What Up Holmes?
This episode traces how Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, initially hostile to broad free speech protections, radically changed his views during World War I and authored the famous Abrams dissent that introduced the 'marketplace of ideas' metaphor. The hosts, along with law professor Thomas Healy, explore what caused Holmes's shift, then examine how that marketplace metaphor has shaped a century of First Amendment thinking and how it breaks down in the age of social media and misinformation, drawing on MIT researcher Sinan Aral's Twitter study and media lawyer Nabiha Syed's critiques. The episode closes by proposing that free speech should be seen as an ongoing democratic experiment that must be continually rethought, including by centering listeners' rights and information health.
TikTok's Trojan Horse Strategy
Planet Money teams up with sound design podcast 20,000 Hertz to explain how TikTok created and deployed one of the most effective sonic logos of the last decade. Sound designers Afrik Lennon and Roscoe Williamson describe TikTok's brief, the months-long creative process, and how they arrived at the distinctive boom-bling sound built around an 808 kick, an E major 7 chord, and even an accidental dog bark. The episode also details TikTok's covert "sonic sticker" rollout and how automatically attaching the logo to downloaded videos turned it into a Trojan horse that spreads across rival platforms.
Content Warning
Host Simon Adler talks with law professor Kate Koenig about how social media content moderation has shifted in recent years, especially under the influence of TikTok's proactive, algorithm-driven model. They contrast earlier "keep it up unless we have to take it down" approaches with newer systems that pre-screen and algorithmically promote or bury content, raising concerns about prior restraint, invisible censorship, and concentrated power over public discourse. The episode also revisits controversies like the Hunter Biden laptop story and COVID-19 lab leak discussions, explores the idea of platforms as "platform islands" or camouflaged broadcasters, and considers the future "productification" of speech.
A Question-Asker Becomes a Question-Answerer
In this feed-drop conversation from Design Matters, Stephen J. Dubner talks with Debbie Millman about his life, from a turbulent religious upbringing and early encouragement from a beloved teacher to his time in a rock band and eventual career as a writer and podcaster. They explore how inhabiting two faith traditions shaped his views on identity and belief, the power of curiosity, the making and impact of Freakonomics, his struggles with hero worship and anonymity, and his evolving thinking on creativity, confidence, and the human side of economics.
Instagram Goes PG-13, ChatGPT Allows Erotica, and Netflix Grabs Podcasts
Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway discuss a series of political and tech stories, including leaked racist and violent Telegram messages from young Republican leaders and J.D. Vance's response, Virginia Giuffre's new book on Jeffrey Epstein, and concerns about Gavin Newsom's approach to AI regulation. They examine OpenAI's plan to allow erotica for verified adults, the risks of AI-powered synthetic relationships and pornography for young men, Instagram's new teen protections, and broader debates about regulating tech platforms and protecting minors. The hosts also cover Meta's removal of an ICE-doxxing Facebook page, fears of weaponizing agencies like the IRS and Pentagon under Trump, criticism of Mark Benioff's call for the National Guard in San Francisco, the Pentagon's contested new press rules, and Netflix's move to bring video podcasts onto its platform as part of a larger shift from traditional TV to low-cost podcast-based video content.
Deepfakes and the War on Truth with Bogdan Botezatu
The episode explores how scams and cybercrime are being transformed by AI, deepfakes, and global connectivity, with cybersecurity expert Bogdan Botezatu explaining the scale of financial losses and the sophisticated business structures behind modern scams. The conversation covers deepfake-driven fraud, psychological manipulation tactics like pig butchering romance scams, technical tools such as honeypots, and vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure like solar inverters. The guests also discuss the challenges of detecting deepfakes, the role of law enforcement partnerships, and why reporting scams is crucial despite the stigma victims often feel.
TECH005: What Tech Is Doing to Us with Justin Evidon (Tech Podcast)
Host Preston Pysh and guest Justin Evidon discuss how modern technology can be a double-edged sword, offering huge benefits while quietly reshaping behavior, privacy, and health. They cover social media recommendation algorithms, data sovereignty, decentralized protocols like Nostr, and emerging privacy-preserving AI tools. The conversation also explores physical impacts of technology such as LED light flicker, blue light, and electromagnetic exposure, along with practical strategies to protect circadian rhythms and use tech more intentionally.
Mark Zuckerberg on the AI bubble and Meta's new display glasses | ACCESS
Hosts Alex Heath and Ellis Hamburger introduce their new tech podcast Access, explain the show's concept, and discuss Alex's early hands-on experience with Meta's new Ray-Ban display smart glasses and neural input band. Alex then interviews Mark Zuckerberg about why Meta is betting on smart glasses as the next computing platform, how the neural band works, and how AI will integrate into these devices. Zuckerberg details Meta's broader strategy for VR/AR, Horizon creation tools, and its aggressive push to build a frontier AI lab and massive compute infrastructure for superintelligence, including how he weighs the risk of an AI investment bubble versus underinvesting, and early signs of AI systems improving Meta's own products.
The flourishing future of women's sports | Kate Johnson
Olympic medalist and sports marketing executive Kate Johnson explains how algorithms and historical media coverage have made women's sports far less discoverable than men's, despite rapid growth in popularity and economic potential. She details how this lack of visibility feeds a vicious cycle of underinvestment, affects young girls' participation in sports, and weakens the pipeline for female leaders. Johnson highlights emerging solutions from brands, media platforms, athletes, fans, and AI tools, and calls on listeners to actively support and create content around women's sports to help level the playing field.
How to raise confident kids in an age of anxiety | Lenore Skenazy
Journalist and free-range parenting advocate Lenore Skenazy discusses why children's independence has dramatically shrunk over recent decades and how this shift is linked to rising anxiety and depression among kids. She explains the cultural and media forces that fueled overprotective parenting, outlines concrete steps for parents, schools, and communities to safely restore age-appropriate freedom, and describes legal reforms like the Reasonable Childhood Independence Law. The conversation emphasizes how letting kids do things on their own builds competence, confidence, and resilience while revitalizing neighborhoods and preparing young people for adult life and work.
TIP759: The Art of Spending Money w/ Morgan Housel
Host Clay Fink interviews author Morgan Housel about his book "The Art of Spending Money, Simple Choices for a Richer Life," focusing on how money intersects with happiness, expectations, and independence. They discuss why more money only increases happiness under certain psychological conditions, the dangers of status-driven spending and social debt, and why contentment and autonomy matter more than sheer net worth. In a closing segment, Clay shares his own biggest lessons from the book, including using savings to buy optionality, the power of contrast, and the hidden costs of tying identity to possessions.
Everyone Deserves A Good Death
The hosts explore the concept of a "good death" and how modern hospice care aims to provide comfort, dignity, and holistic support to people who are terminally ill. They trace the history of hospice from its modern origins with Cicely Saunders and Florence Wald through the creation of the Medicare hospice benefit, explain how hospice works today, and discuss its strengths and structural problems, including caregiver burdens and for‑profit abuses. The episode closes with practical end-of-life planning advice and a listener mail segment on Gen Z communication and the "Gen Z stare."
OpenAI Backtracks, Elon's Netflix Boycott, and Instagram Safety Features
Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway discuss U.S. immigration crackdowns under President Trump, including National Guard deployments, ICE raids, and the use of masked agents, arguing these tactics are authoritarian and designed to inflame division. They examine how tech platforms and algorithms amplify rage, debate OpenAI's Sora copyright policy and its impact on Hollywood and creative workers, and analyze Elon Musk's call to boycott Netflix, SpaceX's Chinese funding, and SpaceX's growing power in satellite-based mobile service. The episode also covers Instagram's inadequate teen safety measures, the mental health impact of social media on youth, and a Trump-era higher education compact that would reshape university admissions, ideology on campus, foreign enrollment, and pricing.
Going viral taught me the internet is broken - but fixable | Deja Foxx
Host Elise Hu introduces a TED 2025 talk by activist and content creator Deja Fox, who recounts how a viral confrontation with her senator over access to birth control thrust her into the public eye as a teenager. She describes both the opportunities and harms that came with online fame, including coordinated harassment and the absence of effective platform protections. Fox then highlights girl- and women-led digital collectives and platforms that prioritize safety, privacy, respect, and user ownership, calling for a "girl internet" and inviting listeners to help build a more equitable digital future.
Beyond the Talk: Deja Foxx on finding alternative online spaces
Host Elise Hu interviews activist and digital strategist Deja Fox about how teen girls and young women are using social media and alternative online platforms to build power and community. Fox reflects on her viral confrontation with a senator over birth control access, her work on Kamala Harris's 2024 campaign, and her decision to run for Congress. They also discuss the gendered harms of current tech architecture, including AI-enabled deepfakes and digital violence, and what safer, more inclusive women-led online spaces could look like.
CARDI B: Overcoming Depression, Blocking Out the Hate & Owning Your Power
Jay Shetty interviews Cardi B about her inner world, from the quiet, imaginative child planning her future to the global star navigating fame, motherhood, and relentless public scrutiny. She opens up in detail about growing up in the Bronx, her determination to escape poverty and be financially independent before having kids, and the hustle it took to build her music career. Cardi also shares candidly about severe depression linked to marital struggles, the toll of online hate on her creativity, her tough-love parenting style, deep faith in God, and the inspiration behind her new album "Am I the Drama".
Can AI make us more human? A social psychologist and a business leader answer | Heidi Grant and Barry Cooper
Host Elise Hu introduces a conversation from the TED Intersections series in which social psychologist Heidi Grant and business leader Barry Cooper discuss how AI can support human learning, decision-making, and connection. They explore the importance of a growth mindset in a rapidly changing AI-driven workplace, how AI can transform feedback and training, and the emerging skill of prompt engineering. They also reflect on AI's role in personal habits, social media, and creative content, and where human empathy and shared experience will remain essential.
Government Shutdown, OpenAI's Sora 2, and Hegseth's Lecture
Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway discuss the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, its political dynamics, and how Democrats and Republicans are messaging around healthcare subsidies and spending. They analyze Electronic Arts' record leveraged buyout led by Saudi capital, the strategic push by Gulf states into gaming, and OpenAI's new video-generation tool and the broader copyright and synthetic-relationship concerns around AI, including Scott's decision to take down an AI version of himself built with Google Labs. The hosts also critique Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's appearance before senior military leaders, review social platforms' multimillion-dollar settlements with Donald Trump, and end with a prediction that Netflix should pursue a mega-merger with Disney, plus a brief tribute to Jane Goodall.
The Anxious Generation with Jonathan Haidt
Neil deGrasse Tyson, Gary O'Reilly, and Chuck Nice interview social psychologist Jonathan Haidt about his book "The Anxious Generation" and the mental health crisis among Gen Z. Haidt argues that a combination of overprotected, low-risk real-world childhoods and underprotected exposure to smartphones and social media has driven sharp rises in anxiety, depression, self-harm, and loneliness, especially among girls. He outlines evidence for the crisis, explains developmental brain mechanisms, details platform-specific harms, and proposes four social norms and policy changes to roll back the "phone-based childhood," while warning about emerging AI chatbot toys aimed at children.
This TED Talk is full of bad ideas | Gabe Whaley
Host Elise Hume introduces a TED Talk by artist and mischief maker Gabe Whaley, founder of the New York art collective Mischief, about the surprising power of pursuing ideas that initially seem bad or impractical. Whaley walks through several of Mischief's projects, including a microscopic handbag, a robot dog with a paintball gun, the viral Big Red Boots, an ATM that publicly ranks users by bank balance, novelty objects, and a car shared via 5,000 keys, to show how the real artwork often becomes the interactions and communities that form around these experiments. He closes by encouraging people to give themselves permission to explore ideas that make them uncomfortable because they can evolve into something unexpected and meaningful.
Saudi Comedy Festival Controversy, Threads' Major Milestone, and Trump's Movie Tariff
Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway discuss Donald Trump's proposed 100% tariff on movies made outside the U.S., arguing it would damage Netflix, Hollywood, and global content arbitrage, and then pivot to the Saudi state-backed Riyadh Comedy Festival, criticizing free-speech-branded comedians who accepted contracts barring criticism of the kingdom and religion. They examine consumer backlash that forced Sinclair and Nexstar to restore Jimmy Kimmel, Threads surpassing X in daily active users and changing media consumption habits, Trump's pressure-driven TikTok divestment plan that advantages major donors, his retribution-focused indictment of James Comey, the economic stupidity of tariffs and farm bailouts, and close with wins and fails plus a brief call for tighter limits on AI products for children.
Kimmel & ABC, Nvidia's OpenAI Investment, and Tylenol's Trump Problem
Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway discuss Jimmy Kimmel's emotional late-night return after his Trump clash, what it reveals about masculinity, and why late-night TV is structurally in decline despite strong individual performances. They analyze Nvidia's $100 billion investment in OpenAI as a potentially late-stage bubble, related-party style deal that concentrates AI power and raises antitrust concerns, then examine Trump's unsupported claim that Tylenol causes autism, what Kenview should do in response, and the classic Johnson & Johnson Tylenol tampering case as a crisis-management model. The hosts also cover YouTube's decision to reinstate previously banned misinformation accounts under political pressure, a Florida investigation into Office Depot over a refused Charlie Kirk poster, their expectations of cronyism and giant, likely disastrous M&A deals, and end with a strong plea for adopting rescue dogs amid rising pet surrenders.
#611 - Louis C.K.
Theo Von talks with Louis C.K. about performing edgy stand-up in different kinds of venues, parenting, childhood neglect, race and taboo language, and the creative process behind Louis's novel "Ingram". They explore the American literary voice, the evolution of language, and broader cultural issues like polarization, social media addiction, and technology's physical footprint. A large part of the conversation centers on Louis's public downfall, his struggles with sex and pornography addiction, 12‑step recovery, and how confronting his own failures has reshaped his life, work, and friendship with Theo.
ABC Pulls Jimmy Kimmel, Pam Bondi's Free Speech Mess, and Trump Sues The New York Times
Hosts Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway discuss ABC's decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live after a segment about the Charlie Kirk shooting, criticizing pressure from FCC commissioner Brendan Carr, conservative station owners, and Disney CEO Bob Iger as an attack on free speech. They examine Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi's comments about targeting "hate speech," Trump's defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, media consolidation, and Scott's idea of economic pushback by affluent consumers. The episode also covers FBI Director Kash Patel's combative congressional testimony, NVIDIA's stake in Intel and China's response, Trump's extended TikTok deadline and proposed sale structure, and closes with political chatter about Pete Buttigieg and a prediction of a coming M&A wave.