The 404 Media Podcast

Latest Episodes:

ICE's Backdoor Into a Nationwide AI Surveillance Network May 28, 2025

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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 partly in response to our reporting.

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/-PTrY9x8K9c

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AI Slop Summer May 21, 2025

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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

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AI Avatar of Killed Man Testifies in Court May 14, 2025

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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

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The Trump Admin's Signal Clone Was Hacked May 07, 2025

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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: https://youtu.be/J__qWnFJZgA

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Meta's AI Chatbots Are a Disaster Apr 30, 2025

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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

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Cops Are Using AI Bots to Surveil People Apr 23, 2025

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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

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AI Slop Is Breaking the Internet as We Know It (Live at SXSW) Apr 18, 2025

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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: https://www.404media.co/r/5d94373c?m=e247fe06-53d6-4c05-9484-be3684d4f655

Find Brian's work at Blood in the Machine: https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/

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Inside the ICE Deportation Tool Apr 16, 2025

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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

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How a $2,000 'Made in the USA' Phone Is Manufactured Apr 10, 2025

Show notes

Earlier this week we wrote an article called “A US-Made iPhone Is Pure Fantasy." The long and short of it is that Trump’s dream of moving all high tech manufacturing to the US is extremely difficult because global supply chains are so intricate, manufacturing expertise exists primarily in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and other countries, and the components that go into a phone are often made in other countries as well.

But there is currently one smartphone that qualifies for a “Made in the USA” title from the FTC. It’s the Liberty Phone, which is made by a company called Purism. The phone is a version of Purism’s Librem 5. The Made-in-China Librem 5 costs $800, and the Liberty phone costs $2,000. It has 4 GB of memory, and reviewers say that its specs are pretty outdated. Not every single component in the Liberty Phone is made in the USA, but the company has been trying very hard to make it as American-made as possible. The fact that it exists at all is kind of a miracle, and the way that Purism is approaching manufacturing is really interesting, so I called Purism’s founder, Todd Weaver, to talk about smartphone supply chains, making tech products in the United States, and tariffs. Here’s our discussion

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The FBI Secretly Ran a Massive Money Laundering Ring Apr 09, 2025

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We start this week with Joseph's story revealing how the FBI secretly ran a massive money laundering ring to catch drug traffickers and hackers. After the break, we run through a bunch of tariff stories and how it's going to impact everything from the Nintendo Switch to the iPhone. In the subscribers-only section, Jason explains why he found the new book on Facebook particularly illuminating.

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/XUAuEtirP8E

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