Notices by Taylor Lorenz (taylorlorenz@mastodon.social)

The Facebook scam economy, Robot worms, #BootsOnlySummer, X merch drop, James Comey IG drama, high fashion Rizzler, a Palestinian streaming service, immigration reality show, and the biggest dating app faux pas for Gen — all in today’s newsletter!! https://www.usermag.co/p/the-facebook-scam-economy

Please do not come in my mentions claiming that the public isn’t engaging in widespread pandemic denialism when you’re referring to Covid in the past tense. That sort of framing *is* denialism. https://www.salon.com/2024/01/04/leader-says-19-is-still-a-pandemic/

Israeli forces have now dropped more explosives in Gaza than fell on London, Dresden, and Hamburg during the Second World War. The region’s hospitals have not been spared; most are no longer functional. Clayton Dalton writes about the devastation. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/04/28/hospitals-in-ruins

#RichTok's queen, CECOT influencers, wearable nanobots, robot bees, turning brainwaves into speech, the Uber of weed, subtitling your life, and a second Hegseth group chat fiasco -- All in my newsletter today!!! https://www.usermag.co/p/fake-newspapers-are-flooding-america

Shein village, Jesus Swiftie fancams, a monastery for hackers, TikTok footnotes, Seatopians, the Ice Bucket Challenge returns, Coachella billboards, the rise of the 'infinite fringe', and a free speech activist on child influencer laws -- all in today's newsletter!!!!
https://www.usermag.co/p/a-free-speech-activist-on-child-influencer

SCOOP: YouTube removes 'gender identity' from hate speech policy. "YouTube quietly removing ‘gender identity and expression’ from its list of protected groups is a major radical shift away from best practices in the field of trust and safety." https://www.usermag.co/p/youtube-removes-gender-identity-from

I wrote about how Palantir CEO Alex Karp is profiting from Israel’s genocide abroad, and wants to make money off of Trump’s immigration crackdown at home for @zeteonews https://zeteo.com/p/meet-the-tech-billionaire-just-as

Remember “the #Resistance”?! I did a deep dive into 2017-2020 internet, the rise of the movement, its major figures, the resistance’s ultimate downfall, and why it crumbled.
https://youtu.be/mz3Rf820ozE

From 2021 to 2024 we witnessed things like RICO charges being levied at protesters fighting against "cop city" in Atlanta, mask bans that lock disabled people out of public life, and young college students facing federal charges for peaceful protests, again, all under Democratic leadership. https://www.usermag.co/p/the-attacks-on-free-speech-should

Bonafidemasks.com, which is where I get all my KN95s from is having a 25% off sale + free shipping! They have tons of colors and styles (and full N95s too).

STOCK UP NOW!! 😷 Covid is raging and disabling millions, not to mention all the other airborne disease, pollution, etc. Masking is solidarity https://bonafidemasks.com/

Viral claims about family influencers fleeing the state of California are completely false. TikToks and YouTube videos have amassed millions of views pushing this conspiracy.

My article debunking it only has.... 2 shares. Journalism feels so fruitless sometimes. https://www.usermag.co/p/no-family-vloggers-are-not-fleeing-california-over-a-child-labor-law-viral-tiktok-false

I wrote about the Epstein files influencer 'clusterfuck' https://www.usermag.co/p/the-epstein-files-influencer-disaster-chaya-raichik-fail

Ed Yong is such a real one <3 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/magazine/ed-yong-interview.html?unlocked_article_code=1.y04.Wrq7.R5L0fwPg8N5l&smid=url-share

"Silicon Valley billionaires like Marc Andreessen talk about 'high agency' people as if they’re some superior class and the traits they carry are innate, which reads a bit weird to me considering how fond those people are of eugenics." https://www.usermag.co/p/high-agency-silicon-valleys-new-hot-buzzword

As the U.S. government seeks to enact stricter controls over online speech, TikTok users are adopting more coded 'algospeak' to criticize and resist the government https://www.usermag.co/p/tiktok-cute-winter-boots-meaning-explained-algospeak

I wrote about how DeepSeek’s AI breakthrough is sending Silicon Valley techies into a panic.

"It’s interesting how when something Chinese outperforms something American (TikTok, deepseek, etc) it's a ‘psyop’ or ‘economic warfare’ or and not just ‘another country made something ppl like.’” https://www.usermag.co/p/tiktok-cute-winter-boots-meaning-explained-algospeak

“The death of ‘websites’ and outlets that value true creativity and diversity in coverage — largely at the whims of ghoulish executives and private equity vulturism — has created in me a stinging grief that I cannot seem to shake.” https://lindseyadler.substack.com/p/ten-years-in-a-crumbling-industry

The TikTok ban will deplatform thousands of progressive content creators and skew online discourse to the right. It will consolidate media influence within right-leaning platforms like Meta and X. Over time, I believe this reconfiguration will permanently alter the political landscape of the creator economy https://www.usermag.co/p/the-great-creator-reset

While the majority of news content creators across the social media landscape are conservative men, a recent study found that TikTok is the *only* platform where left-leaning news influencers outnumber right-leaning ones. https://www.usermag.co/p/the-great-creator-reset

NEW NEWSLETTER OUT!!! 🚨

MrBeast Luigi arc, the Gen Z jegging, masculinity coaches, Barstool tea, paparazzi fire chasers, a Spotify party boycott at the Grammys, and more https://www.usermag.co/p/should-you-quit-your-job