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Anonymous Men Have Turned Cyberharassment Into a Group Sport—Here’s One Woman’s Side of the Story

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Anonymous Men Have Turned Cyberharassment Into a Group Sport—Here’s One Woman’s Side of the Story

Last year, Maddie Kowalski was a regular sophomore attending the University of Florida. Then a series of burner accounts on X started proliferating explicit, nonconsensual videos of her. This week, Zoë Schiffer sits down with WIRED senior writer EJ Dickson to discuss the burnerverse, a sprawling, loosely organized network of anonymous accounts that have turned the sexual humiliation of young women into an online participatory sport.

You can follow Zoë Schiffer on Bluesky at @zoeschiffer and EJ Dickson on Bluesky at @ejdickson. Write to us at [email protected].

You can always listen to this week's podcast through the audio player on this page, but if you want to subscribe for free to get every episode, here's how:

If you're on an iPhone or iPad, open the app called Podcasts, or just tap this link. You can also download an app like Overcast or Pocket Casts and search for “Uncanny Valley.” We’re on Spotify too.

Zoë Schiffer: A quick content warning before we dive in. This conversation includes descriptions of nonconsensual sexual content and references to self-harm. Please take care while listening.

Maddie Kowalski: When I heard that someone had sent a nude photograph of me to his friends at FSU, and in this picture I was heavily intoxicated.

Maddie Kowalski: So right after this, I started getting flooded with messages that I was being talked about all over my school's Yik Yak.

Zoë Schiffer : Yik Yak is a platform popular among college students where you can post anonymously if you're within a specific geographic radius.


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