News
I’m a Student at Yale. My Classmates Are Doing Exactly What Charlie Kirk Wanted Them To.
5+ hour, 12+ min ago (1254+ words) I'm a Student at Yale. My Classmates Are Doing Exactly What Charlie Kirk Wanted Them To.Slate In preschool, I was obsessed with a costume wedding dress. I loved its big silk bow and thick tulle skirt that billowed out…...
The Great Meme Reset of 2026
2+ mon, 1+ week ago (98+ words) The internet's New Year's resolution is to return to the meme style of the 2010s. The Great Meme Reset of 2026 Out with the brain rot, in with Big Chungus. Choose your preferred player: Get Your Slate Plus Podcast Thanks! Check your…...
I Host Slate’s Internet Culture Podcast. These Are the Most Important Things That Happened Online This Year.
2+ mon, 3+ week ago (152+ words) I Spent the Year Covering Internet Culture. Here's What Really Mattered Online in 2025.Slate I was prepared for my new role to be filled with similarly ridiculous internet antics. But this year, things were different. That's not to say there…...
2025: The Meme of the Year
2+ mon, 3+ week ago (163+ words) The concert "kiss cam" heard around the world. With so much online content, it can be hard for a meme to stay in the collective consciousness for more than a few days. But one meme this year managed to capture…...
There’s a New “Movement” Taking Over the Internet. It’s Funny on the Surface. The Joke Ends There.
3+ mon, 3+ week ago (272+ words) Why is my TikTok algorithm full of young Black men talking about quarter-zips and drinking matcha lattes? And what, pray tell, is a Nike Tech? This "quarter-zip movement" consists of young Black men throwing away their Nike Tech jackets in…...
The Two Internet Villains Staging a Comeback
3+ mon, 4+ week ago (98+ words) Fans have rejected their attempts to return. So why do they keep coming back? The Two Internet Villains Staging a Comeback Why won't Ned Fulmer and Colleen Ballinger get the hint? Choose your preferred player: Get Your Slate Plus Podcast…...
Kendra Fell In Love With Her Psychiatrist—Then She Met TikTok
7+ mon, 5+ day ago (148+ words) How a TikTok series became more like a "Black Mirror" episode. Get more of ICYMI with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of ICYMI and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the ICYMI show page…...
How the Cuck Did “Cuck” Become a Widespread Online Insult?
5+ mon, 1+ week ago (890+ words) How one genre of hardcore pornography pushed a new insult into the mainstream. This episode was written by Willa Paskin. It was edited by Josh Levin and produced by Katie Shepherd, Willa Paskin, Max Freedman, and Evan Chung, Decoder Ring's…...
A Very Online Shooter
5+ mon, 4+ week ago (162+ words) The memes that came before, and the memes that were made after. As the Charlie Kirk murder demonstrated, law enforcement, the government, and media all need more internet fluency. But their reactions in the wake of the crime don't seem…...
The Internet’s Newest Slur Has a Bizarre Target
6+ mon, 2+ week ago (510+ words) You may have run across the new "slur" making the rounds online, and in middle school lunchrooms: clanker. Borrowed from Star Wars (where battle droids get called "clankers"), the word is supposed to be a knockout insult to robots and…...