked online, a lot of people were saying, well, the women wanted to gossip about men, and, you know, turnabout is fair play that their stuff would be leaked online. I feel like I have, one, heard a lot less about the tea on her app potentially being susceptible to these kind of breaches. And two, I don't feel like there's the same kind of, like, moral hand wringing about. Well, do these men, like, is this turnabout is fair play for these men who wanted tea on women? Now they're having their information exposed. It's very interesting to me how different the conversations were around these two different apps and their user bases.

[D]

Yeah. Did you ever notice how, like, their stuff is shit, but, like, your shit is stuff?

[A]

I mean, you know, that at that. That. I mean, RIP George Carlin, I feel like my. So much of how I understand the world, I feel like I have gotten from him, but specifically that one bit of how. Well, when I do it, it's justified when I do it. It's like a. It's like, I don't deserve anything bad happening to me when I do it. Because, I mean, you see.

[D]

Yeah, right. And, like, not surprising that there aren't hordes of women taking to the Internet to be like, I'm glad these men had their personal information exposed. Like, how dare they try to run a whisper network and, like, talk to each other. That's just not something that women would say. That's not something that, like, well, people of any gender would say.

[A]

And I read this really interesting piece in Encyclopedia Britannica by Britt Biscoff called the Manosphere is the. The TAPP Hack media Landscape. And one of the points that I found very interesting and kind of clarifying in that piece was how easily the initial tapping breach was hijacked and how it instantly became this flashpoint of Manosphere talking points. And I do think the T app was. This was a situation that was ripe for discussion about, you know, gender and dating and sexuality and privacy and how all of these things intersect with this one story. But we didn't really have that conversation because it was so easily weaponized by Manosphere communities to talking about how women who. Who were interested in sort of Getting information on men deserve what they get and how, you know, it's. It's women who should really be being gossiped about because of, you know, like, what. However you want to say it. But how. How easily that conversation, which was genuinely fertile soil for, like, genuinely interesting conversations about how we interact with each other, how quickly it just became about gender wars nonsense.

[D]

It feels like there's really, like, two groups that are keeping this thing going. There's, like, that are intentionally trying to, like, weaponize gender wars as a way to either farm engagement or just actively, like, suppress women. They're like, largely the minority. But then it also seems like there's this huge, like, not huge, but, like, it seems like there's also this group of men who are, like, caught up in the nonsense of that first group and. And are just, like, afraid of women. And, like, the only thing they know is gender wars. And so, like, every single event that is in the news or is being talked about online gets, like, filtered and transformed to reinforce, like, a gender war framework.

[A]

Absolutely. And I don't remember if it was you and me that were talking about this, but as much as I love the Internet and I'm of the Internet and was raised on the Internet and am super online, I do think that gender is one of those issues where the worst people, the most extreme people, the people with an ax to grind, the people who are grifting and trying to make money off of the discontent of others, they have really been able to take an outsized footprint in the conversation about gender dynamics. In my experience, when I'm like, out in the world, as hard as it is being a woman in the world, a black woman especially, I genuinely think that the in real life way that we interact with each other, which is not perfect by any means, I don't think it is. It is so deeply colored the way that online conversations would have you believe. Sometimes I genuinely believe that we have let a small subsection of very loud, very vocal extremists who are in the minority dictate what the conversation is. And, like, really paint an impression that perhaps it's not always the impression that is happening. And then when you have big flashpoints, like the tapping, that faction explodes. Right. And they can. They get to be like, we told you so. They get to really so easily dominate the conversation. I feel very bad for people who are just looking for information about others. Right. Like you're just interested in a woman's perspective or you're just interested, like, if you're a guy and you're like, oh, I'm want to know how to approach women or talk to women. The Internet is the worst place to go for good faith information in that vein, because it is the worst. People who are owning the conversation and owning the landscape. It is a real problem.

[D]

You know, when I was a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, I had the great fortune to study with this amazing professor, Dr. Janet Hyde. Brilliant, brilliant professor, scientist, woman. And she. A big part of her career was advocating for what she called the gender similarities hypothesis, which is both, like, so common sense, but also, like, somewhat radical. Like, the idea that the men and women have so much more in common than they have, that are different between them. And yet for various reasons, partly because of that cadre of extremists you mentioned, but also other reasons, throughout society, we just love to focus on the differences. And. And so we do. We talk about the differences, and we focus on the differences and reinforce the differences to the exclusion of the fact that, like, actually come on. Like, it's. It's not really that different. Like, men and women, for the most part, like, we just want to watch a comedy and, like, eat a burger or, like, a salad if you're a vegetarian. Like, whatever. Like, we're just. And yet there's this big investment in, like, focusing on the differences that gives them this outsize weight.

[A]

Yeah, I agree. I mean, who among us doesn't just want to put on War of the Worlds and see what happens?

[D]

Okay, well, I don't want to watch that.

[A]

We're so different, Mike.

[D]

I guess this is just a woman thing. You know how women are always wanting to watch War of the World?

[A]

Women be. Women be. Listen, women be shopping. Women be watching War of the Worlds. Wait, so you actually did a little bit of research into the tea on her app, right? More than I did.

[D]

I did just a little bit. I was just, like, curious about it because something about it felt strange to me. Pinky.

[A]

That's when I was reporting on the T app. The thing that I said was that it felt hinky and that it just didn't. Something didn't sound right. And this. It sounds like you found the T on her app similarly hinky. It was just like, the.

[D]

The story arc was too quick, that it went from, like, not existing to being released to suffering the same types of security breaches as the T app within, like, like a week, I think. And, like, specifically just putting sensitive information in public buckets with public URLs that were not secure, which is insane. Like, that's that's just completely nuts. Like, I can't. It's hard to imagine that somebody would do that in the first place. And it's even harder to imagine that somebody would commit that same error of an app that they had replicated, that had suffered that exact breach like a week before. But you might think that, like, if you were creating a copycat app that was adapted for men instead of women, maybe a little light bulb would go off and be like, hey, what if we make these private URLs and also, like, requiring the users to upload their driver's licenses. That's another big red flag for me because the, you know, as you talked about, I think it was last week on the news Roundup, H verification is actually a dangerous morass. And it sounds like the TAPP realized this like two years ago and stopped requiring users to do that.

[A]

That's right.

[D]

Yeah. Because they, you know, I guess I don't know what their reasons were, but I have to assume that part of their rationale was that this is a dangerous thing to do, to just be even like, handling that level of sensitive information. And yet the T on her app did it. And like, I have to ask, I have to wonder why. And part of me, you know, like, you know, I've got my tinfoil hat on pretty, pretty firmly, but, like, perhaps this was all just a fishing expedition to get a bunch of sensitive information about a bunch of men. It, you know, seemed to be created by this guy, Xavier Lamkin from the Newville Media Corporation. Never heard of any of these companies. There's a billion app developing companies that I've never heard of, but, like, couldn't find a whole lot about either of them online. But it just, it just seemed really, I guess hanky is a good word.

[A]

I mean, that was exactly my experience when I was first doing research on the T app of I almost. I mean, I am not saying this is what was going on. And I looked into the founder and I was like, okay, he has a paper trail, a history, unemployment history, that checks out. But it seemed so absurd that I was like, is this some sort of a scheme?

[D]

And I remember we, we talked about that and I actually talked you down from that. I was like, no, no, I don't think it's a scheme. Like, you're really underestimating the incompetence and laziness of humans who work in, like, software development and data, where we're just trying to do things really fast. And like, it's like yada yada. I could see how somebody would, you know, back up that database to a public bucket and plan to go back and lock it down later. They never did. Or, like, so I talked you down. I was like, no, it's not. I think incompetence can fully explain what happened with the tapp, but then for somebody else to replicate it a week later and the same errors, I. I don't know.

[A]

And after there was so much reporting about the driver's license and selfie aspect of it that, oh, these women, when this app was breached, their driver's licenses with their. With their addresses on them were floating around the Internet. I don't know how you could have been even nominally paying attention to that story. And then a handful of days later be like, new app wants my driver's license that has T. In the name of the app. I'm gonna do it. I'm with you. So I, as you know, I went on an evolution of thinking this is some sort of a scheme to. This is just incompetence. And I do suspect, like, if. I don't know, but this is my opinion, my take, I think that these apps are just being quickly pushed out to capitalize on exactly the kind of gender wars stuff we were just talking about. And so I think when you are rushing, when you want to be part of a. Of a current conversation, you want to get there quickly. It doesn't really surprise me then that maybe things like, oh, I don't know, security for your user base would take a backseat when the only thing that you're worried about is capitalizing on this big engagement, splashy moment about gender wars. Do you know what I'm saying?

[D]

I do. I totally do. I think. I completely agree. And I also think that there's a little bit of. I don't know if irony is the word here, and poetic justice makes it sound more satisfying than it is. But like, that same asymmetrical criticism that you described of how, like, when the T app came out, so many men were writing about how it was, like, messed up and, like, how dare these women, like, besmirch men? And it's unfair. And that there was, you know, with this new T on her app, there's just, like, none of that. It's just a vacuum of conversation. And I think that that lack of scrutiny and that lack of conversation about it, I think perhaps is giving companies like the Newville Media Corporation a pass to just exploit and steal data from their male users without commentary. Like, I couldn't find anything about it when I was searching earlier.

[A]

Today neither could I. And I guess that's my thing. If you are. I don't want to use the word grifter because I this. I don't think this person is grifting in that sense. But if you are interested in like the men who sign up for this app are the product. Right. Like I saw through this as marketing bullshit. But at least for the T app for women, the creator who was a man was like, oh, well, my mother dated and I wanted to make an app where women wouldn't have to face dangerous experiences when they dated. Yada, yada yada. Whether you believe that or not, I happen to not really believe that. I think it's just marketing. At least there was some nod to the fact that this is an app created for women to keep women safe. Sure, fine. Whatever for? I think that for the T T on her app for men to. To talk about women, I think it is that this is someone who is interested in capitalizing on the current conversation around gender wars. And the men who sign up for the the app, even if they're promised like, oh, you can find out all the tea on these women. Da da da da. They are the product who is being exploited, as evidenced by the fact that they didn't even do the bare minimum to keep their data safe. So yeah, it's just the worst people dominating the conversation and people who of all genders who might actually be trying to use these apps to keep themselves safe are being exploited by people who do not actually care about that that are selling them a false bill of sale. I guess that's my ultimate point.

[D]

Yeah, absolutely. Everybody deserves better. Women deserve better. Men deserve better. We all deserve better.

[A]

Exactly. More after a quick break.

[C]

Gas prices, screen time, electric bills, Some things are better. Lower, especially bad cholesterol. Even if you're on statins, dieting and exercising, you might need more to get to your goal. That's where Lecvio can help. Lecvio, or incline Glycerin is an injection given by a doctor to help lower bad cholesterol. Along with diet and exercise. Lekvio is the only bad cholesterol lowering medicine. That's two doses a year. After two initial doses. Do not use if you've had an allergic reaction to Lekvio or any of its ingredients. Common side effects were injection site reaction, including pain, redness and rash, joint pain and chest cold. You've done your part. Ask if Leqvio can take you further. If your bad cholesterol is still high, ask your doctor if just two doses of LeCVIO a year after two initial doses can help. Learn more at leqvo.com or call 1-833-537-8462. That's leqvio.com support for the show comes.

[E]

From Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like EFTs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com, and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures [e-mail] disclosures so you want.

[B]

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[A]

I'm Angie Hicks, co founder of Angie. When you use Angie for your home projects, you know all your jobs will be done well. Roof repair done well Kitchen sink install done well Deck upgrades done well Electrical Upgrade done well. Angie's been connecting homeowners with skilled pros for nearly 30 years. So we know the difference between done and done well. Hire high quality [e-mail]. Let's get right back into it. Speaking of which, speaking of deserving better and justice, I guess one of the stories I've been keeping a very close eye on in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling gutting Roe is these period tracking apps. When RO first fell, probably the number one question that listeners and people in my own community would ask me was, oh, Bridget, should I be using period tracking apps? And I always say, I mean, I err on the side of caution. We had a privacy expert on the show who said, honestly, for that kind of thing, good old fashioned pen and paper is going to be your best bet. But there was one specific very popular app called Flow that had been in court because of a lawsuit filed over the app's practice of sharing people's sensitive information with third parties, including Meta, without permission. So this being a period tracking app, when I say sensitive information, I'm talking about your menstrual cycles, like the most intimate stuff happening in your body. That is the information they are sharing with third parties, including Meta. I don't really want to talk to Mark Zuckerberg and Adam Mosseri from Instagram about myself cycles, actually. So this lawsuit was filed in the wake of a 2019 bombshell Wall Street Journal story reporting that despite promises of confidentiality, because remember, these companies can and do just say whatever and then they'll do a completely different thing. Flow shared users, period, data with Meta, Google and other third parties who then used it for targeted advertising. So the other companies, Google and some of the other third parties, they just settled in a suit, but not FLO and not Meta. So went to court. So no one disputes that the data was shared. It happened. The thing that was really in dispute was whether or not menstrual data counts as health data, which is a special protected class of data in the US and some states, most notably California where this lawsuit took place, have even stronger state specific protections for health data specifically. So there was a jury trial about two weeks ago to determine whether or not Flow and Meta used this class's personal health data for advertising and other purposes. Carol C. Villegas, the attorney for the plaintiffs, asked the jury in her opening statement to decide how seriously Big Tech takes women's privacy. She said, this wasn't an accident, this wasn't a mistake. This is how Meta makes money. This is their business. And honestly, knowing what I know about Meta, she is not wrong. And you know who else agrees with me? The courts. Because this week a California jury found that Meta did in fact illegally collect user health data from the Flow period tracking app, violating California's wiretap law. In a statement about the verdict, the attorney said, this verdict sends a clear message about the protection of digital health Data and the responsibility of big tech companies like Meta that covertly profit from users. Most intimate information must be held accountable. And I could not agree more.

[D]

I thought this was a particularly interesting case because the way that apps like to get around the legality of sharing information like this with third parties is that they'll say we aren't health apps. You know, we've seen that in the realm of therapy. We've seen it in terms of period tracking, you know, and it's, it is kind of like a gray area in some regards what is and is not health information. Because a lot of stuff is like very personal, but not necessarily health information, like the food you eat. It's related to your health, but we probably wouldn't call that health information. The World Health Organization, I think, has a really good definition of health. They define it as, quote, a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. And I, you know, as a public health preventive medicine guy, I really resonate with that. And I think it's really important to take a holistic approach to what is health. But that very holistic approach does run into some problems when it's bumping up against the law, where the law covers specifically health data. Right. So we have HIPAA at the federal level which protects health information, and then we have states like California that also have health information laws. And so in this case, my understanding is that Meta was suggesting that like period tracking information was not health data. So they, there's no reason that it should be held to this higher standard of privacy. And they were just really trying to exploit that gray area in the way that we see them try to exploit every opportunity they can to harvest as much data from their users as possible and then use it to sell ads or whatever they can think of to make money without any concern for the health and well being of their actual users.

[A]

Exactly. And we see this time and time again with other kind of apps that I guess you do think of them as health apps, but they get to say like, oh, we're not a health app. Like I came up in our conversation that we had a while ago about better help, where they say, oh, well, we aren't a mental health app, or we're not, we don't have health information. We shouldn't be held to that scrutiny. We're just connecting people with people who are mental health professionals.

[D]

And you know, I used to work for a company where we built apps that operated in a HIPAA environment where all of the data that we were collecting from users and, you know, we were processing it and using it to, to try to help people, but all of it was governed by hipaa. So I do have some. I'm not a lawyer, but I do have some experience leading a data team that had to operate within HIPAA rules. And I'll share that in my personal experience. Just talking with people at, like, parties or wherever. People really misunderstand hipaa. And I think often the average person has this idea that it just like, protects all health data and anything that might, that might be related to your health in a common sense way is protected by hipaa. And that's just not the case. It is a very narrow set of data and information about your body and your health that is protected by hipaa. And so if you're using an app, unless you sign off on, like, what's called a HIPAA authorization, right, when you're like, onboarding onto the app, when you're setting up your account, they'll have you read like, the terms of service and like, you'll sign off on the terms of service, but there will also be a separate thing that you have to sign off on that is the HIPAA authorization that essentially, you know, says that you give up some of your HIPAA rights so that they can process the data. Unless. Unless that's part of what you sign off on during the onboarding service that's not being treated as health data by that app. And so they're just considering it. Any other data, like whether you know, what size shirt you wear or whether you prefer blue to green or some sort of data like that.

[A]

And it really is troubling when we're talking about something that is so intimate about your body. It's like the, some, some of the most intimate information about us. And I will say the damages have yet to be set in this case. And I suspect that Meta will appeal. But basically the. The Flow app Google settled pretty quickly. Meta lost, though. They will appeal, but we'll see. Everybody involved in this basically has now been found to have been doing something they shouldn't have been doing with our data. And I do think that that is still a win for privacy. Like, I think it sends a message that you can't just. There are limits to how much you can exploit people. Like, not everything about us is for sale or simply ours for the taking, and that there will be consequences. Again, Meta will appeal. Even if they, they lose that appeal, what they will end up paying out, I'm sure will be nothing. And I also think the fact that Flow Meta, you know, were all found to be doing something they shouldn't be doing when the conversation comes up of like, well can I trust this period tracking app? I even if the damages aren't much, that being part of the public record that no, you cannot trust this, the specific app like note, Mick, I think that that will be, that will go a long way in helping people understand the dynamic that we actually live in that like these apps will say anything. Right. The tapp said they were deleting selfies where they know these you really like. How much do you trust Mark Zuckerberg with this kind of information about yourself? I don't trust him at all. Right. And so even if it's not going to be something that actually financially hurts any of these companies that have been, you know, shown to be doing the wrong thing, I think it helps us see, hey, maybe I really can't just take them at their word.

[D]

Yeah, absolutely can't trust them. And, and we also have to stand up for privacy and it's nice to see people doing that and winning.

[A]

Speaking of meta, I did want to give a quick PSA that Metta just rolled out this new Instagram map feature which is sort of like Find my friends or the Snap map which will allow friends to monitor each other's real time location. So essentially this new feature on Instagram allows users to opt in to sharing their location with people with a bevy of options, including friends, followers, you follow back, close friends, selected friends or no one. So obviously whether you want to use this feature is up to you. I just do not trust meta. And the thing with meta specifically is that they are known to have this like just a dizzying amount of third parties and contractors that they share information with. So when you share information on meta, a lot of companies are like this, but I feel like meta is like, like this at a, in a different, on a different level. You just have no idea who all like what landscape that is being shared with. Which is why I'm like very particular about how my information is shared via meta.

[D]

Yeah, I think that's like such a good way to say it and I think that applies to so many situations. It's like a lot of companies are like this, but meta is like at another level.

[A]

And again, I mean as we just said, Meta has like, I don't trust any of these companies. I'm not saying that anyone is like doing great or whatever, whatever. However, Facebook and Meta are so bad. And so in a landscape where it's full of people, full of companies and people that run them that are doing the wrong thing. Meta is doing the wrong thing double right. Luckily this is very easy to disable. Even though Meta says that it is an opt in system. I would still recommend checking your settings to see if you are currently sharing your location. So please go and check your settings. However, even if Instagram does not know your location, people who tag their posts with location can still be seen. If they opt in, we'll throw those instructions into the show notes. But again, I just think people should be aware that this is a new feature. Spend some time thinking about whether or not you want to share this with Instagram and Meta and also in general, I mean like who really was clamoring for this. But it just really makes me think, I don't know if the geniuses over there at Meta and the geniuses like Adam Mossary, who you know is my the tech guy I probably hate the most out of all the tech guys we talk about on this podcast for some reason I don't know that they really know what people want. If you've ever talked to a woman, I bet that you might know that opting people into sharing their location when they post on social media is not something that I think most women would think was super cool. But you know, on a company run by Mark Zuckerberg who initially started his tech empire to rate the looks of women, guess I can't say I expect much more.

[D]

Yeah, it has nothing to do with what people want and everything to do with them getting more information about you so they can sell more stuff. Some of it to you, some of it to other people like you doesn't even matter. They don't even have to have a specific like reason why they want this information. They just want as much information about you as they can have and they're not real choosy with who they share that with.

[A]

The conversation around this location sharing change on Instagram has been really interesting. It's mostly been happening on threads where people are essentially complaining about this change in some cases maybe sort of fear mongering about it a little bit. They're kind of leaving out the fact that according to Meta, this change is opt in so it's not automatically sharing your location. However, as the story that we just talked about indicates, you really can't trust what Meta says. So they are a company that per a court will say one thing and do another. And Adam Mosseri himself is in people's posts on thread saying no, that's not True. We're not automatically sharing anybody's location. It's totally opt in. And I think what they are missing is that this is their fault. This is the level to which consumers simply do not trust Meta and Instagram. And clearly those consumers are not wrong for, you know, not giving Facebook or Meta or Instagram the benefit of the doubt. I've really been kind of surprised seeing people say, wow, average consumers are misunderstanding this change and fear mongering and misreporting it. I don't think it's any of that. I think that Facebook really has not seen the level to which people simply do not trust this company and they're not wrong for doing so.

[D]

Completely agree. This really exposes how little trust people have for meta. And like you just said, it's, it's not that people are misunderstanding. People understand perfectly well that meta over and over again has demonstrated that they can't be trusted, that they will lie, that they will try to sneak your data however they can. And also I think the claim of it's totally opt in, it misses an important piece that a lot of people probably allowed meta to access their locations when they first downloaded these apps, you know, in some cases years ago before this feature existed. And if that's the case, I'm pretty sure it would still be on. So it's not surprising to me that we've seen some people be surprised that their location sharing is turned on. You know, maybe they technically did opt into it at some point in the past before this feature existed, but that doesn't change the fact that they now feel surprised that their location is being shared in this way.

[A]

Exactly. And it's really been interesting to see folks like Adam Mosseri clearly be in damage control mode. And it just shows me they don't understand the role that they play in the media diet of their own consumers. Diego Jimenez, who is a product designer at Instagram, posted on threads. Misinformation aside, the reactions to the new IG Friends map are pretty funny. Younger generations get it and love it. They already use social maps. Boomers don't understand it and freak out. They want photos back. The real takeaway is no matter how clearly a new feature is explained, people won't read the explanation or give it a try before rushing to alarm the world about it. Shruggy emoji. And that that coming from somebody who is a an internal product designer at Instagram tells me so much. These people simply do not get it. They do not get the way that people are so distracted, trustful of them, their Company, their platform, their products, these changes. The fact that there's been so much loud and vocal backlash, they basically have to resort to, you're just an uncool boomer if you don't like this really tells me that they have no idea how the public actually perceives them. And, you know, until they're ready to hear that and like, deeply, in a meaningful way, make amends for the rightful reasons why people are not willing to trust them and are not willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and are rushing to sound the alarm, they're not going to learn. Like, it just is sad to see people essentially say, no, it's the users who are wrong.

[D]

That quote you just read, I thought that was some sort of like tech journalist or podcast or something. It's nuts that that's an actual like internal product person at Meta talking about their own users in that way, it sounds disdainful.

[A]

And if you had, if you worked on a team that rolled something out that had this level of loud backlash, again, even if some of it is perhaps not entirely accurate in that Meta says, oh, this is all opt in. We're not automatically sharing anybody's location with anybody, but they are a company, per the courts, that you can, that you cannot trust. If you've, like, if the only way that you can respond to that is essentially telling the people who are speaking up about how they're responding to this, this rollout by saying you're uncool, you don't understand tech and you don't get it. That really says a lot. I mean, is it any wonder why people do not trust this company more? After a quick break.

[F]

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[C]

Gas prices, screen time, electric bills. Some things are better. Lower, especially bad cholesterol. Even if you're on statins, dieting and exercising, you might need more to get to your goal. That's where Leqvio can help. Lekvio, or Inclisiran, is an injection given by a doctor to help lower bad cholesterol. Along with diet and exercise. Lekvio is the only bad cholesterol lowering medicine. That's two doses a year. After two initial doses. Do not use if you've had an allergic reaction to Leqvio or any of its ingredients. Common side effects were injection site reaction including pain, redness and rash, joint pain and chest cold. You've done your part. Ask if Lecvio can take you further if your bad cholesterol is still high. Ask your doctor if just two doses of LeCVIO a year after two initial doses can help. Learn more at LeCVIO.com or call 1-833-537-8462. That's L E Q V I O.com.

[E]

Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like EFTs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you try transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures [e-mail] disclosures so you want.

[B]

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[A]

Get right back into it. All right, so we gotta talk about Chris Cuomo, the brother of local sex pest Andrew Cuomo. Chris Cuomo was fired from CNN a few years ago after it came to light the extent to which he was helping his brother Andrew Cuomo in his defense against sexual harassment allegations that led to Andrew Cuomo resigning as governor of New York. So real just a list family over here.

[D]

Yeah. And just to put a point on it, the reason he was fired was because the network that employed him, cnn, which like, you know, questionable, but we can move on from that. But like his, his journalistic employer felt that he was not upholding journalistic standards. Right, like that's why he was fired.

[A]

Correct. Yes.

[D]

This will come become important again later.

[A]

Well, Chris Cuomo, phenomenal journalist that he is currently now at News Nation, shared this video of AOC talking about the Sydney Sweeney American Eagle jeans ad on.

[F]

X. Sydney Sweeney looks like an Aryan goddess. And the American Eagle jeans campaign is blatant Nazi propaganda. I mean, watching that sultry little temptress squeeze into a Canadian tuxedo three sizes too small with her bouncy little fun bags on the screen staring at you, piercing through the core of your soul with those ocean blue eyes that could resurrect the Fuhrer from his grave in Argentina is something that should alarm every American citizen. Because in America, beauty is not defined by whiteness. Oh no, it is defined by the number of victim groups of which you are a member. Skinny, attractive, blond haired, blue eyed, cisgender women descend from the slave daddy oppressors of this nation. And any man who cranks one out while thinking about a woman like this probably hates black people, probably hates gay people, and they certainly hate the diversity of our great nation. So I say instead of simping for the Sidneys, we should be celebrating the Shaniquas. And instead of worshiping the hot straight blonde, what about the obese Alphabet people with blue hair? They need love too. And to all the haters who say companies that go woke go broke, I'd rather be poor than a Nazi.

[A]

Only one problem. It's a deep fake. And honestly, I think a pretty obvious deep fake at that. It is so clear that he thought this video was Real. Even though the clip has a watermark on it that says parody 100% made from AI. I guess he didn't see it.

[D]

Yeah, it's got a watermark right on it. Like, come on, man.

[A]

So he shared this on S with the message. Nothing about Hamas or people burning Jews in cars, but Sweeney Jeans ad deserve time on floor of Congress. What happened to this party? Fight for small business, not small culture wars. Never wanted to back down. AOC called him out and said, this is a deep fake. Dude, please use your critical thinking skills. At this point, you're just reposting Facebook memes and calling it journalism, which that's absolutely what he's doing. It's like if my uncle was a journalist and was like, reporting on Facebook's AI slop as if it was real.

[D]

It's also such a double standard. It's like, what about, like, Hamas or people burning other people in cars has to do with fighting for small business? It's like, like, you're fighting the culture war in this tweet calling to not fight culture wars. Like, have some self awareness.

[A]

And Chris Cuomo has a platform on News Nation if he wants to highlight any of those issues, he absolutely has a platform to do it. He doesn't have to scream at AOC for not doing it, even though it's completely made up. Like, he's just. He's just, like, making up stuff to be mad at. So he took the video down and said, you are correct. That was a deepfake, but it really does sound like you. Thank you for correcting. But now to the central claim, show me you calling on Hamas to surrender or addressing the bombing of a car in St. Louis belonging to the IDF American soldier, dude. And then he doubled down on this on his show. Here's what he said. She was right.

[D]

They got AI. It was really good. And it did seem like something she would say. So I thanked AOC for correcting. But I then reminded her she ignored the part of the tweet that mattered. Okay. Not Sweeney, which really should never been a thing. Let's be honest. Why did aoc, the most popular Democrat in the country, powerful, reportedly ignore what.

[A]

I asked about calling on Hamas to.

[D]

Surrender to end the war? They slept. She has never said that. That I could find.

[A]

Think about that. So it is so clear to me that when it comes to AI, one of the things that makes it tricky is that especially when it adheres to a worldview that we already hold, it can be difficult to see, like, oh, this is not real. I am getting taken by a fake video. So even though, in my opinion, this was very obviously AI down to the watermark, spelling out that it is AI and not real, the fact that it aligns with Cuomo's worldview, an attitude, and an opinion that he's already holds and is, like, very ready to uphold and very ready to believe and share any sliver of information that adheres and upholds that attitude. I think that is why we see Cuomo now basically saying, well, it doesn't matter or not if she actually said this. It doesn't matter or not if this was actually fake, because I think she would say this. And so, aoc, you have to defend yourself against this allegation that I basically just made up that was buttressed by something that, like, I understand now was fake, because it is a worldview that I hold. It's basically just using AI to hold people accountable for a worldview or an opinion that was bullshit that you just made up. It's like he's made something up to be mad at.

[D]

I think this is the darkest thing we've talked about in this entire episode because it just really illustrates exactly the way that AI is, like, destroying society, destroying democracy, that, like, it's. It's not real, it's fake. Like, this is the dangerous thing about AI is it is blurring the line between what's real and what's not. And that's scary. But what's even worse is that someone who purports to be a journalist would just act like that distinction doesn't even matter. Like, even after he's called out on the fact that this is a fake video, he just doubles down on it. And like you said, like, demands that she respond to this fake thing that she didn't say. It's. It's dark and frightening. And that's like, he is just working so hard to bolster the sort of authoritarian takeover of our entire information ecosystem with this kind of behavior.

[A]

And I just. I mean, not to make it about me, but I simply cannot imagine being called out for. For getting something so. For being a journalist and getting something so wrong and then doubling down on it and being like, but I'm still owed some answers. Like, where is the shame? Bring back shame. And not for nothing, Congress is not even in session right now, you moron. Like. Like, when do you think this happened? I just. Honestly, these are meant to be our journalists. And I. Listen, I told a story on the podcast last week. I got taken by an AI video of some bunnies jumping on A trampoline. Although I. When I told you about that, you were like, I. I thought it was AI, But I didn't want to burst your bubble.

[D]

I mean, I said that after the fact. So you thought it was real? No, but like, those buddies did not jump, Bridget.

[A]

But it's one thing. I mean, it all comes from the same place. I don't want to say that me getting taken is the same thing as Cuomo getting taken, but I think it really shows exactly what you were saying. That how bad and eroded our information and digital media ecosystem has gotten, that he could be. Get something so wrong as a journalist, basic stuff still sort of be like, well, it sounds like you, but something that even if you didn't say it as something that you would say, like.

[D]

What are like, yeah, it is similar because you were like, those bunnies would jump on a trampoline. Like, how do you know they wouldn't get up there? They could jump.

[A]

I still stand by that. I still stand by that. When it. When the. When night falls, bunnies are doing all kinds of things we don't know about. I stand by that.

[D]

It was a fake. It was a fake. They didn't jump on that trampoline. They're just down there eating grass, dandelions, big broad leaves, vegetation. That's what they like.

[A]

You know a lot about bunny diets.

[D]

Yeah, that's how I knew it was a fake. It wasn't a real bunny thing.

[A]

They don't jump on. You don't think they would jump on trampolines?

[D]

No, they would hate that. First of all, how they gonna get up there? Why would they get up there?

[A]

Wily. Haven't you ever watched a cartoon?

[D]

They're afraid. They're skittish. They may as well be holding up a sign while they're jumping. It's like, hey, come and eat me, foxes.

[A]

Whatever. Every now and then on the show, I will talk about a story that sounds like it was created in a lab to infuriate me specifically. And this is one of those stories because over the past two weeks, there have been six known incidents of green sex toys being thrown onto the court during WNBA games. The latest happened this week during a game between the Indiana Fever and the LA [e-mail] arena in LA. Sex toys were also thrown in the stands at the New York Liberty and Phoenix Mercury games this week. And another two were thrown at the Atlanta Dream games last week and a Chicago sky game on Friday. It has gotten pretty serious. Two different people were arrested on multiple charges for allegedly Throwing these sex toys. We were going to play audio of her speaking, but it is so drowned out with sounds of dribbling and basketball squeaks that I'll just read what she said. But we put the link to her speaking and in the show notes. Her words are very powerful and I encourage folks to hear what she had to say in her own words. But she said this has been going on for centuries. The sexualization of women. This is the latest version of that and it's not fun and it should not be the butt of jokes on any radio shows or on print or in any comments. The sexualization of women is what's used to hold women down and this is no different. This is just a great example and we should write about it in that way. And these people that are doing this should be held accountable. We're not the butt of the joke, they are the problem and we need to take action. So I have been following the story and trying to figure out what the heck is going on here. But right as we were sitting down to record, USA Today had a break in this story about what is going on. USA Today spoke to the spokesman for a crypto group called Green Dildo Coin. And that spokesperson said that they were not trying to be disrespectful or disrespect women. He described their group as a group of crypto enthusiasts and traders who launched Green Dildo Coin and that the whole thing was meant to be light hearted and perceived as a joke or a prank in order to protest what they describe as a toxic environment taking over the crypto world. So if you don't know what a Meme Coin is, it's a type of crypto asset that is sort of inspired by Internet memes or characters or trends for which the promoter seeks to attract an enthusiastic online community to purchase the Meme Coin and engage in its trading. This is according to the sec. So Meme Coins are kind of like collectibles with limited or no functionality per the sec, and their entire value is dictated by social and cultural influences.

[D]

They're beanie babies.

[A]

Yeah, that's a good comparison. Meme Coin generally carries a lot more risk compared to other cryptocurrencies, which are already pretty risky. So according to the people in this Dildo Meme Coin group, talk about ascendance. If you had to explain that sentence to yourself, if you went back in time and you had to talk to your 10 year old self back in like 1990, whatever, imagine having to say.

[D]

I'm going back further, I'm like, sometimes I like to do a little thought experiment of, like, what if George Washington and Ben Franklin, like, traveled forward through time? And I was like, well, the dildo meme coin.

[A]

You and I have that joke where it's like, you go back in time and you wake up your young self and you're like, wake up. The guy From Home Alone 2 is president and he's rounding people up and you're like, Tim Curry's president.

[D]

I mean, pretty much anything from the future, if you told it someone from the past, they would be horrified. And by the future, I mean the present. For anyone from the past about what's happening right now, they'd be horrified.

[A]

And I mean, I'm horrified by this because basically this group says that, oh, smaller players in the crypto and Meme Coin space are struggling to keep up with all the influencers and scammers and we need to do something. If you ask me, that space has pretty much always been scammers and influencers. But sure, do your thing. Green dildo coin. So as a form of protest, the meme coin was created. The faction began infiltrating WNBA arenas with color coordinated sex toys to coincide with its launch. USA TODAY Sports obtained text messages showing the group's coordination and planning before the coins launch on July 28 and the first sex toy being thrown out at a WNBA game on July 29th. So you're probably thinking, wow, that is so disrespectful to the women athletes who are playing, to the people who are just trying to enjoy a WNBA game with their families. But don't worry, don't worry, don't worry. It's chill. It's chill. It's chill because they said, we're not trying to harm anybody or embarrass anybody or disrespect anybody. They say that the community has only been advised to throw their sex toys if there is a level of personal comfort and if the objects can land without hitting somebody. They also were like, don't worry. This is not about being disrespectful to the women athletes or anything. He said, we didn't do this because we dislike women's sports or like some of the narratives trending right now that are ridiculous, creating disruptions at games. It happens at every single sport. We've seen it at the NFL. We've seen it at hockey fans doing random things more or less to create attention. So they go on to explain how they are just trying to spread awareness about the culture that they want to perpetuate in the Meme coin and crypto community cultivated around lightheartedness, jokes, pranks, and various stunts. The coordinated effort, they said, is a very strategic protest against what meme coin creators view as a small group of individuals controlling the crypto space. It's not about women. It's not about being disrespectful. It's just about meme coins and crypto. To which I say, eat shit. Do you think the women whose games you are disrupting give a crap about your crypto meme stock? Do you think that anybody cares about the vibes that you were trying to curate in the crypto space? No. Women athletes already have to struggle for respect both on and off the court. We have talked about the ways that technology intersects with the very real threats of harassment that these athletes face. You expect us to think that it's a coincidence that they're doing this at WNBA games instead of NBA games? Literally. Go choke on your green dildos. With the rise of things like social media and online sports bettors, ESPN reports that harassment of athletes is on the rise. So I don't give a fuck if you are trying to raise awareness for your light hearted meme coins. And if you are doing it off the backs of women who are just trying to show up and do their jobs on the court, you fuck if anybody from this group is listening. I cannot imagine a more pathetic way to spend your time. Not to mention, dildos are not cheap. You're buying a WNBA ticket and a dildo to throw onto the court. What are you doing? I have never heard of something more. More pathetic and embarrassing in my life. I have nothing to do with this and I am embarrassed about it.

[D]

Yeah, and if they were really serious about it, I mean, they should be bringing their green dildos into other sporting events. Like bring it to a UFC fight, bring it to an NFL game, bring it to a hockey game. You know, just bring your dildos all over the place with you. If that's like your thing. If you're. If your whole thing is dildos, don't just throw them at women.

[A]

No, they never would. Because it's about humiliating women. Like, they can say whatever they want. There's a reason they didn't do this at a UFC fight or an NBA game or something like that. There is. Or a NASCAR event. There is a reason. And that reason is because they are about humiliating women. They are about getting engagement and traffic and eyeballs off of humiliating women. They would never do this at a sporting event where there's going to be lots of men because they probably get their clocks clean, deservedly. And they don't want to show up to spaces where there's going to be men to do that. They want to do stuff like this in spaces where they assume they are not going to be physically challenged. So it has everything to do with humiliating women. I don't give a fuck if they say otherwise. Like, it's so disrespectful. As if women athletes don't have enough. Think about the kind of homophobic harassment that people like Brittney Griner have had to face. I don't know if people have read her memoir, but, like, to go to a WNBA game and throw a sex toy at someone that's trying to do their job is to so humiliating and degrading and disgusting. And then to play in our faces and say, oh, no, no, no, no, no. It has nothing to do with women or humiliating women. That's nonsense. It's about my meme stock. Fudge you. It's like gaslighting, and I will not have it.

[D]

Yeah, absolutely. And like, not even effective gaslighting. Like, come on, just fucking meme stock. Like, get out of here.

[A]

Get out of here. Get out of here. Before we end, I have one quick note which is just really funny. Linda McMahon, the Secretary of Education and former chairwoman of the WWE. Speaking of wrestling, folks might know her as the person who was trying to talk about AI and education and kept calling it a one like a steak sauce, which I actually love.

[D]

Our children need to know about this tangy sauce to be able to compete against China in the future.

[A]

My children will. How. My children will never know about steak sauce. How dare you. My children will be eating steak that's. That doesn't need steak sauce on it. She was trying to speak at the Young Americans Foundation Conference, and something happened that caused the Curb youb Enthusiasm theme song, circus music and audio of Linda being called corrupt herself kept playing over her trying to speak quickly as people.

[D]

Understood what his working style was and. And he understood, you know, them, so. But this time, you know, he knew. He knew the story. He knew how to, you know, how to make things work, how to make things run. He had the people coming in that.

[A]

He really wanted to work with him, and.

[D]

And then he'd have this little gap. You know, sometimes kids in college take a gap year.

[A]

Well, he, He.

[D]

He didn't voluntarily take a gap term, but I think it turned out to be an incredible thing for him.

[A]

Chef's kiss, no notes. Whoever came up with this, I think it's pretty good. We'll leave you with this. Got a story about an interesting thing in tech or just want to say hi? You can reach [e-mail] youm can also find transcripts for today's [e-mail] There are no girls on the Internet was created by me, Bridget Todd. It's a production of iHeartRadio and unboxed creation. Jonathan Strickland is our Executive producer, Tari Harrison is our producer and Sound Engineer Michael Amato is our contributing producer. I'm your host, Bridget Todd. If you want to help us grow, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

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