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.
News
Fake Bill Ackman and Jim Cramer Instagram Ads are Trying to Take My Money
Meta continues to profit by selling ads to scammers who are trying to fleece its users.
Podcast
Podcast: This is It. The Deepfake Reckoning
This week we have a banger episode on AI and what the future holds in a potential overcorrection of the space. Then we talk about how an Iranian linked drug trafficker hired a Hells Angel member to perform a hit on U.S. soil. Yep.
AI
The Taylor Swift Deepfakes Disaster Threatens to Change the Internet As We Know It
Deepfakes and AI-generated nonconsensual sexual imagery have been a problem for a long time. But with the resurgence of attention on them, we're facing a reckoning.
Man Who Sued 'Are We Dating the Same Guy?' Groups Files Class Action Lawsuit
Nikko D'Ambrosio of Illinois had his first case dismissed, and refiled as a class action that seeks other guys who feel harmed by "red flags or tea?" dating groups.
News
Binance Code and Internal Passwords Exposed on GitHub for Months
A takedown request said the GitHub account was “hosting and distributing leaks of internal code which poses significant risk to BINANCE.”
News
How a Single ‘Pig Butchering’ Scam Netted $40 Million
Pig butchering scams—in which fraudsters continuously extract money from a target—are a multibillion dollar epidemic. Court records show that just one scam operation can make at least tens of millions of dollars.
News
Encrypted Phone ‘Sky’ Linked to Murder-for-Hire Plot in Maryland
Sky was an encrypted phone used by drug traffickers and other criminals. Now, those phones are linked to a murder-for-hire scheme on U.S. soil involving an arm of the Iranian state.
News
Microsoft Closes Loophole That Created AI Porn of Taylor Swift
Following 404 Media’s reporting, Microsoft has made changes to a tool people were using to make AI nudes of celebrities.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: AI-Generated Harm and Our Journalism Business
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 AI-generated non-consensual images that went viral of Taylor Swift, why we need your email address, and the state of journalism.
Announcements
We Need Your Email Address
AI stealing our work. The collapse of social networks. The need to pay journalists to produce impactful journalism. Here is why we are asking for your email address to read 404 Media.
News
AI-Generated Taylor Swift Porn Went Viral on Twitter. Here's How It Got There
404 Media traced back the viral and abusive images of Taylor Swift to a specific Telegram community. That group sometimes uses Microsoft's AI tools.
Impact
YouTube Deletes 1,000 Videos of Celebrity AI Scam Ads
But plenty of deepfake scam videos are still on the platform.