The 404 Media Podcast
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.
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- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 45 minutes
- Episodes
- 119
- Years Active
- 2023 - 2025
The Trump Admin's Signal Clone Was Hacked
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 s…
00:47:47 |
Wed 07 May 2025
Meta's AI Chatbots Are a Disaster
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 …
00:54:56 |
Wed 30 Apr 2025
Cops Are Using AI Bots to Surveil People
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 u…
00:55:04 |
Wed 23 Apr 2025
AI Slop Is Breaking the Internet as We Know It (Live at SXSW)
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, …
01:00:39 |
Fri 18 Apr 2025
Inside the ICE Deportation Tool
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…
00:43:55 |
Wed 16 Apr 2025
How a $2,000 'Made in the USA' Phone Is Manufactured
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 …
01:04:34 |
Thu 10 Apr 2025
The FBI Secretly Ran a Massive Money Laundering Ring
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 stor…
00:57:15 |
Wed 09 Apr 2025
OpenAI's Studio Ghibli AI: 'An Insult to Life Itself'
Jason, Sam, and Emanuel talk about Miyazaki being turned into a meme, the guys suing OnlyFans after being surprised to learn they were not actually talking to models, and the depravity of "brainrot" …
00:50:10 |
Wed 02 Apr 2025
The DNA of 15 Million People Is For Sale
This week we start with the bankruptcy of commercial DNA company 23andMe, and what it means for its users' genetic data. Probably not good things! After the break, Joseph and Jason explain what 'Doge…
00:48:51 |
Wed 26 Mar 2025
The Websites An ICE Contractor is Monitoring
We start this week with Joseph's story about the 200+ sites an ICE contractor called ShadowDragon is monitoring. A lot of surprising ones on there. After the break, Emanuel explains why NASA, Yale, a…
00:42:46 |
Wed 19 Mar 2025
We're Not Ready for Chinese AI Video Generators
We start this week with Emanuel's great investigation into Chinese AI video models, and how they have far fewer safeguards than their American counterparts. A content warning for that section due to …
00:47:19 |
Wed 12 Mar 2025
The Tesla Protests Come for Cybertruck Owners
This week we start with Jason's article on how a Facebook group for Cybertruck owners is completely overrun with people flipping them off. Then Joseph explains how U.S. crypto traders are buying IDs …
00:43:31 |
Wed 05 Mar 2025
The Rise of AI Book Ripoffs
We start this week's episode with Joseph finding out someone basically ripped off his book with a potentially AI-generated summary. Emanuel also updates us on some of the impact his reporting on AI i…
00:40:44 |
Wed 26 Feb 2025
DOGE's Website, Hacked
This week we start with Jason's story about anyone being able to push updates to DOGE.gov website. Then we talk about other stories with the DEI.gov and Waste.gov sites. After the break, Sam tells us…
00:39:43 |
Wed 19 Feb 2025
AI Is Breaking Our Brains
This week we discuss a new Microsoft study that finds using generative AI is "atrophying" people's cognition and critical thinking skills and the right's war on Wikipedia.
Articles discussed:
Micro…
00:51:21 |
Wed 12 Feb 2025
Inside Musk’s Government Takeover
We dedicate the whole free section of this episode to Musk’s takeover of the federal government. We got audio from a meeting in which a Musk ally laid out their plans for AI across the government, an…
00:49:39 |
Wed 05 Feb 2025
The Truth Behind DeepSeek
We start this week with Emanuel's rundown on the DeepSeek situation, the Chinese-made AI that has rocked stock markets and the wider AI industry. After the break, Sam explains how metadata in U.S. go…
00:55:15 |
Wed 29 Jan 2025
Pornhub Exec Discusses Pulling Out of the South, Trad Wives, and Feet Pics
On this special guest episode of the 404 Media Podcast, Sam talks to Alexzandra Kekesi, VP of Brand and Community at Pornhub. Kekesi started in her current role in August 2023, after working for Porn…
00:52:25 |
Mon 27 Jan 2025
TikTok and the Tech Oligarchy
We start this week with the TikTok ban: how we got here, what happened, and, most importantly, why it means we need more decentralized services. Jason runs us through it. After the break, Joseph brea…
00:49:30 |
Wed 22 Jan 2025
Total Chaos at Meta
We've got much more on what is happening inside Meta with the company's recent speech policy changes. Jason runs us through it. After the break, Joseph explains how thousands of apps have been hijack…
00:55:05 |
Wed 15 Jan 2025
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