Middle Schoolers Turn NPR’s Spotify Comments Into a Hidden Group Chat
Middle schoolers used Spotify comments on NPR podcasts as a group chat, baffling Wild Card staff until producer Hannah Chin correctly recognized the posts.
Summary
On September 25, 2026, This American Life host Ira Glass recounted how NPR’s Wild Card team encountered a flood of strange comments under its Spotify episodes in fall 2025. An unidentified producer interpreted the abbreviations and emojis as bot traffic, shared screenshots in NPR’s Slack and reported the posts to Spotify. Audio producer Hannah Chin, a Gen Z colleague, quickly recognized the users as likely middle schoolers considered too young for social media who had turned the comments into a group chat.
NPR had observed children using TED Radio Hour comments similarly in 2025. Glass, who has hosted This American Life for three decades, located one child and asked why the group chose NPR. The child said they searched for podcasts with few comments, an answer Glass acknowledged was painful. Their choice shows how low-traffic podcast comments can become youth social spaces outside the places adults expect to monitor.
Positives
- Hannah Chin’s Gen Z fluency quickly reframed Wild Card’s strange Spotify comments as likely child users rather than automated traffic.
- Middle schoolers repurposed a low-traffic podcast comment section as a group chat while remaining off conventional social media.
- NPR’s 2025 TED Radio Hour example provides a second documented case of children using podcast comments socially.
Risks & concerns
- Wild Card staff initially labeled the abbreviations and emojis as bot traffic, shared screenshots internally and reported the posts to Spotify.
- Children considered too young for social media still formed a public conversation outside the places adults expected to monitor.
- The group chose podcasts with few comments, allowing its activity to emerge in an overlooked part of Spotify.