Emanuel Maiberg
@emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social
Co-founder and journalist at 404media.co
I read every email
I read every email
I am a day too late but I guess I will ring in the new year by highlighting what I think are the best stories I published last year.
The Tea hack and its origin story could only happen in 2025, and says a lot about privacy, virality, love etc: www.404media.co/how-teas-fou...
The Tea hack and its origin story could only happen in 2025, and says a lot about privacy, virality, love etc: www.404media.co/how-teas-fou...
How Tea’s Founder Convinced Millions of Women to Spill Their Secrets, Then Exposed Them to the World
A 404 Media investigation reveals how the man who started Tea, the ‘women dating safety’ app, tried to hire a female ‘face’ for the company and then hijack her grassroots community.
www.404media.co
January 1, 2026 at 10:14 PM
I am a day too late but I guess I will ring in the new year by highlighting what I think are the best stories I published last year.
The Tea hack and its origin story could only happen in 2025, and says a lot about privacy, virality, love etc: www.404media.co/how-teas-fou...
The Tea hack and its origin story could only happen in 2025, and says a lot about privacy, virality, love etc: www.404media.co/how-teas-fou...
Flock left a bunch of its AI cameras exposed on the internet. We used them to track Jason www.404media.co/flock-expose...
Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves
Flock left at least 60 of its people-tracking Condor PTZ cameras live streaming and exposed to the open internet.
www.404media.co
December 22, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Flock left a bunch of its AI cameras exposed on the internet. We used them to track Jason www.404media.co/flock-expose...
This was such a fun pod to do!!!! Come for the aliens, stay for...Maimonides? www.404media.co/why-are-we-o...
Why Are We Obsessed With Aliens?
Humanity has talked about aliens throughout recorded history, and obsession that has changed science, faith, and media.
www.404media.co
December 18, 2025 at 5:26 PM
This was such a fun pod to do!!!! Come for the aliens, stay for...Maimonides? www.404media.co/why-are-we-o...
ICE's deportation operation has a contract with a company that makes AI agents for bounty hunters www.404media.co/ice-contract...
ICE Contracts Company Making Bounty Hunter AI Agents
AI Solutions 87 says on its website its AI agents “deliver rapid acceleration in finding persons of interest and mapping their entire network.”
www.404media.co
December 18, 2025 at 5:25 PM
ICE's deportation operation has a contract with a company that makes AI agents for bounty hunters www.404media.co/ice-contract...
Reposted by Emanuel Maiberg
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
December 14, 2023 at 3:46 AM
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
Reposted by Emanuel Maiberg
this is like Neo waking up in the pod
One of the craziest things I've seen in a hack: the hacker took full control of the phone farm. He was able to access phone cameras and take pictures of the phone farm itself
December 17, 2025 at 2:22 PM
this is like Neo waking up in the pod
a16z gave a million dollars to a phone farm that's flooding TikTok with AI-generated influencers. A hacker contacted 404 Media to reveal what these accounts are and what products they're promoting www.404media.co/hack-reveals...
Hack Reveals the a16z-Backed Phone Farm Flooding TikTok With AI Influencers
A hacker gained control of a 1,100 mobile phone farm powering covert, AI-generated ads on TikTok.
www.404media.co
December 17, 2025 at 2:14 PM
a16z gave a million dollars to a phone farm that's flooding TikTok with AI-generated influencers. A hacker contacted 404 Media to reveal what these accounts are and what products they're promoting www.404media.co/hack-reveals...
a very revealing story about how the execs at these AI companies think about their products, and their users www.404media.co/anthropic-ex...
Anthropic Exec Forces AI Chatbot on Gay Discord Community, Members Flee
“We’re bringing a new kind of sentience into existence,” Anthropic's Jason Clinton said after launching the bot.
www.404media.co
December 16, 2025 at 7:44 PM
a very revealing story about how the execs at these AI companies think about their products, and their users www.404media.co/anthropic-ex...
openai has just been marked for death bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-08/disney-said-to-double-investment-in-vice-media-to-400-million
Disney Doubles Investment in Vice Media to $400 Million
Walt Disney Co. doubled its investment in Vice Media Inc. to $400 million, providing funds the closely held media company can use for new programming and international expansion, according to two peop...
bloomberg.com
December 11, 2025 at 2:41 PM
openai has just been marked for death bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-08/disney-said-to-double-investment-in-vice-media-to-400-million
nightmare: Developer downloads reputable AI training data which no one knew contained CSAM. He uploads it to Google Drive, tripping an alarm, and his Google accounts are banned. He does everything right but was banned for months until I reached out for comment www.404media.co/a-developer-...
A Developer Accidentally Found CSAM in AI Data. Google Banned Him For It
Mark Russo reported the dataset to all the right organizations, but still couldn't get into his accounts for months.
www.404media.co
December 10, 2025 at 2:55 PM
nightmare: Developer downloads reputable AI training data which no one knew contained CSAM. He uploads it to Google Drive, tripping an alarm, and his Google accounts are banned. He does everything right but was banned for months until I reached out for comment www.404media.co/a-developer-...
Updated this post with comment from Meta, which confirmed it recently started using AI recently started using AI to generate these headlines. As some readers have noted, LinkedIn and TikTok have also been doing this.
Instagram is creating 2014 Buzzfeed-style SEO headlines for your Instagram posts and guess what? They're often misleading. Thanks to @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social and @mrdang.photos for flagging this to me www.404media.co/instagram-is...
Instagram Is Generating Inaccurate SEO Bait for Your Posts
Instagram is generating headlines for Instagram posts that appear on Google Search results. Users say they are misrepresenting them.
www.404media.co
December 10, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Updated this post with comment from Meta, which confirmed it recently started using AI recently started using AI to generate these headlines. As some readers have noted, LinkedIn and TikTok have also been doing this.
Reposted by Emanuel Maiberg
Instagram is creating 2014 Buzzfeed-style SEO headlines for your Instagram posts and guess what? They're often misleading. Thanks to @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social and @mrdang.photos for flagging this to me www.404media.co/instagram-is...
Instagram Is Generating Inaccurate SEO Bait for Your Posts
Instagram is generating headlines for Instagram posts that appear on Google Search results. Users say they are misrepresenting them.
www.404media.co
December 9, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Instagram is creating 2014 Buzzfeed-style SEO headlines for your Instagram posts and guess what? They're often misleading. Thanks to @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social and @mrdang.photos for flagging this to me www.404media.co/instagram-is...
Instagram is creating 2014 Buzzfeed-style SEO headlines for your Instagram posts and guess what? They're often misleading. Thanks to @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social and @mrdang.photos for flagging this to me www.404media.co/instagram-is...
Instagram Is Generating Inaccurate SEO Bait for Your Posts
Instagram is generating headlines for Instagram posts that appear on Google Search results. Users say they are misrepresenting them.
www.404media.co
December 9, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Instagram is creating 2014 Buzzfeed-style SEO headlines for your Instagram posts and guess what? They're often misleading. Thanks to @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social and @mrdang.photos for flagging this to me www.404media.co/instagram-is...
Border patrol agents are clearly recording raids with Meta glasses www.404media.co/border-patro...
Border Patrol Agent Recorded Raid with Meta’s Ray-Ban Smart Glasses
New videos and photos shared with 404 Media show a Border Patrol agent wearing Meta Ray-Bans glasses with the recording light clearly on. This is despite a DHS ban on officers recording with personal ...
www.404media.co
December 9, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Border patrol agents are clearly recording raids with Meta glasses www.404media.co/border-patro...
Reposted by Emanuel Maiberg
404 Media is making a print zine! About the surveillance technologies used by ICE. 16 pages, riso printed. Shipping early January. Features reworked versions of our best reporting and a few new things. We're very excited! And hope to do more if people like it:
www.404media.co/404-media-is...
www.404media.co/404-media-is...
404 Media Is Making a Zine
We are publishing a risograph-printed zine about the surveillance technologies used by ICE.
www.404media.co
December 8, 2025 at 3:42 PM
404 Media is making a print zine! About the surveillance technologies used by ICE. 16 pages, riso printed. Shipping early January. Features reworked versions of our best reporting and a few new things. We're very excited! And hope to do more if people like it:
www.404media.co/404-media-is...
www.404media.co/404-media-is...
Reposted by Emanuel Maiberg
How to make "monetized USA Accounts" and how to populate them with content is an incredibly popular global YouTube side hustle type of content. Look at this:
November 24, 2025 at 6:38 PM
How to make "monetized USA Accounts" and how to populate them with content is an incredibly popular global YouTube side hustle type of content. Look at this:
Reposted by Emanuel Maiberg
X's location "transparency" feature showing many MAGA accounts are based internationally reveals what we already knew: The world is using American social media and American politics as a slot machine and social media companies are directly incentivizing this:
www.404media.co/americas-pol...
www.404media.co/americas-pol...
America’s Polarization Has Become the World's Side Hustle
The 'psyops' revealed by X are entirely the fault of the perverse incentives created by social media monetization programs.
www.404media.co
November 24, 2025 at 6:34 PM
X's location "transparency" feature showing many MAGA accounts are based internationally reveals what we already knew: The world is using American social media and American politics as a slot machine and social media companies are directly incentivizing this:
www.404media.co/americas-pol...
www.404media.co/americas-pol...
Reposted by Emanuel Maiberg
For @404media.co this morning: a group of immigrant rights organizers are helping people use Fortnite to practice what to do if they encounter ICE agents in the wild. And I got to see it.
www.404media.co/ice-defense-...
www.404media.co/ice-defense-...
Inside an ICE Defense Training on Fortnite
A group of immigrant rights organizers are helping people use Fortnite to practice what to do if they encounter ICE agents in the wild.
www.404media.co
November 24, 2025 at 3:13 PM
For @404media.co this morning: a group of immigrant rights organizers are helping people use Fortnite to practice what to do if they encounter ICE agents in the wild. And I got to see it.
www.404media.co/ice-defense-...
www.404media.co/ice-defense-...
I'm looking to talk to Tea users who were impacted by the hack we covered a few months ago. If you're one of those people please email me at emanuel@404media.co or hit me up on signal at @emanuel.404 www.404media.co/how-teas-fou...
How Tea’s Founder Convinced Millions of Women to Spill Their Secrets, Then Exposed Them to the World
A 404 Media investigation reveals how the man who started Tea, the ‘women dating safety’ app, tried to hire a female ‘face’ for the company and then hijack her grassroots community.
www.404media.co
November 24, 2025 at 3:14 PM
I'm looking to talk to Tea users who were impacted by the hack we covered a few months ago. If you're one of those people please email me at emanuel@404media.co or hit me up on signal at @emanuel.404 www.404media.co/how-teas-fou...
Reposted by Emanuel Maiberg
Russia once hyped the Kinzhal as an invincible superweapon. Now Ukraine is downing them by blasting it with music and making it think it's in Peru
Ukraine Is Jamming Russia’s ‘Superweapon’ With a Song
A few years ago, Putin hyped the Kinzhal hypersonic missile. Now electronic warfare is knocking it out of the sky with music and some bad directions.
www.404media.co
November 20, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Russia once hyped the Kinzhal as an invincible superweapon. Now Ukraine is downing them by blasting it with music and making it think it's in Peru
Reposted by Emanuel Maiberg
the CEO of OnlyFans posted earlier this month on LinkedIn that the platform is partnering with Checkr to check criminal records of new creators, as part of the onboarding process www.404media.co/onlyfans-bac...
OnlyFans Will Start Checking Criminal Records. Creators Say That's a Terrible Idea
OnlyFans CEO Keily Blair announced on LinkedIn that the platform partnered with Checkr to
www.404media.co
November 20, 2025 at 3:50 PM
the CEO of OnlyFans posted earlier this month on LinkedIn that the platform is partnering with Checkr to check criminal records of new creators, as part of the onboarding process www.404media.co/onlyfans-bac...
we're doing an additional interview podcast every week now. For my first, I talked to @jasonschreier.bsky.social about how and why the video game business has changed so much in recent years www.404media.co/the-video-ga...
The Video Game Industry’s Existential Crisis (with Jason Schreier)
Video games are more popular than ever, but many of the biggest companies in the business seem like they are struggling to adapt and convert that popularity into stability and sustainability.
www.404media.co
November 17, 2025 at 3:01 PM
we're doing an additional interview podcast every week now. For my first, I talked to @jasonschreier.bsky.social about how and why the video game business has changed so much in recent years www.404media.co/the-video-ga...
Reposted by Emanuel Maiberg
This was a really great conversation between 404 Media's @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social and Bloomberg's @jasonschreier.bsky.social about the existential crisis facing the video game industry, and especially what is happening with Microsoft/Xbox www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ydF...
What’s Happening at Xbox and EA (with Jason Schreier)
YouTube video by 404 Media
www.youtube.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:54 PM
This was a really great conversation between 404 Media's @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social and Bloomberg's @jasonschreier.bsky.social about the existential crisis facing the video game industry, and especially what is happening with Microsoft/Xbox www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ydF...
Reposted by Emanuel Maiberg
New: this app lets ICE track vehicles and owners across the country. ICE uses phone to scan license plates, add to a database of billions of records. Thomson Reuters then enriches that with marriage, voter, other info. Can predict where a car will be in the future
www.404media.co/this-app-let...
www.404media.co/this-app-let...
This App Lets ICE Track Vehicles and Owners Across the Country
Material viewed by 404 Media shows data giant Thomson Reuters enriches license plate data with marriage, voter, and ownership records. The tool can predict where a car may be in the future.
www.404media.co
November 17, 2025 at 2:31 PM
New: this app lets ICE track vehicles and owners across the country. ICE uses phone to scan license plates, add to a database of billions of records. Thomson Reuters then enriches that with marriage, voter, other info. Can predict where a car will be in the future
www.404media.co/this-app-let...
www.404media.co/this-app-let...
Reposted by Emanuel Maiberg
The most horrifying AI slop of ICE raids you can possibly imagine is wildly viral on Facebook, collectively totaling tens of millions of views from a single account. First spotted by @chadloder.bsky.social
www.404media.co/ai-generated...
www.404media.co/ai-generated...
AI-Generated Videos of ICE Raids Are Wildly Viral on Facebook
An account is spamming horrific, dehumanizing videos of immigration enforcement because the Facebook algorithm is rewarding them for it.
www.404media.co
November 12, 2025 at 5:51 PM
The most horrifying AI slop of ICE raids you can possibly imagine is wildly viral on Facebook, collectively totaling tens of millions of views from a single account. First spotted by @chadloder.bsky.social
www.404media.co/ai-generated...
www.404media.co/ai-generated...