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Welcome to the podcast from 404 Media where Joseph, Sam, Emanuel, and Jason catch you up on the stories we published this week. 404 Media is a journalist-owned digital media company exploring the way technology is shaping–and is shaped by–our world. We bring you unparalleled access to hidden worlds both online and IRL through investigative reporting, smart blogging, and breaking news. At 404 Media you’ll read, and hear, stories you can’t find anywhere else written by journalists who are leading experts on their beats. Subscribe to 404 Media at 404media.co to gain access to an ad-free version of this podcast, as well as a bonus podcast episodes. Subscribers are the bedrock of building a sustainable business for our journalism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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The Social Reckoning’s Real-Life Whistleblower
Published: October 9, 2026 15:45
Sponsor: Take back control today: go to incogni.com/404media and use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's incogni.com/404media, promo code 404MEDIA—risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen became…
Leak Show Cops Can Break into Locked iPhones
Published: October 7, 2026 10:00
We start this week with a story from our old friend Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, about how cops can bypass the inactivity reboot on iPhones. After the break, Jason tells us how people are losing their minds over an LLM ‘torture’ prison. In the…
404 Media Live! The Three Year Anniversary Show
Published: October 6, 2026 10:00
Thank you to DeleteMe for helping make this night possible. They're offering 20% off a privacy protection plan for friends of 404 Media. Use code 404M20 at checkout. 404 Media just turned three years old, and to celebrate, we hosted a night of…
AI Companies Scraped the Web and Are Destroying the Human Internet
Published: October 5, 2026 10:00
Jason Kint, the CEO of Digital Content Next, has kept a close eye on some of the biggest tech antitrust and copyright court cases. Kint has a knack for finding particularly incriminating court records in complex ongoing lawsuits. We talk to Kint about the…
The FBI Was Hacked. We’ve Seen the Data
Published: September 30, 2026 10:00
Don’t sleep on [@ultrapouches]. New customers get 15% Off with code 404MEDIA at takeultra.com! #UltraPouches #ad We start this week with Joseph’s stories on the massive FBI hack. 404 Media broke this news and continued to cover the breach of data on all…
The End of Privacy Is Here (with Kashmir Hill)
Published: September 28, 2026 10:00
Facial recognition is everywhere now. It’s in surveillance cameras; it’s soon going to be in Meta’s RayBan pervert glasses, and some students already did that. You now have massively viral accounts that take clips of people, run them through facial…
OpenAI Admits AI is Killing the Internet
Published: September 23, 2026 10:00
Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go to https://incogni.com/404Mediaand use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA at https://incogni.com/404Media We start this week with Jason’s…
Is AI Making Us Less Human?
Published: September 21, 2026 10:00
When chatbots become our closest “friends,” what happens to our capacity to care? This week I'm joined by Professor Sherry Turkle. Sherry is a licensed clinical psychologist, the founding director of MIT's Initiative on Technology and Self, and the…
404 Media x The Intercept LIVE: How AI Is Used to Surveil and Kill
Published: September 18, 2026 11:00
In this bonus collaboration with our friends at The Intercept, 404 Media's Jason Koebler and the Intercept's Sam Biddle and Akela Lacy discuss the ways AI is already used to empower private surveillance companies that filter data to the government, how AI…
Humans Are Reading Your ChatGPT Conversations
Published: September 16, 2026 10:00
We start this week with Joseph’s story about the people who are reading real ChatGPT users’ prompts and conversations. He got a bunch of documents all about these contractors and saw real prompts himself. After the break, Sam tells us all about the…
Fighting for the Future of Libraries (With Jennie Rose Halperin)
Published: September 14, 2026 10:00
This week we’re joined by Jennie Rose Halprein. Jennie is the executive director of Library Futures, a non-profit that advocates for a fair digital future for libraries and the communities they serve. We have written a bunch of stories about libraries over…
DHS’ Secretive ‘Predictive Policing’ Unit Pulling People Over
Published: September 9, 2026 10:00
Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go to https://incogni.com/404Media and use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA at https://incogni.com/404Media We start this week with Joseph’s…
This Innocent Woman Spent 13 Days in Jail Because of a False Flock Hit
Published: September 7, 2026 10:00
This week Jason talks to Lindsey Isaacs and her lawyer, Patrick McGeehan. Last year, Lindsey was falsely arrested and imprisoned after authorities used Flock’s license plate reader system to pull over the wrong person in a hit-and-run that killed three…
We Spoke to an Amazon Worker Destroying Books for AI
Published: September 2, 2026 10:00
Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go to https://incogni.com/404Mediaand use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA at https://incogni.com/404Media We start this week with Emanuel’s…
How Cyber Sleuths Tracked Down a Nigerian Scammer
Published: August 31, 2026 10:00
This week Joseph talks to Paul Raffile, a cybercrime researcher, and Erin West, founder of Operation Shamrock. The pair recently traveled to Nigeria to track down a scammer and meet a bunch more. This conversation is some fascinating insight into how…
Cops Are Making Fake Flock Cameras and Amazon Packages
Published: August 26, 2026 10:00
Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go to https://incogni.com/404Mediaand use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA at https://incogni.com/404Media We start this week with Jason’s…
Your AI Companion Doesn’t Love You with Bridget Todd
Published: August 24, 2026 10:00
Go to https://surfshark.com/404Media or use code 404Media at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark! Tech companies want you to believe that the chatbots they profit from are the always ready, never judgemental, constantly affirming friend in our…
Amazon is Destroying Rare Books to Train AI
Published: August 19, 2026 10:00
Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go tohttps://incogni.com/404Mediaand use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA athttps://incogni.com/404Media We start this week with Emanuel’s big…
The Future of Deepfakes and the Decline of Reality with Hany Farid
Published: August 17, 2026 10:00
The past, present, and future of deepfakes, as seen by the world’s leading expert on synthetic media. I think we’re pretty good at telling the difference between an AI generated image and a real photograph, but when I need help I call Hany Farid. …
Mark Zuckerberg’s 'Superintelligent' AI Future That No One Wants
Published: August 12, 2026 08:00
Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go to https://incogni.com/404Media and use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA at https://incogni.com/404Media. We start this week with…
How to Surveil the Police (with William Gude)
Published: August 10, 2026 10:00
Go to https://surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, with the reassurance of a 30-day money-back guarantee, or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout. That's https://surfshark.com/404Media. This week, we talk to William Gude, who runs…
This Man Might Go to Prison for Wiping His Phone
Published: August 5, 2026 10:00
Get 15% off OneSkin with the code 404 at https://oneskin.co/404 We start this week with Joseph’s article about Samuel Tunick, the man charged with allegedly wiping his phone before DHS officials could search it. It’s a wild case with a lot to unpack.…
Former Flock Employee Speaks Out: Says He Was ‘Lied To’
Published: August 3, 2026 10:00
Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go tohttps://incogni.com/404Mediaand use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA athttps://incogni.com/404Media This week Joseph speaks to Jonathan…
Flock Came to My Town. Here’s What I Did
Published: July 29, 2026 10:00
We start this week with Matthew’s experience of what happened when Flock came to his small town. It’s a microcosm of what is happening all across the United States. After the break, Sam tells us about a bunch of no phone Luddite events. In the…
This Man Bought Phone Location Data from Around the World
Published: July 27, 2026 14:24
Go to https://surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, with the reassurance of a 30-day money-back guarantee, or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout. That's https://surfshark.com/404Media. This week Joseph talks to Mike Yeagley.…
Flock is Tracking People, Not Just Cars
Published: July 22, 2026 10:00
Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go to https://incogni.com/404Mediaand use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA at https://incogni.com/404Media Our listeners can buy one pair of…
404 Media Live: How AI Is Destroying the Internet
Published: July 20, 2026 10:00
404 Media teamed up with the Los Angeles Public Library's LA Made to do a live show at the LA Central Library at the end of May. Jason, Sam, and our friends Dexter Thomas and Gita Jackson talked about the ways AI is threatening workers in all industries,…
We Are Living in a ‘ChatGPT Flyer Pandemic’
Published: July 15, 2026 10:00
Go to https://surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, with the reassurance of a 30-day money-back guarantee, or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout. That's https://surfshark.com/404Media. Our listeners can buy one pair of glasses…
Liberation, Eroticism, and Sex in Public (with Angela Jones)
Published: July 13, 2026 10:00
Is your sex life as private and personal as you think it is? Or is it shaped by – and constantly shaping, in turn – the society and systems you exist in? This week we’re joined by Dr. Angela Jones, who asks these questions and much more in her new…
How Influencers Fake Being Rich
Published: July 8, 2026 10:00
Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go to incogni.com/404Media and use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA at incogni.com/404Media. This week, we talk about Jason's dive into the…
Is the Best Game of the Year a Failure?
Published: July 6, 2026 10:00
Remap Radio’s Rob Zacny and Emanuel dive deep into their current favorite game, Marathon, and what its middling success says about the future of games. If you listen to the 404 Media podcast by now you probably realized that Joe and I are a little…
The Tokenpocalypse Is Here
Published: July 1, 2026 10:00
Go to surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, with the reassurance of a 30-day money-back guarantee, or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout. That's surfshark.com/404Media. We start this week with Joseph’s story about the…
How Brands Use Reddit to Poison AI Search
Published: June 29, 2026 10:00
This week, we're doing a deep dive into how marketing companies are poisoning AI search results by manipulating Reddit. You may remember when Google’s AI search results first launched, it recommended that people put glue on their pizza. Well that happened…
If AI Is Sentient Then So Is ‘Age of Empires II
Published: June 24, 2026 10:00
Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go to incogni.com/404Media and use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA at incogni.com/404Media. Our listeners can buy one pair of glasses and get…
Stopping Tech Company Censorship (with Jake Hanrahan)
Published: June 22, 2026 10:00
Go to surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, with the reassurance of a 30-day money-back guarantee, or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout. That's surfshark.com/404Media. Our listeners can buy one pair of glasses and get 20% off…
The Government Wants to End Anonymity on Phones
Published: June 17, 2026 10:00
Go to surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, plus there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee—or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout! We start this week with Joseph’s story about the FCC’s wild proposal to require peoples’ government ID…
Meet Me at the Opsec Rave (with Imani Thompson)
Published: June 15, 2026 10:00
This week, I’m thrilled to be joined by Imani Thompson. Imani is a digital security trainer and host of a series of events called Cache Me Outside, where she and partner orgs help people understand their personal security, divest from big tech platforms,…
Google Employees Meme About How Bad Their AI Is
Published: June 10, 2026 10:00
We start this week with Emanuel’s story about the internal memes Google employees are making all about AI. Definitely check out some of the examples in the article or on YouTube. After the break, Jason tells us how Microsoft explicitly wants to “make…
It’s So Not Over for Hollywood (with Devindra Hardawar)
Published: June 8, 2026 10:00
Emanuel talks to Devindra Hardawar about AI in Hollywood and the state of the movie industry. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code 404MEDIA at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/404media I didn’t plan it…
Hackers Asked Meta AI To Let Them In. It Worked
Published: June 3, 2026 10:00
Go to surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, plus there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee—or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout! We start this week with Jason’s story about one of the wildest hacking stories in a while. Hackers…
A Repairable, No-Tech Tractor
Published: June 1, 2026 10:00
Go to https://surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, plus there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee—or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout! Ursa Ag is an Alberta, Canada-based company that is selling a repairable, no tech tractor.…
How Deepfakes Destroyed a High School
Published: May 27, 2026 10:00
Sponsor: Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code 404MEDIA at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/404media We start this week with Sam’s deeply reported story on how deepfakes rocked a high school, and how those…
Millions of People Are Installing Malware on Their Partners’ Phones
Published: May 25, 2026 10:00
This week Joseph speaks to Zack Whittaker, an editor at TechCrunch. Zack has been leading coverage into the spouseware or stalkerware industry. This is malware sold to ordinary people, which they then often install on their girlfriend’s or someone else’s…
Boo-sters
Published: May 20, 2026 15:58
We start this week with Sam telling us all about the commencement speeches where speakers have been praising AI, including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. That did not go down well! After the break, Jason tells us how he was offered the chance to buy a…
The Physical Politics of the Internet with Britt Paris
Published: May 18, 2026 10:00
This week, I’m delighted to be joined by Britt Paris. Britt is a critical informatics scholar and Associate Professor of Library and Information Science at Rutgers University’s School of Communication & Information. Her work focuses on Internet…
The Chinese Deepfake Software Powering Scams
Published: May 13, 2026 10:00
We start this week with Joseph’s story about how we obtained Haotian AI, a sought-after piece of realtime video deepfake software that lets you turn into anyone else during Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, or Zoom calls. After the break, Matthew tells us about…
How the World Became a Casino (With Natasha Schüll)
Published: May 11, 2026 10:00
The logic behind Polymarket, Kalshi and sports betting apps can be traced back to the inner workings of the slot machine. How did we get to a point where it’s legal for anyone to bet on anything? Be it the results of a baseball game or a land war in…
Flock Used Cameras at a Children’s Gymnastics Center for a Sales Pitch
Published: May 6, 2026 10:00
This week we start with Jason's story about Flock accessing cameras in a children's gymnastics room as a sale pitch demo. After the break, Emanuel tells us why Nature retracted a paper about the alleged benefits of ChatGPT in education. In the…
The New Luddites: Why People Are Destroying Surveillance and AI Infrastructure
Published: May 4, 2026 15:52
This week, we talk to Brian Merchant, author of Blood in the Machine, about a rash of people physically destroying AI and surveillance infrastructure. Brian puts this wave of attacks in the historical context of the Luddites, who are notoriously…
How This Trippy Image Started A Massive Conspiracy Theory
Published: April 29, 2026 10:00
This week, Jason explains the conspiracy theory circulating behind a trippy stock image that went viral after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner—was it sent here by a time traveler? (Spoiler: It was not.) Then Sam unpacks what’s happening at Arizona…
Government Hacking Tools Are Now in Criminals' Hands (with Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai)
Published: April 27, 2026 10:00
This week Joseph talks to Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, a journalist at TechCrunch. Lorenzo has possibly the deepest understanding of one of the wildest cybersecurity stories in years: how an employee of Trenchant, a government malware vendor that is…
How Algorithms Make Us Feel Bad and Weird
Published: April 22, 2026 07:00
This week Sam unpacks how social media algorithms manipulate our emotions around everything from engagement rings to wedding dresses to babies, and what it feels like getting lost in the #Weddingtok sauce, and Emanuel breaks down a satirical but functional…
Why Journalists Are Leaving Big Media (with Maddy Myers)
Published: April 20, 2026 10:00
This week, Sam is joined by Maddy Myers, editor-in-chief of Mothership. She’s also a co-host of the video games podcast Triple Click. Maddy launched Mothership with co-founder Zoë Hannah in January. It’s a queer and women-owned independent publication…
How the FBI Extracted Deleted Signal Messages
Published: April 16, 2026 16:19
We start this week with Joseph’s story on the inherent friction between secure chat apps like Signal and the phone they’re running on. Incoming message content can be stored in a phone’s internal notification database. After the break, Matthew tells us the…
How the Internet Became Hell (with Whitney Phillips)
Published: April 13, 2026 10:00
‘The Ambivalent Intent’ and ‘The Shadow Gospel’ author Whitney Phillips on how online got so bad Why does the internet feel like it’s getting worse every single day, and why does it feel like the political landscape is getting worse in response? The…
Wildlife Cops Are Searching AI Cameras for ICE
Published: April 8, 2026 10:00
This week we start with Jason’s story about how wildlife cops are doing Flock lookups for ICE. It shows that ICE is gaining access to this sort of information through pretty unexpected ways. After the break, Emanuel tells us all about the AI ban at…
The Lawyer Fighting Government Surveillance for 30 Years (With EFF's Cindy Cohn)
Published: April 6, 2026 10:00
This week Jason brings you an interview he did with The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s executive director Cindy Cohn, who recently announced she would be stepping down from the legendary digital rights nonprofit after decades of service. Cindy's new book…
Inside the AI Slop Propaganda Wars
Published: April 1, 2026 15:19
This week Matthew Gault joins us to discuss his article about Iran’s AI slop and LEGO-focused propaganda, and why the creators chose LEGO. After the break, Jason tells us all about the new automated system in baseball and the drama it’s causing. In the…
The Journalist Who Tracked Epstein Island Visitors’ Phones
Published: March 30, 2026 13:00
This week Joseph talks to Dhruv Mehrotra, a journalist and technologist at Bloomberg. Before that, Dhruv was at WIRED, where you probably saw a ton of his interesting work. Dhruv sits in a very unusual space in journalism: he is able to both write…
The Company Secretly Turning Your Zoom Meetings into Podcasts
Published: March 25, 2026 10:00
This week we start with Emanuel’s crazy story about WebinarTV, a company that is secretly recording Zoom meetings and turning them into AI-powered podcasts. It’s nuts. After the break, Joseph tells us about the eccentric billionaire who tried to become a…
The Marketing Tricks of "Artificial Intelligence"
Published: March 23, 2026 10:00
This week, Sam talks to Emily Bender and Alex Hanna about the marketing ploys of “artificial intelligence,” why ridicule works to keep big tech’s claims in check, and what makes them hopeful for the future. They’re the authors of The AI Con: How to Fight…
The Disappearing DOGE Depositions
Published: March 18, 2026 10:00
This week we start with Joseph’s series of articles about the DOGE depositions. He watched hours and hours of them, then a judge ordered them removed from YouTube. But, they’ve already been archived all over the web. After the break, Jason tells us about…
Google Street View's Unmappable City
Published: March 16, 2026 10:00
There's only one city in America that isn't on Google's Street View. Documentary filmmaker Chris Parr set out to map it, using North Oak, Minnesota's byzantine rules and the help of a drone. His experience shows who gets privacy in America, and who…
How to Talk to Your Friend Experiencing 'AI Psychosis'
Published: March 11, 2026 13:00
This week we start with Sam’s story discussing something that has come up a lot but no one has really answered: how do you speak to your friend or family member falling into AI psychosis? After the break, Joseph breaks down what happened when the FBI…
Understanding Roblox’s Grooming Problem
Published: March 9, 2026 10:00
Cecilia D’Anstasio on Roblox efforts to protect children from pedophiles. Roblox is one of those games that is more popular than you can imagine, but unless you are of a certain age group and live in that world, you’ll rarely hear about it unless it…
The Depravity Economy
Published: March 4, 2026 11:00
This week we discuss our coverage of the U.S.-Israel strikes against Iran, specifically how Polymarket and Kalshi are letting people profit from death, and that Amazon data centers were on fire after missiles hit Dubai. Then Emanuel talks about how AI…
How to Detect Phone Spying Tech (with Cooper Quintin)
Published: March 2, 2026 11:00
Joseph speaks to Cooper Quintin, a security researcher and senior public interest technologist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Quintin is one of the people behind Rayhunter, an easy to install tool that can detect nearby IMSI-catchers. This…
Ring Is Just Getting Started
Published: February 25, 2026 11:00
This week we start with Jason’s follow up to Ring launching its ‘Search Party’ feature. It turns out, according to a leaked email he got, the feature is only starting with finding lost dogs. After the break, Emanuel explains why we’ve learned nothing about…
Privacy Under Pressure (With Harlo Holmes)
Published: February 23, 2026 11:00
In this week’s interview, Sam is joined by Harlo Holmes. Harlo is the Chief Security Programs Officer at Freedom of the Press Foundation. She’s a media scholar, software programmer, and activist. Harlo and Sam discuss the important work she does every…
Inside an AI-Powered School
Published: February 18, 2026 11:00
This week we start with Emanuel’s wild story about Alpha School, a very hyped AI-powered school. Emanuel got leaked documents and spoke to former employees. After the break, Sam tells us what happens when someone decides to make an AI nudify OnlyFans with…
What It’s Like to Be a Data Labeler Training AI
Published: February 16, 2026 08:00
I recently traveled to Kenya for a journalism and AI conference. While I was there, I really wanted to meet with Michael Geoffrey Asia, the secretary general of the Data Labelers Association. Data Labeling is a huge job in Kenya. Data labelers are the…
Ring Is Back and Scarier Than Ever
Published: February 11, 2026 11:00
We start this week with exciting news: we bought a Super Bowl ad! For… $2,550. We explain how. After the break, Jason tells us about Ring’s recently launched Search Party feature, and gives us a very timely reminder of what Ring really is and how we got…
The Screen Time Panic Sets Parents Up to Fail
Published: February 9, 2026 11:00
Patrick Klepek on the reality of parenting in the age of Roblox and YouTube. I listened to hours of podcasts about how screen time affects kids of all ages and how parents should manage screen time but I still felt completely unprepared for this…
The Latest Epstein Dump is a Disaster
Published: February 4, 2026 11:00
We start this week with Sam and Emanuel’s article about the latest Epstein dump, and how it’s really a disaster in a lot of ways. After the break, Matthew runs us through Moltbot and its terrible security. After the break, Emanuel breaks down his two…
How Identity Literally Changes What You See (with Samuel Bagg)
Published: February 2, 2026 11:00
This week Joseph talks to Samuel Bagg, assistant professor of political science at the University of South Carolina. Bagg recently wrote a fascinating essay, linked below, about how the problem with lots of things might be knowledge-based (people believing…
Creators Worry Porn Platform Is Falling Into ‘AI Psychosis’
Published: January 28, 2026 11:00
We start this week with Sam’s piece about ManyVids, and how some creators believe its CEO, and the person who controls their livelihood, may be experiencing ‘AI psychosis’. After the break, Jason gives us an update on some mysterious disappearing ICE…
Exposing the People Behind Deepfake Porn Sites with Bellingcat Investigator Kolina Koltai
Published: January 26, 2026 11:00
This week, Sam is in conversation with Kolina Koltai. Kolina is an investigator, senior researcher and trainer at Bellingcat. Her investigations focus on the people and systems behind AI companies and platforms that peddle non-consensual deepfake explicit…
Here’s What Palantir Is Really Building
Published: January 21, 2026 11:00
We start this week with Joseph’s article about ELITE, a tool Palantir is working on for ICE. After the break, Emanuel tells us how AI influencers are making fake sex tape-style photos with celebrities, who can’t be best pleased about it. In the…
How Wikipedia Will Survive in the Age of AI (With Wikipedia’s CTO Selena Deckelmann)
Published: January 19, 2026 11:00
The Wikimedia Foundation’s chief technology and product officer explains how she helps manage one of the most visited sites in the world in the age of generative AI. Wikipedia is turning 25 this month, and it’s never been more important. The…
The ICE Tool That Tracks Entire Neighborhoods
Published: January 14, 2026 11:00
We start this week with Joseph’s article about Webloc, a tool ICE bought that can monitor phones in entire neighborhoods. After the break, Emanuel and Sam talk about their recent coverage of Grok. In the subscribers-only section, Jason explains how police…
How Benn Jordan Discovered Flock's Cameras Were Left Streaming to the Internet
Published: January 12, 2026 11:00
This week, Jason is talking to YouTuber Benn Jordan, who has done some of our favorite reporting on Flock, the automated license plate reader surveillance company. A couple months ago, he found vulnerabilities in some of Flock’s license plate reader…
The People Tracking America's AI Data Centers
Published: January 7, 2026 11:00
We start this week with Matthew’s story about an organization tracking the location of AI data centers around the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. After the break, Jason tells us all about what Grok got up to over the holiday break, and we ruminate on what…
REPLAY: Pornhub Exec Alexzandra Kekesi Discusses Pulling Out of the South, Trad Wives, and Feet Pics
Published: January 5, 2026 08:00
On this special guest episode of the 404 Media Podcast, Sam talks to Alexzandra Kekesi, VP of Brand and Community at Pornhub. Kekesi started in her current role in August 2023, after working for Pornhub and its parent company for more than a decade. She…
REPLAY: Signal's Meredith Whittaker on Backdoors and AI
Published: December 31, 2025 11:00
This is a special interview episode with Meredith Whittaker, the president of the Signal Foundation. I'm sure you all know, and maybe even use, the Signal messaging app. Here we sat down with Whittaker to talk all about the state of Signal today, the…
The Shifting World of OSINT (with Craig Silverman)
Published: December 29, 2025 11:00
Joseph speaks to Craig Silverman, one of the co-founders of Indicator. Indicator is a new, independent media company that Craig runs with Alexios Mantzarlis. For years Craig has covered the world of ad fraud and disinformation using all sorts of open…
We Tracked Ourselves with Exposed Flock Cameras
Published: December 24, 2025 11:00
We start this week with Jason’s story about Flock exposing a bunch of AI-powered cameras. These cameras zoom in on people as they walk by, sometimes so closely you can read what’s on their phone screen. After the break, we talk about some of our biggest…
Landing Big Scoops as an Indie Journalist (with Marisa Kabas)
Published: December 22, 2025 11:00
Marisa Kabas is the founder of The Handbasket, an independent newsletter and website that has been breaking stories left and right about government workers, the media business, and Trump’s mass deportation campaign. Jason and Marisa share notes Marisa…
Is Wiping a Phone a Crime?
Published: December 17, 2025 11:00
Joseph had to use a different mic this week, that will be fixed next time! We start this week talking about a very unusual case: someone is being charged for allegedly wiping a phone before CBP could search it. There are a lot of questions remaining, but a…
Why Are We Obsessed With Aliens? (With Becky Ferreira)
Published: December 15, 2025 11:00
Humanity has talked about aliens throughout recorded history, and obsession that has changed science, faith, and media. The past few years have been very exciting for those who want to believe. The U.S. government has released tantalizing videos and…
Zines Are Back
Published: December 10, 2025 11:00
We start this week with news of our zine! We’re printing it very soon, and walk you through the process. Independent media is turning back to physical zines as a way to subvert algorithms. After the break, Emanuel tells us about some very weird Instagram…
How AI Porn Isolates Us with Noelle Perdue
Published: December 8, 2025 11:00
This week Sam is in conversation with Noelle Perdue. Noelle is a writer, producer, and internet porn historian whose works has been published in Wired, the Washington Post, Slate, and more, and you’re probably familiar with her work if you’ve been paying…
This Podcast Will Hack You
Published: December 3, 2025 11:00
We start this week with Joseph’s very weird story about Apple Podcasts. The app is opening by itself, playing random spirituality podcasts, and in one case directing listeners to a potentially malicious website. After the break, Matthew tells us how it…
Inside the Biggest Sting Operation Ever (with Michael Bobbitt)
Published: December 1, 2025 11:00
Joseph speaks to Michael Bobbitt, a former FBI official who worked directly on Operation Trojan Shield. In this operation the FBI secretly ran its own encrypted phone company for organized crime, backdoored the phone, and collected tens of millions of…
A Massive Breach Reveals the Truth Behind 'Secret Desires AI'
Published: November 26, 2025 11:00
We start this week with Sam's piece about a massive leak of an AI chatbot, and how it showed that people were taking ordinary women’s yearbook photos and using them to make AI porn. After the break, Jason explains how a recent change on X exposed a bunch…
Luxury Surveillance (With Chris Gilliard)
Published: November 24, 2025 11:00
Jason talks to Chris Gilliard, the author of the upcoming book Luxury Surveillance. Gilliard has studied the rise of companies like Ring and Flock, as well as the dynamics that lead people to surveil themselves and each other. YouTube Version:…
The Epstein Email Dump Is a Mess
Published: November 19, 2025 11:00
We start this week with a rant from Jason about how the latest dump of Epstein emails were released. It would be a lot easier to cover them if they were published differently! After the break, we talk about Joseph’s piece about a contractor hiring…
The Video Game Industry’s Existential Crisis (with Jason Schreier)
Published: November 17, 2025 11:00
The video game industry has had a turbulent few years. The pandemic made people play more and caused a small boom, which then subsided, resulting in wave after wave of massive layoffs. Microsoft, one of the major console manufacturers, is shifting its…
Inside a Small Town's Fight Against a $1.2 Billion AI Datacenter
Published: November 12, 2025 11:00
We start with Matthew Gault’s dive into a battle between a small town and the construction of a massive datacenter for America’s nuclear weapon scientists. After the break, Joseph explains why people are 3D-printing whistles in Chicago. In the…
A Massive Archiving Effort at National Parks (with Jenny McBurney and Lynda Kellam)
Published: November 10, 2025 11:00
If you’ve been to a national park in the U.S. recently, you might have noticed some odd new signs about “beauty” and “grandeur.” Or, some signs you were used to seeing might now be missing completely. An executive order issued earlier this year put the…
People Are Modding Meta Ray-Bans to Spy On You
Published: November 5, 2025 11:00
We have something of a Meta Ray-Bans smart glasses bumper episode this week. We start with Joseph and Jason’s piece on a $60 mod that disables the privacy-protecting recording light in the smart glasses. After the break, Emanuel tells us how some people…
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