The 404 Media Podcast

May 08 2024 1.2k
The 404 Media Podcast artwork

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 experts on their beats. Subscribe to 404 Media at 404media.co to gain access to an ad-free version of this podcast, as well as a bonus podcast episodes. Subscribers are the bedrock of building a sustainable business for our journalism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Facebook is the 'Zombie Internet'

May 08 2024 43 mins  
Apologies for some audio issues this week, they'll be fixed next time, but for now we have a super packed episode! We start with Jason's months-long deep dive into what Facebook has become with all of that AI-generated garbage on the site. It's not the dead internet, it's something much worse. After the break, Emanuel explains how Pokemon Go players are manipulating mapping technol

A Lost Media Mystery

May 01 2024 43 mins  
We start this week's episode with a mystery: where did a 17-second music snippet that has puzzled online sleuths for years really come from? Sam breaks it down. After the break, Joseph explains how an online service was scraping and selling Discord server messages for as little as $5. Then in the subscribers-only section, Jason takes us into the world of influencers who are using A

The Humane Ai Pin Is a Disaster

Apr 24 2024 45 mins  
This is a long one! First Joseph previews his upcoming book, DARK WIRE. Go to the link below and enter "DW20" for 20% off! Also make sure to redeem your preorder behind-the-scenes bonus content. As for this week's stories, we start off with Jason explaining why we can, we must, dunk on the Humane Ai Pin, a piece of hardware that is AI's Juicero moment. After the break, Emanuel show

The 'Com World War'

Apr 17 2024 36 mins  
We start this episode with Joseph's latest fly-on-the-wall investigation into the Com, the nebulous online entity and culture that is linked to some of the most high profile and brazen data breaches in recent history. Joseph sat in their chatrooms while rival hackers and criminals doxed and physically robbed one another. A true melding of digital and physical crime. After the break

The Wild World of Fake AI Influencers

Apr 10 2024 41 mins  
We start the episode with an announcement: we've brought on our first 404 Media fellow Jules Roscoe! They did amazing work at Motherboard, and we're stoked to have them on board to cover labor for us and getting our work to audiences wherever they are. As for this week's stories, we start with Jason's wild one about grifters who are taking influencer's videos, deepfaking an AI face

The Xz Backdoor and the AI Peer-Review Crisis

Apr 03 2024 38 mins  
This is a super fun episode with a lot of labor themes throughout. Jason starts off by describing the totally wild Xz backdoor which, in a way, was an open source labor issue. Then Emanuel takes us through how AI might be sneaking into the peer-review process. Then in the subscribers-only section, Sam explains why a major journal has decided to stop the use of an infamous image in

The Shaky Science of License Plate Readers

Mar 27 2024 46 mins  
A jam packed episode this week. First, Jason explains how a 'study' that says surveillance company Flock is “instrumental in solving 10 percent of reported crime in the US” is heavily flawed. He got a bunch of internal emails and spoke to those involved. After the break, Sam and Emanuel tell us how people are being pushed to far sketchier parts of the web after Pornhub pulled o

Shrimp Jesus

Mar 20 2024 43 mins  
Shrimp Jesus. Shrimp Jesus. Shrimp Jesus. That is what the first story is about! We now have robust academic research into the mass of AI-generated garbage flooding Facebook. Jason takes us through what this era of Facebook means. After the break, Sam explains why Pornhub pulled out of Texas. In the subscribers-only section, Joseph shows how two of the biggest safe lock manufacture

How Hackers Steal Mountains of Oxy and Adderall

Mar 13 2024 43 mins  
Somehow we filled a whole hour and it felt like five minutes! First Joseph explains his deep story on how hackers and fraudsters are injecting themselves into the electronic prescription system to order mountains of drugs. Then Emanuel breaks down how 404 Media, bizarrely, is included in a fake Netflix trailer that was probably made for the benefit of the Russian state. Then in the

The AI-Powered TikTok Hustlers

Mar 06 2024 46 mins  
We go long (and play some bonus audio) for Jason's story inside the wild world of TikTok and Instagram hustlers who are using AI to swarm platforms with automatically generated garbage content. Some of them are making a killing in the process. After the break, we talk about Sam's story on Etsy sellers stealing fan fiction writers' work. Then in the subscriber-only section, Jason br