The tech conference Devternity was canceled (not fake canceled, literally canceled) after allegations that the founder has been inventing fake women and catfishing on Instagram for years.

Bridget does a deep dive to get to the bottom of it, and what it says about default, dismissive attitudes about marginalized people in tech. There were real women the whole time! Why not invite one of them?!

A Tech Conference Listed Fake Speakers for Years: I Accidentally Noticed: https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/devternity-fake-speakers/

Male Tech Conference Founder Is Behind Popular Woman Coding Influencer Account: https://www.404media.co/coding-unicorn-instagram-julia-kirsina-devternity/

Tech Conference Collapses After Organizer Admits to Making Fake ‘Auto-Generated’ Female Speaker: https://www.404media.co/devternity-fake-speakers-eduard-sizovs/

Eduards Sizovs’s full response thread: https://twitter.com/eduardsi/status/1728422017417032140

Here’s a collection of Julia through the years: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10Fds4DgzU_Yem577sfGykauuNkltIq3ykZdZUd1EAUE/edit?usp=sharing

The tech conference Devternity was canceled (not fake canceled, literally canceled) after allegations that the founder has been inventing fake women and catfishing on Instagram for years.
Bridget does a deep dive to get to the bottom of it, and what it says about default, dismissive attitudes about marginalized people in tech. There were real women the whole time! Why not invite one of them?!
A Tech Conference Listed Fake Speakers for Years: I Accidentally Noticed:<a href="https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/devternity-fake-speakers/"> https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/devternity-fake-speakers/</a>
Male Tech Conference Founder Is Behind Popular Woman Coding Influencer Account:<a href="https://www.404media.co/coding-unicorn-instagram-julia-kirsina-devternity/"> https://www.404media.co/coding-unicorn-instagram-julia-kirsina-devternity/</a>
Tech Conference Collapses After Organizer Admits to Making Fake &lsquo;Auto-Generated&rsquo; Female Speaker:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.404media.co/devternity-fake-speakers-eduard-sizovs/">https://www.404media.co/devternity-fake-speakers-eduard-sizovs/</a>
Eduards Sizovs&rsquo;s full response thread:<a href="https://twitter.com/eduardsi/status/1728422017417032140"> https://twitter.com/eduardsi/status/1728422017417032140</a>
Here&rsquo;s a collection of Julia through the years:<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/10Fds4DgzU_Yem577sfGykauuNkltIq3ykZdZUd1EAUE/edit?usp=sharing"> https://docs.google.com/document/d/10Fds4DgzU_Yem577sfGykauuNkltIq3ykZdZUd1EAUE/edit?usp=sharing</a>

Marginalized voices have always been at the forefront of the internet, yet our stories often go overlooked. Bridget Todd chronicles our experiences online, and the ways marginalized voices have shaped the internet from the very beginning. We need monuments to all of the identities that make being online what it is. So let’s build them.

There Are No Girls on the Internet

Tech Conference Used AI to Fake Female Speakers to Look Diverse – BEST OF TANGOTI

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/284e66d4-18f8-4d1a-9f46-b3e20119a56e/transcript