There Are No Girls on the Internet

What happens when a teenage boy spends his formative years on incel forums, starts injecting steroids at 14, hits himself in the face with a hammer in the name of self-improvement, injects his underage girlfriend with unlicensed substances on a live stream — and the response from mainstream media is a New York Times profile and a Fashion Week runway? This week we're digging into looksmaxxing: where it actually came from, what the TikTok version obscured, and why a movement rooted in white supremacist beauty standards got repackaged as self-help. Then we talk about Braden Peters, the influencer known as Clavicular, and make the case that the media didn't just cover his rise — it manufactured it. Let us know what you think by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify. Pre-order Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com ! Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike cover the tech news stories you might have missed. TRIGGER WARNING - one story discusses disturbing sexual assaults. . Reese Witherspoon thinks women should embrace AI more. The comments were not kind. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXKphAtkbgW/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== . Gisèle Pelicot's story of being drugged and raped by her husband and other men for a decade captured headlines. A new CNN investigation reveals a large ecosystem of men helping each other commit similar crimes around the world with something like an "online rape academy." https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2026/03/world/expose-rape-assault-online-vis-intl/index.html . Lauren Sanchez Besos is a cultural force, revolutionizing the way Americans live, and inspiring everyone with her embrace of joy and her perfect marriage to Jeff Bezos. Right? RIGHT?! (wrong) https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/11/business/lauren-sanchez-bezos-jeff-bezos.html?unlocked_article_code=1.blA.i7qg.dQZ7G1_RUIcF&smid=url-share [gift link] . Workers at surveillance company Flock inexplicably accessed cameras in a gymnasium and pool, prompting the city of Dunwoody, Georgia, to delay their contract renewal after a citizen's open records request revealed anomolies in the logs. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/apr/06/flock-cameras-privacy-concerns . Why Are Flock Employees Watching Our Children? https://jasonhunyar.substack.com/p/why-are-flock-employees-watching-720 . Women in northern Nigeria have been writing steamy romance books for decades. They are fighting morality censorship by innovating new models of distribution and monetization on WhatsApp. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/article/love-is-universal-but-nigerias-romance-lit-market-is-one-of-a-kind and https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/world/africa/nigeria-erotica-writers-censors.html . Let us know what you think by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify. Anti-Occupy Wall Street Champagne Toast Later Today? https://gothamist.com/news/anti-occupy-wall-street-champagne-toast-later-today Rich people watching Occupy protestor: https://www.threads.com/@yungbooks/post/DEEOKfUOXkA Pre-order Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com ! Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fake AI-generated Black women are flooding your social media feeds, performing self-hatred, pushing porn sites and drop shipping scams, and raking in cash for anonymous creators who'll never be held accountable. Jeremy Carrasco, the internet's go-to AI debunker, breaks down who's behind it, why platforms keep looking the other way, and why one Black student researcher's testimony made him want to do something about it. AI Blackface: Profiting on racist depictions at scale: https://www.riddance.ai/p/ai-blackface-profiting-on-racist AI videos of sexualised black women removed from TikTok after BBC investigation: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c070e283k8vo Bridget explains the evolution of digital Blackface from its antebellum roots in this Youtube video: https://youtu.be/yh-2il78AEA Digital rapper FN Meka and the new era of digital Blackface: https://omny.fm/shows/there-are-no-girls-on-the-internet/digital-rapper-fn-meka-and-the-new-era-of-digital Let us know what you think by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify. Pre-order Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com ! Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike cover the tech news stories you might have missed. Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In is fighting the gender gap in AI adoption, but raising questions about its own leadership. https://www.fastcompany.com/91521751/sheryl-sandbergs-lean-in-is-fighting-the-gender-gap-in-ai-adoption Gen Z Goes to the Movies! The new Zendaya film 'The Drama' is a smash hit. Younger Audiences Are Driving Box Office Sales, Study Shows https://variety.com/2026/film/box-office/gen-z-driving-box-office-1236703551/ The FBI was able to recover deleted Signal messages from a user's phone because they were stored in his notification history. Check your Signal settings now to stay safe "Settings > Notification > Store" https://www.404media.co/fbi-extracts-suspects-deleted-signal-messages-saved-in-iphone-notification-database-2/ She Was in Labor at a Florida Hospital. Then She Was in Zoom Court for Refusing a C-Section. https://www.propublica.org/article/florida-court-hearing-c-section BBC breached editorial standards over BAFTAs racial slur but no big deal, BBC investigation finds. https://news.sky.com/story/bbc-breached-editorial-standards-over-baftas-racial-slur-investigation-finds-13529270 Ohio creep becomes first to be convicted under new Take-It-Down law for sexually explicit images: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/08/ohio-man-convicted-ai-sexually-explicit-images Let us know what you think about these stories by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify. Pre-order Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com ! Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You've probably heard about author Mia Ballard. Her debut novel "Shy Girl" has been at the center of a controversy about whether she used AI to help write it. After a New York Times article, her publisher dropped her book. She's since deleted most of her social accounts and gone dark. I talked about this story on Stuff Mom Never Told You just last week, but I now realize that I only had half the story. Drey, of the Drey Dossier, has been trying to fill in that other half. It's about a Black woman author, a major publisher, a powerful newspaper, and an AI detection company whose business model depends on all of us believing that their tool is the final word on what counts as human. This story is much bigger than whether one writer did or didn't use AI. It's about the question of who gets to set the standard in AI and creative work? And more importantly — who gets protected, and who gets sacrificed to it? Subscribe to Drey's excellent substack for sharp reporting and open source investigative journalism into tech and power: https://thedreydossier.substack.com Read / Watch Drey’s reporting on Shy Girl: https://thedreydossier.substack.com/p/the-shy-girl-ai-scandal-is-way-worse Follow Drey on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok: @thedreydossier Read more about the limitations of AI-detection software, and why many of the country's most respected universities have banned it. https://timrequarth.substack.com/p/why-you-shouldnt-trust-ai-detector Read Thad’s blog post called Shy Girl: The Background to the New York Times Story: https://thefutureofpublishing.com/2026/03/shy-girl-the-background-to-the-new-york-times-story/ Bridget’s SMNTY ep about ShyGirl: What the Shy Girl Conversation Says About AI and Art: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-stuff-mom-never-told-you-21123631/episode/what-the-shy-girl-conversation-says-about-ai-and-art-328745937 Let us know what you think by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify. Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Publishing is having a trust crisis. With AI accusations swirling around authors like Mia Ballard, whose novel Shy Girl was dropped by her publisher despite her denying any AI use, questions about authenticity in publishing have never felt more urgent. But this kind of chaos isn't new. We saw it coming. We're revisiting one of our wildest deep dives: the Cait Corrain Goodreads scandal. Corrain had a highly anticipated debut novel, Crown of Starlight, coming out in 2024 — until she admitted to using fake Goodreads accounts to review bomb other writers' forthcoming books. Most of her targets were Black or queer authors. Corrain is white. The story has a lot of twists and turns, including a fabricated conversation with a completely made-up person that Corrain invented to take the fall. Canadian author Xiran Jay Zhao was the first to bring it to wider attention, noticing that Crown of Starlight was getting glowing reviews from the same accounts trashing other books — some of which weren't even out yet. Zhao also compiled a 31-page Google document of screenshots and receipts: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1__mO1uqIqcmupBAPKwXDzlUbZIwtY6fKf0S1Y0SNz0E/edit?tab=t.0 Let us know what you think by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify. Pre-order our forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com ! Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Investigative journalist Karen Hao was covering OpenAI years before most of us had ever heard the words "ChatGPT" or "large language model." Her best-selling book, "Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI," paints a gripping and damning portrait of the company's evolution from a sort of nonprofit to an empire-seeking tech juggernaut, drawing on her deep familiarity with the company as well as candid accounts from insiders. She is one of the most influential and respected tech journalists covering the AI industry today. In this interview, she shares the story of how she came to journalism, what she's learned from a decade of covering OpenAI and Sam Altman, and what she sees as the biggest threats of AI to intimacy, the environment, privacy, healthcare, and democracy. Karen has a new podcast published by the BBC called "The Interface," and it is brilliant. Make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, or by following this link: https://link.mgln.ai/theinterface-TANGOTI Conversation with Karen is featured prominently in Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships, "Love At First Prompt." Pre-order your copy today at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com ! Let us know what you think about this interview by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify. Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike are covering the tech news stories you might have missed. Chappell Roan bodyguard controversy fueled by bots online, research finds: https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/music/news/chappell-roan-bodyguard-backlash-bots-b2947029.html An AI-generated woman in images with President Trump has been going viral on conservative social media: https://wapo.st/3NtfbUi Meta and YouTube lose two landmark court cases about harm to users: . . California woman sues Meta and YouTube https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/technology/social-media-trial-verdict.html .. New Mexico Attorney General sues Meta https://mashable.com/article/new-mexico-meta-court-case-meta-loses Comedian Druski published a hilarious short video titled "How Conservative Women in America act" and MAGA is real mad: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fauxmoi/comments/1s48bw5/druski_parodies_erika_kirk_in_a_new_skit_how/ ..Druski church parody: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/58hfPPHCRIU ..Druski NASCAR parody: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/G32siPZXgx0 Barely six months after AI-video app Sora was released to much hype, OpenAI announced they are shutting it down: https://variety.com/2026/digital/news/openai-shutting-down-sora-video-disney-1236698277/ . . Listen to Bridget predict Sora's demise back when it was announced, in our episode from Oct 10, 2025: https://app.omnystudio.com/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/programs/ad016d13-045e-48f3-9aa5-ae280172b27d/clips/66368931-ff00-467b-97fe-b3730017b21b/details . . Some of Sora's main use cases are filling the internet with racist and misogynistic slop: https://www.threads.com/@raisingself/post/DWP08hZmCOj?xmt=AQGzqaZ-H3abT0EW2lfRTONANK8dwciIx844aGm48QTIrQ ..Disney's Sora Disaster Shows AI Will Not Revolutionize Hollywood: https://www.404media.co/disneys-openai-sora-disaster-shows-ai-will-not-save-hollywood/ Black filmmaker Nina Lee asked audiences to watch an unrelated Black rom-com in theaters to help convince studios that Black films are viable. We support Black filmmakers, but in Bridget's opinion this way of thinking is a trap. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/you-me-tuscany-black-rom-coms_n_69c57cb8e4b0a6ee60c3dfa3/amp Judge dismisses lawsuit by Musk's X Corp accusing advertisers of illegal boycott: https://www.reuters.com/world/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-by-musks-x-corp-accusing-advertisers-illegal-boycott-2026-03-26/ Let us know what you think by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify. Pre-order Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com ! Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Remember the personal essay industrial complex? The 2010s era of Jezebel and xoJane where feminist writers put every raw, messy, private part of themselves on the internet? Lindy West was its brightest star. Her new memoir, Adult Braces, reckons with what that cost her, and with a marriage that turned out to be more complicated than the happy ending she sold us in her first memoir, Shrill. Her book sent the internet into a spiral, enraged conservatives, disappointed some feminists, divided the polyamory community, and inspired her husband to send a very intense email to a Slate writer. Writer and comedian Ashley Ray joins Bridget to talk about the book, the discourse, and what all of it says about feminist writing, parasocial fandom, and whether the personal essay industrial complex of the 2010s has run its course. Ashley’s Harper’s piece - Lindy West and the Trap of Perfect Polyamory: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-books-music/a70801519/lindy-west-adult-braces/ Scaachi’s Slate piece - Lindy West’s How-Not-To Guide to Polyamory: https://slate.com/life/2026/03/lindy-west-polyamory-open-marriage-husband-roya.html She Had a Cat Hair Ball in Her Vagina — or Did She? https://www.thecut.com/2015/09/she-had-cat-hair-in-her-vagina-or-did-she.html Check out Ashley’s Substack Deep Trouble: https://www.deeptrouble.net/ Let us know what you think by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify. Pre-order Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com ! Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike cover the tech news stories you might have missed. Afroman wins lawsuit brought against him by cops who raided his house. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2026-03-19/afroman-verdict-defamation-invasion-of-privacy-lawsuit Afroman's video "Lemon Pound Cake" https://youtu.be/9xxK5yyecRo?si=P7JWA54zklLCWVnM Afroman's video "Will You Help Me Repair My Gate" https://youtu.be/oponIfu5L3Y?si=cgLpG_T6A-JPBbW- Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot cancelled in strangely cruel and surprising manner by Hulu. https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/buffy-reboot-dead-hulu-sarah-michelle-gellar-chloe-zhao-1236692284/ Nicole Kidman glides behind Jeff Bezos and his girlfriend at the Academy Awards, stealing all attention: https://www.threads.com/@rachelarich/post/DV8aFlADT6Q?xmt=AQGzqaZ-H3abT0EW2lfRTONANK8dwciIx844aGm48QTIrQ Former Rolling Stone editor Noah Schactman lands new job at NYT, despite controversial role in misleading reporting to protect a personal friend. https://www.cjr.org/laurels-and-darts/noah-shachtman-nyt-rolling-stone-baltimore-banner-tristan-king-missing-st-helens-oregon-corruption-scandal-mayor.php Columbia Journalism Review analysis on Rolling Stone's inaccurate story about campus rape at University of Virginia: https://www.cjr.org/investigation/rolling_stone_investigation.php Celebrated relationship therapist Esther Perel has a guest on her podcast who is in a relationship with his AI chatbot: https://www.estherperel.com/podcast Mark Zuckerberg finally calling it quits on the Metaverse (mostly): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/technology/mark-zuckerbergs-metaverse-vr-horizon-worlds.html Playwright Jeremy O. Harris called Sam Altman a nazi at a party: https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/tracewilliamcowen/jeremy-o-harris-openai-sam-altman-nazi Specifically, Friedrich Flick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Flick Let us know what you think by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify. Pre-order our forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com ! Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Not long ago, Sam Altman was bragging about how OpenAI doesn't make sex bots. Then, just two months later, announced the company would be rolling out erotic content on ChatGPT. So how's that pivot into adult content going? In the words of Dorinda Medley: "Not well, bitch." Soon after the announcement, there was a high-profile exit from OpenAI — over concerns the company wasn't handling the adult content pivot responsibly. And now Sam Atlman says it’s been postponed. So what does it all mean? Bridget sat down with friends Samantha and Anney over at SMNTY to break it all down. Pre-order our forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com ! Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Joey cover the tech news stories you might have missed. Do Normies Have The Right to Read Heated Rivalry Fanfic: https://www.gq.com/story/heated-rivalry-fanfic-privacy A writer is suing Grammarly for turning her and other authors into ‘AI editors’ without consent: https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/12/a-writer-is-suing-grammarly-for-turning-her-and-other-authors-into-ai-editors-without-consent/ He Tried to Stop Adobe From Training its AI on His Photo Library – He Lost: https://petapixel.com/2026/03/11/he-tried-to-stop-adobe-from-training-its-ai-on-his-photo-library-he-lost/ Viral 'Quittr' Porn Addiction App Exposed the Masturbation Habits of Hundreds of Thousands of Users: https://www.404media.co/viral-quittr-porn-addiction-app-exposed-the-masturbation-habits-of-hundreds-of-thousands-of-users/ Panic World’s episode on the NoFap movement: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6qXJNaFl2dIzwXC9h8no4p Uber’s women-only option goes nationwide in the US: https://apnews.com/article/uber-women-safety-9c974f92dfd7fb25d504d173b2429d06 Listen to Alison Turkos on TANGOTI: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/she-was-sexually-assaulted-during-a-lyft-ride-now/id1520715907?i=1000555658403 Buffer Report: Declines in Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads Engagement: https://www.globaldatinginsights.com/featured/buffer-report-declines-in-instagram-linkedin-threads-engagement/ Let us know what you think about these stories by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify! Pre-order our forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com ! Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Women's History Month — and this year, honoring women's contributions feels less like a celebration and more like an act of resistance. That's why celebrating women's achievements is more important than ever. So in this episode, I want to introduce you to someone who shaped the way we all experience technology, even if you've never heard her name: Susan Kare. She designed the visual language of the early Mac — the icons, the fonts, the look and feel that made personal computing something people actually wanted to touch. Her visuals were emulated across the industry, and their legacy is still hugely influential today. Back in 2021, I joined Sam and Anney at Stuff Mom Never Told You to dig into Susan Kare's legacy — where she came from, what she built, and why it still matters. Let me know what you think by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify. Pre-order our forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com ! Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike cover the tech news stories you might have missed. Hallow app beef update. Meta sued over false privacy promises about it's glasses. Gee, what a shocker. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0q33nvj0qpo Google sued for wrongful death after a vulnerable user died by suicide after talking with its chatbot Gemini. https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/04/father-sues-google-claiming-gemini-chatbot-drove-son-into-fatal-delusion/ Brothel workers unite! Workers push back against a contract trying to claim rights to their image. Consider donating to them if you can! https://unitedbrothelworkers.org/ Advocates in the UK have been fighting nonconsensual image-based abuse, and winning. A new law makes the gross category of "semen-images" illegal. It's basically what you think. https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/semen-images-illegal-investigation and for context https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/glamour-campaign-10-downing-street A powerful piece by Kwaneta Harris & Leigh Goodmark describes the ways True Crime media exploits incarcerated women and makes them vulnerable to predation by creeps. https://truthout.org/articles/incarcerated-women-featured-in-true-crime-media-face-flood-of-sexual-harassment/ A new global poll finds that Gen-Z men are twice as likely as their Baby Boomer grandfathers to hold misogynistic views of gender roles. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/poll-gen-zs-gender-divide-reaches-politics-views-marriage-children-suc-rcna229255 [FUNNY] Pressing 2 for Spanish in the phone system of a Washington State agency leads to unexpected results. https://apnews.com/article/washington-dol-spanish-accent-ai-3a1b8438a5674c07242a8d48c057d5a3# Let us know what you think about these stories by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify! Pre-order our forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com ! Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In last week's news roundup, we did a short segment about the Hallow App. It's a subscription-based app that helps you pray and learn about scripture with celebrity spokespeople. It's also partially funded by Peter Thiel and JD Vance, people actively involved in building surveillance technology. We had some concerns! A writer named Nancy Flanders did not appreciate the segment! She wrote an article for the anti-abortion organization Live Action about our segment, strangely focusing on our criticism of Chris Pratt, even though he was just a minor part of the segment. We love connecting with new audiences! To meet this new-found demand for our content amongst the anti-abortion crowd, we're taking a deep dive into the Hallow app. We'll take a close look at their investors, those investors' connections to the Trump administration and creation of a surveillance state, privacy concerns with the app, and the motley crew of scumbags the app has hired as spokespeople. We'll also talk about Chris Pratt a little more. We know what you like. Let us know what you think about Chris Pratt, or anything else, by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify. Pre-order our forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at LoveAtFirstPrompt.com! Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pre-order our forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Love-at-First-Prompt/Bridget-Todd/9781668179826 In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike cover the tech news stories you might have missed. Black History Month: Every time you drop a reaction GIF, thank Lisa Gelobter. She helped engineer the animation tech that made GIFs GIF. https://legacy.anitab.org/profile/lisa-gelobter/ Google apologizes after news alert about BAFTAs included a racial slur: https://deadline.com/2026/02/google-apologizes-bafta-ai-news-alet-n-word-1236734448/ Warner Brothers requested the slur be edited out from the BAFTAs broadcast: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/feb/24/sinners-studio-reportedly-raised-n-word-use-with-bafta-immediately-during-ceremony-and-requested-removal The man with tourettes who shouted the slur questions the wisdom of putting a microphone in front of his seat: https://people.com/john-davidson-baftas-tourettes-incident-questions-seated-near-microphone-11913879 TikTok psychic in Idaho: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/northwest/idaho/article314779034.html Meta’s plans for AI facial recognition in smart glasses ‘threatens safety of all women and girls’: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/meta-glasses-facial-recognition-domestic-abuse-b2923551.html Nicki Minaj's social posts are being amplified by a bot network: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/23/the-bots-powering-nicki-minajs-maga-war-00771317 Kansas revokes drivers licenses for trans people: https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/kansas-sends-letters-to-trans-people Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth demands Anthropic allow its AI be used for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/24/pentagon-demands-ai-access/ Let us know what you think by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify. Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Something has been in the works. Bridget shares what's next. LoveAtFirstPrompt.AI Let us know what you think by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify! Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike cover the tech news stories you might have missed. The story behind Hallow, the Christian app hawked by Gwen Stefani: https://mashable.com/article/hallow-prayer-app-gewn-stefani-jd-vance-peter-thiel Elon Musk's Grok doxes adult performer on X: https://www.404media.co/grok-doxing-real-names-birthdates-siri-dahl/ Sleazy facial recognition app unmasks cam girls and sells their images: https://www.404media.co/underground-facial-recognition-tool-unmasks-camgirls/ New UK law requires platforms to remove deepfake nudes and revenge porn within 48 hours: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/feb/18/tech-firms-must-remove-revenge-porn-in-48-hours-or-risk-being-blocked-says-starmer The two DOGE bros in charge of cutting National Endowment for the Humanities grants literally just asked ChatGPT what to do: https://www.techdirt.com/2026/02/19/doge-bros-grant-review-process-was-literally-just-asking-chatgpt-is-this-dei/ US civil rights agency sues Coca-Cola distributor for excluding men from casino work trip: https://apnews.com/article/dei-coca-cola-eeoc-lawsuit-andrea-lucas-867fd98ec6d05ab52e7e0a3711e9d492 White Men Learn the Hidden Cost of Suing for Discrimination: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/social-justice/white-men-learn-the-hidden-cost-of-suing-for-discrimination A WIN FOR DEMOCRACY: Trump admin rescinds rule banning discussion of DEI in schools after losing court ruling. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/department-of-education-backs-down-on-unlawful-directive-targeting-educational-equity Let us know what you think about these stories by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify! Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A viral video. A smeared daycare worker. A community in panic. Sound familiar? In the 1980s, a wave of hysteria swept the country, accusing daycare workers of abusing children in Satanic rituals — accusations that ruined lives and were entirely false. Now, a dubious video out of Minnesota is sparking the same kind of moral panic all over again. To make sense of the moment, I sat down with Sarah Marshall, host of the new CBC podcast The Devil You Know, to trace the through-line from the Satanic Panic to today's daycare scandals — and ask what it says about us that we keep falling for this. Listen to Sarah's podcast The Devil You Know wherever you get your podcasts! Let us know what you think about this episode by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify! Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's News Roundup, Bridget and Producer Mike cover the tech news stories you might have missed. Amazon’s Ring, a creepy surveillance product, ran a creepy surveillance ad during the Superbowl that triggered a massive public backlash: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/12/amazons-ring-cancels-flock-partnership-amid-super-bowl-ad-backlash.html Electronic Frontier Foundation explanation of why Ring is a surveillance nightmare: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/02/no-one-including-our-furry-friends-will-be-safer-rings-surveillance-nightmare-0 An online community built around fitness/dance app Supernatural is purchased and destroyed by Meta [GIFT LINK]: https://www.theverge.com/tech/871250/supernatural-meta-vr-fitness-community?view_token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6InFuZzlFUmd2VGsiLCJwIjoiL3RlY2gvODcxMjUwL3N1cGVybmF0dXJhbC1tZXRhLXZyLWZpdG5lc3MtY29tbXVuaXR5IiwiZXhwIjoxNzcwNDY2NTMzLCJpYXQiOjE3NzAwMzQ1MzN9.A67DLWY3HpNyI1PzxCMq4Mf96DELfg2belp-siH7vww&utm_medium=gift-link Marc Benioff 'Jokes' with his employees that ICE is watching them: https://www.404media.co/marc-benioff-jokes-ice-is-watching-salesforce-employees-who-traveled-to-the-u-s/ Salesforce Workers Circulate Open Letter Urging CEO to Denounce ICE: https://www.wired.com/story/letter-salesforce-employees-sent-after-marc-benioffs-ice-comments/ Body camera footage is being used to humiliate young women on YouTube: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/body-cam-youtube-foia-abuse.html Let us know what you think by emailing hello@tangoti.com or leaving a comment on Spotify. Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || instagram.com/bridgetmarieindc/ || tiktok.com/@bridgetmarieindc || youtube.com/@ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet || bsky.app/profile/tangoti.bsky.social See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.