The 404 Media Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Landlords Demand Your Workplace Logins to Scrape Paystubs Oct 01, 2025

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We start this week with Joseph’s article about landlords and income verification companies demanding login details from potential renters so the companies can log in and scrape their paystubs. That has some potential legal issues for everyone involved! After the break, 18 lawyers tell us why they used AI. In the subscribers-only section, Emanuel breaks down the massive drama around Ruby.

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/KtvSBb6rtHE

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We're Suing ICE. Here's Why Sep 24, 2025

Show notes

We start this week with some news: we are suing ICE for access to its $2 million contract with a company that sells powerful spyware. Paragon sells tech for remotely breaking into phones and reading messages from encrypted chat apps without a target even clicking a link. After the break, we talk about a couple of stories about AI ‘workslop’ and the engineers who fix peoples’ vibe coding. In the subscribers-only section, we start with a malicious game on Steam stealing cryptocurrency from a cancer patient, then we talk about Silk Song.

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/NWuDzmKE8kg

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The (Hacked) Spy In Your Car Sep 17, 2025

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We start this week with Joseph’s investigation into Nexar, a popular dashcam company that was catastrophically hacked. Nexar is also uploading user footage to a publicly available map without some drivers’ knowledge. After the break, Sam tells us about her trip to San Diego to cover the sentencing of someone she has covered for years. In the subscribers-only section, we talk about the Charlie Kirk assassination and our reporting around that.

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/-51f4patIkw

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AI Slop Is Drowning Out Human YouTubers Sep 10, 2025

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This week, we talk about how 'Boring History' AI slop is taking over YouTube and making it harder to discover content that humans spend months researching, filming, and editing. Then we talk about how Meta has totally given up on content moderation. In the bonus segment, we discuss the 'AI Darwin Awards,' which is, uhh, celebrating the dumbest uses of AI.
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404 Media Live: LA! [TEASER] Sep 04, 2025

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This is a recording of our live show in Los Angeles in July! In this show we spoke all about ICE's technology and our reporting on it. Facial recognition, Palantir, Flock, and more. And we take questions from the audience. Thank you to everyone who came and we hope you enjoy the discussion!

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Trump Take LEGO Sep 03, 2025

Show notes

We start this week with our articles about Trump’s tariffs, and how they’re impacting everything from LEGO to cameras to sex toys. After the break, Emanuel explains how misfired DMCA complaints designed to help adult creators are targeting other sites, including ours. In the subscribers-only section, we do a wrap-up of a bunch of recent ChatGPT stories about suicide and murder. A content warning for suicide and self-harm for that section.

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/srdUOWq_hfg

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404 Media Live: NYC! Aug 28, 2025

Show notes

Here's the podcast recorded at our recent second anniversary party in New York! We answered a bunch of reader and listener questions. Thank you to everyone that came and thank you for listening to this podcast too!

Thanks again to DeleteMe, use code 404media for 20% off

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The Underground Trade of Car Hacking Tech Aug 27, 2025

Show notes

We start this week with Joseph’s investigation into people selling custom patches for the Flipper Zero, a piece of hacking tech that car thieves can now use to break into a wide range of vehicles. After the break, Jason tells us about the new meta in AI slop: making 80s nostalgia videos. In the subscribers-only section, we all talk about Citizen, and how the app is pushing AI-written crime alerts without human intervention.

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/nV3qShvuoKw

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The Inside Story of Tea Aug 20, 2025

Show notes

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

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Why Are DHS Agents Wearing Meta Ray-Bans? Aug 13, 2025

Show notes

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

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