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
Why the Solar Storm Broke Tractors and GPS
We've got something of a John Deere special episode this week. We start with Jason's piece on how the recent solar storm knocked out GPS for John Deere tractors, having a direct impact on farming acr…
00:41:16 |
Wed 15 May 2024
Facebook is the 'Zombie Internet'
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 o…
00:45:12 |
Wed 08 May 2024
A Lost Media Mystery
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 a…
00:45:03 |
Wed 01 May 2024
The Humane Ai Pin Is a Disaster
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 f…
00:46:03 |
Wed 24 Apr 2024
The 'Com World War'
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 …
00:37:05 |
Wed 17 Apr 2024
The Wild World of Fake AI Influencers
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…
00:42:38 |
Wed 10 Apr 2024
The Xz Backdoor and the AI Peer-Review Crisis
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 t…
00:39:43 |
Wed 03 Apr 2024
The Shaky Science of License Plate Readers
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 …
00:47:08 |
Wed 27 Mar 2024
Shrimp Jesus
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 w…
00:44:02 |
Wed 20 Mar 2024
How Hackers Steal Mountains of Oxy and Adderall
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 or…
00:44:37 |
Wed 13 Mar 2024
The AI-Powered TikTok Hustlers
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 …
00:47:19 |
Wed 06 Mar 2024
Tumblr and WordPress to Sell Users’ Data to Train AI Tools
Tumblr and WordPress are set to sell posts to OpenAI and Midjourney. And cops are wearing body cameras in libraries. In this episode, Jason, Sam, and Emanuel try to explain what it means for OpenAI a…
00:47:15 |
Wed 28 Feb 2024
Byron Tau on the New U.S. Surveillance State
New format alert! We are experimenting with publishing additional interview episodes! These will not replace the normal weekly show. Rather, we'll upload an interview with people we find interesting …
00:34:55 |
Tue 27 Feb 2024
A Deepfake Nightmare + Vibrator Malware
A ton of stuff to talk about this week. We start with Jason and Emanuel's dive into how a deepfake nudify app rocked a high school. We got a copy of the police report, and more than anything else it …
00:45:00 |
Wed 21 Feb 2024
An Open Source Search Engine to Replace Google
We've got a real variety this week. First, Emanuel talks about Paradox.ai, a tool that massive brands like McDonald's, CVS, and FedEx are using to screen job applicants. It uses a bit of AI, but real…
00:37:35 |
Wed 14 Feb 2024
Inside a Fraud Factory
This week we start with Joseph's investigation into OnlyFake, an underground website that lets anyone generate convincing photos of fake IDs at the click of a mouse. Joseph successfully used one of t…
00:47:18 |
Wed 07 Feb 2024
This Is It. The Deepfake Reckoning
(I went in and fixed the audio issue! Please make sure your podcast client has the latest version downloaded. Okay, back to working on an investigation now, thank you for bearing with us) This week's…
00:50:08 |
Thu 01 Feb 2024
Why Google Is Shit Now
We're doing something a little different this episode. For the whole free section of the podcast, we're talking all about the degradation of Google. That includes AI-generated articles making their w…
00:50:47 |
Thu 25 Jan 2024
Google Finally Endorses Right to Repair
Well, that was a pleasant surprise: Google has formally endorsed right to repair! Jason not only broke this news but then had a long conversation with Google about why it made the change (spoiler: it…
00:33:42 |
Wed 17 Jan 2024
Deepfaked Celeb Scam Ads Are All Over YouTube
Jason decided to publish our first story minutes before recording, so here is some hot off the presses material. That piece was about scam ads on YouTube involving deepfaked celebrities. After the br…
00:38:00 |
Wed 10 Jan 2024
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