(🧵1/14) When OpenAI board members hired the law firm WilmerHale to investigate Sam Altman's firing over two years ago, many executives at the company expected to see extensive findings. Instead, OpenAI released a brief announcement with few details.

The reporting on OpenAI and Sam Altman I've been working on for the past year and a half, for @newyorker.com, with Andrew Marantz: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post offering “financial runway." This month it gutted its newsroom—more than 300 layoffs. Whatever you think of legacy news, the hard data shows us that newspaper closures hurt Americans. Here's how: 🧵

(1/11) If you live in NY, you’ve probably started seeing a new warning: “THIS PRICE WAS SET BY AN ALGORITHM USING YOUR PERSONAL DATA.” This mandatory disclosure went into effect late last year, and it’s the first attempt by a US state to grapple with a new generation of surveillance pricing.

For nearly a year, the administration has said that DOGE had no unauthorized access to your Social Security data. A new government filing admits that was false.

(1/17 🧵) Here's my further analysis of the recent journalist arrests, for those not inclined to hunt down my posts elsewhere. While this is a political flash point, I do not believe it is a partisan issue. It is part of a pattern perpetrated by, and that hurts, both parties:

Don Lemon and Georgia Fort have been released. But the procedural history now emerging is unusual. Before the arrests, a federal magistrate judge found no probable cause to arrest them. The government appealed anyway. Here’s why that matters—and what it signals more broadly.

On December 30, a federal judge ordered the administration to continue funding the CFPB, blocking its attempt to starve the consumer watchdog of cash. The legal fight over the agency’s future is ongoing—and could reshape consumer protections nationwide.

Seven years after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the world is being asked to forget what happens when governments decide reporters are disposable—and to turn away from what that precedent means for all of us.

Someone is buying up American starter homes and pricing you out. But it’s not who you’ve been told. #EconSky #Housing #PolSky #RonanFarrow

How Wall Street turns your monthly bills into its debt payments. #News #Finance #WallStreet #Debt #Infrastructure #politics

The White House just issued a sweeping federal directive transforming how dissent might be policed in the US—here’s why civil liberties groups are so alarmed.

Two days left to vote for Not a Very Good Murderer for favorite Host and favorite True Crime podcast at the Signal Awards! 🗳️ Please support the investigative team behind this labor of love. Link to vote for Best Host here—let me know when you’ve put yours in: vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting...

The Pentagon is ordering journalists to sign a gag pledge—even with respect to gathering unclassified information. Here are the facts. #Pentagon #Journalism #FreeSpeech #FirstAmendment #Democracy #BreakingNews #NewsExplained

Not a Very Good Murderer is nominated for 2 Signal Awards! It would mean a lot if you’d vote & support this kind of investigative reporting and the hardworking team behind it. Vote for Best True Crime Podcast: vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting... and Best Host: vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting...

The far right in America today: a quick primer. #Politics #Democracy

Social media algorithms push rage and division to keep us scrolling. Here’s how the business model works—and the law that allows it to continue. #Algorithms #SocialMedia #Radicalization #PoliticalViolence #TechPolicy #Section230

Was the FCC’s pressure to pull Jimmy Kimmel off the air illegal? Here’s what the Constitution and Supreme Court say. #firstamendment #supremecourt #fcc #politics #news #jimmykimmel

Who really profits from America's wars? Check out my new explainer on the defense lobby and tell me your thoughts in the comments. #News #Investigation #USA #War #Gaza

ICE just reactivated its contract with an Israeli firm that makes phone-hacking spyware. Here's what you should know. #ICE #NewsUS #Hacking #spyware

Trump’s AI plan is here. What's in it, what does it leave out, and what happens to your job? #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #AIPolicy #Jobs #Policy #DigitalEconomy #News #Explained #TechNews #OpenAI #Politics

I got an encrypted email from a prosecutor who told me she was desperately trying to apprehend a serial rapist and encountering obstruction: “I believe there is a possibility that this person is being protected.” Catch up on my latest @newyorker.com investigation: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

What a recent policy reversal by Attorney General Pam Bondi on confidential sources means and why it threatens press freedom—and, in turn, democracy. Through rigorous, fair, and factual reporting, we can make the world more informed. @newyorker.com #journalism #news #US #press #pressfreedom

The Trump administration started laying off more than 1,000 State Department employees today. I wrote a book, War on Peace, that examines the consequences of cuts to State—an agency essential to US security. It speaks to the life-saving work of diplomats: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/war-on-pea...

How do undocumented immigrants actually impact crime and the economy? If we want to design effective, lawful, and fair immigration policies, it helps to start with the facts. #news #politics #immigration #investigativejournalism

I keeping thinking about this Musk profile from 2023, in which national security officials said they were scared AF at how dependent our govt is on him. "We are living off his good graces,” said a DoD official. “That sucks.” by @ronanfarrow.bsky.social www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Your data can be a weapon. A brief explanation, from a reporter who’s investigated privacy and surveillance issues, on @briefingwithpsaki.bsky.social @jenpsaki.msnbc.com.

What can we really learn from the growing body of reporting about Elon Musk’s erraticism? If you want more explainers, find me on TikTok @ theronanfarrow and Instagram @ ronanfarrow :

the inaugural edition of How Bad Is It?, feat. @ronanfarrow.bsky.social subscribe to get these in your inbox: www.newyorker.com/newsletter/d...

Even before Elon Musk began working with the Trump Administration, his government influence was “brazen and expansive,” @ronanfarrow.bsky.social wrote, in 2023. Revisit his reporting on the U.S.’s growing reliance on the tech billionaire.

Harrowing story of police and prosecutorial misconduct that meant dozens of women and several children were raped long after the perp could have been stopped by @ronanfarrow.bsky.social @newyorker.com apple.news/AOd61yDwCThW...

JD Vance holds a JD from Yale Law (and so do I). Presumably, he knows that he is disregarding the law here, and being deceptive about the protections it affords. (1/6)

An important and devastating piece from the great Ruth Marcus.

The world is a pretty dark place right now but as long as @ronanfarrow.bsky.social is doing his investigative work there is hope. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Wow. This story by @ronanfarrow.bsky.social is an extraordinary read. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Good tread and good article

My new @newyorker.com story, a 4-year investigation into a whistleblower’s claims that police shielded a predator, underscores the real-world stakes of Trump's cuts. Corruption oversight and whistleblower protection, already inadequate, are newly imperiled. (1/7) www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Have you checked out my latest in The New Yorker? Why were the police refusing to investigate Sean Williams? Read here: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

In 2021, I got an encrypted email from a federal prosecutor who was chasing a predator and feared police were shielding him. For 4 years, I looked at whether corruption allowed one of the most prolific rapists in history to get away. Bizarre and wrenching to report: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Have you listened to #NotAVeryGoodMurderer yet? Out now on Audible: www.audible.com/pd/Not-a-Ver...

My new #podcast, #NotAVeryGoodMurderer, is out now on Audible: www.audible.com/navgm I set out to vet an incendiary allegation from an eccentric pageant queen with a tangled past, and stumble into a string of unsolved crimes—a jewel heist, a suspicious fire, stalking, even serial attempted murder.

Looking forward to pressing ▶️!

My new #podcast, #NotAVeryGoodMurderer, is out now on Audible: www.audible.com/navgm I set out to vet an incendiary allegation from an eccentric pageant queen with a tangled past, and stumble into a string of unsolved crimes—a jewel heist, a suspicious fire, stalking, even serial attempted murder.

It’s the podcast series I’ve been on for five years, since the Catch and Kill pod. Audible—in my experience an independent entity within their ownership structure—put a lot into it, so that’s the only place to listen for now. Hoping people sign up to show companies we care about journalism.

Putting the finishing touches on Not a Very Good Murderer, out tomorrow 12P EST. I set out to vet a source and stumbled into a series of cold cases, in a twisty fact-checking saga. Pre-order on Amazon or pre-save in the Audible app now: audible.com/navgm

That’s a wrap on Sundance 2025. Here I am talking about journalism, giving a lil preview of my next podcast, Audible's #NotAVeryGoodMurderer, and being overshadowed by @juliettelewis.bsky.social's cool boots.

Your phone is a spy. "Surveilled" is coming up at 9pm on HBO. (Or Stream it on @streamonmax.bsky.social, cable cutters.)

@ronanfarrow.bsky.social reports on how the Trump Administration could use phone-hacking software to surveil citizens and target vulnerable groups. “Every single person should be worried,” a privacy expert said.

Turns out so many of you are worried about your data getting into nefarious hands, HBO had to schedule a whole encore airing of “Surveilled.” Catch it at 9pm tomorrow or stream it on @streamonmax.bsky.social.

Coming up—airing 9pm EST on HBO and streaming on Max.