Coded to Exhaustion: The Hidden Cost of Outsmarting the Algorithm

Algospeak and the Cost of Speaking Under Algorithmic Suppression

When millions of creators have to say 'unalive' instead of suicide and use a grape emoji instead of talking about rape, something has gone wrong. In this episode, Dr. Leslie Poston discusses her dissertation research on the psychological impact of algospeak, the deliberate language modifications social media creators use to evade algorithmic content moderation, where those strategies actually come from, what happens when they spread, and what it costs the people who need them most. Portions of this research are currently being prepared for peer-reviewed journal publication.

Poston, L.E. (2026) Speaking at a Cost: Algorithmic Suppression, Appropriated Resistance, and the Psychological Burden of Linguistic Evasion on Social Media (Dissertation) Fielding Graduate University.

00:00 Welcome and Setup

00:44 What Is Algospeak

02:40 Origins and Raciolinguistics

04:13 Why I Studied This

05:28 Methods and Dataset

07:03 Emotional Toll

08:54 Cognitive Load

12:50 "Neutralization Lifecycle"

15:11 Beyond Algorithms Harassment