I Almost Lost My Mind in the Bridal Algorithm As a #2026Bride, the constant, aggressive content started to make me feel like I was losing sight of what mattered. And I'm far from alone.

allow me to take you on a journey into the yawning maw of Weddingtok: www.404media.co/wedding-plan...

App Stores Push Users Toward Nudify Apps, New Research Shows Findings from the Tech Transparency Project claim that Google and Apple’s app stores not only host harmful apps that can undress images of women, but encourage users to find them.

Apple's and Google's app stores are pushing people towards downloading AI nudify apps

www.404media.co/app-stores-a...

I Almost Lost My Mind in the Bridal Algorithm As a #2026Bride, the constant, aggressive content started to make me feel like I was losing sight of what mattered. And I'm far from alone.

This is a great (and horrifying?) piece about how Sam, in preparation for her marriage, was pulled into the bridal algorithm. Her experience of social media changed completely overnight www.404media.co/wedding-plan...

Thomson Reuters Shareholders Demand Investigation into ICE Contracts The shareholders explicitly cited multiple 404 Media investigations, including one that showed Thomson Reuters' CLEAR is integrated with a tool ICE uses to find neighborhoods to target.

New from 404 Media: Thomson Reuters shareholders demand investigation into the company's ICE contracts. The shareholders demand explicitly cites multiple 404 Media investigations, including one that shows Thomson Reuters' CLEAR is integrated with a Palantir ICE tool www.404media.co/thomson-reut...

What exactly is going on with the FBI being able to extract Signal message content from Apple's iPhone notification database? @josephcox.bsky.social gets into it.

For more on this story and what you can do to protect yourself, our latest podcast here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNUO...

Ukraine Says Russians are Surrendering to Robots Volodymyr Zelenskyy is pitching his country as a global leader in robots for war and defense. Will the world listen?

Ukraine is telling the world that Russians are surrendering to ground robots

Ukraine Says Russians are Surrendering to Robots Volodymyr Zelenskyy is pitching his country as a global leader in robots for war and defense. Will the world listen?

Ukraine says Russians are surrendering to robots now

www.404media.co/ukraine-says...

here's how the FBI extracted deleted Signal messages from an iPhone:

Watch more about this, and subscribe, here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNUO...

Emails Reveal Space Force’s Hardest Mission Is Writing a Song Internal Space Force emails obtained by 404 Media show the work it takes to have a government agency make a new theme song. A general even wanted to start the whole thing over again.

What does it take for the Space Force to write a song? Meetings. Lawyers. More meetings. A general suggesting they scrap the whole thing and start over. Emails show the painful bureaucracy behind Space Force's official song: www.404media.co/emails-revea...

Thomson Reuters Fired Worker For Speaking Out About ICE, Former Employee Says “When I saw evidence that our products were being used to harm people and undermine the law, I did what anyone should do—I raised the alarm. Thomson Reuters’ response was to fire me.”

New: Thomson Reuters, which runs the CLEAR database ICE uses, fired a longstanding employee for speaking out against ICE, a new lawsuit says. Billie Little led an internal effort raising concerns; was fired. We've shown CLEAR is linked to ICE's Palantir tool

www.404media.co/thomson-reut...

Airbnb Hosts Don't Want to Talk to Guests Anymore, Are Outsourcing Messages to AI An entire industry of companies offers Airbnb hosts AI to speak to guests on their behalf. 404 Media poked around the industry after one AI tool offered a guest a recipe for French toast.

New: an entire industry now exists for Airbnb hosts to use AI to speak to their guests. I looked into it when one guest tricked the AI into providing a French toast recipe. I found companies that analyze guest message sentiment. Guests not pleased, obviously
www.404media.co/airbnb-hosts...

Google, Microsoft, Meta All Tracking You Even When You Opt Out, According to an Independent Audit “This is the Strait of Hormuz in the data economy. If you want to make a change, this is where you cut it off. Anything short of that is theatrical political posture.”

“In my view this stuff isn’t complicated. You say, ‘don’t set the cookie.’ They set the cookie. The regulators see a fox going into the henhouse and the fox says, ‘I’m just here to count the eggs, not to eat any chickens.’ And they take them at their word."

Google, Microsoft, Meta All Tracking You Even When You Opt Out, According to an Independent Audit “This is the Strait of Hormuz in the data economy. If you want to make a change, this is where you cut it off. Anything short of that is theatrical political posture.”

A new independent audit says that Google, Meta, Microsoft are all still tracking users even after they opt out. 55 percent of the sites it checked set ad cookies in a user’s browser even if they opted out of tracking.

The companies all disputed it

www.404media.co/google-micro...

Hacker Compromises a16z-Backed Phone Farm, Tries to Post Memes Calling a16z the ‘Antichrist’ Doublespeed uses a phone farm to flood social media with AI-generated influencers. A hacker managed to get into a backend system of the company.

New from 404 Media: a hacker has compromised Doublespeed, an a16z-backed startup that uses a phone farm to flood social media with AI-generated influencers. Hacker tried to use the account to post a meme calling a16z the antichrist

www.404media.co/hacker-compr...

How the Internet Became Hell (with Whitney Phillips) ‘The Ambivalent Internet’ and ‘The Shadow Gospel’ author Whitney Phillips on how online got so bad.

Such a joy to talk to Whitney Phillips. We always talk about the worst things in the world but somehow it makes me feel better www.404media.co/how-the-inte...

This is a great interview about how we ended up with the internet being hell, and how that results in today's politics, including the role journalists have played.

Watch, subscribe here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp_n...

WebinarTV Secretly Scraped Zoom Meetings of Anonymous Recovery Programs WebinarTV scraped and shared 12 steps-based anonymous meetings for people recovering from addiction and other private support groups.

New from 404 Media: WebinarTV is a company secretly scraping peoples' Zoom meetings and posting them online for others to watch. We've now found those include anonymous recovery programs, substance abuse meetings, etc. Supposed to be anonymous but show names and faces www.404media.co/webinartv-se...

WebinarTV Secretly Scraped Zoom Meetings of Anonymous Recovery Programs WebinarTV scraped and shared 12 steps-based anonymous meetings for people recovering from addiction and other private support groups.

NEW: WebinarTV, a site that scrapes Zoom webinars without permission, has downloaded and posted Zoom Webinars for anonymous addiction recovery meetings, support groups for caregivers and people who suffer from chronic illness, and a meeting of nudists. They then get turned into AI podcasts.

Hi Joseph, I wanted to let you know that I have regained access to Microsoft Partner Center portal following the intervention of Microsoft VP Scott Hanselman who connected me with relevant Microsoft people. Media coverage like yours was very helpful to get my case heard. I really appreciate that. Regards, Mounir IDRASSI

The VeraCrypt dev got back in www.404media.co/microsoft-ab...

Here's how Wikipedia made something like a task force to deal with AI generated articles, which are a big risk to the platform's integrity.

Watch, subscribe here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrHY...

More here: bsky.app/profile/jose...

Phone notifications that captured incoming Signal messaging from LUBIT to HAMAD,* including the following communications beginning on July 27, 2024, demonstrating LUBIT's planning for the July 29 vandalism incidents:

It appears authorities extracting deleted Signal messages through stored notifications has been done at least a few times. I was sent this other example. "Phone notifications that captured incoming Signal messaging"

More details here: www.404media.co/behind-the-b...

“Darren Blanchard was called to speak and did. Blanchard continued speaking past the predetermined limit established at the start of the meeting. City Manager John Feary addressed Blanchard, informing him to stop, and he continued. Feary then notified police to have Blanchard removed. I informed Blanchard that he was asked to leave and needed to do so. Blanchard then continued to the front of the room where counselors sat behind a table and insisted on giving them paperwork. Sergeant Singer then directed me to place Blanchard under arrest for trespassing. Blanchard was placed in handcuffs, escorted from the property, and transported to Rogers County Jail.”

here's the police accounting of what happened, which confirms the arrest was made after city officials told Blanchard to stop. He attempted to show them some of his research and a Police sergeant ordered him arrested. Again, he went over his time by just a few seconds

Farmer Arrested for Speaking Too Long at Datacenter Town Hall Vows to Fight Darren Blanchard went a few seconds over his three minute time limit and found himself in handcuffs.

In February, a farmer went a few seconds over his time at a city council meeting when speaking out against a datacenter.

It's a $200 fine for trespassing, but he's vowed to fight it. We've also got the police report from the incident.

FBI Extracts Suspect’s Deleted Signal Messages Saved in iPhone Notification Database The case was the first time authorities charged people for alleged “Antifa” activities after President Trump designated the umbrella term a terrorist organization.

Signal has a setting to stop this (Settings > Notifications > Notification Content). It's likely not an issue limited to just Signal, but more fundamental friction between secure chat apps and phones. Very interesting data point when talking about forensics www.404media.co/fbi-extracts...

FBI Extracts Suspect’s Deleted Signal Messages Saved in iPhone Notification Database The case was the first time authorities charged people for alleged “Antifa” activities after President Trump designated the umbrella term a terrorist organization.

New from 404 Media: the FBI was able to extract incoming Signal messages from a phone even though the app was deleted. Why? Because parts of messages were stored in the iPhone's internal notification database. Shows how secure chat data can come from unexpected places www.404media.co/fbi-extracts...

I Wish I Didn’t Care About 'Marathon' Player Numbers, But I Do Marathon is a great game for uncs. As signs of a crash change the video game industry, there might not be a lot of those left.

we love unc games

www.404media.co/i-wish-i-did...

A 'Self-Doxing' Rave Helps Trans People Stay Safe Online At a New York party, attendees spent Trans Day of Visibility dancing, DJing, and learning how to become less visible online.

“In this world of hyper-surveillance, I want to make sure all my stuff is safe and that no one is trying to harvest my data for anything.” www.404media.co/trans-rights...

Wildlife conservation police are tapping into AI-enabled cameras for ICE

Watch/subscribe here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrHY...

Microsoft Abruptly Terminates VeraCrypt Account, Halting Windows Updates Updates to VeraCrypt, a popular and long-running piece of encryption, are now thrown into doubt because of a seemingly unexplained Microsoft decision.

New from 404 Media: Microsoft has terminated an account associated with VeraCrypt, the popular and long-running piece of encryption software. This means can no longer receive updates on Windows, the developer told me. Little explanation given by Microsoft www.404media.co/microsoft-ab...