We're already thinking about what to cover next year and have some pieces coming. If you want to support our independent journalism, please consider becoming a subscriber. We'll continue to grow sustainably and with journalists in charge, the journalism comes first www.404media.co/membership/

The U.S.'s major airlines stopped selling flight records (name, flight from, flight to, credit card number) to the government after our months of reporting on the issue www.404media.co/airlines-wil...

As we finish up the year, 404 Media will have stuff publishing over the holidays. Some horrible (you'll see on Xmas day), some fun. Subscribers will still get a story each day. In the meantime, here's some of our best coverage this year, starting with Flock + ICE: www.404media.co/ice-taps-int...

There are a lot more stories I'm proud of this year, but I'm mostly proud to be publishing them at 404 Media, where we've accomplished so much in just 2.5 years it makes my head spin. Whether you're a day one supporter or a new friend, thank you. Help spread the word: www.404media.co/membership/

But my most memorable moment in reporting in 2025 was seeing a longtime sex trafficker forced to face his victims, and watching a judge send him to prison for a long time. After following GDP for ~6 years, being present for this sentencing felt important: www.404media.co/michael-prat...

My very first post this year was on Pornhub blocking access to almost all of the south in response to age verification laws: bit.ly/3MOFzap Now we're at 1/2 of all states. The creep (sprint?) of AV in the US has been chilling to follow; read all our AV stories here: www.404media.co/tag/age-veri...

404 Media is about to enter energy saver mode. We're still publishing throughout the week, however, so watch your inbox / RSS / the @404media.co feed and you won't miss us too badly. Before we all slip into the ether, I wanted to highlight a few stories I published this year that stuck out. 🧵🪡

I posted a joke about Canada doing this on purpose, and it got a few shares from some big “Elbows Up” accounts that seemed to take the idea very seriously, to a point that I’m now worried that there’s going to be one of those dumb “altGlobal News” accounts by the end of the day.

wait wait wait before we go on raving about global news pls know that they would NEVER have pubbed it if they knew about the bari weiss takedown

CANADIAN IP MENTIONED

cemented in history now god bless the torrent

2025 was a big year for me and a horrifying year for the country. I hitched my wagon to 404 Media and trained my eye on the tide of nightmarish AI slop that's dominating our lives. Here's some of my favorites from my first year with 404.

I'm just getting started at 404 Media. I'll keep covering war and nukes and AI next year. Become a member now and don't miss a single moment

2025 throat goat

for privacy 404 media is blurring videos shared to the story but there was a clip we had of a flock condor camera following a man so closely we could see exactly what he was looking at on his phone a must read scoop:

sad it was like the early days of facebook in there

best comment goes to “the fuck were they doing all that math for”

UPDATE: House Democrats did not immediately respond for comment on why the Epstein Dropbox files were left open for comment but it appears that the feature has now been turned off. @evystadium.bsky.social gets into what happened. @mjgault.bsky.social has the story: www.404media.co/the-governme...

This is a wild hack. a16z gave a million dollars to startup called Doublespeed. They use a phone farm to flood social media with AI generated influencers and ads. A hacker remotely broke into the phone farm, unmasking the AI influencers/fake accounts, gave us the data www.404media.co/hack-reveals...

imagine being funded $1 million to burn down the earth to make this AI ad slop

SCOOP Harvey Risch is a Yale epidemiologist who has speculated about links between "turbo cancer" and COVID vaccines, while working for a company whose customers use ivermectin as a cancer treatment Trump just appointed him to oversee the US national cancer program www.wired.com/story/risch-...

jesus died for our sins so yall don’t fuck around with the speedrun leaderboards you sinners

phone farm ass shit

anthropic exec runs gaymer discord. forces ai into the discord against everyone's protest. everyone leaves. exec spends christmas alone, talking to an ai chatbot from his work, alone, on an empty discord server.

literally your government making hit lists

older millennials ruining everything fr

A Discord for gay gamers is in disarray after an exec at Anthropic forced an AI chatbot on the Discord. When confronted, the exec said he would not submit to mob rule and that AIs have emotions. @evystadium.bsky.social has more. Story by @mjgault.bsky.social www.404media.co/anthropic-ex...

guys post retiring from condé i was on my eat pray love in asia bs and now we’re so back to the tundra (and the horrors) and we’ll be holding the overlords accountable so hello im alive again

in the days since members have fled the discord, the chatbot wished people happy holidays and of course the anthropic exec responded and you just have to read this lmfao www.404media.co/anthropic-ex...

Worth mentioning that by our own tests we know these videos were made with OpenAI’s Sora, highlighting how tools released by some of the richest companies in the world are being combined to generate and monetize videos that take advantage of human suffering

Tech companies are betting big on nuclear energy to meet AI’s massive power demands—and Trump’s done a lot to make it easier for them. Heidy Khlaaf, the head AI scientist at the AI Now Institute, tells us why that’s dangerous. @mjgault.bsky.social has the story: www.404media.co/power-compan...

NEW: Tech companies are betting big on nuclear energy to meet AIs massive power demands and they're using that AI to speed up the construction of new nuclear power plants. And despite expert concerns about potential disaster, the US government is on board.

“It is time to choose sides; fascism or morality? Big tech has made their choice.”

guys, we're throwing a show! 404 Media is joining hands with community members and organizations to throw LA FIGHTS BACK, a benefit show to raise money to support immigrants and refugees as ICE and DHS continue their dehumanzing crackdown across the U.S. learn more: regentdtla.com/tm-event/hea...

guys it actually rules so much to be free of overlords and contribute to @404media.co where we unapologetically report on the dystopia. from meta ray-bans being a dangerous surveillance tool to whatever this horrible episode of ICE is, if you can support, head here: www.404media.co/membership/

yeah what the fuck could possibly go wrong

meta pr keeps implying that the glasses and a phone are no different. in response, we say this:

we spoke to @stopthedata.bsky.social’s amber fellows on why the town of ypsilanti is rallying against a proposed AI data center that will be used by nuclear weapons researchers and the personal trauma of fighting this as a Japanese-American person 80 years after from the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings

guys idk why i agreed to go to a live group roleplay where we acted as fifth graders who got tingly asmr lice checks but it happened and i lived to tell the tale (you’re welcome). for @wired.com

but guys did liberal feminism ruin the workplace

a pad, like a literal pad with layers of cotton and plastic, is still allegedly the safest thing for a period bc that’s how far innovation has gone for us (and also is expensive as fuck) and then you got men doing shit like this

putting elf on right fkn now i don’t make the rules

make boxed beef great again

lmao the way the clowns running this shit think it’s an identity… like go pick up line dancing yall are bored

the app used by the feds keeps people’s faces (including US citizens) for 15 years. now they’re rolling it out to da local cops like what could go wrong

CBP has publicly released an app that Sheriff Offices, police departments, and other local law enforcement can use to scan someone’s face as part of immigration enforcement. @evystadium.bsky.social has more. Full scoop by @josephcox.bsky.social here: www.404media.co/cbp-quietly-...

iconic

proud to have worked with @jakelahut.writes.news and even more proud to call him a friend. as corporate nightmare fuel drives us out, huge fucking kudos to all who want to survive, use our platforms to challenge the status quo, and care for their coworkers and industry as a whole

I was one of the four people who got canned. In the interim, you can subscribe to my newsletter, Straight From The Hut. No paywall, but feel free to choose the pay to support model. I'm not going anywhere — the show goes on, and I'll be back on MSNBC Saturday night. straightfromthehut.substack.com

Ticketmaster's personalized AI slop ads on Facebook are just a glimpse at the future of social media advertising. And Mark Zuckerberg? He's a fan. Welcome to the dystopic world of AI generated (and personalized) ads. @jasonkoebler.bsky.social reports: Read more: www.404media.co/the-future-o...