Sign in

Ellen Huet

@ellenhuet.bsky.social
5.2K followers 998 following 40 posts

the self is an illusion, but — I write features & podcasts about tech for Bloomberg / Businessweek also writing a book about an alleged sex cult ellenhuet.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Tim Harford @timharford.ft.com · 30/01/2026
Powered by Orgasm - the rise and fall of a sex cult. (Cautionary Tales, with the amazing @ellenhuet.bsky.social ) timharford.com/2026/01/powe...
1155
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Leslie Greentree @lesliegreentree.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
It’s impossible to put this book down - incredible story, so well researched and well told.
011
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Ida Benedetto @idamantium.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
I've lost friends to OneTaste and had to bail out of a work retreat accidentally programmed at a venue owned by OneTaste founders. Very glad @ellenhuet.bsky.social exposed the manipulation driving it. Here she is in convo with Jules Evans (www.ecstaticintegration.org).
242
Reposted by Ellen Huet
KQED Forum @kqedforum.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
🎙️ON AIR: We're talking to investigative journalist and features writer @ellenhuet.bsky.social about OneTaste, a company dedicated to “orgasmic meditation,” and how its cult-like nature led to a criminal conviction. ❓ Did you have a connection with OneTaste? Tell us about it. 📻 Listen:
buff.ly
Empire of Orgasm: Sex, Power and the Downfall of a Bay Area Wellness Cult | KQED
We talk to investigative journalist Ellen Huet about OneTaste, a company dedicated to “orgasmic meditation,” and hear about its cult-like nature through accounts from former clients and community…
241
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Brad Listi @bradlisti.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
📖 Today, a Story Time episode featuring @ellenhuet.bsky.social reading from her new book, EMPIRE OF ORGASM: SEX, POWER, AND THE DOWNFALL OF A WELLNESS CULT (MCD Books). 🎧 Available wherever you get your podcasts.
011
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Chris @justokonline.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Truly, it’s a bonkers story that you should absolutely read.
011
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Chris @justokonline.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
One charismatic person takes their trauma or extreme life experience and draws universal truths from it. Start charging money for those truths. Add in attachment theory/victim blaming. And gear everything towards getting young women to have sex with old men they are not attracted to.
111
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Chris @justokonline.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Ooh boy, this is a wild one. It’s meticulously reported and compellingly written by @ellenhuet.bsky.social. I’ve read a lot about cults and this has all the hallmarks.
201
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Leslie Greentree @lesliegreentree.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
They felt safe telling each other something most people wouldn’t understand: they kind of wanted to join a cult again, Audrey said, “because we’re bored and lonely.” #SundaySentence from the riveting Empire of Orgasm by @ellenhuet.bsky.social #Booksky💙📚
4384
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Suzy ✨ @suzysuperchill.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Just found out about this book via this post and IMMEDIATELY went to my library’s website to place a hold
131
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Matt Rosoff @mattrosoff.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
This deeply sad article by @ellenhuet.bsky.social and @rachelmetz.bsky.social made me think of Eleanor Rigby: All the lonely people. Where do they all come from? www.bloomberg.com/features/202... (Aside: Paul McCartney's songwriting always struck me as a depressive trying hard to stay cheerful.)
bloomberg.com
The Chatbot Delusions: Is AI Contributing to a Novel Mental Health Crisis?
Some users are losing touch with reality during marathon sessions with ChatGPT and other bots.
041
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
IT’S PUB DAY BABY HELL YEAH
5322
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Dana Hull @danahull.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
Happy publication day @ellenhuet.bsky.social!!
041
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Study Hall @studyhall.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
On the latest podcast episode, @ellenhuet.bsky.social discussed her book investigating the true story of OneTaste, a sex wellness cult. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...
podcasts.apple.com
Investigating a Sex Wellness Cult ft. Ellen Huet
Podcast Episode · The Study Hall Podcast · 11/19/2025 · 54m
032
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Ryan Mac 🙃 @rmac.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
Ayyyy @ellenhuet.bsky.social
0153
Reposted by Ellen Huet
The New York Times @nytimes.com · 17/06/2025
Breaking News: Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller who is running for mayor, was detained by ICE agents at an immigration court as he tried to escort a migrant out of the courthouse to prevent his arrest. nyti.ms/4jWkANE
Brad Lander is shown being detained by federal agents in a courthouse. Lander wears a dark blue suit, blue shirt and blue striped tie. The agents wear sweatshirts and blue jeans. A headline reads: "Brad Lander Is Detained By ICE Agents at Immigration Courthouse." Photo by Olga Fedorova/Associated Press.
71528951123
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
NEW from me: a quick profile of Alexandr Wang, who left his company Scale to become one of Meta's most $$$ expensive hires with some fun details like - why his name is missing an e - how YC thought he "may be arrogant or brilliant" www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Scale AI’s Wang Brings to Meta Knowledge of What Everyone Else is Doing
Scale AI co-founder Alexandr Wang is such an enthusiastic networker that his former roommate — OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman — once jokingly told him to tone it down a bit.
120
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Ken Vogel @kenvogel.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
“I was born here,” Jason Brian Gavidia shouted as a federal agent twisted his arm & pressed him against a fence outside his auto body shop in a working-class L.A. suburb. “I’m an American, bro!” Vivid @nytimes.com reporting on the targeting of U.S. citizens of Hispanic descent.
nytimes.com
‘I’m an American, Bro!’: Latinos Report Raids in Which U.S. Citizenship Is Questioned
36664288
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
NEW: @kateclark.bsky.social and i went deep on the unhinged spying saga between Rippling and Deel for @BW (and this gif!!!) two of the world's most valuable startups are volleying accusations back and forth at the center is one alleged spy, who says he smashed his phone w an axe (!)
162
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · 18/04/2025
Ron Chernow’s new book about Mark Twain is more about disappointment than success
bloom.bg
Mark Twain Died Famous, Not Happy
In a new biography, Ron Chernow covers the sadness at the end of Twain’s life.
3436
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
NEW @bloomberg.com feature from me on @hf0.bsky.social, the 12-wk live-in startup accelerator that calls itself a "monastery for hackers" at HF0, founders tune out all distractions and build. the coaching incorporates mindfulness (and cold plunges) gift link 🎁: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
bloomberg.com
The Monastery Where Founders Meditate on Code and Profit
HF0, a live-in program for startup founders in San Francisco, mixes New Agey spirituality with Silicon Valley-esque hypercapitalism.
051
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
this is, regrettably, very me www.wsj.com/lifestyle/fo...
wsj.com
The Ford Executive Who Kept Score of Colleagues’ Verbal Flubs
Mike O’Brien kept a meticulous log of mixed metaphors and malaprops uttered in meetings over a decade; ‘too many cooks in the soup’
030
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Katie Drummond @katie-drummond.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Kudos to the student journalists at The Tufts Daily, who crashed a last-minute issue of the paper to cover the outrageous arrest and detention of Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk: issuu.com/tuftsdaily/d...
issuu.com
The Tufts Daily - Thursday, March 27, 2025 by The Tufts Daily - Issuu
131648539
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
a summary: nymag.com/intelligence...
nymag.com
Why Are Visa and Green-Card Holders Being Detained and Deported?
There have been some harrowing reports about foreign nationals detained and deported amid Trump’s immigration crackdown. Here’s what we know.
120
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
somehow this is the funniest part of the rippling-deel spy lawsuit to me. of course there's a dogs slack channel, and of course that's a channel you preview but don't join
041
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
new cult-ish content! i wrote a short explainer about the Zizians for @bloomberg.com's daily tech newsletter trying to answer: In what ways are the Zizians representative of the rationalist/AI safety/EA world, and in what ways do they deviate? gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
bloomberg.com
Violent Cult Has Roots In Silicon Valley Quest to Keep AI Safe
Welcome to Tech In Depth, our revamped daily newsletter with reporting and analysis about the business of tech from Bloomberg’s journalists around the world. Today, Ellen Huet writes about the crosscu...
030
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
i talked about robot anxiety and why we take it out by vandalizing Waymos with @morgansung.bsky.social for Close All Tabs! podcast podcast podcast. also including @rcalo.bsky.social
131
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
a fascinating longread in nymag from @anya1anya.bsky.social about ISTA -- the neo-tantra group that promised sexual healing but faced numerous allegations of sexual abuse www.thecut.com/article/the-...
thecut.com
The Neo-Tantric Sex Group That Promised to Change
ISTA is dedicated to exploring people’s darkest desires. Can it root out abuse?
020
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Ryan Mac 🙃 @rmac.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Earlier today the LA Times had AI-generated counterpoints to a column from @gustavoarellano.bsky.social. His piece argued that Anaheim, the city he grew up in, should not forget its KKK past. The AI "well, actually"-ed the KKK. It has since been taken off the piece. www.latimes.com/california/s...
451612543
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
NEW: security researchers found what they say appears to be a backdoor into Eight Sleep beds, which could allow company engineers to SSH into any bed in theory, they could see if you're home or not, if you're sleeping alone or with someone in today's newsletter for @bloomberg.com
24014
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
after the ban-unban whiplash, my favorite tiktok culture analyst @carmeldea.bsky.social kept telling our group chat that the tiktok vibes were off. so i turned her thoughts into a newsletter for @bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
bloomberg.com
TikTok Political Boomerang Gives Users a Queasy Feeling
Welcome to Tech In Depth, our revamped daily newsletter with reporting and analysis about the business of tech from Bloomberg’s journalists around the world. Today, Ellen Huet writes about the strange...
040
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Elias_nif ┃🎥┃🎬┃💬 @handle.invalid · 19/01/2025
I recently finished listening the final episode of the Foundering. I thoroughly enjoyed the storytelling by @ellenhuet.bsky.social. If you’re interested in captivating stories about real people and events, I highly recommend checking it out. #bloomberg #openai #samaltman
121
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
genuinely curious if the term "masculine energy" is getting thrown around more in tech/sf circles right now than it was a year or two ago
180
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
NEW businessweek feature from me, all about ZYN!!! - how zyn's popularity could put the product at risk - deep dive into zynfluencer mania (e.g. man in zyn costume on scooter) - PLUS, in a feat of gonzyn journalism, i try a 6mg zyn and almost barf gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
bloomberg.com
Zyn’s Online Hype Risks Leading to the Nicotine Pouches’ Downfall
Zyn represents success for Philip Morris’ “smokeless” strategy and also a major challenge: How can the company sell cigarette alternatives that aren’t so tempting it gets in trouble for hooking kids?
161
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Reyhan Harmanci @harmancipants.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
Such a pleasure to work on this with @ellenhuet.bsky.social. She even tried an upper deckie for journalism! 🎁 Gift Link: Zyn’s Online Hype Risks Leading to the Nicotine Pouches’ Downfall www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
bloomberg.com
Zyn’s Online Hype Risks Leading to the Nicotine Pouches’ Downfall
Zyn represents success for Philip Morris’ “smokeless” strategy and also a major challenge: How can the company sell cigarette alternatives that aren’t so tempting it gets in trouble for hooking kids?
051
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
excellent @ering.bsky.social piece that gets to the heart of a key question in vc right now www.nytimes.com/2024/12/13/t...
nytimes.com
What Is Venture Capital Now Anyway?
The opposing paths taken by two powerful firms — Benchmark and Andreessen Horowitz — embody a profound debate about the future of an industry that funds and fosters American innovation.
271
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Annalee Newitz @annaleen.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
What happens when a mall dies? In my latest newsletter, I visit two of San Francisco's moribund shopping spaces -- the former Twitter building, and the former Westfield mall. What I find is very liminal. buttondown.com/thehypothesi...
This is a 1955 picture of the building that housed Twitter, then known as Furniture Mart. The text around the image reads: The saga of Twitter and X occupies a lot of ideological real estate in the media right now. And yet this shitposty, aggressive transformation of one brand into another was merely a blip in the long life of this former mall.

Decades before a social media oligarch occupied it, the building was an ever-growing sales warehouse and showroom for wholesale furniture and housewares companies. Opened in 1937 at the height of the Depression, the Western Furniture Exchange and Merchandise Mart’s many floors and wings boasted lavish displays of sofas, chandeliers, kitchen appliances, and more. The building’s elaborate Art Deco facade was infused with appropriated Mayan imagery. It was a showstopper.

During the post-World War II era, the Mart truly blossomed. Bolstered by 1950s and 60s middle class prosperity, its owners took over several adjacent buildings, filling them to the brim with tangible objects for physical spaces. Home to over 300 wholesalers for 60 years, by 2008 it housed only 30. The Western Furniture Exchange and Merchandise Mart was sold in 2011 to the Shorenstein Company, a development firm that retrofitted it for a new economy devoted to social objects and virtual spaces.These are two pictures of empty mall spaces. One is an empty rotunda, whose shopfronts are covered in butcher paper. The floor is fake brown marble. The other is a forgotten hallway, most of its doors and windows covered in paper. Only one sign remains etched on the glass: "Brow Savant." The text reads: As I ascended toward the blank spaces where Nordstrom once ruled, I found a glorious unbranded emptiness that future archaeologists will no doubt describe as “ceremonial chambers” or “special use spaces.” The mall seemed to degenerate into absurdism as I continued to ride the escalators up. Twinkling strands of gilded holiday decorations fell from the distant, illuminated ceiling, past five dark levels of unfilled retail space.
1416933
Reposted by Ellen Huet
Annie Gaus @anniegaus.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
Luigi Mangione’s mother reported him missing to San Francisco police last month The alleged shooter had reportedly gone dark with friends and family in recent months sfstandard.com/2024/12/09/l...
sfstandard.com
Luigi Mangione reported missing to SFPD weeks before shooting
Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old identified as a “strong person of interest” in last week’s slaying of a health insurance executive on the streets of Manhattan, was reported missing to San Francisco po...
043
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
a terrifying investigation everyone should read, from @jackiedavalos.bsky.social and @sooophie.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
bloomberg.com
How a Billionaire’s ‘Baby Project’ Ensnared Dozens of Women
Disgraced tycoon Greg Lindberg built a network of egg donors and surrogates. Several say he conned them—and that US fertility clinics helped him do it.
89326
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
for bloomberg's Tech Daily newsletter, a little riff on the question: what makes humans want to attack waymos and other robot cars? ft. @rcalo.bsky.social talking about robots' "twilight" liminal nature, and also ft. hitchBOT, may it rest in peace www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
bloomberg.com
Waymo’s Expansion Provokes Anxieties of AI Takeover
As Waymo expands its plans to even more US cities, will we see more vandalism against self-driving cars? But first...
042
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
i’m going to remember this piece for a long time: www.esquire.com/news-politic...
esquire.com
My Life As a Homeless Man in America
An extraordinary firsthand account.
020
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
i hate pumpkin pie but i love discussing cultivars
350
Ellen Huet @ellenhuet.bsky.social · 28/04/2023
baby’s first shitpost
270