I knew Alysa Liu and her father was surveilled by the Chinese government, but the whole story behind it was so much wilder than I could imagine

And somehow Eric Adams got involved too lol

the perfect gift for the most infuriatingly boring person in your life

This case - of a former US military guy turned prison guard turned hired brawn for Chinese spies - is fascinatingly bizarre. Also among his targets was a sculpture of Xi Jinping as a coronavirus particle in the middle of the California desert, as I chronicle in my book Let Only Red Flowers Bloom.

The Weird, Twisting Tale of How China Spied on Alysa Liu and Her Dad Years before the figure skater became an Olympic superstar, a Chinese operative tried to stalk her father and monitored other US residents deemed dissidents against China. And that’s just the beginnin...

NEW: Absolutely bonkers tale for @wired.com by @timmclaughlin3.bsky.social about Beijing spying on Chinese dissidents in the US, including Alysa Liu's father (and Alysa as a result): www.wired.com/story/the-we...

Truck carrying 1 million bees crashes in Knoxville, closing I-40 ramp: TDOT The ramp from I-40 East to Henley Street has been closed, thanks to a collection of swarming bees, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

hey y’all free bees www.wvlt.tv/2026/04/17/t...

Republican Mutiny Sinks Trump's Push to Extend Warrantless Surveillance A post-midnight revolt in the House sank the White House's efforts to extend Section 702—a spy program the FBI has used to look into members of Congress, protesters, and political donors.

NEW: 20 Republican lawmakers revolted last night over the White House's push to extend Section 702 surveillance powers without meaningful reforms to the warrant requirements for querying Americans' communications. @dell.bsky.social reports: www.wired.com/story/republ...

The Shocking Secrets of Madison Square Garden's Surveillance Machine Famously vengeful Knicks owner Jim Dolan has long spied on people at his iconic arenas. WIRED goes deep inside the operation that allegedly tracked a trans woman, lawyers, protesters, and more.

NEW: @noahshachtman.bsky.social and @robertsilverman.bsky.social take a deep dive for @wired.com into Knicks owner Jim Dolan's invasive surveillance machine that has allegedly tracked a trans woman, lawyers, protesters, and more at Madison Square Garden: www.wired.com/story/madiso...

Where the DOGE Operatives Are Now WIRED tracked down some of the most prominent figures of last year’s DOGE invasion. Here's where they are now—in government and beyond.

NEW: 14 months after @wired.com's @telliotter.bsky.social first revealed the young technologists of DOGE, the impacts of this "chaotic" Musk-inspired effort continue to reverberate across the US government. Tori reports: www.wired.com/story/where-...

Good on @techcrunch.com and @rebeccabellan.bsky.social for publishing the full transcript of her interview with Aron D'Souza about his new "journalism integrity" startup: techcrunch.com/2026/04/15/f...

Allbirds Is Pivoting to AI Compute. Sure, Why Not Once a $4 billion apparel juggernaut, Allbirds will rebrand as NewBird AI, a “GPU-as-a-Service" company. Hey, if you can't beat ‘em, join ’em.

NEW: i'm going back to sleep. @brbarrett.bsky.social reports: www.wired.com/story/allbir...

Also check out @mantzarlis.com's piece here! indicator.media/p/more-than-...

The Deepfake Nudes Crisis in Schools Is Much Worse Than You Thought An analysis by WIRED and Indicator found nearly 90 schools and 600 students around the world impacted by AI-generated deepfake nude images—and the problem shows no signs of going away.

NEW: Analysis by @wired.com and @indicator.media reveals the first global look at the plague of AI-generated sexual abuse material impacting girls in countries around the world. @mattburgess1.bsky.social reports: www.wired.com/story/deepfa...

First Amendment challenges in 3… 2…

Telegram Is Still Hosting a Sanctioned $21 Billion Crypto Scammer Black Market The UK designated Xinbi Guarantee as an enabler of crypto scammers and human trafficking weeks ago. Telegram is still hosting it in plain sight.

NEW: Telegram has failed to boot the black market Xinbi Guarantee despite the UK sanctioning it and designating it an enabler of crypto scammers and human trafficking 2 weeks ago. It's racked up $500M more in sales during that time. @agreenberg.bsky.social w/ the scoop: www.wired.com/story/telegr...

When Satellite Imagery Goes Dark: New Tool Shows Damage in Iran and the Gulf - bellingcat Bellingcat is introducing an updated damage assessment tool — called the Iran Conflict Damage Proxy Map — focused on destruction in Iran and the Gulf .

We recently released a new online tool at Bellingcat that helps measure probable destruction in Iran and the surrounding gulf states. It is free to access here: www.bellingcat.com/resources/20...

The FCC Has a Fast Lane for Complaints About Trump’s Media Critics Internal emails obtained by WIRED reveal how a conservative legal group with a direct line into FCC chairman Brendan Carr’s office built the case against Jimmy Kimmel and his employees.

NEW: Emails obtained by @wired.com show how a small conservative group was instrumental in FCC chair Brendan Carr's actions against Jimmy Kimmel. @dell.bsky.social has the scoop. No paywall bc FOIA: www.wired.com/story/the-fc...

Staunch Trump Supporters Are Now Asking If He's the Antichrist The Iran war and a series of social media posts, including one depicting Trump as Jesus Christ, have some conservative commentators and fans suspecting the president may be the antichrist.

NEW: Just Asking Questions. @makenakelly.bsky.social and @davidgilbert.bsky.social report: www.wired.com/story/staunc...

Gahhh this is so bad for accessibility

The Dumbest Hack of the Year Exposed a Very Real Problem Last April, a hacker hijacked crosswalk announcements to mimic Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. Records obtained by WIRED reveal how unprepared local authorities were.

NEW: Someone hacked the crosswalk announcements in cities in 5 states to make it say messages about politics and tech in the voices of Musk, Zuckerberg, and Trump. @peard33.bsky.social took a deep dive into the vulnerabilities local authorities never imagined: www.wired.com/story/crossw...

Meta Is Warned That Facial Recognition Glasses Will Arm Sexual Predators More than 70 organizations, including the ACLU, EPIC, and Fight for the Future, say the AI smart glasses feature would endanger abuse victims, immigrants, and LGBTQ+ people.

NEW: No Face Recognition on Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, Demands Basically Every US Privacy Watchdog. @dell.bsky.social w/ the exclusive: www.wired.com/story/meta-r...

amen

pretty convinced right now that adults don’t exist

Anthropic’s Mythos Will Force a Cybersecurity Reckoning—Just Not the One You Think The new AI model is being heralded—and feared—as a hacker’s superweapon. Experts say its arrival is a wake-up call for developers who have long made security an afterthought.

NEW: Everyone, chill. @lhn.bsky.social reports: www.wired.com/story/anthro...

NEW: Someone allegedly threw a molotov cocktail at Sam Altman's house then went to OpenAI headquarters to make threats at workers. @lmatsakis.bsky.social and Maxwell Zeff with the scoop: www.wired.com/story/sam-al...

Join me + actor/author/crypto skeptic Ben McKenzie (@benmckenzie.bsky.social) next week for WIRED's first WIRED@NIGHT live event. We'll talk about his doc "Everyone is Lying to You for Money," crypto, scams...and whether crypto is a scam?

4/16, 6pm, Brooklyn, tickets:
events.wired.com/at-night/home

OpenAI Backs Bill That Would Limit Liability for AI-Enabled Mass Deaths or Financial Disasters The ChatGPT-maker testified in favor of an Illinois bill that would limit when AI labs can be held liable—even in cases where their products cause “critical harm.”

always a good sign www.wired.com/story/openai...

WIRED@Night WIRED@Night is a new live event series that brings WIRED off the page (or your screen) and into the room this April 16 in Brooklyn.

if you’re in nyc on wednesday, you should come hang with me and watch @agreenberg.bsky.social do some journalism events.wired.com/at-night/

Good reminder to change your notification settings to not show the content of communications!

FOIA scoop (no paywall): The day Renee Good was killed, a Minnesota state police official repeatedly texted a FBI agent. He wanted to co-manage the crime scene & ensure his agents were included in interviews. For at least 2 days, maybe longer, the FBI didn't respond:
www.wired.com/story/the-fb...

TIL: recent iOS updates are locking cops out of seized iPhones. For months now, forensic tools like Cellebrite haven’t been able to extract data from some of these devices

One workaround I’ve heard: police will subpoena jail phone systems to get defendants PINs…then try those codes on the phones