Teen Vogue

Teen Vogue had been criticized as “America’s wokest magazine” and published articles promoting socialism and communism, allegedly promoting Antifa, showing visually graphic depictions of sexual acts, advocating the legalization of prostitution, and a guide on sexting. ^{7 8 9 10 11}

Background

In 2003, Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue and artistic director of Condé Nast, created Teen Vogue as a sister publication and spinoff of Vogue to attract adolescent women to the Condé Nast line of publications. It later transitioned to an online-only publication. ¹ Teen Vogue was launched to bring news topics in fashion, beauty, and teen culture to a younger audience, often featuring celebrities such as Lindsay Lohan, Beyonce, Selena Gomez, Justin Beiber, Taylor Swift, Kylie Jenner, Kendall Jenner, and Emma Watson on the cover. ³

As of December 2025, Teen Vogue had 5.1 million unique monthly digital users, down from 11.6 million in 2019, and 17 million social media followers, up from 13.4 million in 2019. ^{12 4}

Elaine Welteroth was named editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue in 2017, the same year it announced it would cease producing the print publication. At the time Welteroth was the journal’s youngest editor-in-chief and was credited for changing the focus from fashion, celebrity gossip, and makeup to an emphasis on news, politics, and left-wing social advocacy. ¹

Following Welteroth’s exit, Lindsay Peoples Wagner took over as editor-in-chief in October 2018. ^{13 14} In May 2021, it was announced that the position of editor-in-chief would be taken by Versha Sharma, who previously worked as managing editor and senior correspondent of left-of-center online publication NowThis News. ^{15 16}

Integration into Vogue Magazine

In 2025, Vogue Business announced that Teen Vogue would be absorbed into Vogue.com, an umbrella publication that serves as a platform for both Vogue Business and Vogue, the publication from which Teen Vogue originally spun off. At the time of the integration of the two publications, Teen Vogue’s editor since 2021, Versha Sharma, left the publication and Vogue’s head of editorial content, Chloe Malle, was appointed to oversee Teen Vogue. ³

During the transition to Vogue.com, Teen Vogue reportedly laid off 75 percent of its staff, however the publication announced it would continue to promote initiatives like the annual Teen Vogue Summit. ³

Political Activism

In the late 2010s, Teen Vogue changed from primarily focusing on celebrity gossip, fashion trends, and makeup to a publication focusing on left-wing social issues, activism, politics, and identity. ¹⁷ The publication published a politics section that contains five topic sub-sections, including immigration, environment, justice, government, and history as well as an identity section with subsections on sex and relationships and horoscopes. ^{18 19}

This political transformation coincided with the election of President Donald Trump in 2016. Teen Vogue’s website experienced one of its busiest traffic days following the election. Around the same time, Teen Vogue ran a commentary alleging President Donald Trump was psychologically manipulating the nation. ^{7 20}

Teen Vogue’s editorial content skews strongly left-of-center. ²¹ In an April 2020 commentary criticizing Trump for seeking a faster reopening of the economy after COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns, Teen Vogue political editor Lucy Diavolo wrote: “While it’s a good thing to give people the means to support themselves, building up the workforce in a broken economic system like capitalism only subjects more people to the exploitation inherent in our economy.” ²² Other opinion pieces have encouraged readers to “defeat Trump” and the GOP in the November 2020 elections by voting him and his party out of office, and provided readers with a list of organizations that were working toward left-of-center goals. ²³

Additional commentary regarding left-leaning political activism has included features on the Black Lives Matter movement, the Dakota Access pipeline protests, ²⁴ the Women’s March, ²⁵ and NYC mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. ^{26 27}

Support for Democratic Party

In 2016, just prior to the presidential election, Teen Vogue ran a personal essay from then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in which she praised readers of Teen Vogue as a generation that showed what was “right” with America, and encouraged readers to get involved in social issues, learn from others, and vote. ²⁸

Teen Vogue features frequently provide favorable coverage for left-leaning politicians such as democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). ^{29 30}

Socialism and Communism

Teen Vogue has previously written stories critical of capitalism, including a regular feature called “Bread and Roses” dedicated exclusively to the supposed “growing interest in socialism among young people.” The site has posted favorable commentaries regarding left-wing policy proposals such as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. Typical examples of commentary titles include: “How I Can Critique Capitalism — Even on an iPhone,” “Who is Karl Marx — Meet the Anti-Capitalist Scholar,” “Four Big Takeaways from Bernie’s Speech on Democratic Socialism,” and “What Is Medicare for All and How Would It Work?”  ^{7 8}

A commentary from “anarchist organizer” Kim Kelly in May 2020 celebrated the “socialists, communists, or anarchists” of the U.S. labor union movement “who saw the radical potential of collective action, and shunned liberal half-measures in pursuit of real liberation.” Criticizing conventional Democrats and Republicans alike for seeking to represent the labor movement, Kelly argued the American labor movement is and should be much more aligned with far-left socialists and anarchists: “No matter how many star-spangled politicians on either side of the aisle try to hijack the labor movement’s messaging and its people power, we must never forget that the house of labor has always flown red — and black — flags.” ^{31 32}

Another feature was titled “Socialist Policies Could Have Helped the United States During the Coronavirus Pandemic.” The opinion piece, written by a journalist affiliated with the left-leaning opinion journal Dissent, advocated government run health care, elimination of the profit motive, and other policies the author attributed directly to influences such as Marxism and the Democratic Socialists of America.^{33 34}

A Bread and Roses feature argued “socialism belongs to feminists” and that “socialist feminism is on the rise.” The commentary stated that socialist feminism would bring a “beautiful vision of life beyond capitalism,” and blames capitalism for many of the United States’ alleged problems. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is also presented as an example of a “proud democratic socialist feminist” and “one of the most popular politicians of our era.” ²⁹

2020 Election

In October 2019 Teen Vogue posted an article featuring 20 young people and the reasons for their political views. Of the 20 interviewed, none identified as Republican, conservative, right, or right-of-center. All identified as either no party affiliation, Democrat, liberal, progressive, Marxist, or “between anarchism and democratic socialism.” ³⁵

Teen Vogue created a 2020 Voter Committee, a group of 12 young women who act as a sounding board for issues relating to the 2020 election as part of the journal’s #TeenVote2020 project. The #TeenVote2020 hashtag The #TeenVote2020 hashtag contained almost exclusively posts and sources that portrayed left-of-center policy issues such as Medicare for All and candidates such as Bernie Sanders as overwhelmingly preferred by younger voters. ^{36 37}

During the 2020 Presidential Election cycle Teen Vogue posted a large number of articles promoting Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and other Democratic candidates, as well as articles focused on and promoting the Democratic Party. ^{38 39}

Controversies

Teen Vogue has been criticized for posting content deemed too sexually explicit and inappropriate for a teenage audience demographic. Further, the political and social ideologies of the magazine led one commentator to label Teen Vogue “America’s wokest magazine.” ⁵

Topics on Sexuality

In 2017, Teen Vogue posted “A Guide to Anal Sex,” a feature that included illustrations and diagrams of the practice. The article was defended by then-digital editorial director Phillip Picardi, who accused those who opposed the article of being “homophobic.” ⁴⁰

Prostitution Advocacy

An April 2019 Teen Vogue feature was titled “Why Sex Work is Real Work.” The piece argued for the full legalization and normalization of prostitution. “I am a doctor, an expert in sexual health,” wrote the author, “but when you think about it, aren’t I a sex worker? And in some ways, aren’t we all?” ⁴¹

Promoting Sexting

During the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns, Teen Vogue, in partnership with Snapchat, encouraged readers to “sext,” the practice of sending sexually explicit content to someone via online or the phone. ⁴² Teen Vogue published its articles using Snapchat’s Discover Feature with articles such as, “Sexting Should Make You Feel Good,” and “How to Sext: The Best Tips and Tricks.” This topic was promoted at the same time many American teens were physically separated from each other due to the pandemic lockdowns. ²

Alleged Support for Antifa

In October 2025, Teen Vogue published a piece that allegedly promoted Antifa, a decentralized left-wing extremist movement that opposes, sometimes through violence, groups it considers “fascist,” including democratic, center-right conservatives. ^{5 6}

Teen Vogue Summit

The Teen Vogue Summit is an annual event held by the publication since 2017, which features guest speakers and performers who occasionally provide commentary on political agendas and current events. ⁴³

2017 Summit

In December 2017, Teen Vogue organized its first Teen Vogue Summit, a two-day event in Los Angeles that was hosted by then editor-in-chief, Elaine Welteroth. The events were led by Teen Vogue editors and followed three themes: activism, innovation, and creation, which focused on topics such as political organizing, STEM careers, civic leadership, and more. A 2017 Teen Vogue Summit keynote speaker was then former Democratic presidential nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. ^{44 43}

2018 Summit

Teen Vogue Summit 2018 took place in June in New York City. The theme of the event was #TurnUP, a reference to turning up at the polls to vote in the November 2018 midterm elections. Sessions were led by prominent activists and politicians and attendees were informed about how to become community activists. Topics included gun control, LGBT issues, immigration, reproductive issues, “fake news” and the media, and the environment. ⁴⁵

Among the keynote speakers were several left-of-center advocates, including former Vice President Al Gore; the political and organizing director for the Democratic National Committee; the former president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America; Dolores Huerta, a left-leaning labor union leader and the president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation; the political director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance; then-Virginia Delegate Danica Roem (D-Prince William); U.S. Representative Lauren Underwood (D-IL), then a candidate for Congress; former Idaho state Rep. Paulette Jordan (D-Plummer); and then-Democratic U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard.  ⁴⁵

Rock the Vote, a left-of-center organization focused on building the political power of young people, was present with on-site voter registration. The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and Eleanor’s Legacy, an organization that funds pro-abortion Democratic women candidates across New York, led a workshop on communication-skills. The event also featured a seminar on bill drafting and letter-writing to elected officials. ⁴⁵

2019 Summit

Teen Vogue Summit 2019 was held in Los Angeles with guest speakers including singer and actor Demi Lovato; creative director, actor, and entrepreneur Nicole Richie; actor and activist Evan Rachel Wood; and actors Issa Rae, Greta Gerwig, Sofia Carson, Sophia Bush, Busy Phillips, Danielle MacDonald, and Adrienne Bailon-Houghton. Attendees also participated in career immersions, meditation, and self-care ⁴⁶

2020 Summit

Teen Vogue Summit 2020 was scheduled to be held in New York City in May that year; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was postponed. ⁴⁷

2021 Summit

Teen Vogue Summit and Block Party 2021 was held in Los Angeles with guest speakers including singer Hayley Kiyoko, actress Mindy Kaling, actress Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, and singer Olivia Rodrigo. ^{48 49}

2022 Summit

Teen Vogue Summit and Block Party 2022 was held in Los Angeles with guest speakers including actress Keke Palmer, model Adwoa Aboah, actress Xochitl Gomez, director of activist group Voters of Tomorrow (VoT) Santiago Mayer, ⁵⁰ and political activist Olivia Julianna. ^{51 52}

2023 Summit

Teen Vogue Summit 2023 was held in Los Angeles and featured speakers such as Adobe eEpxress content strategist Malory Shoemaker, political activist Genesis Butler, environmental scientist Nikita Kahpeaysewat, and Shiwali Patel of the National Women’s Law Center. The Summit also hosted discussions on abortion, voting, climate change, and Title IX.  ^{53 54}

2024 Summit

Teen Vogue Summit 2024 was held in Los Angeles and was hosted in partnership with Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which provided free tote bags with the pro-abortion slogan “Bans off our bodies.” The event featured speakers such as Demi Lovato and the cast of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” as well as talks and sessions on normalizing periods, abortion, environmentalism, and tarot card readings. ⁵⁵

2025 Summit

Teen Vogue Summit 2025 was held in Los Angeles and focused on fashion, environmentalism, and mindfulness. The event was sponsored by eBay and featured speakers such as Marissa Bode from the Wicked films, transgender model Vivian Wilson, country artist Tanner Addell, actress Raven Symone, and K-pop group Katseye, and featured discussions on intersectionality, identity advocacy, authenticity, and transgender activism. ⁵⁶

Leadership

Chloe Malle is the Editorial Director for Teen Vogue as well as the head of editorial content for Vogue. Malle has worked for Vogue since 2011, was the editor of Vogue.com, and was the co-host of “The Ryun-Through with Vogue.” Malle was previously a journalist for the New York Observer and has written for the New York Times, Marie Claire, the Wall Street Journal, and Architectural Digest. Malle was named head of the U.S. edition of Vogue in September 2025. ^{3 57}