A little blurb from me about the sudden death of a 4chan board that had become one of the internet's busiest and fastest-growing hubs for trading and soliciting AI-generated "deepfake" porn and how @openmeasures.io sees its role in what happened. openmeasures.io/4chan-adult-...

In this month's "ICYMI" newsletter... ⚠️ News about the closure of 4chan's "Adult Requests" imageboard 📰 All the research articles we published in June 🔗 Links to stories from others we think are worth your time 🌈 Happy Pride, Knicks in five! 🏀

4chan's "Adult Requests" board was one of the internet's largest and fastest-growing venues for trading and soliciting sexually explicit "deepfakes." On May 21, it abruptly shut down. More than a month later, there's still no sign it's coming back. openmeasures.io/4chan-ai-dee...

What's MAGA media to do when a White House initiative goes terribly wrong? A recent article in The Atlantic outlines the 13-step political spin cycle right-wing commentators use in those situations, featuring insights from OM senior researcher Jared Holt. blog.openmeasures.io/p/new-articl...

Some words from OM senior researcher Jared Holt in here

NEW: After 300 days of inactivity, Libs of TikTok returned to Truth Social in Dec. 2025. Now it generates more high-engagement posts than the site's official White House account. We explored how it happened and the anti-LGBTQ+ hate it's stirring on Trump's platform. openmeasures.io/libsoftiktok...

NEW: After 300 days of inactivity, Libs of TikTok returned to Truth Social in Dec. 2025. Now it generates more high-engagement posts than the site's official White House account. We explored how it happened and the anti-LGBTQ+ hate it's stirring on Trump's platform. openmeasures.io/libsoftiktok...

After Laura Loomer, long an outspoken Kremlin supporter, said on X that she “fell for Russian propaganda,” she immediately experienced a dramatic drop in online engagement. www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/laura-loom...

We've got a new custom Bluesky domain: @openmeasures.io

I was curious how users on MAGA-heavy platforms have coped with the Reflecting Pool drama so I configured the @openmeasures.bsky.social Research Assistant to create a summary of the themes across ~2.6k posts that mentioned it this month. Something about seeing it presented this way is just so funny

This is your periodic reminder that we have a newsletter you can sign up for to get our latest research pieces straight to your inbox blog.openmeasures.io

Telegram has removed millions of channels and groups in its attempts to address illegal activity taking place on its app. But despite those efforts, the issue persists. Our latest looks at how cybercriminals have adapted to the company's policy changes and takedowns openmeasures.io/telegram-cra...

The DOJ has brought charges against 15 people who it claims belonged to Minneapolis "antifa" groups, citing messages sent in Signal group chats to make its case. MAGA media demanded feds investigate anti-ICE Signal chats earlier this year. We covered it at the time: openmeasures.io/alex-pretti-...

Check out Phil's reporting, which features some insights from us.

Recent anti-immigrant violence across the UK has excited online white supremacist movements, who have been cheering on rioters and signal-boosting calls for further escalation and "mass protests." (We've obscured the channel names for this post.)

Conspiracy theorists are lashing out against major pharmaceutical companies amid the push to develop vaccines for Ebola virus, claiming international concern about a deadly outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was the work of "pandemic profiteers." openmeasures.io/ebola-pharma...

ICYMI: Here's a look at what Open Measures was up to last month. open.substack.com/pub/openmeas...

We regret to inform you Bluesky users posted "go Spurs" at 2.5x the rate they posted "go Knicks" over the last week.

Right-wing influencers like Benny Johnson and Tim Pool amplified conspiracy theories suggesting global elites would use the hantavirus outbreak to influence midterm elections in the US. Those claims swirled through fringe communities days earlier. High-profile MAGA pundits took them mainstream.

Check out this piece from IT Brew, which covers the in-depth report we put out earlier this month www.itbrew.com/stories/rese...

We're hiring a remote, full-time Staff Engineer to join our team. openmeasures.io/careers/staf...

We launched a new tool in our platform called “Research Assistant.” It’s an LLM agent that summarizes large datasets. AI can’t replace skilled researchers, and this isn’t a substitute. Instead, we geared this tool so it can reliably do things that save their time. openmeasures.io/ai-research-...

Senior researcher Jared Holt spoke to @drewharwell.com for this article unpacking the familiar patterns seen in the extremist attack on a San Diego mosque this week www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/...

Spoke with @andrewdyer.bsky.social about the teens who carried out a racist shooting at a mosque in San Diego this week www.kpbs.org/news/public-...

Users on alternative platforms like Truth Social, Gab, 4chan, and others have been trading theories alleging that yesterday's deadly shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego was a "false flag" -- a term used to describe staged events designed to cast blame onto others

Pro-Trump communities have spent years claiming that US elections are irredeemably corrupt and "rigged" against Republicans. But now they're rallying behind partisan gerrymandering efforts ahead of 2026 midterms. Our latest looks at how they got there: openmeasures.io/2026-midterm...

After Reddit, X, and other platforms cracked down on communities dedicated to “jailbreaking” AI models, they didn’t disappear. Instead, many relocated to alternative platforms. Over the last year, we’ve seen those communities grow increasingly active, organized, and fast-moving. Short thread 🧵

Open Measures senior researcher Jared Holt spoke to The Washington Post about conspiracy theories alleging the WHCD shooting was faked. "Conspiracy theorizing has infected our body politic now to the point where it has become a gut reflex...” www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Users on three alternative platforms dominated by pro-Trump communities -- Gab, Gettr, and Truth Social -- discussed redrawing state congressional district maps more in recent weeks. They expressed outrage after Virginia redrew its maps. They celebrated when SCOTUS nerfed the Voting Rights Act.

Truth Social's place in the social media landscape has waxed and waned since it launched ~4 years ago. Our CEO Hank Teran spoke to CJR about its unique role as a tool for the Trump administration, putting it at the center of US policy.

US CENTCOM is denying another set of claims that Iran’s military hit a US warship in a missile attack. Read our report from last month about how state-backed and state-aligned actors have spread similar claims throughout the war, stirring confusion: openmeasures.io/iran-uss-abr...

Solidarity with @accessnow.org. Thousands of participants from hundreds of organizations (including ours) were days away from gathering in Zambia to convene for RightsCon. At the last minute the PRC stepped in, objecting to participation from Taiwanese speakers. www.rightscon.org/rc26-stateme...

We analyzed user requests for explicit AI "deepfakes" of three female celebrities in posts from 4chan's "Adult Requests" over the last year. Notably, user requests for nonconsensual images of all three women often spiked when the women were making headlines.

The datasets we collect can provide insights into broader trends across platforms, but they can also function as an archive when accounts go offline. We shared our records of Cole Tomas Allen's since-removed Bluesky account with MSNOW, which are cited in this article www.ms.now/news/cole-al...

Senior researcher Jared Holt spoke to NPR about what he saw (and didn’t see) in our archive data of the Bluesky account reportedly used by the the suspect in the WHCD shooting www.npr.org/2026/04/27/n...

David Ellison said he handed the reigns of CBS News to conservative writer Bari Weiss so she could help the network "modernize" and draw in new audiences. Since then, Weiss has been remaking the network in her own image. MAGA communities aren't buying it. openmeasures.io/cbs-news-bar...

When Bari Weiss took over as editor-in-chief of CBS News, critics suspected the network would bend its coverage to appeal to Trump supporters. If that was the goal, it doesn't seem to have worked in the slightest. openmeasures.io/cbs-news-bar...

The Department of Homeland Security posted a photo of Fenway Park, seemingly out of left field, with the words “Worth Fighting For.” To many New Englanders, those were fighting words.

After initially declaring that The Onion announced its purchase of Infowars prematurely, Alex Jones has pivoted. Now he says the "REAL Infowars" is set to close on May 1. Jones now claims that Trump and the DOJ are supporting The Onion's takeover to punish him "for exposing the Epstein files."

Open Measures senior researcher @jaredlholt.bsky.social talked to WaPo for this story. Check it their great reporting

State-backed media outlets and state-aligned news aggregators were key in stirring confusion around Iran's attacks on the USS Abraham Lincoln throughout the Iran War, causing even seasoned conflict monitors to second-guess themselves. openmeasures.io/iran-uss-abr...

Next month, Open Measures CEO @heyhank.bsky.social will co-lead a @rightscon.org workshop with our friends @msf.ca. We'll investigate how online spaces shape the public perception of NGOs and the way narratives form across platforms, who drives them, and what organizations can do to stay protected.

New on @indicator.media: With @mattburgess1.bsky.social at @wired.com, I built a map of the reported cases where AI was used to create nonconsensual intimate imagery within schools around the globe.

A lot of people would be surprised how often this subject comes up in MAGA communities on alt platforms. Other things related to Trump that have freaked people out in the last year: -The "Triumphal Arch" monument -Promotion of cryptocurrencies -US/Israel relations (especially re: the Iran War)

Lin Wood, a former attorney who helped lead legal efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, spent yesterday thinking about The Masters golf tournament and how it might be related to the conspiracy theories he believes about Freemasonry.

Congrats to our friends at Bellingcat!

The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the official government news agency of Iran, shared multiple messages on Telegram overnight casting Trump's agreement to a two-week ceasefire as a "retreat" after the US experienced "an undeniable, historic, and crushing defeat in an unjust and illegal war."

Our latest episode of the Gate 15 Interview is out now! In this episode, Andy Jabbour is joined by the CEO of @openmeasures.bsky.social, Hank Teran! They talk info ops, extremism, AI threats, and more! Check it out below! #cybersecurity @andyjabbour.bsky.social gate15.global/the-gate-15-...

this is honestly THE best write up of how CSAM detection and perceptual handing works. the visual aids are very helpful in understanding how content is transformed and how detection methods work mahmoud-salem.net/the-invisibl...

What we published in March: 👾 Epstein misinfo spreading with AI-generated images 🗑️ 4chan users creating non-consensual nudes of women 💻️ Bill Gates conspiracy theories seeing new life 🇺🇸 Election denialists targeting Georgia 📉 Polymarket scams/schemes on Telegram blog.openmeasures.io/p/icymi-marc...