Jeffrey Ngo is from Hong Kong. He used to talk about politics all of the time with his friends in group chats and on social media, from casually sending memes, to planning protests.

What happens to online speech when you're unsure how much the government is monitoring your speech, and what the repurcussions will be if they don't like it?

Show notes:

• PROFILE: For Jeffrey Ngo, The Fight For Hong Kong is Far From Over (The Hoya)
• Social Media and the Hong Kong Protests (The New Yorker)
• Hong Kong protesters join hands in 30-mile human chain (The Guardian)
• Hong Kong national security law: What is it and is it worrying? (BBC)

Men's fashion might seem like a niche topic. But people of all genders and sartorial sensibilities follow Derek Guy on X for his clothing takes... even if they're not quite sure how they found his page.

Endless Thread talks to Derek about how he weaves together humor, history, cultural criticism, and political commentary to make fashion feel relevant to people who have never seriously considered it before.

Show notes

• @dieworkwear (X)
• Die, Workwear!
• The Post Trend Universe (The New York Times Style Magazine)
• Status and Culture, by W. David Marx

'Tis the season to show some skin! Perhaps some tattoo-adorned skin?

In this week's episode, Ben tells Amory about the r/tattoos community's reaction to a man whose friends made him self-conscious about his flowery tattoo. Amory tells Ben about the science behind why tattoos stay put on our bodies, which has only recently come to be understood.

The thing about social media when it was created was that it was public. Ideas shared were debated for all to see. Today much of that is happening behind closed doors—in group chats.

Ben Smith, editor-in-chief of the media outlet Semafor and co-host of the podcast Mixed Signals, speaks with Endless Thread about the elite group chats on Signal and WhatsApp that are shaping American politics.

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Credits: This episode was produced by Dean Russell. Mix and sound design by Emily Jankowski. The co-hosts are Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson.

The bots are here to stay, and they're everywhere. The trouble is, learning how to spot them.

On this week's episode of Endless Thread, Ben and Amory discuss two stories from Reddit about undercover bots. First — is there such a thing as an easy tell for identifying bots? Second, what happens when internet users accept bots as fellow humans, only to discover the truth later?

Show Notes:

‘The Worst Internet-Research Ethics Violation I Have Ever Seen’ (The Atlantic)

OpenAI used this subreddit to test AI persuasion (Tech Crunch)

A few years ago, we brought you the story of how dinosaur emoji had entered the debate about trans rights.

We were reminded of this episode recently when a White House memorandum lambasted NPR for spreading "radical, woke propaganda" and linked to our story as an example. After the memo, President Trump signed an executive order to stop federal funding to NPR and PBS.

We stand by our reporting. And so we decided to bring you the episode again.

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We love making Endless Thread, and we want to be able to keep making it far into the future. If you want that too, we would deeply appreciate your contribution to our work in any amount. Click here for the donation page. Thank you!

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This episode was written and produced by Dean Russell. Mix and sound design by Matt Reed. The co-hosts are Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson. Special thanks for Dane Grey for the artwork.

It's rant season. Or is it? When is it *not* rant season? In this week's episode of Endless Thread, Ben and Amory discuss two very different, very viral, rants from Reddit. One is about how the current design trends in our public and private spaces are hard on the ears. Another discusses how escape room adventures can bring out the worst in people. Perhaps there's some humor and some lessons to glean from rants, too?

At any given time, 110 people can tell you exactly where James Tatter is.

Every single iPhone user has the Find My app on their phone, which allows them to share their location with friends and family. Increasingly, for young people like James, it's becoming also a form of social media.

Endless Thread producer (and James's sister) Grace Tatter wanted to know how something that seems creepy to some people became so commonplace to others — and how it's affecting our relationships off the screen.

Show notes:

On the Grid: Surveillance as a Love Language (The Drift)

Dodgeball Shuttered By Google, Its Co-Creator Promises To Clone It (Business Insider)

Thinking Critically about Social Media (American Sociology Association)

Talking Tech with Apple's Senior Vice President of Services, Eddy Cue (SuperSaf)

The Impact of Location-Tracking Apps on Relationships (Psychology Today)