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PODCAST

The 404 Media Podcast

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

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All Episodes

47:30

The Inside Story of Tea

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/08/20

We start this week with Emanuel’s big investigation into the Tea app, and especially how it aggressively grew by raiding women safety groups. After the break, we talk about TikTok Shop selling GPS trackers. In the subscribers-only section, Joseph explains how Grok was exposing some of its AI persona prompts, and the sometimes NSFW nature of them.YouTube version: https://youtu.be/vRFaNoU-cGI You're Invited: 404 Media's Second Anniversary Party and LIVE PODCAST! How Tea’s Founder Convinced

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55:38

Why Are DHS Agents Wearing Meta Ray-Bans?

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/08/13

We start this week with Jason’s article about a CBP official wearing Meta Ray-Bans smart glasses to an immigration raid. A lot of stuff happened after we published that article too. After the break, Sam tells us about the bargain that voice actors are making with AI. In the subscribers-only section, Jason tells us how a DEA official used a cop’s password to AI cameras to then do immigration surveillance.YouTube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxHFsQSVRkE Get your subscriber code and

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46:21

Google Is Exposing Peoples’ ChatGPT Secrets

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/08/06

We start this week with Joseph’s story about nearly 100,000 ChatGPT conversations being indexed by Google. There’s some sensitive stuff in there. After the break, Emanuel tells us about Wikipedia’s new way of dealing with AI slop. In the subscribers-only section, Sam explains how we got to where we are with Steam and Itch.io; that history goes way back. YouTube version: https://youtu.be/mQJvOTHu61I Nearly 100,000 ChatGPT Conversations Were Searchable on Google Wikipedia Editors Adopt

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55:47

The Tea Breach Just Keeps Getting Worse

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/07/30

We start this week with Emanuel’s and Joseph’s coverage of Tea, a women’s dating safety app that was breached multiple times. After the break, Sam and Emanuel talk about how a new UK law about age verification is impacting peoples’ ability to see footage about current events. In the subscribers-only section, Jason explains that LeBron James is not in fact pregnant.YouTube version: https://youtu.be/q17GRPq7K3o Women Dating Safety App 'Tea' Breached, Users' IDs Posted to 4chan A Second Tea

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44:43

Spotify Is Publishing AI Tracks of Dead Artists

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/07/23

We start this week with Emanuel's wild story about Spotify publishing AI generated tracks that look like they come from artists' official accounts. One problem: those artists died a long time ago. After the break, Joseph tells us about a company that is selling data hacked from computers to debt collectors. In the subscribers-only section, we talk all about the Astronomer CEO and its privacy implications.YouTube version: https://youtu.be/lFYyNOWVJV0 404 Media Live in Los Angeles Spotify

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46:47

The AI Exodus Begins

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/07/16

We start this week with a series of articles from Emanuel about a crackdown in the AI industry. After the break, Sam tells us about the ‘Save Our Signs’ campaign which hopes to preserve the history of national parks. In the subscribers-only section, Jason rants about how AI will not save the media industry. YouTube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-fo7O8B_mk 404 Media Los Angeles event details (free for subscribers; $10 otherwise) a16z-Backed AI Site Civitai Is Mostly Porn, Despite

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39:45

How to Fight Back Against AI Bot Scrapers

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/07/09

We’re back! We start this week with Emanuel’s article about Anubis, an open source piece of software that is saving the internet from AI bot scrapers. After the break, Joseph tells us about the new facial recognition app ICE is using and which he revealed. In the subscribers-only section, we do a lightning round runthrough of a bunch of our recent stories about LLMs and how to trick them, or what they don’t understand.YouTube version: https://youtu.be/lqJL1u8UhmE The Open-Source Software

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64:20

The Life Changing Power of Lifting (feat. Casey...

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/07/02

For this week’s podcast, I’m talking to our friend Casey Johnston, a tech journalist turned fitness journalist turned independent journalist. Casey studied physics, which led her to tech journalism; she did some of my favorite coverage of Internet culture as well as Apple’s horrendous butterfly laptop keyboards. We worked together at VICE, where Casey was an editor and where she wrote Ask a Swole Woman, an advice column about weightlifting. After she left VICE, Casey founded She’s a Beast, an

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51:27

This Site Unmasks Cops With Facial Recognition

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/06/25

We start this week with Emanuel and Joseph’s coverage of ‘FuckLAPD.com’, a website that uses facial recognition to instantly reveal a LAPD officer’s name and salary. The creator has relaunched their similar tool for identifying ICE employees too. After the break, Jason tells us about a massive AI ruling that opens the way for AI companies to scrape everyone’s art. In the subscribers-only section, our regular contributor Matthew describes all the AI slop in the Iran and Israel conflict, and why it

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46:59

Airlines Sold Your Flight Data to DHS—And Covered It Up

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/06/18

This week we start with Joseph’s article about the U.S’s major airlines selling customers’ flight information to Customs and Border Protection and then telling the agency to not reveal where the data came from. After the break, Emanuel tells us how AI scraping bots are breaking open libraries, archives, and museums. In the subscribers-only section, Jason explains the casual surveillance relationship between ICE and local cops, according to emails he got.YouTube version:

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51:40

Feds Flew Predator Drones Over The LA Protests

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/06/11

Much of this episode is about the ongoing anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles. We start with Joseph explaining how he monitored surveillance aircraft flying over the protests, including what turned out to be a Predator drone. After the break, Jason tells us about the burning Waymos. In the subscribers-only section, we talk about the owner of Girls Do Porn, a sex trafficking ring on Pornhub, pleading guilty (a content warning for that one).YouTube version: https://youtu.be/o8Pb9l9FPaA DHS Black

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45:14

Anti-Porn Laws' Real Target Is Free Speech

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/06/04

We start this week with Sam's dive into a looming piece of anti-porn legislation, prudish algorithms, and eggs. After the break, Matthew tells us about the open source software that powered Ukraine's drone attack against Russia. In the subscribers-only section, Emanuel explains how even pro-AI subreddits are dealing with people having AI delusions.YouTube version: https://youtu.be/daEt3CptlRU The Egg Yolk Principle: Human Sexuality Will Always Outsmart Prudish Algorithms and Hateful

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47:12

ICE's Backdoor Into a Nationwide AI Surveillance Network

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/05/28

This week is a bumper episode all about Flock, the automatic license plate reading (ALPR) cameras across the U.S. First, Jason explains how we found that ICE essentially has backdoor access to the network through local cops. After the break, Joseph tells us all about Nova, the planned product that Flock is making which will make the technology even more invasive by using hacked data. In the subscribers-only section, Emanuel details the massive changes AI platform Civitai has made, and why it's

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46:07

AI Slop Summer

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/05/21

We start this week with Jason's couple of stories about how the Chicago Sun-Times printed a summer guide that was basically all AI-generated. Jason spoke to the person behind it. After the break, a bunch of documents show that schools were simply not ready for AI. In the subscribers-only section, we chat all about Star Wars and those funny little guys.YouTube version: https://youtu.be/P2GzbKKeAFc Chicago Sun-Times Prints AI-Generated Summer Reading List With Books That Don't Exist Viral

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51:59

AI Avatar of Killed Man Testifies in Court

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/05/14

We start this week with Jason and Matthew's story about an AI avatar that testified in court. It might be a sign of things to come. After the break, well, well, well, Meta is developing facial recognition for its smart glasses. In the subscribers-only section, Jason tells us all about AI in baseball.YouTube version: https://youtu.be/Mq4gqNS0vRw 'I Loved That AI:' Judge Moved by AI-Generated Avatar of Man Killed in Road Rage Incident Well, Well, Well: Meta to Add Facial Recognition To

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47:02

The Trump Admin's Signal Clone Was Hacked

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/05/07

We start this week's episode with our massive story on TeleMessage, the Signal clone the Trump administration uses to archive messages which was hacked. We have more detail than anyone else on that story. After the break, Jason tells us about another hack, this time GlobalX Air, one of the airlines used by ICE for deportation flights. In the subscribers-only section, Sam and Emanuel tell us about the shut down of Mr. Deepfakes, and what the lasting legacy of the site will be.YouTube version:

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54:56

Meta's AI Chatbots Are a Disaster

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/04/30

This week we start with Sam's very in-depth story on Meta's AI chatbots, and how they're essentially posing as licensed therapists. After the break, Jason breaks down the wildly unethical AI-powered research that took place on Reddit. In the subscribers-only section, Joseph explains how the age of realtime deepfake fraud is here after he got a bunch of videos showing scammers do their thing.YouTube version: https://youtu.be/H5380M-hnJ4 Instagram's AI Chatbots Lie About Being Licensed

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54:19

Cops Are Using AI Bots to Surveil People

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/04/23

We start this week with Emanuel and Jason's big story on Massive Blue, a company that is selling AI-powered undercover bots posing as protesters and children to the cops. After the break, Sam tells us about visiting the millennial saint. In the subscribers-only section, we talk business and the state of 404 Media.YouTube version: https://youtu.be/E98i9OFJbW4 Leaked: Palantir’s Plan to Help ICE Deport People ICE Plans Central Database of Health, Labor, Housing Agency Data to Find Targets This

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59:54

AI Slop Is Breaking the Internet as We Know It (Live...

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/04/18

Jason, Sam, and Blood in the Machine's Brian Merchant discuss how AI slop has taken over the internet, how it is a brute-force attack against the algorithms that control what we see on social media, and what we can do to fight back against it. This panel was held at Speakeasy in Austin, Texas at SXSW on March 10, 2025. Thanks to our friends at Flipboard for giving us the space and to DeleteMe for sponsoring the event.Use code "404Media" for 20% off an annual plan of DeleteMe:

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43:55

Inside the ICE Deportation Tool

The 404 Media Podcast ·

2025/04/16

This week we start with a couple of Jason and Joseph's stories about the tool ICE uses to lookup an incredible amount of information about people. After the break, Joseph explains how he tested an AI service that calls your parents in case you can't be bothered. In the subscribers-only section, our new regular contributor Matthew Gault tells us all about the hack of 4chan and how we got here.YouTube version: https://youtu.be/gFmvCvvaB4k Inside a Powerful Database ICE Uses to Identify and Deport

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