News
Bodycam Shows Moment Cops Arrested a Man for Speaking Too Long at Data Center Meeting
We spoke to Darren Blanchard, the man arrested while speaking out against data centers at a community meeting. He's sharing the bodycam footage of his arrest for the first time with 404 Media.
age verification
Kansas Is About to Pass the Most Extreme Age Verification Law Yet
The bill would make sites with more than 25 percent adult content liable to fines, and lumps homosexuality into "sexual conduct."
News
YouTube Issues Cease and Desist to Bizarre Chinese YouTube Clone
Gan Jing World is linked to the Falun Gong, and has been cloning popular YouTube channels in the name of providing "wholesome content for all."
Podcast
Podcast: The Shaky Science of License Plate Readers
On this week's episode we talk about a shaky study into Flock; what people are doing now that Pornhub has pulled out of some states; and how we dug into the new owners of Deadspin.
FOIA
The Air Force Bought a Surveillance-Focused AI Chatbot
The chatbot, which has entered a test phase, is designed for intelligence analysts to ask questions about aerial and surveillance imagery.
Baltimore
The Amateur Bridge Engineers Have Logged On
In Baltimore, we have a mix of official information, verifiable information obtained via reporting, random speculation from well-meaning experts, random speculation from well-meaning amateurs, actively bad conspiracy theories.
Announcements
404 Media Now Has a Full Text RSS Feed
We paid for the development of full text RSS feeds for Ghost-based publishers. Now we can offer them to our paid subscribers, and other Ghost sites can use the service too.
News
Samsung-Backed AI Image Generator Produces Nonconsensual Porn
Leonardo AI, which recently raised $31 million and is one of the most popular AI image generators online, can easily be used to produce nonconsensual porn.
Most Popular Reddit User of All Time Posts Hundreds of Lewd Waifus Per Day
The most popular Redditor of all time exclusively posts anime art on small subreddits.
age verification
Age Verification Laws Drag Us Back to the Dark Ages of the Internet
Invasive and ineffective age verification laws that require users show government-issued ID, like a driver's license or passport, are passing like wildfire across the U.S.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Coffee in Keyboards and Venture Capitalists
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 coffee in keyboards, OSINT and cybersecurity tools, and what venture capitalists will be left with once they've bought up all the good websites.
Texas Sues xHamster and Chaturbate
Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the porn sites after having also sued Pornhub, complaining that the sites are not complying with Texas' age verification law.
Apple
Green Bubble Vindication: DOJ Antitrust Lawsuit Says Apple Is Causing Android Users 'Social Stigma'
"This social pressure reinforces switching costs and drives users to continue buying iPhones—solidifying Apple’s smartphone dominance not because Apple has made its smartphone better, but because it has made communicating with other smartphones worse."