Taylor Lorenz’s Power User

Everything you've been told about the "social media addiction" trial is wrong. 
Support my independent journalism:
🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/taylorlorenz        
🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: https://www.usermag.co       
Everyone is celebrating the $400 million fine against Meta and Mark Zuckerberg, but it's a massive win for Big Tech. In this episode of Free Speech Friday, journalist Kat Tenbarge and I debunk a slew of misinformation about the landmark "social media addiction" trials in Los Angeles and New Mexico.
The mainstream media is painting this as a victory for child safety, but the legal precedent being set is terrifying. 
From government agencies using real children's photos as "bait" to entrap predators, to the secret funding behind "grassroots" child safety groups, the reality is so, so much darker than the headlines suggest.
We cover:
How the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the repeal of Section 230 will lead to mass surveillance and censorship.
The disturbing testimony from the LA trial that the media completely ignored.
Why Big Tech is actually LOBBYING for age verification and identity tracking.
The link between these lawsuits and the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.
If you care about the future of the open internet, free speech, and data privacy, please support my work! I will continue to cover how these laws will impact smaller platforms, LGBTQ content, and our basic right to access information.
I also highly suggest this great piece by Mike Masnick on the trials!!
Follow me:
https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz                      
https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0                      
https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

This show created one of the fastest fandoms ever.
Support my independent journalism:
🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/taylorlorenz       
🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: https://www.usermag.co   
Over the past few months, a series born from a niche, self-published Canadian romance novel became one of the biggest cultural phenomenons on the internet. In this episode of Power User, I dive deep into the explosive rise of the Heated Rivalry fandom and why it has the internet in a chokehold.  
Fandom expert Allegra Rosenberg and writer Katherine Dee joined me to break down how the "subculture to culture" cycle that made the show a breakout hit. From its underground roots in hockey shipping and Tumblr culture to its overnight success on mainstream platforms like Threads and TikTok, we discuss the history of slash fanfiction, the "Fall Out Boy to Blackhawks" pipeline, and the "generational trauma" of fandom privacy.
We discuss the "Gateway Media" effect and how the show brought "normies" into the world of AO3 and shipping. We also discuss the clash between journalistic ethics and fandom privacy and what the show's massive success reveals about the future of media and fandom. 
Follow me:
https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz                     
https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0                     
https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz

The Internet Is Being Deleted. 
Support my independent journalism:
🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/taylorlorenz      
🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: https://www.usermag.co     
We are witnessing a massive, systematic erasure of digital history. From war crime investigations to grassroots activism and historical archives, the "permanent" web is vanishing. 
In this episode of Free Speech Friday, I break down the escalating censorship from Big Tech and governments that is burning our collective digital archive. Documentation of major historical events, war crimes, police violence, videos documenting things like ICE abductions, but also thousands of photos, websites, and archives that play a crucial role in documenting our cultural and political history are being systematically erased from the web. 
This sort of mass censorship is escalating, especially as governments and tech platforms seek to remove any content that challenges mainstream media or government approved narratives. 
In This Episode:
The Deletion of Human Rights Data: How YouTube erased 700+ videos from human rights organizations overnight.

The "Safety" Smokescreen: How laws like KOSA and the "child safety" narrative are being used to deputize platforms as government censors.

The Fall of the Archive: Why Reddit is blocking the Internet Archive and what it means for the future of information.

The Shadowban Economy: A look at how Meta and X (formerly Twitter) use algorithmic demotion to make dissent invisible.

ICE & Surveillance: The removal of apps like ICEBlock and the crackdown on community-sourced safety data.

The Global Free Speech Recession: Arrests for social media posts in the UK and internet shutdowns worldwide.

Why Does The Internet Think Every Famous Person Is A Clone? The Jim Carrey Clone Conspiracy Explained
Support my independent journalism:
🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/taylorlorenz     
🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: https://www.usermag.co    
After his appearance at the Cesar Awards in Paris, the internet exploded with a bizarre theory: Jim Carrey had been replaced by a clone or body double. TikTok, X, and conspiracy communities are convinced something is off, from his face to his mannerisms. But it's not just him. A week after the Jim Carrey conspiracy went viral, people began claiming Benjamin Netanyahu was a clone or had a body double. 
Will Sommer is a reporter at The Bulwark and author of the False Flag newsletter. He joins me to break down the Jim Carrey clone conspiracy theories, the rise of celebrity clone conspiracy theories in our culture, how crowdsourced AI driven investigations are fueling them, and what exactly is making half the internet so convinced that major figures in Hollywood, media and politics are secret body doubles. 
 
From Paul McCartney’s “Paul is dead” rumor to Avril Lavigne’s alleged double, to modern TikTok investigations we dive into:
How social media fuels conspiracy theories

Why aging celebrities trigger these reactions

The role of AI 

The psychology behind viral conspiracies

Follow me:
https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz      
https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0     
https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz 
https://bsky.app/profile/taylorlorenz.bsky.social  
https://twitter.com/taylorlorenz

What is Section 230 and why is everyone trying to kill it?
Support my independent journalism:
🙏 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz    
🗞️ Buy a paid subscription to my Substack: https://www.usermag.co   
In the latest episode of my Section 230 mini-series I’m joined by Mike Masnick, founder of Techdirt and host of the amazing Section 230 podcast Otherwise Objectionable. 
Mike breaks down how the whole drama around Section 230 began, and how this extremely inconsequential law became vilified by the mainstream media. We also debunk the biggest myths about Section 230 and breaking down how the law actually works, and why removing it would make Big Tech even more powerful.
Read Mike's excellent Section 230 myth busting on Techdirt:
https://www.techdirt.com/2020/06/23/hello-youve-been-referred-here-because-youre-wrong-about-section-230-communications-decency-act/