Bingo.

Here's exactly how this is working right now: (actual numbers not for scale)

• Say 10,000 women see Sall's posts who wouldn't have without the "controversial" nature boosting because of "engagement".
• 500 see that and say "hell yeah, love me some terf shit!" , and 475 of those download the app.
• 3,000 say "yay feminism! :) those men are mad about women having an app" and don't even notice that a good portion of her content is transphobic. Of these, 3,000 download the app.
• 3,500 say "ew transphobia", and 2,500 actively avoid the app, but 100 women say "hmm I'd like a women's-only space even if the CEO is kinda transphobic", and download the app anyway.
• 1000 say "women-only app? that's racist against white men", but 25 people say "I'm gonna download it and see if I can get in then take screenshots to make dank posts on [misogynistic/anti-SJW subreddit]."

So in total, that's:

• 3,500 new downloads that would not have happened without her transphobic posts and the response to them
• 1,250 women from those 2,500 people now refuse to use the app because of transphobia.

Already absolutely worth it for her But then the bonus round kicks in.

• 0 new users directly from the 25 trolls that go and create a few posts in r/misogyny_emporium and r/incel_safespace, omitting any mention of transphobia.
• 2,500 new users from those trolls' hate being picked up by r/againsthatesubreddits and r/trollXchromosomes, bringing visibility to the app, but washed clean of the context of transphobia.

So that's now 6,000 users drawn in to the app purely because of transphobic antics. When your app is small, you need all the activity you can get to have a platform with content that makes people want to come back...so the transphobia literallty puts money in shareholders pockets, and then hers by proxy. She has now successfully exploited the divide between terfs and real feminists to make a buncha money.

Meanwhile some paper's editor right now is like hmm white woman girl-boss CEO? We (our advertisers) love those! When you're a shitrag who will elevate any story to avoid people noticing the lack of systemic critiques, you'll do whatever you can to help fill your pages with uncritical slop, so I wouldn't be surprised if it got picked up as a story. Nice, liberal outlets probably won't want to be seen spinning transphobia as a good thing, as some libs might be turned off, so they'll either omit it entirely or just report on the controversy. No matter what their narrative, she wins by gaining her app users, even if more people view her as a transphobe after. It's just a matter of 10,000 vs 1,000. She knows what she's doing, whether or not her transphobia is genuine.

I could totally see one of the following headlines:

• "Creator & CEO of Women's Exclusive Social Network Receives Avalanche of Death Threats from Men"
• "Inside the War between an All-Women's Community and Radical Communist Internet Forum"
• "How an App Just for Women Outraged Far Left Social Network"
• "Transphobic AI? New Social Network Creates Controversy by Using AI to Filter Out Men"

Whether/what story they run depends on how they weigh:

• Acknowledging transphobia vs. Celebrating white girl-boss CEO.
• Driving new users to "left-extremism" community vs. Generating political will crush "left-extremism" website by "both-sides"ing us with Parlor.

This is how capitalists use controversy to amplify their message/products.