Inside the Network of Anonymous Men Destroying Young Women's Lives

Last year, Maddie Kowalski was a regular sophomore attending the University of Florida. That is until one day, a series of anonymous accounts on X started proliferating explicit, non-consensual videos of her. This week, Zoe sits down with WIRED’s 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. Maddie Kowalski is one of countless young women who’ve had their lives destroyed by the burnerverse, a loosely connected online community of sports fans. Now she’s fighting back. Articles mentioned in this episode: A College Girl Was Exploited on Camera. A Network of Anonymous Men Got to Work Join WIRED’s best and brightest on Uncanny Valley as they dissect the collision of tech, politics, finance, and business, from the newest ventures to the effects of inaccurate information from artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots on social protests. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices