New from 404 Media, and what feels like the conclusion of Facebook: Facebook isn't dead, it's something else. The 'zombie internet' where bots, humans, and hacked accounts mix 'to form a disastrous website where there is little social connection at all.' 404media.co/facebooks-ai-s…

I've spent four months looking at AI spam on Facebook. I've messaged hundreds of people commenting on the bizarre images trying to determine if they are real, and to understand what's happening.

Facebook isn't the 'Dead Internet.' It's something worse:

404media.co/facebooks-ai-s…

'There’s a scene in there where they’re running out of phones, and the FBI has to fly a Gulfstream jet across to Europe with duffel bags full of Google Pixels, because they’re like, “Crap, we’ve run out of stock, we’re too hot.”'

NEW: The National Archives has banned employee use of ChatGPT. Notable considering it is responsible for preserving an accurate historical record of the United States.

404media.co/national-archi…

Scoop from 404 Media: National Archives is banning employees from using ChatGPT. Agency is tasked w/ preserving history; leaked email says 'NARA has determined that ChatGPT’s unrestricted approach to reusing input data poses an unacceptable risk' 404media.co/national-archi…

I spoke to Semafor's Ben Smith about my forthcoming book DARK WIRE, on how the FBI ran its own encrypted chat app to wiretap the world. Me not owning a mobile phone obviously came up: semafor.com/article/04/29/…

You can preorder DARK WIRE for bonus content: hachettebookgroup.com/titles/joseph-…

The 404 Media Podcast is up!
- the hunt for the source of a 17-second snippet of music
- Discord scraping
- subscribers-only: AI-powered fake audience livestream apps

Apple/Spotify etc: 404media.co/podcast-a-lost…

*CW gore*

Facebook's recommendation algorithm is injecting AI-generated pictures of mutilated children into peoples' feeds. Multiple people have seen them pop up in their feeds, some pictures have tens of thousands of likes 404media.co/ai-images-of-d…

*CW gore*

AI-generated child gore, child suffering, dying children, and otherwise mutilated children are going viral on Facebook. The company's recommendation engine, which Zuckerberg bragged about last week, is injecting these into users' feeds.

404media.co/ai-images-of-d…

New: men are using an app that looks like you're live on TikTok with 20,000 watching. Using it to lie to women. But the audience is fake, it's AI generated.

'Instantly, I became the life of the party' 404media.co/fake-livestrea…

The Russian government copy pasted Wikipedia to a new site, censored the articles, then banned the original Wikipedia. Head of new Russian government Wikipedia is the old admin of real Russian Wikipedia

404media.co/russia-clones-…

A group of tech companies joined a collaboration to 'responsibly' train and host AI models. Includes Amazon, Google, Meta, OpenAI, more.

Here's what we found being hosted by one member after the announcement (NSFW): 404media.co/tech-companies…

Really been enjoying POPULAR FRONT's SKELETON KEY, their series on contemporary far-right militancy all over the world. Easily worth the monthly subscription just for access to this, but you get more. Support independent journalism: patreon.com/popularfront

New: Russia bans Wikipedia in favor of smaller, censored Wikipedia that makes it look better
404media.co/russia-clones-…

This week's Behind the Blog is out, where paid 404 Media subscribers get to go behind the scenes on what happened this week/our work
- Me and Emanuel on impact
- Jason on his desktop setup
- Sam on covering protests

404media.co/behind-the-blo…

New: Discord has shut down a tool that was surveilling thousands of Discord channels and selling the data, and is considering legal action

404media.co/discord-shuts-…

New: after 404 Media's investigation Discord shut down a mass of accounts used by 'Spy Pet', the service that was scraping & selling Discord data/server messages for as little as $5. Spy Pet domain also down. 404media.co/discord-shuts-…