Notices by Taylor Lorenz (taylorlorenz@mastodon.social)

"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

I wrote about FreeOurFeeds, a new $30M plan to take back social media from billionaires https://www.usermag.co/p/freeourfeeds-a-30m-plan-to-take-back-social-media-from-billionaires

Substack could embrace the federated model of social media, which platforms like Mastodon, Bluesky, and even Threads leverage. In so many ways, the Fediverse embodies the ideals that Substack was founded on: giving users a platform-agnostic connection to their audience, allowing for audience portability, eliminating top-down moderation, and putting users back in control of their online experience. https://www.usermag.co/p/how-substacks-follow-feature-betrays

SCOOP: Instagram blocked teens from searching LGBTQ-related content for months.

Posts with LGBTQ+ hashtags were hidden under Meta's “sensitive content” policy which restricts "sexually suggestive content", Meta said they are fixing this “error” after I reached out for comment. https://www.usermag.co/p/instagram-blocked-teens-from-searching

These anti trans bills are huge threats to civil liberties and we should do everything in our power to fight them https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/nancy-maces-federal-trans-bathroom

I wrote about the similarities between OpenAI and Visa, and how both companies have sought to build regulatory and legal moats to lock in customers and lock out competitors https://sherwood.news/tech/openai-is-visa/

Misogyny is at the core of these types of smear campaigns targeting women, yet media coverage consistently and intentionally avoids naming it. https://www.usermag.co/p/blake-lively-justin-baldoni-smear-campaign-misogyny-amber-heard-gamergate

One of the journalists featured in this story raised it to me, she is wondering if bad actors have been able to get the story hidden from Google. These women journalists were so brave to detail their abuse and harassment, and now the story is essentially wiped from the web. What is going on!?

Seeking help! No matter how many keywords/names u search related to this story the article doesn't appear on Google

This was a front page A1 story I wrote for WaPo on how smear campaigns and abuse women journalists endure are a press freedom issue. Can someone explain why the article does not appear on Google? https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/02/14/women-journalists-global-violence/

"People don’t cheer for chaos when they feel like justice is possible. But right now, what options do they have? The Supreme Court is corrupt, voting feels useless, and the people in power are funded by the very corporations they’re supposed to regulate. Of course, Mangione gets turned into a meme hero—it’s not him they love; it’s the idea of someone finally fighting back" https://www.thegodpodcast.com/p/those-who-make-peaceful-revolution

“The goal of the scolds has never been to change hearts or minds. It was never about deep concern for a culture that was resorting to violence as a last resort. America has always been a deeply violent place, and these same people never really gave shit about any of that.” https://www.idiotbox.site/p/the-luigi-scolds-dont-care-about

Did I say that I felt “joy” over the healthcare CEO’s death? No, but that hasn’t stopped the media from lying about it. https://www.usermag.co/p/the-part-of-my-quote-piers-morgan

Ken Klippenstein has obtained and published Luigi's full manifesto.

"Many have illuminated the corruption and greed... decades ago and the problems simply remain. It is not an issue of awareness at this point, but clearly power games at play. Evidently I am the first to face it with such brutal honesty.” https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/luigis-manifesto

The media doesn't see insurance CEOs who sanction the deaths of thousands of innocent people a year by denying them coverage, often coverage doctors deem medically necessary, as violent. https://www.usermag.co/p/yes-we-want-insurance-executives