michael h keller
LightNews LightNews
mhkeller.bsky.social
michael h keller
@mhkeller.bsky.social
1K followers 220 following 58 posts
nytimes reporter | tech, special projects | mhkeller@{nytimes,protonmail}.com, github/mhkeller | adjunct at CUJ.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by michael h keller
jeffhorwitz.bsky.social
Meta earns $3.5 billion every six months from showing Faceboon and Instagram users 15 billion “higher legal risk” scam ad impressions a day, internal documents state.

That haul vastly exceeds how much the company expects regulators
To fine it for running scam ads.

www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Reposted by michael h keller
jacob.gold
Looks like X is juicing web visit numbers by opening a browser WebView in the background whether the user visits the link or not.

They've re-invented pop-under fraud (allegedly).

news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4580...
Tell HN: X is opening any tweet link in a webview whether you press it or not 247 points by stillatit 10 hours ago | hide | past | favorite | 200 comments Just saw the CEO of Substack celebrating traffic from X/Twitter shooting up thinking they stopped suppressing tweets with links[0]. Actually, this traffic is because now any time you open a tweet with a link, the in-app webview loads in the background, and displays when you press the link. I run an ecom store that gets a lot of its customers from Twitter. I was also shocked to see my traffic double or triple overnight and thought the algorithm had blessed me and my business. Soon realized what was actually happening. Thought other traffic-monitors might appreciate this explanation. Meanwhile Nikita Bier is pretending they never suppressed tweets with links to begin with, offering the alternative explanation: "a common complaint is that posts with links tend to get lower reach. This is because the web browser covers the post and people forget to Like or Reply. So X doesn't get a clear signal whether the content is any good"[1]. A bit of a rewriting of history since Elon and his mom both tweeted about how it wasn't fair to use his platform to promote other links/platforms, even banning people who shared profiles of other social networks (including Paul Graham for a period). They suppressed all links shortly after. [0] https://x.com/cjgbest/status/1985464687350485092 [1] https://x.com/nikitabier/status/1979994223224209709
November 4, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by michael h keller
v0max.bsky.social
This is part of a global push to roll back privacy laws by companies that are constantly in trouble for violating privacy laws.

Here in California, they’re currently trying to amend CIPA (state wiretapping statute) to legalize wiretapping for “commercial purposes.”
emptywheel.bsky.social emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 11d
At a time when US-based social media companies are platforming far right extremism in the EU, Meta is trying to get the Irish government to front their assault on EU privacy laws.

web.archive.org/web/20251030...
Data protection rules ‘completely out of control’, Meta tells Government
Facebook owner asked Government to lead pushback against data protection laws at EU level
web.archive.org
October 30, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by michael h keller
josephcox.bsky.social
New incredible detail here: ICE says a match in its facial recognition app Mobile Fortify is a "definitive" determination of a person's status, and that this overrides birth certificates. This is an app ICE is using in the field to scan people

www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
Ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee Bennie G. Thompson said in a statement “Mobile Fortify is a dangerous tool in the hands of ICE, and it puts American citizens at risk of detention and even deportation.” He also said “ICE officials have told us that an apparent biometric match by Mobile Fortify is a ‘definitive’ determination of a person’s status and that an ICE officer may ignore evidence of American citizenship—including a birth certificate—if the app says the person is an alien. ICE using a mobile biometrics app in ways its developers at CBP never intended or tested is a frightening, repugnant, and unconstitutional attack on Americans’ rights and freedoms.”
October 29, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by michael h keller
katiemarriner.bsky.social
Hi, I've been working on a lil' something.
fiftyplusone.news FiftyPlusOne.news @fiftyplusone.news · Oct 9
new polls website just dropped fiftyplusone.news
October 9, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by michael h keller
heathercherone.bsky.social
Hamilton: “The president’s power is unreviewable.”
October 9, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Reposted by michael h keller
heathercherone.bsky.social
Greetings from U.S. District Court Judge April Perry’s courtroom in the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul is present, waiting for the high stakes hearing to begin. @wttw.bsky.social
heathercherone.bsky.social Heather Cherone @heathercherone.bsky.social · Oct 9
FULL STORY: As lawyers for the Trump administration defended the president’s unprecedented decision to send National Guard troops to Chicago despite the objections of Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Johnson, officials acknowledged that California troops had also been sent to Illinois. @wttw.bsky.social
Judge to Decide Whether to Block National Guard Deployment as Trump Sends California Troops to Illinois
Lawyers for the Department of Justice told U.S. District Court Judge April Perry the president deployed the National Guard because “levels of violence against federal law enforcement executing their l...
news.wttw.com
October 9, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by michael h keller
kateconger.com
Jonathan Rinderknecht, a white man, was charged with starting the Palisades Fire. But on X, the company's news summary tab shows a photo of a black man.
Screenshot depicting posts on X, one showing the suspect accused of starting the Palisades Fire, a white man. The X news tab reports on the suspect's arrest, but shows a photo of a black man instead.
October 8, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Reposted by michael h keller
cmrestler.bsky.social
Our office released a new study highlighting rampant illegal parking across Downtown Brooklyn. Vehicles block sidewalks, crosswalks, bike lanes & loading zones - making it more dangerous for New Yorkers to get around the neighborhood.
www.lincolnrestler.nyc/s/Illegal-Pa...
October 7, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Reposted by michael h keller
ndhapple.bsky.social
Reupping for the Sunday crowd =>
nyc.streetsblog.org Streetsblog NYC @nyc.streetsblog.org · Sep 23
The Big Apple’s $30-billion social safety net amounts to a badly frayed patchwork of systems that still cannot reliably get New Yorkers in psychiatric crisis from subway platforms to hospital beds, a Streetsblog investigation has found.
'Treated and Streeted': How The City's Safety Net Fails Homeless People in the Subway - Streetsblog New York City
The Big Apple’s $30-billion social safety net cannot reliably get a homeless person in psychiatric crisis out of the subway and into a hospital bed, a Streetsblog investigation has found.
buff.ly
September 28, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by michael h keller
willoremus.com
A German teen told Meta's child safety researchers his under-10 little brother had been sexually propositioned multiple times on its VR platform.

Meta deleted the evidence.

New internal whistleblower docs indicate that was part of a broader cover-up: www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...
Meta suppressed research on child safety, employees say
The company’s lawyers intervened to shape research that might have shed light on risks in virtual reality, four current and former staffers have told Congress. Meta denies the allegations.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 8, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Reposted by michael h keller
rjnskl.bsky.social
Over the past two decades, China has leapt ahead of other countries in innovations in the energy mix of the future: solar, wind, batteries, and newer frontiers like smart grids.

Latest in the Power Moves series with Max Bearak:
🎁 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
A line chart that spans the years 2003 to 2023, with lines in different colors showing the trends in the share of total highly-cited clean energy research taken up by China, the United States, the European Union, and the total from other countries or regions. The United States dominated two decades ago, making up roughly a third of the total highly cited research. But China quickly rose from roughly 5% to nearly 50% of the highly cited clean energy research, while the United States and European Union declined.
August 15, 2025 at 2:40 PM
mhkeller.bsky.social
What percentage of GPT training is now just making sure it can draw a pelican riding a bicycle?
August 7, 2025 at 7:34 PM
mhkeller.bsky.social
A new report from Australia's eSafety Commissioner finds that tech companies continue to make "minimal efforts" to tackle online child sexual abuse: www.linkedin.com/posts/jonrou...
The eSafety Commissioner’s latest report paints a stark and frankly unacceptable picture: some of the world’s wealthiest and most capable tech companies are still failing to take meaningful action… | ...
The eSafety Commissioner’s latest report paints a stark and frankly unacceptable picture: some of the world’s wealthiest and most capable tech companies are still failing to take meaningful action aga...
www.linkedin.com
August 7, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by michael h keller
jonkeegan.com
Wish I had thought to do this. A snapshot at Zuckerberg’s various manifestos. What will the next one be about? om.co/2025/07/30/d...
The zuckerberg manifesto pattern (2012-2025)
August 5, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Reposted by michael h keller
mayteramarble.bsky.social
So you’re telling me the Wizard of Oz presented itself as a towering force of overwhelming technology, only to be unmasked as just some guy, off-screen?
crimsonmayhem.bsky.social Crimson Mayhem @crimsonmayhem.bsky.social · Aug 5
So apparently, it may turn out that The Wizard of Oz at the Las Vegas Sphere wasn’t entirely made in AI and Google threw the VFX crew under the bus by claiming it was all done by artificial intelligence.

If true, then fucking yikes.
August 5, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by michael h keller
mmasnick.bsky.social
This whole story is insane. Tesla apparently did everything it could to avoid providing the data it had about its Autopilot crash. This is just a snippet and there's a lot more. electrek.co/2025/08/04/t...
2019 – 2024 – Repeated denials and discovery stonewalling Through years of communications with the police, the plaintiffs and the court through the investigation and later the discovery process for the lawsuit, Tesla never mentioned that it had all the data that explained how Autopilot saw the crash, which everyone was seeking, sitting on its servers for years. The facts are: Tesla had the data on its servers within minutes of the crash When the police sought the data, Tesla redirected them toward other data When the police sought Tesla’s help in extracting it from the computer, Tesla falsely claimed it was “corrupted” Tesla invented an “auto-delete” feature that didn’t exist to try explain why it couldn’t originally find the data in the computer When the plaintiffs asked for the data, Tesla said that it didn’t exist Tesla only admitted to the existence of the data once presented with forensic evidence that it was created and transfered to its servers.
August 4, 2025 at 5:55 PM
mhkeller.bsky.social
The minimalist/web brutalist style appears directly copied from ssi.inc's own manifesto about "Safe Superintelligence" from over a year ago. h/t @1wheel.bsky.social
July 30, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Reposted by michael h keller
cwarzel.bsky.social
what's the best thing you've read on the rise of gambling/sports betting/the whole world feels like a casino now thing?
July 29, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Reposted by michael h keller
layercake.graphics
With a huge thanks to @openclimatedata.net, LayerCake v9.0.0 is out with significant TypeScript additions, proper end-to-end tests and all-new, Svelte 5 components in the component gallery!

There will likely be improvements so please file an issue or a PR with any changes!

layercake.graphics
Layer Cake
A framework for mostly-reusable graphics with svelte
layercake.graphics
July 25, 2025 at 12:49 AM
mhkeller.bsky.social
Instagram announced today that it's adding increased protections to so-called "mom-run accounts," which are run by adults but primarily feature children too young to be on Instagram themselves. Before, these protections only applied to accounts run by teens.

about.fb.com/news/2025/07...
Expanding Teen Account Protections and Child Safety Features
Today, we’re announcing a range of updates to bolster our efforts to protect young people from both direct and indirect harm.
about.fb.com
July 23, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by michael h keller
emilybell.bsky.social
So pleased to see this. Varsha Bansal developed this story and interview in our class on Information Warfare Reporting - thanks to @wired.com for publishing and Jo Ellis for standing up to disinformation
July 4, 2025 at 6:54 PM
mhkeller.bsky.social
The AI moratorium is down from 10 years to 5 but new language in the budget bill would make tech companies immune from a host of potential lawsuits around online harms www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/u...
Senate’s New A.I. Moratorium Proposal Draws Fresh Criticism
www.nytimes.com
June 30, 2025 at 9:04 PM
mhkeller.bsky.social
In Dec, we found children advertised across more than 80 livestream video apps. We just learned that one of the girls, age 9, was rescued in Vietnam. It's the first time U.S. agents have worked a case like this there and a first for local authorities, too.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/u...
Authorities Rescue Girl Whose Mother Livestreamed Her Sexual Abuse
www.nytimes.com
June 27, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by michael h keller
2avesag.as
"It's still not popular" as a talking point going out the window right on time as fully expected.
ndhapple.bsky.social Dolan's Knicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · May 20
The wording of the question has changed, but congestion pricing is now at -2 statewide; +10 in NYC in this month's Siena poll. That's a 20 point swing from -22 statewide shortly before launch in December.

December poll: scri.siena.edu/wp-content/u...

May poll: scri.siena.edu/wp-content/u...
Congestion pricing at 29-51 in December statewide; 32-56 in NYC. Congestion pricing stay/go: 39-41 statewide (-2); 48-38 in NYC (+10).
May 20, 2025 at 2:06 PM