Speaker 1: You're listening to Disinformed, a mini series from There Are
Speaker 1: No Girls on the Internet. I'm Bridget Todd. What a
Speaker 1: ride it has ben y'all, And as we wrap up
Speaker 1: this season if there Are No Girls on the Internet,
Speaker 1: I wanted to take a look back of where we've
Speaker 1: been and where we're going. I started making this series
Speaker 1: about disinformation and conspiracy theories online right after the insurrection
Speaker 1: on January six. I live in d C, so that
Speaker 1: happened just a mile or so from my apartment, so
Speaker 1: it really felt like an attack on my home and
Speaker 1: I felt like I couldn't not respond. But from breaking
Speaker 1: down TikTok sex trafficking conspiracy theories to calling out Gwyneth
Speaker 1: Paltrow for pushing misinformation to women, I could never have
Speaker 1: imagined all the places this conversation would take us. I
Speaker 1: sat down with my producer Mike to try to put
Speaker 1: it all together. Well, hey, Bridget, thanks for joining me
Speaker 1: here for this wrap up episode of season two of
Speaker 1: their No Girls on the Internet Disinformed. How how are
Speaker 1: you feeling about the successful completion of season two. I'm
Speaker 1: feeling good. Uh. It's been a fun season. I feel
Speaker 1: like we've dove in Gove dived. I feel like we've
Speaker 1: gotten into so many different topics. Uh, it's almost kind
Speaker 1: of hard to wrap up because I feel like when
Speaker 1: we started the season, I had no idea where the
Speaker 1: topic was going to take us, and um, when we
Speaker 1: first started back in January to where we ended up
Speaker 1: in the end of the season, I could never never
Speaker 1: predicted where we would go. M But I guess that's
Speaker 1: the Internet for you. You don't know you know the
Speaker 1: story that you're telling until you tell it. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: Internet and disinformation, which is just people making up new
Speaker 1: stuff all the time. What has been your favorite topic
Speaker 1: that you covered in this season? So hard to choose.
Speaker 1: A couple of episodes that sort of spoke to the
Speaker 1: same theme. UM one with the former Pinterest employee of
Speaker 1: Foma Zoma who if you didn't listen, I haven't heard
Speaker 1: that episode. She essentially was an early hire on pinterest
Speaker 1: public policy team. Very early on she got the company
Speaker 1: to ban medical misinformation. This was before COVID, So for me,
Speaker 1: it was like a very classic you know, black women
Speaker 1: tried to tell you if all you would listen kind
Speaker 1: of moment. But finding out that she was docked and
Speaker 1: like harassed and abused by her own co workers, essentially
Speaker 1: doing her job. I think that if I had to
Speaker 1: sum up some of the episodes along a theme, that
Speaker 1: theme would be marginalized people, namely black women, fighting tooth
Speaker 1: and nail to make Internet spaces safer and better for
Speaker 1: everybody right now just for other black women or other
Speaker 1: marginalized people. Everybody benefits, but really fac seeing a material
Speaker 1: cost for doing that work and sort of having that
Speaker 1: work sort of be kind of costly for us or personally,
Speaker 1: you know, costly for us. Another example on that same
Speaker 1: line would be Sharine mitchell Um. We their an episode
Speaker 1: with her about early on about sort of why we
Speaker 1: should have been listening why disinformation is really a story
Speaker 1: about not listening to black women and the consequences for that.
Speaker 1: And so I think the theme for me really was
Speaker 1: like black women, queer folks, transpolkes, other marginalized folks, like
Speaker 1: we are the ones who are who they doing so
Speaker 1: much of the work of trying to make the Internet
Speaker 1: that is better for us but for everybody. But that
Speaker 1: work is costly, It is dangerous, it is exhausting, and
Speaker 1: it is you know, oftentimes like not rewarded, or if
Speaker 1: it is rewarded, it's sort of rewarded in this kind
Speaker 1: of shallow way where it's like, oh, listen to black women,
Speaker 1: trust black women that we're that's just sort of a platitude. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a great segue to my next question I wanted
Speaker 1: to ask, which is that in season one of Tango
Speaker 1: to You talked a lot about a racer as a concept,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to ask, you know, how did a
Speaker 1: racer show up in Disinformed? That's a great question. I mean,
Speaker 1: erasure is like one of the reasons why I wanted
Speaker 1: to to talk about disinformation in the first place. You know, I,
Speaker 1: in my other life have worked in the disinformation space
Speaker 1: professionally with the organization Ultra Violet, the gender justice organization
Speaker 1: that I worked for. But on January six, after the insurrection,
Speaker 1: it was like I woke up one day and everybody
Speaker 1: was talking about disinformation, and I felt like people like myself,
Speaker 1: who had really been talking about this since before, it
Speaker 1: was like a sexy issue. I think the insurrection really
Speaker 1: made it an issue that like everybody was talking about
Speaker 1: after the fact, right, and so it was like I
Speaker 1: truly feel like I went to bed one day and
Speaker 1: I worked on this issue that was like not very
Speaker 1: sexy and that people didn't really care about. And I
Speaker 1: woke up the next day and everybody was talking about it,
Speaker 1: And overnight a lot of like white men who worked
Speaker 1: at tech companies were all of a sudden just calling
Speaker 1: themselves different disinformation experts. And that erasure really stung, you know,
Speaker 1: as someone who has been working in this space for
Speaker 1: a long time, it the stung. Uh. It's stung to
Speaker 1: see panels organized about disinformation that didn't have any people
Speaker 1: of color or women on them, having that experience not
Speaker 1: at all match my lived experience of going to meetings
Speaker 1: with companies like Facebook or TikTok or Twitter, and where
Speaker 1: we are on the side of people trying to like
Speaker 1: hold them accountable or make the platform safer and better,
Speaker 1: and knowing how the people when I look around those
Speaker 1: meetings are always women, always people of color. Having having
Speaker 1: the reality not match my lived experience was a real
Speaker 1: feeling of a racer for me. So that was really
Speaker 1: something that drove the work in general. Yeah, I can
Speaker 1: imagine that that would sting and be frustrating, but it's
Speaker 1: not just an issue of injustice, Like those panels that
Speaker 1: don't feature black activists, women, people of color are missing
Speaker 1: the whole point of disinformation, right, Like, it's not just
Speaker 1: that they are excluding people who should be there, it's
Speaker 1: that they are not talking about the real issues that
Speaker 1: are at the heart of disinformation. Well, if you're not
Speaker 1: talking about race, identity, gender, if those things are not
Speaker 1: part of your perspective when you talk about disinformation, but
Speaker 1: also any experience on the Internet, you're not actually telling
Speaker 1: the full story. A great example is this documentary. You know,
Speaker 1: I love documentaries. A good example is this documentary I
Speaker 1: watched recently an HBO called Fake Famous, which I truly enjoyed,
Speaker 1: Like I really really enjoyed it. Um. It's all about
Speaker 1: this idea that on the Internet nothing is really as
Speaker 1: it seems, and that you could essentially buy your way
Speaker 1: into being an influencer if you had money to buy
Speaker 1: fake followers and things of that nature. One of the
Speaker 1: things that they dive into is this idea of what
Speaker 1: it comes to fake followers or bots, that fake social
Speaker 1: media accounts had a big impact on the election in
Speaker 1: they never mentioned the fact that a Senate inquiry confirmed
Speaker 1: that black folks were the biggest target, Right, So that
Speaker 1: is that is a not only is it a election
Speaker 1: integrity issue in a voting rights issue, it's also a
Speaker 1: racial justice issue. And if you are not equipped to to,
Speaker 1: you know, dissect these stories in the in ways that
Speaker 1: demonstrate how race and gender and identity are really at
Speaker 1: the center of them, and you're not telling the whole story.
Speaker 1: And I guess I just saw the identity aspect of
Speaker 1: the way that we talk about the Internet in general.
Speaker 1: I just saw that being erased time and time again,
Speaker 1: because frankly, a lot of these places don't have to
Speaker 1: range right. Like not to say that I'm doing it right,
Speaker 1: but if you are a team of all white people
Speaker 1: telling a story about the Internet, and you believe the
Speaker 1: Internet experience to be for white people, by white people,
Speaker 1: of course you're not going to be able to really
Speaker 1: speak to that to identity issues or you know, how
Speaker 1: things can be race issues or gender issues, if it's
Speaker 1: something that you're not poised yourself to grapple with. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's a shame because those issues are central. Anything,
Speaker 1: like you said, anything that doesn't include them and in
Speaker 1: effect center them is just a superficial treatment of the problem.
Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break looking back when we started
Speaker 1: production on Disinformed at the end of last year. It's
Speaker 1: almost funny to think that we were concerned people might
Speaker 1: stop caring about disinformation after the election, and of course
Speaker 1: I didn't happen. Instead, the January six insurrection happened, and
Speaker 1: Republicans are now passing voter suppression laws based on Trump's
Speaker 1: big lie and trying to convince us all that the
Speaker 1: insurrection was just a well behaved groups of civics enthusiasts
Speaker 1: touring the capital. What do you see as the emerging
Speaker 1: disinformation threats that maybe aren't on our collective radar yet?
Speaker 1: What a good question. I don't even know. First of all,
Speaker 1: I love how you put this um a group of
Speaker 1: civics enthusiasts. I think there's a lot of people very
Speaker 1: invested in not being the narrative. I think when it
Speaker 1: comes to disinformation, one thing I would say is there
Speaker 1: is a great risk of not seeing some of the
Speaker 1: laws that are being passed as deeply connected. You mentioned
Speaker 1: the voter suppression laws that we're seeing in places like Georgia, Florida,
Speaker 1: other states around the country that are rooted in a
Speaker 1: complete fabrication, a fabrication that says that our elections are
Speaker 1: not safe, and that then in the last election, there
Speaker 1: was like nefarious behavior going on. That's not true. It's
Speaker 1: it's just point blank not true. But the fact that
Speaker 1: now we have this kind of disinformation being codified into
Speaker 1: law that will make it harder for people, namely black
Speaker 1: folks and brown folks and first time voters to vote.
Speaker 1: That's also happening in other ways. It's happening with the
Speaker 1: spate of anti abortion legislation we're seeing all all over
Speaker 1: the country based purely in fictions about our health and
Speaker 1: our bodies. It's happening in really really harmful, dangerous laws
Speaker 1: about legislating trans identity, oftentimes focused on trans youth. A
Speaker 1: lot of these laws are based on complete fictions and
Speaker 1: fabrications about trans youth. And I don't see these as disparate.
Speaker 1: I see these as a coordinated series of attacks on
Speaker 1: our democracy being fueled by disinformation and lies and you know,
Speaker 1: falsehoods about marginalized people being spread and having a digital
Speaker 1: media ecosystem and landscape ready and employs to amplify them
Speaker 1: and help them fester and become more powerful. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's all egregious. I think some of the worst
Speaker 1: is the disinformation about like trans kids right, like, why
Speaker 1: are children somehow a political punching bag for a lot
Speaker 1: of the same groups that you know are concerned that
Speaker 1: Amazon is selling children and you know, all these disinformation stories.
Speaker 1: It's pretty disgusting the way that they will create these
Speaker 1: fabrications about people and especially children. It's discus and let's
Speaker 1: I need to be clear, like this is going to
Speaker 1: kill people. People will die because of this kind of legislation.
Speaker 1: We know that trans youth are safer when they have
Speaker 1: access to gender or firmain healthcare. Everybody needs health care.
Speaker 1: To create laws based on fictions and lies and smears,
Speaker 1: smears that are fueled by someone's identity to further criminalize them,
Speaker 1: they're essentially a I believe, trying to legislate trans identity
Speaker 1: out of existence, so you know, eradicate trans identity starting
Speaker 1: with youth. And we're talking about youth who are often
Speaker 1: times so marginalized. So it's not it's it's cruel, but
Speaker 1: it's also people are going to die, people are going
Speaker 1: to be deeply, deeply harmed. And the worst part is
Speaker 1: is that it's all based in complete fictions, complete untruths
Speaker 1: that are allowed to fester and spread on social media.
Speaker 1: Oftentimes for profit, right, I think that like we're not
Speaker 1: fully I don't. I think it can be difficult to
Speaker 1: fully see that at the scope that it actually is.
Speaker 1: It's not a piecemeal it's not about a piecemeal anti
Speaker 1: trans bill and this state or voting might bill in
Speaker 1: this state. It is a coordinated network of larger attacks
Speaker 1: on our democracy fueled by disinformation. And I think that
Speaker 1: you know, Trump didn't start disinformation, but I think that
Speaker 1: we're living in a time right now where people see
Speaker 1: how powerful it is to weaponize and and what a
Speaker 1: powerful weapon it can be. And I think that we're
Speaker 1: really seeing we're only now seeing the results of that.
Speaker 1: I think it's I think we really are at a
Speaker 1: pivotal time where we're gonna have to decide if it
Speaker 1: gets better or worse. More after a quick break, let's
Speaker 1: get right back into it. You brought up a great
Speaker 1: point that there's a lot of money me being made
Speaker 1: on the spread of this disinformation, which came up a
Speaker 1: few times in the seat and disinformed as we talked
Speaker 1: about platforms, But there's a whole bunch of other ways
Speaker 1: that that we didn't touch on because of the focus
Speaker 1: on telling individual people's stories, but uh, that's another huge
Speaker 1: piece here. Yeah, when a Foma is oma was that Pinterest?
Speaker 1: She said that nine times out of ten, when someone
Speaker 1: was pushing medical disinformation or misinformation on the platform, it
Speaker 1: was because they were selling something, whether it was supplements
Speaker 1: or some bogus curative disinformation. People who push it can
Speaker 1: often be scammers looking to line in their pockets. I
Speaker 1: did an episode recently that was a little controversial calling
Speaker 1: out everybody's favorite. Uh well, miss Guru Gwyne Paltrow, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: she's a scammer. You know, at what point do we
Speaker 1: call it what it is? If you make money, if
Speaker 1: you build an empire on telling people lies, lies about
Speaker 1: their health, lies about their bodies to make money, that's
Speaker 1: a scammer. We have a word for that. Just because
Speaker 1: someone is well dressed and they have a like you
Speaker 1: know ethereal vibe doesn't magnate less of a scam and
Speaker 1: we and I want to get to a point where
Speaker 1: the same way. But when we see someone selling fake gucci,
Speaker 1: you know, on in Times Square in Manhattan, that's a scammer.
Speaker 1: We need to see people who get rich off of
Speaker 1: disinformation and platforms and tech leaders who get rich off
Speaker 1: of it as the same kinds of scammers and worse
Speaker 1: because those scams kill people, they hurt people, they get
Speaker 1: people sit, and they criminalize people. Yeah, you mentioned platforms
Speaker 1: and the role that they have here, and you know,
Speaker 1: they're absolutely profiting off this disinformation, even if they're not
Speaker 1: the ones doing the scams themselves, they are enabling it,
Speaker 1: perpetuating it, and profiting from it. And I know in
Speaker 1: a lot of the work that you've done with Ultra Violet,
Speaker 1: you've been bringing this to the platforms. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: especially Facebook and Twitter. Are those the big platforms that
Speaker 1: we need to be concerned about now? Where there are
Speaker 1: there others. So if you would have asked me this
Speaker 1: a few months ago, I would have said my big
Speaker 1: three were Facebook, Google which owns YouTube, and Twitter. But
Speaker 1: we need to be thinking about other platforms as well.
Speaker 1: We recently met with TikTok about disinformation on their platform.
Speaker 1: Um the episode that we did with blood Bath and
Speaker 1: Beyond and Abby Richards, who are two amazing TikTok ers
Speaker 1: who make amazing content really counterings on the disinformation that
Speaker 1: we see on those platforms, have really spoken to the
Speaker 1: way that TikTok has really gone under the radar, which
Speaker 1: is so horrible when you think about the fact that
Speaker 1: the average users age is fourteen, right, and so these
Speaker 1: are very young people who are really being targeted with
Speaker 1: a lot of harmful content. Never mind the sexist, racist,
Speaker 1: toxic content that's there that's like, yes, and but also
Speaker 1: harmful disinformation and disinformation about our bodies, about our identities,
Speaker 1: about sexuality. Imagine being four keen and having to wade
Speaker 1: through all of this, like it's a lot. And so
Speaker 1: I think that we really do need to be spending
Speaker 1: more time focusing on emerging platforms like TikTok. And something
Speaker 1: that blood Bath and Beyond brought up, which I thought
Speaker 1: was a really good point, is that we need to
Speaker 1: be having these conversations on the platforms where they start.
Speaker 1: And so if you see disinformation popping off on TikTok,
Speaker 1: you can't counter that on Twitter, you know. And so
Speaker 1: it's like, I, even though I am way older than
Speaker 1: the than the target user of TikTok, I am now
Speaker 1: on TikTok because I want to know what kinds of conversations,
Speaker 1: what kind of content is happening there, and what can
Speaker 1: we do to make sure that content is safe for
Speaker 1: this very young user base. Yeah, I think you're absolutely
Speaker 1: right that it's been under the radar and it it
Speaker 1: needs to be a focus. They've got I just looked
Speaker 1: it up. Over a billion active monthly users. So not
Speaker 1: only are they is it young people, but it's a
Speaker 1: lot of them. So I'm thank you for doing that work.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's a little silly because I'm definitely
Speaker 1: I so. I love TikTok. I made my first TikTok
Speaker 1: two weeks ago. It is about my cats, Monika Um.
Speaker 1: I'm hoping to make her a TikTok star. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of good cat content on TikTok. It's a great
Speaker 1: platform and I completely understand why people go there and
Speaker 1: looking for community. You know, their algorithm is amazing and
Speaker 1: that like, you know, I'm a identify as a black
Speaker 1: beer woman. Within the first few scrolls of being on TikTok,
Speaker 1: their algorithm completely clocked me as a black queer woman
Speaker 1: and was serving servicing any content that we would put
Speaker 1: aligned with that identity. And so if they're algorithm is
Speaker 1: that good at knowing my identity understanding the kind of
Speaker 1: content I want to see? That should to show you
Speaker 1: how powerful it is, and so I want to make
Speaker 1: sure what these algorithms are being agents of good, agents
Speaker 1: of bringing people closer to communities that are healthy, not
Speaker 1: bringing them closer to communities that will endanger them or
Speaker 1: get them, you know, involved in toxic or extremist content. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so what can people do to curb disinformation in our
Speaker 1: everyday lives? Well, the number one thing that you can
Speaker 1: do is not to amplify it, not to share it,
Speaker 1: even if you're trying to debunk it. Oftentimes, when you
Speaker 1: retweet something that that is disinformation on disinformation, you're actually
Speaker 1: just helping it spread and helping it become more powerful
Speaker 1: by debugging it. Focus instead on sort of thinking of
Speaker 1: yourself as like an influencer of your own little pocket
Speaker 1: of the internet. So even if you don't have a
Speaker 1: lot of followers or you're not somebody who is like
Speaker 1: Kim Kardashian online, you still have influence over your little
Speaker 1: pocket of the web. So focus on becoming that trustworthy
Speaker 1: person that people know they can go to. They know
Speaker 1: they can go to your feed, your TikTok, your Twitter
Speaker 1: or whatever. They know that they can count on you
Speaker 1: for posting accurate, timely information and that means your community
Speaker 1: is going to be so nourished and so full off
Speaker 1: of the information that you share that is like good
Speaker 1: and accurate, they're not going to be as susceptible to
Speaker 1: fall for it when someone is posting bs. So focus
Speaker 1: on being like an influencer of your little pocket of
Speaker 1: the Internet. And then also if you see something that
Speaker 1: is suspect, google it right, Like I think on like
Speaker 1: like we see this a lot on TikTok with the
Speaker 1: trafficking content. I do believe that people are sharing misinformation
Speaker 1: not because they want to be bad actors who they're
Speaker 1: not looking to intentionally disinform. They're just you know, sharing
Speaker 1: something of their community because like they maybe and they
Speaker 1: think it will be helpful. Maybe you know, they don't know,
Speaker 1: like maybe it's true. I think it's like, don't fall
Speaker 1: into the trap of sharing something just because maybe it's true.
Speaker 1: Do a little research Google to try to find try
Speaker 1: to find a reliable source backing up what you say,
Speaker 1: and if you can't, don't share it. I would also say,
Speaker 1: you know, this came up from the episode we did
Speaker 1: with Nora from Pain America. Recognize that we all have
Speaker 1: a role to play in this. It's it's it's a
Speaker 1: little it like climate change. Right. I am one person.
Speaker 1: I am not a wealthy corporation. It is up to
Speaker 1: wealthy corporate wealthy in corporations wanted to change like fixed
Speaker 1: climate changes. They could, and they should. They're the ones
Speaker 1: with power, they should be the ones acting as leaders
Speaker 1: to do this. But in absence of that, I can
Speaker 1: still make individual choices that help, right, I can still
Speaker 1: you know, reduce my usage of single use plastics or whatever.
Speaker 1: Disinformation and misinformation is the same way. It is up
Speaker 1: to tech leadership and policymakers to step in and and
Speaker 1: and right this wrong, right, and and and make a
Speaker 1: big difference. In absence of their leadership, we can all
Speaker 1: make smarter choices of how we see it Internet. We
Speaker 1: could all be good stewards of the Internet. We can
Speaker 1: all think twice before we retweet something, or you know,
Speaker 1: pause and take a breath before we share something. I
Speaker 1: think that that, like, that realization was really helpful for me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that makes sense. So that really aligns with what you've
Speaker 1: been doing over the past six months, year longer than
Speaker 1: that of both those things of helping educate people and
Speaker 1: raise awareness about disinformation and what we can all do,
Speaker 1: as well as your work with platforms and policy policymakers
Speaker 1: through Ultra Violet. Um, and you know you've you've had
Speaker 1: some help along the way and spreading that message. A
Speaker 1: lot of your friends and colleagues invited you onto their
Speaker 1: shows to talk about disinformation. What was that experience like
Speaker 1: for you? Oh? My god? So fun. The voice that
Speaker 1: you hear on the podcast is largely my own, and
Speaker 1: podcasting the reason why it's fun, the reason why I
Speaker 1: got into it because it's collaborative and so being able
Speaker 1: to collaborate with my community of podcast nerds has been amazing.
Speaker 1: I have got the chance to go on so many
Speaker 1: amazing podcasts. Um, I can shout some out right now,
Speaker 1: Uh stuff, Mom'm ever told you. I'm on every month
Speaker 1: talking about underrepresented voictions on the Internet. Shout out to
Speaker 1: Sam and Annie they are amazing. Um. I was on
Speaker 1: one of my favorite podcasts, Robert Evans is behind the Bastard.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Robert and Sophie. They are amazing. They
Speaker 1: do work chronicling sort of bastards throughout history. You know,
Speaker 1: so people like I don't know, Mark Zuckerberg, people who
Speaker 1: have you know, further bad things in the world. Um,
Speaker 1: I am a frequent guest on one of my favorite podcasts,
Speaker 1: Daily Zite Guys Shout out to the Zeit Gang. Amazing, amazing,
Speaker 1: definitely check it out. And then podcasts where they're doing
Speaker 1: interesting work thinking about the Internet in interesting ways, like
Speaker 1: Joe Piazzas podcast is phenomenal Under the Influence. She is
Speaker 1: chronicling the influencer community peicularly like Mom influencers and like
Speaker 1: Mom Instagram users, because people don't really cover or chronicle
Speaker 1: Instagram or influencers because I think there's so many women
Speaker 1: in that field, and so it's just not seen as
Speaker 1: worthy of actual consideration or actual um journalistic scrutiny. However,
Speaker 1: it's also a billion dollar industry and so if no
Speaker 1: one is covering this with the seriousness that it deserves
Speaker 1: the serious that other billion dollar industries get, you know,
Speaker 1: things go under their radar, people are exploited, things get
Speaker 1: you know, people need to know about what's going on.
Speaker 1: And so I was lucky enough to be on her podcast.
Speaker 1: I cannot recommend it enough. She is amazing. Another good
Speaker 1: one is the Daily Dapts podcast Two Girls, One Pad
Speaker 1: of really doing some interesting work again just talking about
Speaker 1: the Internet. In different ways. The experience of being on
Speaker 1: the Internet is so multifaceted, there's so many interesting angles
Speaker 1: to it. We rarely cover it with the depth that
Speaker 1: it deserves because it can be so difficult to spotlight
Speaker 1: marginalized experiences there. And it's like there's like a default
Speaker 1: assumption that the average user on the Internet is a
Speaker 1: white male, and that leaves out so many pockets, so
Speaker 1: many facets to what people's actual experiences online are actually like.
Speaker 1: And so I'm so happy that I am in a
Speaker 1: community of people really working hard to tell these stories
Speaker 1: with the you know, love and nuance and thoughtfulness that
Speaker 1: they really do deserve. Another great one um tech stuff.
Speaker 1: I'm not just saying that because Jonathan Strickland is the
Speaker 1: executive producer of this show. He also tells phenomenally interesting
Speaker 1: stories about the Internet and the experience of being on
Speaker 1: the Internet, from gadgets to trends to sort of more
Speaker 1: cless opical questions. I think there's so many interesting people
Speaker 1: having those interesting conversations about what it means to be
Speaker 1: a person on the Internet today. Yeah, and Jonathan has
Speaker 1: been so supportive throughout making this podcast, both in terms
Speaker 1: of the content and also like the behind the scenes,
Speaker 1: nuts and bolt stuff of making a podcast successful. Absolutely yeah. Um.
Speaker 1: Speaking of being successful, earlier this month, we found out
Speaker 1: that Tang Goody Want a Shorty Award, beating out other
Speaker 1: podcasts in our category produced by powerhouses like HBO and
Speaker 1: the NFL. How did you do it? What is your secret?
Speaker 1: My secret is an amazing producer and engineer, Tarry Harrison.
Speaker 1: Surely in this podcast would be would be non existent
Speaker 1: without her visions, Like if you've ever listen to something
Speaker 1: on the show about like, well that sounds cool, we're like, oh,
Speaker 1: that was a beautiful, beautifully soundscape part of the show
Speaker 1: that was sorry, And so really, she's a secret sauce
Speaker 1: of why it works. It's it's her, and it's the
Speaker 1: stories of all the interesting people who are doing such
Speaker 1: cool work online. So I feel like I have very
Speaker 1: little to do with it. Between the two of Between
Speaker 1: that those two things, it's almost impossible to not make
Speaker 1: an award winning podcast because they're so great. Yeah, Tart
Speaker 1: is amazing, your guests are amazing. I think you also
Speaker 1: had a little bit to do with it. Okay, I'll
Speaker 1: allow that I had a little something to do with it.
Speaker 1: So what can listeners look forward to in the next
Speaker 1: season of Tank GODI and when can they look forward
Speaker 1: to hearing it? So we will be back in your
Speaker 1: earbuds very soon, and we're gonna keep having these conversations
Speaker 1: about what it looks like online for people who wanted
Speaker 1: to represent it. Some of the episodes that we did
Speaker 1: this season that We're near and Near to my Heart
Speaker 1: were stories of women who were finding themselves at the
Speaker 1: said tour of not so pleasant experiences online and so
Speaker 1: things like online harassment campaigns, pylon campaigns. I'm really interested
Speaker 1: in how these women deal with it and will come
Speaker 1: out the other side of it. So that's something to
Speaker 1: look forward to in a fun little mini series. Really
Speaker 1: kind of the opposite about women who are just doing
Speaker 1: cool stuff online, like interesting women that you might not
Speaker 1: know about, who are making the Internet a better place.
Speaker 1: So a little bit of like light and dark, and
Speaker 1: I think it really is representative of the fact that
Speaker 1: being a woman or a person of color, or a
Speaker 1: queer person or a transperson online you deal with so
Speaker 1: much crap. There is ugliness there, but there is life
Speaker 1: there too, Like it is what brings me back to
Speaker 1: the Internet, is what brought me to the Internet in
Speaker 1: the first place, and I'm really interested in telling the
Speaker 1: full scope of that story. It's like Claire said in
Speaker 1: the very first episode, you know, don't fight the darkness,
Speaker 1: bring the light. So what are you gonna be doing
Speaker 1: while the show is on hiatus, You're just gonna be
Speaker 1: kicking to the beach. I wish a little bit of
Speaker 1: beach time. I definitely want to take some time for
Speaker 1: like actual meaningful rest. You know, I've been doing this
Speaker 1: show since January here it is almost June. It is
Speaker 1: been It's been fun. I'm great, but I'm looking forward
Speaker 1: to taking some time off. I'm going to continue holding
Speaker 1: platforms accountable. I met with Twitter just today to advocate
Speaker 1: for some policy changes. The meeting with TikTok. We continue
Speaker 1: to meet with Facebook, so that work will not stop.
Speaker 1: That is not work that you hear about on the
Speaker 1: podcast very often, because frankly, it's not really that interesting
Speaker 1: to listen to sometimes. But that will continue, and you know,
Speaker 1: I'm excited to sort of get back out there. You know,
Speaker 1: I have this little saying I am now vaxed, wax
Speaker 1: and relax. Actually it's not my saying. I saw it
Speaker 1: on TikTok, but It is the motto for this this
Speaker 1: part of my life right now, and I'm looking forward
Speaker 1: to traveling some safely. I'm looking forward to continuing to
Speaker 1: these conversations, and honestly, I want to keep talking about
Speaker 1: how we make the Internet a safer, better place and
Speaker 1: amplifying the voices of some of the women and folks
Speaker 1: of color who are doing that. And so if folks
Speaker 1: are interested in live events, I am interested in them too.
Speaker 1: If folks want to bring me out to speak for
Speaker 1: their organization or for an event they're having, I am
Speaker 1: very interested. As I said, I am vaxed, waxed and
Speaker 1: relaxed and down to get out there. That is just
Speaker 1: sound like the wax part is like part of that.
Speaker 1: If not, okay, good to clarify. A thousand people are
Speaker 1: hitting the backspace right now. Uh well, Bridget, that sounds great.
Speaker 1: Thanks for talking with me, Thanks for letting me come
Speaker 1: along on this ride of this season. Um, congratulations again
Speaker 1: on the Shorty Award and anything else to say. You know,
Speaker 1: I wish your listeners a good summer. Thanks for coming
Speaker 1: along this ride with us. I can't wait to see
Speaker 1: you every go next. I've loved getting your emails, your tweets,
Speaker 1: your messages. I cannot tell you how much it means
Speaker 1: to me. I've had so many times where I'm thinking
Speaker 1: no one's listening to my podcast. I should just give up,
Speaker 1: and then I'll get that perfectly timed review or email
Speaker 1: or shout out, and it means so much, and please
Speaker 1: keep it going and yeah, I'll see you on the internet.
Speaker 1: If you've enjoyed this podcast, please help us grow by subscribing.
Speaker 1: Got a story about an interesting thing in tech, or
Speaker 1: just want to say hi. We'd love to hear from
Speaker 1: you at Hello at tango e dot com. Disinformed is
Speaker 1: brought to you by There Are No Girls on the Internet.
Speaker 1: It's a production of iHeart Radio and Unbust creative Jonathan
Speaker 1: Strickland as our executive producer. Tary Harrison is our supervising producer,
Speaker 1: and engineer. Michaelamato is our contributing producer. I'm your host
Speaker 1: Bridget Toad. For more great podcasts, check out the iHeart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: The Protect the Y