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Speaker 1: There Are No Girls on the Internet. As a production

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Speaker 1: of My Heart Radio and Unboss Creative. I'm Bridget Todd

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Speaker 1: and this is There Are No Girls on the Internet.

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Speaker 1: We've talked a lot on this show about social media

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Speaker 1: amateur detectives and how dangerous they can be. And if

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Speaker 1: you're on TikTok, you might have seen a good example

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Speaker 1: of what I mean play out in real time on TikTok.

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Speaker 1: This week on TikTok, Sabrina pratts bio reads, I'm a

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Speaker 1: thirty or four year old male who has been dressing

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Speaker 1: up since I was little, working on coming out. Sabrina

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Speaker 1: likes to film videos dancing and high heeled boots, tight jeans,

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Speaker 1: flashy blouses and sometimes a ponytailed, shoulder length wig in

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Speaker 1: what looks like a visibly old, deteriorating home. There's ladders

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Speaker 1: and buckets in the background and stains on the floor,

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Speaker 1: and then a few of the videos of Sabrina dancing

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Speaker 1: there's a monitor in the background with grainy images on them. Now,

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Speaker 1: maybe these videos look a little bit weird actually, if

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Speaker 1: you've never been inside a really old building before. And

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Speaker 1: at first people on TikTok were using Sabrina's videos to

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Speaker 1: make jokes about being in sad looking locations, things like

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Speaker 1: a night out at your hometown bar the night before Thanksgiving.

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Speaker 1: But increasingly people on TikTok started accusing Sabrina of being

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Speaker 1: up to something more sinister than just dancing. TikTok's algorithm

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Speaker 1: surface videos on my for you page, some of which

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Speaker 1: had tens of thousands of views, accusing Sabrina of being

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Speaker 1: a serial killer. The evidence amateur Sluice on TikTok said

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Speaker 1: those stains on the floor were actually blood stains. Those

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Speaker 1: difficult to see grainy images on the monitors behind Sabrina, well,

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Speaker 1: they said that those were video feeds so Sabrina could

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Speaker 1: keep tabs on captive victims. One video even said that

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Speaker 1: Sabrina's flashy heels and outfits were the clothing belonging to

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Speaker 1: women being held captive in the old home before it

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Speaker 1: was shut down. I scrolled a Facebook page full of

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Speaker 1: hundreds of wannabe detectives making useless claims and accusations about

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Speaker 1: Sabrina and Sabrina's family. Well, those people finally got to

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Speaker 1: the bottom of this conspiracy theory, and get ready to

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Speaker 1: have your mind blown. It turns out Sabrina works in

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Speaker 1: construction and purchases old homes to renovate, and Sabrina likes

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Speaker 1: filming dancing TikTok's while taking breaks from work, just like

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Speaker 1: so many other people trying to have fun on the platform. Now,

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Speaker 1: Sabrina made a video on TikTok trying to put these

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Speaker 1: conspiracy theories to rest while sobbing, saying I didn't do

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Speaker 1: anything wrong and I'm sick of being hurt by this.

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Speaker 1: I'm just like anyone else. I just want to be

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Speaker 1: loved and accepted and I'm not. I'm getting treated worse

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Speaker 1: than anyone coming out like me. I would have posted

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Speaker 1: Sabrina's audio here, but honestly it's really hard to listen

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Speaker 1: to because it's just so sad, and I think it

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Speaker 1: shows that there is a baseline assumption around who the

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Speaker 1: Internet is for and who it isn't for, and who

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Speaker 1: could expect to feel safe and seen there. People compared

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Speaker 1: Sabrina to Buffalo Bill to see Real Killer from Silence

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Speaker 1: of the Lambs. Just because Sabrina wears flashy blouses and

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Speaker 1: high heels, it should go without saying that that does

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Speaker 1: not mean someone is a serial killer, and that comparison

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Speaker 1: alone is so cruel. It also comes off as a

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Speaker 1: really classist. Just because Sabrina is spending time and a

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Speaker 1: dilapidate at home, that does not mean that someone must

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Speaker 1: be being held against their will there. And while some

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Speaker 1: users have taken down their videos from TikTok making these

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Speaker 1: kinds of accusations about Sabrina as of me recording this,

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Speaker 1: there are still plenty of videos on that platform racking

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Speaker 1: up views who still maintain that something unseemly is going

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Speaker 1: on in Sabrina's home, even after Sabrina tearfully spoke out.

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Speaker 1: So where does it end? Now? I get why engaging

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Speaker 1: in a conspiracy theory online can seem fun. Who doesn't

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Speaker 1: like the feeling of figuring out a puzzle, But when

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Speaker 1: thousands of people are using someone's actual life for this

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Speaker 1: kind of cruel entertainment, it's not just harmless fun. And

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Speaker 1: I get that thinking that you're putting together the clues

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Speaker 1: to bring down a serial killer or from your phone,

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Speaker 1: it's probably a lot more exciting to believe than the

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Speaker 1: reality that there are people out there that are living

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Speaker 1: very different lives from our own, and that that doesn't

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Speaker 1: make them any less human or me. They deserve to

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Speaker 1: be cruelly harassed just for making videos on the Internet.

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Speaker 1: Got a story about an interesting thing in tech, or

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Speaker 1: just want to say hi? You can re us at

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Speaker 1: Hello at tangodi dot com. You can also find transcripts

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Speaker 1: for today's episode at tangodi dot com. There Are No

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Speaker 1: Girls on the Internet was created by me Bridget Tod.

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Speaker 1: It's a production of iHeart Radio and Unboss creative Jonathan

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Speaker 1: Strickland as our executive producer. Terry Harrison is our producer

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Speaker 1: and sound engineer. Michael Amato is our contributing producer. I'm

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Speaker 1: your host, Bridget Todd. If you want to help us grow,

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Speaker 1: rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. For more podcasts

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Speaker 1: from iHeart Radio, check out the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. I have to be be

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Speaker 1: Will