Kids turned low-traffic NPR Spotify comments into a secret group chat

A public radio host discovered activity in the comments section of a Wild Card episode featuring writer Elizabeth Gilbert. Initially assuming the comments were from bots, Dave Blanchard deleted them. However, upon further inspection, he and NPR's Matilde found the comments to be written in a peculiar manner, similar to how middle schoolers communicated online.

A young NPR employee named Hannah Chinn, who was homeschooled and had limited social media access, recognized the comments as belonging to a group of kids. They were using a playlist with the episode's title as its name to create a secret group chat on Spotify comments. The kids would see the playlist, listen to the podcast, and then post messages in the comments section. This unconventional use of Spotify comments proved to be an unusual and unexpected phenomenon.