INFLUENCE

• 48 What to Do When AI Ads Steal Your Face and Voice

  This week on INFLUENCE, the double-edged sword of YouTube's ContentID systems, and the explosion of AI-generated ads and voices which have no shame in cloning content creators for profit. Plus: Some changes to the Patreon so you can get more for less! Links discussed in this episode: How to subscribe to a private Patreon RSS feed: https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/360041347732-How-to-use-your-audio-RSS Why YouTube apologized for age-gating Balatro videos: https://www.theverge.com/news/645257/youtube-balatro-univeristy-videos-age-gated-localthunk POV: You Got Deepfaked: https://news.thepublishpress.com/p/pov-you-got-deepfaked This show is made possible by listener support: https://www.patreon.com/influencepod Listen & subscribe wherever you get podcasts: 🍎 https://apple.co/44FeACS 🟢 https://spoti.fi/3UGQjrN ⏯ https://amzn.to/3wCdueF Join our Discord community! https://discord.gg/influencepod Call the show and leave a message: (347)-871-6548 Email me with guest & trivia suggestions! [email protected] (NOICE) Follow me: 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/mattsilverman.bsky.social 🧵 https://www.threads.net/@matt_silverman 📸 https://www.instagram.com/matt_silverman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• 47 Talking About Sex With Internet Strangers Is Beautiful and Terrifying | Zoë Ligon

  Like many of us, Zoë Ligon worked a retail job after college. But in her case, it was a sex toy shop, where she would have fascinating interactions with customers. Talking sex with random strangers changed her perspective on sex education, and she began writing about her own experiences on Tumblr – back when Tumblr was still a safe haven for NSFW content. Her blogging became paid gigs, which lead to a social media following, and one of her posts in particular catapulted her to worldwide attention. These days, she’s a sex “edutainer” across many platforms, anchored by more than 260,000 followers on Instagram. She’s leveraged this online following to launch an online sex toy store called Spectrum Boutique. She’s also branched out to online sex work via OnlyFans, brand partnerships, and consulting. This week, the self-proclaimed “Dildo Duchess” joins Matt to discuss how she built her empire. Zoë explains why normalizing kinks and sexual wellness on social media is so important, and why meaningful sex education is so difficult on modern social platforms. She also shares the origin of her book, “Carnal Knowledge,” and the family tragedy that became the catalyst for her business. Follow Zoë: https://www.instagram.com/thongria/ Check out Spectrum Boutique: https://spectrumboutique.com/ Read her book, “Carnal Knowledge: Sex Education You Didn’t Get In School:” https://spectrumboutique.com/products/carnal-knowledge-sex-education-you-didnt-get-in-school Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• 46 How a Minecraft Server for Autistic Kids Became the Best Place on the Internet (Encore)

  -Original Show Notes from May 20, 2022- Stuart Duncan is the dad of an autistic son, and he's also autistic himself. So when he learned that autistic Minecraft players were being bullied on popular servers, he set out to create a safe and inclusive virtual space for the autism community. The moment he announced it, parents lined up in droves, hoping their kids could join. Today, the server has 15,000 members, and Stuart has quit his job as a software developer to manage, moderate, and customize the server for kids (and their families) who communicate and play their own way. Stuart joins us to discuss the origins of Autcraft, why he still relies on the Java Edition of Minecraft to serve his community, and the power of safe, custom virtual worlds for neurodiverse players. If you're as moved as we are by Stuart's story, you can support Autcraft on Patreon to keep "The Best Place on the Internet" going for years to come: https://www.patreon.com/autcraft https://www.autcraft.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• 45 Shocker: Mental Health Information On TikTok Is Wildly Inaccurate (and Might Make You Feel Worse)

  A peer reviewed study from the University of British Columbia analyzed the most popular ADHD-related videos on TikTok and found that very few of them contain information that aligns with medical diagnostics. Even more interesting, people who consume this kind of content perceive the diagnosis to be far more widespread - and symptoms far more intense - than in reality. Social media is warping our sense of reality and self?! Inconceivable! Plus: New bi-partisan legislation aims to repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The 1996 law shields websites from litigation if their users upload harmful content. This protection is integral to how the modern Web functions, and erasing it could lead to over-moderation and fear-based censorship. While harmful user content is always a concern, the true problem with social media is not that the content exists, but its weaponization by tech companies in the name of profit. In this case, Congress is fixing the wrong problem, and the consequences could damage online speech for years to come. A double-edged hashtag: Evaluation of #ADHD-related TikTok content and its associations with perceptions of ADHD: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0319335&_bhlid=eba84bf6525fc0863f3276ea4a45eb0891dac351 TikTok is full of ADHD advice — just don't trust it for a diagnosis: https://www.npr.org/2025/03/24/nx-s1-5336303/adhd-symptoms-adult-tiktok Lawmakers are trying to repeal Section 230 again: https://www.theverge.com/news/634189/section-230-repeal-graham-durbin This show is made possible by listener support: https://www.patreon.com/influencepod Listen & subscribe wherever you get podcasts: 🍎 https://apple.co/44FeACS 🟢 https://spoti.fi/3UGQjrN ⏯ https://amzn.to/3wCdueF Join our Discord community! https://discord.gg/influencepod Call the show and leave a message: (347)-871-6548 Email me with guest & trivia suggestions! [email protected] (NOICE) Follow me: 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/mattsilverman.bsky.social 🧵 https://www.threads.net/@matt_silverman 📸 https://www.instagram.com/matt_silverman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• 44 The Big Ideas That Changed YouTube Forever | Mike Rugnetta

  Here’s an idea: Around 2012, YouTube was undergoing a profound transformation from a novelty economy to a loyalty platform. This was largely driven by vlog culture, but another format was emerging: The video essay. But would Internet audiences (notorious for their ShOrT aTeNtIoN sPaNs!!!) watch longform, Socratic discussion of math, democracy, quantum mechanics, and Pokémon? Turns out: Yes. Through the power of public broadcasting, an extremely innovative YouTube show emerged called PBS Idea Channel. It was produced by a talented team of writers, researchers and producers, and its host – Mike Rugnetta – became the face of Internet curiosity during its 5 year and 400 video run. Today, you can’t swing Schrödinger's dead cat without hitting a video essay with millions of views. Their popularity can be traced back to Mike and his colleagues, who in-turn credit the vloggers and comedians who inspired them in the early days of Web video. Mike joins Matt to discuss this rare time for Internet creativity, what it was like to build a large and intellectually curious community on YouTube, why he returned to his first love of audio design, how modern social media makes us so passive, and why he’s thrilled that his many ongoing podcasts don’t pay the bills. Connect with Mike: https://rugnetta.com/ Mike’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikerugnetta/ Subscribe to Mike’s excellent podcasts: Reasonably Sound: https://reasonablysound.com/ RIP Corp: https://ripcorp.biz/ Never Post: https://www.neverpo.st/ Fun City: https://funcity.ventures/ This show is made possible by listener support: https://www.patreon.com/influencepod Listen & subscribe wherever you get podcasts: 🍎 https://apple.co/44FeACS 🟢 https://spoti.fi/3UGQjrN ⏯ https://amzn.to/3wCdueF Join our Discord community! https://discord.gg/influencepod Call the show and leave a message: (347)-871-6548 Email me with guest & trivia suggestions! [email protected] (NOICE) Follow me: 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/mattsilverman.bsky.social 🧵 https://www.threads.net/@matt_silverman 📸 https://www.instagram.com/matt_silverman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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