TRASHFUTURE: "history sent from my iPhone" feat. Paolo Gerbaudo

Release date: February 3, 2026
Host(s): TRASHFUTURE regulars
Guest: Paolo Gerbaudo (sociologist, Complutense University of Madrid)
Main Theme:
The episode explores the latest revelations from the Epstein files, highlighting the intertwining of elite power, corruption, and the strange ways scandals shape politics and technology. The second half examines the US takeover of TikTok, algorithmic manipulation, and the ways social media platforms enable and reinforce right-wing propaganda, with insights from digital sociologist Paolo Gerbaudo.

1. Overview

The episode is loosely structured in two parts:

• Part 1: Analysis and gallows humor about new Epstein files and their demonstration of a lawless global elite.
• Part 2: Interview with Paolo Gerbaudo on the American right's takeover of TikTok and the implications for digital power, democracy, and platform manipulation.

The tone is irreverent, darkly humorous, and critical, with moments of bleak insight about the systemic nature of elite impunity.

2. Epstein Files: The Protagonist of History (00:16 – 35:19)

A. Epstein as Global Forrest Gump Gone Monstrous (00:16 – 01:19)

• The hosts reflect on how Jeffrey Epstein’s omnipresence in recent history parallels being a “sinister Forrest Gump—except, you know, a sex trafficker.”
  • Quote: “We gotta try and be sensitive about the fact that this is about a sex traffick[er] and rapist and genuinely monstrous person who…did not know how to work a phone keyboard.” (A, 00:16)
  • Joke about imagining "Pedo Gump" and being the protagonist of history, darkly lampooning the idea of one individual cropping up in every major scandal.

B. Reaction to the Filings: Who's In, Who’s Out (01:22 – 03:11)

• The discussion concerns the document dump, who actually appears, and how context is everything (e.g., Francis Fukuyama appears only via a reading list, not via direct contact).
• Norman Finkelstein and Noam Chomsky are contrasted in their responses to Epstein (the former spurning him, the latter responding amicably).

C. Key Takeaways & Vindications (03:31 – 06:33)

• The hosts note that most incriminating connections are reconfirmed, with increasing brazenness as time passes.
• Those involved always must have known more would eventually come out; the "weird guy with money" defense is dismissed as a self-serving myth.
  • Prince Andrew’s circle, including his private secretary, Amanda Thirsk, shown as more involved than formerly depicted.

D. The Breadth of Epstein’s Influence—A Satirical Inventory (08:03 – 15:36)

• Hosts jokingly—but pointedly—attribute a whole catalogue of calamities to Epstein:
  1. 2008 financial crisis: Epstein’s withdrawal from a Bear Stearns fund triggered collapse.
     • “Jeffrey Epstein’s face photoshopped onto the end of a Jenga block that’s about to collapse a tower…” (A, 08:25)
  2. Global economic policy: Links to Jamie Dimon, Alistair Darling, and manipulation of bailout strategy.
  3. Gamergate/4chan culture wars: Epstein as the shadowy “Dr. Yakub” (inventive creator of “the primaris white guy”).
     • “He invented a new kind of white person to serve his own twisted ends.” (A, 10:21)
  4. Brexit: Tangential at first, but hosts gleefully exaggerate, connecting Epstein’s emails about making money off Brexit to Steve Bannon, Tommy Robinson, and UK far-right circles.
  5. Russiagate/Transnational Plots: The “libs were half-right”—a hidden global network really was influencing events.
  6. Microtransactions in gaming: Email chains suggesting Epstein pushed “addictive design” in video games.
     • “Put microtransactions in Call of Duty. Fucking shud. Dr. Yakub has gotten the kids addicted to gambling. Fantastic. Thank you.” (A, 14:35)
• Notably, the hosts consistently mock “single actor” conspiracy theories as simplistic, but point out that the scale of confirmed, direct connections is still staggering.
• Quote: “If Napoleon is history on horseback, then Epstein is history sent from my iPhone.” (B, 15:46)

E. Naming Names & Contextualizing the Implications (17:04 – 23:38)

• Emphasis that merely appearing in the files (“named in the Epstein files is not an indicator of wrongdoing”) does not mean guilt.
• Use of the J.K. Rowling (JX) anecdote as an ironic aside about unwise (but not criminal) connections, reinforcing the need to distinguish between association and active complicity.
• Focus shifts to the deep, systemic role played by brokers like Epstein—primarily facilitating introductions for the “transnational kleptocratic class” rather than being an evil criminal mastermind or lone rogue operator.

F. Systemic Perspective: Quoting Ganitsky (19:17 – 21:41)

• Reading from Seva Ganitsky’s blog, which frames both Russiagate and the Epstein scandal as symptoms of a global elite's lawless impunity.
  • Quote: “Both highlight the post-1991 emergence of a transnational kleptocratic class that links Western oligarchs to foreign state interests…”
  • Analysis that this class “swim[s] in the same waters”—U.S., Russian, Saudi, Israeli, and European elites.

G. Structural Nature of Elite Networks (22:05 – 25:59)

• Epstein as “broker of access”: child sexual exploitation is only one of the currencies.
• The pattern is less about villainous genius than about being perfectly positioned to exploit and facilitate global collapse.
• Example: Epstein’s email chains include plans to profit from frozen Gaddafi/Libyan state assets in 2011, involving Mossad, MI6, and other intelligence networks.

H. The Royal Family and Elon Musk Cameos (28:41 – 34:55)

• Absurdity and banality: the British royals turn out to be “houseboys” for Epstein’s elite dinners; Sarah Ferguson comes off especially badly (offering herself as a reputational beard).
• Elon Musk turns up as a naïve, enthusiastic visitor, misspending his emails and missing social cues, but still deeply, cringingly involved.
  • Quote: “Elon Musk is gonna stay rich forever…unless things take a really strange turn, in which case I will be in New Zealand having survived the apocalypse, trying to pry open the air vents to his bunker.” (A, 33:55)

I. Conclusion: Nothing Will Change Unless Politics Changes (34:15 – 34:55)

• The show closes this segment on the note that no accountability is likely without radical change.
  • “Politics must be de-pedophile.” (B, 34:51)

3. Interview: Paolo Gerbaudo on TikTok’s Reactionary Turn (35:19 – 74:11)

A. The Trump-Ellison TikTok Takeover (35:52 – 39:44)

• Paolo outlines the American forced sale of TikTok’s US assets and the emergence of a right-wing consortium of tech billionaires (notably Larry Ellison of Oracle) controlling TikTok USA.
• Comparison: the “authoritarian phase of capital” sees the US adopting the very data-grabbing and algorithmic governance it accused China of.

B. Algorithmic Bias and Political Curation (41:39 – 45:15)

• The new owners seek to strip TikTok of its creative and critical potential, turning it into another vessel for right-wing propaganda and emulation of “X” (formerly Twitter’s) descent into far-right, ad-revenue-driven, slop content.
• Gambling and sensationalist content pervade, leveraging the profit motive of algorithmic recommendation.
  • Quote: “Content that is as addictive as possible…bias toward sensationalistic content…towards activating emotions…It is not automatically an opening for the right or for the left, but it does create an extreme environment.” (D, 43:09)

C. The Political Center’s Algorithm Panic (42:16 – 43:09)

• “Algorithm” becomes a political scapegoat when young audiences develop sympathy for Palestinian causes on TikTok.
• The right’s obsession is less about foreign manipulation and more about wanting control of the means of perception.

D. The Left, Charisma, and the Limits of Viral Politics (45:22 – 47:57)

• Tech-savvy left politicians (like Zoran Mamdani) successfully exploit algorithmic conditions, but this brings risks: “neo-charisma,” personality cults, and the superficiality of aura/vibe-driven online politics.
• Quote: “Charisma…is plebiscitary, personist politics…quite, I say, not very easy to reconcile with organizational politics or with party politics.” (D, 47:26)

E. Participatory Surveillance, Algorithmic Strangle, and Censorship (47:57 – 55:12)

• The takeover is a fundamentally political rather than commercial operation—about fiddling with the algorithm to dampen dissent, promote certain topics, and invisibly suppress dissident content (e.g., mentions of “Epstein” now flagged).
• Quote: “Censorship is about more stopping your voice from going too far…with algorithms there are a number of ways…you can pretty much…block the transmission…but in an invisible manner.” (D, 48:14)
• Focus shifts to the subtlety of modern algorithmic throttling and the normalization of “shadowbanning.”

F. Algorithmic Environments Favor the Right (55:12 – 60:27)

• Sensationalism and high-emotion content play into right-wing hands (fear, collapse, xenophobia).
• The right is better equipped (and more willing) to exploit or directly manipulate these systems, but the environment is not hopeless—the same mechanisms can also be hijacked for hope-driven or left-populist politics.

G. Manufactured Climate and Propaganda Ecosystems (60:55 – 64:07)

• The right creates ecosystemic climates—a cloud of messages, memes, and content networks, fostering a sense of inevitability and civilizational crisis.
• Success is less about individual messages and more about creating a “climate” that permeates all discussion, even among the left, generating “shock and further confirmation” of inevitable right-wing victories.

H. Totalizing Control: From Murdoch to Ellison (64:07 – 67:19)

• Larry Ellison/Oracle’s ambitions go further than Murdoch—controlling not just information sources but also the very platforms on which political discussion occurs (not just “news” but “the squares” themselves).
  • Quote: “Once upon a time, capitalists could control our sources of information…but now…our discussion…goes on in places that are private, that are corporate, that are captive spaces…and they are owned not only by evil capitalists…because they are also allied politically and ideologically with the tech right, with the new extreme right.” (D, 65:50)

I. Censoriousness, Gaslighting, and the Echo Chamber (67:45 – 71:52)

• The right has weaponized claims of “cancel culture” and “free speech” while engaging in far more pervasive censorship.
• Heavy-handed propaganda (such as attempts to dominate sentiment about Israel) may provoke backlash or result in online echo chambers that eventually isolate the far right from broader realities.

J. Why Buy TikTok? Algorithmic Subtlety Versus Blunt Censorship (71:52 – 74:11)

• New ownership seeks not blanket censorship but fine-tuned algorithmic nudging—“behavioral economic stripe of manipulation…leads people to self-censor.”
• Social control is most efficient when the audience doesn’t realize its posts are being buried—not outright banned, just rendered invisible.
  • Quote: “It’s less about individuals, generally speaking, and it’s more just about what kinds of things are people going to see…Are you…just going to get largely sidelined?” (B, 73:12)

4. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “History is replete with spelling mistakes because it was sent by the iPhone of a barely literate pedophile.” – A, 15:28
• “If Napoleon is history on horseback, then Epstein is history sent from my iPhone.” – B, 15:46
• On algorithmic control:
  • “Censorship is about stopping your voice from going too far…as long as I’m speaking and just my 12 friends listen, the system can cope with that. The problem is if people listening to me become 100,000.” – D (Paolo), 48:14
• On the algorithm’s political effect:
  • “There is a certain complicity…between social media and populism; the main complicity between the two has to do with the fact that social media sensation journalism…works very well in the right’s favor.” – D, 55:46
• “Politics must be de-pedophile.” – B, 34:51

5. Timestamps for Key Segments

• Epstein Files analysis/roast: 00:16 – 35:19
  • Forrest Gump/epicenter framing: 00:16 – 01:19
  • Who’s in the files? 02:09 – 03:36
  • Systemic implications, financial crisis, Brexit, Gamergate: 08:03 – 15:36
• Transition to TikTok/Paolo Gerbaudo interview: 35:19 – 35:50
• Paolo Gerbaudo on TikTok takeover/surveillance capitalism: 35:50 – 41:39
• Algorithmic censorship and the right: 41:39 – 49:22
• Shadowbanning and algorithmic bias: 52:09 – 55:46
• Ecosystemic propaganda and the right’s climate: 60:55 – 64:07
• Totalizing platform control/old vs. new media oligarchs: 64:07 – 67:19

6. Episode Takeaways

• The new Epstein files reinforce decades-old suspicions that global elites operate via corrupt, internationalist networks, uniting the worst of financial, political, and intelligence spheres.
• The American right’s takeover of TikTok is less a national security project than a naked effort to control the means of perception, nudging algorithmic outcomes to favor right-wing worldviews, quash dissent, and shape the “climate” of opinion.
• “Algorithmic censorship” is more insidious than direct bans; it operates by boosting or suppressing emotional content, crafting a sense of inevitability and demoralization, even as it spurs occasional backlash and ridicule.
• Hope for the left lies in exposing these mechanisms and crafting counter-climates via creativity, hope, and participatory action, though the path is fraught with risks of superficiality and personality cultism.

For further reading: Paolo’s work on digital democracy and algorithmic power is referenced, and links will be available in the episode description.