Talking Angela

American Hysteria

W!ZARD Studios

Society & Culture

4.4 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2023

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 2014, an urban legend formed around a cartoon cat chatbot when rumors spread across social media that a child predator was operating the app, actually visible in the reflection of her big blue eyes. We'll look at the moral panic that cropped up around Talking Angela, and take a look at how urban legends are often a patchwork of clumsy crowdsourced creativity taken far too seriously. Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Sound design by Clear Commo Studios Co-written by Riley Swedelius-Smith Co-edited by Miranda Zickler Voice acting by Will Rogers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	On this podcast, we explore fantastical thinking, moral panics, urban legends, conspiracy theories,
0:11.6	hoaxes, and crazes, examine the forces that shape our culture, and tell the stories that
0:18.7	create the realities we share, and sometimes the realities we don't.
0:25.4	I'm your host, Chelsea Weber-Smith, and this is American hysteria.
0:31.8	I feel like someone was behind the eyes watching you.
0:35.9	He did not just say that.
0:37.9	Behind those big blue eyes are predators tracking your child's every move.
0:42.4	My name is Talking Angela, and this is my app.
0:45.4	No one else is here but me.
0:51.2	Talking Angela made her fashionable, feline debut in late 2012 as a part of the early boom
1:00.7	of iOS apps and games, many of which featured chatbots that you could speak to and who would
1:07.9	speak back to you.
1:10.9	Angela was a fashion-obsessed, classy teenage white cat with big blue, disney-fied eyes,
1:20.0	who spent her days luxuriating at a hip-perusion cafe.
1:26.2	She was a digital friend to other animated AI animals, like Talking Ben the Dog, Talking
1:33.6	Gina the Giraffe, and Talking Tomcat, who I found out is actually our subject's long-term
1:41.6	boyfriend.
1:43.5	Talking Angela was the newest of these chatbots put out by a company called Outfit 7 Limited
1:51.0	that boasted over 1.5 billion downloads of their various applications.
1:57.8	Talking Angela alone was downloaded 57 million times by 2014.
2:05.6	This is my local cafe hangout, Koutur Cafe.
2:08.9	Can you guess what attracted me to try it out?
	...

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