News
Iran Is Winning the AI Slop Propaganda War
“White House videos—AI or otherwise—are like group-chat in-jokes aimed at keeping cohesion.”
stalking
The FBI Charged a Man With Cyberstalking Nude Erotic Wrestlers
A man allegedly called one victim over 500 times from dozens of phone numbers, and sent messages saying "I’m going to keep harassing you until the day I die.”
Flock
Let’s Talk About the Flock Study That Says It Solves Crime
A Flock study claims it is “instrumental in solving 10% of reported crime in U.S.” A researcher who oversaw the study is now questioning how it was done.
girls do porn
Girls Do Porn Ringleader Pleads Not Guilty
Michael Pratt pleaded not guilty to 19 felony counts as his partner was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Podcast
Podcast: Shrimp Jesus
Shrimp Jesus (of course); Pornhub pulling out of Texas; and backdoors in safe locks. That's all on this week's episode of the 404 Media Podcast.
Kate Middleton
'Enhanced' Photos of Kate Middleton Are Just More AI Bullshit
Unblurring screengrabs of Kate Middleton just means creating a brand new, AI-altered image that is less real than the blurry one.
AI
Facebook’s Algorithm Is Boosting AI Spam That Links to AI-Generated, Ad-Laden Click Farms
Viral 'Shrimp Jesus' and AI-generated pages like it are part of spam and scam campaigns that are taking over Facebook.
News
Scientific Journals Are Publishing Papers With AI-Generated Text
The ChatGPT phrase “As of my last knowledge update” appears in several papers published by academic journals.
stripe
Gumroad Celebrates Sales Spike While Adult Creators Panic
Gumroad has banned anything that can be "understood as being primarily for sexual purposes," and while it bragged about a revenue spike, adult creators hustled to add flash sales to their shops.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: TikTok Ban and Pornhub Blocks
This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss iterative journalism, security through obscurity, Pornhub abandoning Texas and the TikTok ban.
News
Cleaner for SWAT Team Leaks DEA Investigative File on Her Fentanyl Dealing Cousin
In an unusual insider threat case, a cleaner working in a SWAT office allegedly snapped photos of a DEA investigative file and leaked them.
News
Horrific AI-Generated Breastfeeding Images Bypass Facebook’s Moderation
A page called Mom Daily is using AI-generated images of mothers and babies to bypass Facebook’s rules on nudity, with some really terrifying results.
Baseball
How a Foul Ball From 2014 Became Part of a Russian Disinformation Campaign
Using OSINT and Baseball Reference to determine the exact pitch that was used in a Russian disinformation video.