Internet Hate Machine

Latest Episodes:

AI Girlfriends Aren't About Love. They're About Profit. Jul 17, 2026

Show notes

AI girlfriends are everywhere. So why are the humans they're replacing being pushed off the internet?

This is a chapter from Internet Hate Machine host Bridget Todd’s new Simon & Schuster audiobook, Love at First Prompt: AI and the Future of Intimacy.

In this conversation, Bridget sit down with 404 Media cofounder Samantha Cole to unpack the booming business of AI companions, sex bots, and erotic role play. They explore why tech companies are racing to build AI girlfriends while human sex workers continue to face censorship, deplatforming, and financial discrimination.

It's a conversation about labor, consent, power, and what happens when Big Tech decides to monetize our most intimate relationships.

If you enjoy this episode, you can find Love at First Prompt wherever audiobooks are sold, or learn more at LoveAtFirstPrompt.AI.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Digital Defiance with B the Way Forward's Brenda Darden Wilkerson Nov 01, 2023

Show notes

Tech shapes almost every aspect of our daily lives. And yet the tech we use has been controlled by a select few for far too long. On the new show B the Way Forward, Bridget talks to AnitaB.org's President and CEO Brenda Darden Wilkerson about challenging this disparity head-on. Let’s reclaim our digital agency, redefine tech, and create a future where those who create tech truly mirror the faces of those who use it.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Internet Hate Machine May Be Over, But The Conversation Continues Feb 01, 2023

Show notes

In the final episode of Internet Hate Machine, we look back on where we’ve been and where we’re going. Plus some big news from Cool Zone Media!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ifeoma Ozoma: The Woman Who Is Trying to Make Tech Safer, Even If It Costs Her Jan 25, 2023

Show notes

Ifeoma Ozoma has spent her career trying to make the internet safer. At Pinterest, she created clear content policies that earned the company praise. In return, she was targeted and doxxed by a white supremacist colleague, and then retaliated against by management when she spoke up. She talks with Bridget about the Sisyphean struggle of Black women trying to make a difference.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cecelia Lewis: The Manufactured Moral Panic Around Critical Race Theory Jan 18, 2023

Show notes

Bridget is joined by James Stout to discuss Cecilia Lewis, a Maryland educator who was targeted and run out of Georgia after being hired to lead a DEI program in Cherokee County schools, thanks to a cooked up moral panic about Critical Race Theory.

"Why the Black Educator Forced Out Over Bogus Critical Race Theory Claims Agreed to Share Her Story": https://www.propublica.org/article/cecelia-lewis-educator-cherokee-georgia

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Meghan Markle: Inside the Racist, Sexist Online Hate Campaign Targeting the Royals Jan 11, 2023

Show notes

Bridget is joined by BuzzFeed's Ellie Hall to discuss the online hate campaign facing Meghan Markle and the harassment Ellie herself has faced for reporting on it.

Refinery 29's: "I Went Undercover In The Sinister World Of Meghan Markle Hate Accounts"
Ellie’s viral BuzzFeed piece about Royal double standards (all of her reporting is great though!):
"People Are Once Again Calling Out A Royal Double Standard After Harry And Meghan Got Attacked For Holding Hands At The Queen’s Lying-In-State"

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Part Two: Why Trump Targeted Two Black Election Workers Jan 04, 2023

Show notes

Ruby Freeman & Shaye Moss are heroes for their testimony before the Jan 6th commission, but they shouldn’t have to be. In part two of this episode, Bridget continues her conversation with The Daily Zeitgeist’s Miles Gray, discussing what happened when the disgraced president and the right wing digital media ecosystem coalesced to attack Black women for simply doing their jobs as poll workers during the 2020 election.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Part One: Why Trump Targeted Two Black Election Workers Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

Ruby Freeman & Shaye Moss are heroes for their testimony before the Jan 6th commission, but they shouldn’t have to be. The Daily Zeitgeist’s Miles Gray joins Bridget to discuss what happened when the disgraced president and the right wing digital media ecosystem coalesced to attack Black women for simply doing their jobs as poll workers during the 2020 election.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cuties Movie QAnon Controversy Explains Our Current Moment Dec 14, 2022

Show notes

The moral panic around the film Cuties explains why so many right wing extremists are using the “groomer” “child predator” attack to smear their enemies today

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bonus Episode - Elon Musk’s "Twitter Files" Are A Whole Lot of Nothing Dec 12, 2022

Show notes

On her other tech podcast There Are No Girls on the Internet, Bridget explored how Elon Musk keeps trying to make fetch happen with the “Twitter Files,” by releasing internal Twitter emails about content moderation decisions on the platform before he took over as CEO.
But here’s why it’s not the bombshell he says it is.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected