Reupping for the Sunday crowd =>

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...

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/...

What percentage of GPT training is now just making sure it can draw a pelican riding a bicycle?

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...

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...

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?

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...

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

what's the best thing you've read on the rise of gambling/sports betting/the whole world feels like a casino now thing?

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

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...

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

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...

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...

"It's still not popular" as a talking point going out the window right on time as fully expected.

X continues to allow accounts linked to terrorist groups like Hezbollah to pay for verified checkmarks. This comes after Musk criticized the Treasury Dept for allegedly not having controls in place with regards to terrorists that were "in place at any company." www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/t...

Thank you, @craigsilverman.bsky.social, for including Code Like a Journalist in your newsletter! 👉 www.code-like-a-journalist.com

Fantastic charts by the @upshot.nytimes.com's @aatishb.bsky.social + Irineo Cabreros summing up Trump's first 100 days. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Three users on X who feuded with Elon Musk in December saw their reach on the social platform practically vanish overnight, The New York Times found, signaling that Musk or others at the company have the power to punish critics and that they may be willing to use it. nyti.ms/4lF3pm1

a fav

You're not supposed to always agree with a columnist like Nick Kristof but he does it right. He goes out and reports and writes from what he's seen. These aren't hot takes, they're fleshed out and reported pieces that make a case. That's never been more important. - www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Reports by the Amtrak IG were invaluable when I was reporting this out last year — www.curbed.com/article/amtr...

Wow a parade of Layer Cake charts!

Lots of great people at 538. If anyone is looking for an exceptional data journalist, you should reach out to @katiemarriner.bsky.social

Before Trump's inauguration, the CFPB sued Capital One, accusing it of using deceptive tactics that the CFPB said cheated customers out of $2 billion in interest payments on their savings accounts. Yesterday, the CFPB abandoned the suit and permanently waived its legal right to ever again pursue it

I will say again: The destruction of the CFPB—an agency that has brought in $20 billion over a little more than a decade despite having an annual budget that's less than what DOD has spent so far today—is the clearest sign none of this has anything to do with saving taxpayers money.

Current status:

Revisiting this story @joedeaux.bsky.social and I did on the impact of steel tariffs from 2017 back when Trump first proposed it www.bloomberg.com/graphics/201...

New — The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) was told this week by DOJ that they'd lose their funding if the org didn't remove any mentions of LGBTQIA+ issues from their public materials, I've learned. Staff were told they need to deadname trans kids in their reports to comply.

This is my Watergate wapo.st/4aBla0g

Visual Investigation: Many of the Jan. 6 rioters who President Trump pardoned attacked Capitol police officers, video shows.

Earlier this month, we announced the purchase of 265 new zero-emission buses that will operate on routes across the five boroughs. This purchase is made possible by congestion relief funding!

Literally every company now youtube.com/shorts/hL9pl...

Currently live if you have questions!

@jenvalentino.bsky.social and I are doing a Reddit AMA on Monday 2pm ET answering Qs about our series on child influencers on Instagram. Here's where it'll be, along with gift links to all of our articles over the past year: www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comme...

ICYMI: One supposed social media adviser was running a child exploitation scheme *from prison*. A popular photographer kept working with girls despite sex abuse allegations sustained in family court. I'm not even sure these are the craziest things in this story. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/30/u...

This piece is the latest in a series with @mhkeller.bsky.social about child-influencers, the perils of an industry that sexualizes them and the role their parents play. Our first article on the subject published in February of last year. www.nytimes.com/2024/02/22/u...

Screenshots here from the very cool www.congestion-pricing-tracker.com app

From a space for cars to a place for people in one of my favourite client cities, Groningen Netherlands. Another powerful before-and-after transformation 1960s vs 2021. In recent years one of the city’s biggest challenges has been where to park all the bikes Seriously. A good problem to have.

Part 5 in our series on child influencers with @jenvalentino.bsky.social: The Men Who Use Instagram to Groom Child Influencers “Instagram is the engine,” said one photographer now in jail. “If you’re going to get on Instagram, you’re playing with fire.” www.nytimes.com/2024/12/30/u...

There's video of the alleged gunman in a taxi, but you won't hear Andrew Fine claiming that taxis are the "getaway vehicle of choice" for criminals in New York City.

From my colleague Tripp Mickle: victims of online child sexual abuse are suing Apple. Their argument is an attempt to sidestep Section 230 protections and instead claim that Apple has knowingly created a dangerous product. Really interesting read www.nytimes.com/2024/12/08/t...

My latest article is about something I've heard about for years but didn't have definitive proof of until recently: Smartphone apps – available on the Apple and Google app stores – where people pay to view and direct the sexual abuse of children over livestream www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/u...

The latest in our child influencers series: She made tens of thousands of dollars selling photos as a teen and launched her own site for girls. Now 18, her story illustrates how childhood for many girls is being molded by platforms that monetize male sexual attention www.nytimes.com/2024/11/10/u...

We mapped avg. insurance prices by county, and prices as a percentage of typical home values — not a perfect control, but it helps highlight the huge cost burdens in many poorer regions. Ideally we would compare prices to replacement costs, but companies don't disclose that either.

Stumbled across some nice animated LayerCake charts in this Economist piece on solar power: www.economist.com/interactive/...

Meta has built engagement-boosting algorithms that show pedophiles pictures of young girls, write @mhkeller.bsky.social and Jennifer Valentino-DeVries. “The men engage,” says algorithm research scientist @sapiezynski.bsky.social. “The machine is doing exactly what you want it to do.”

Our latest piece on Instagram and child safety: Advertisers of merchandise for young girls find that adult men can become their unintended audience. In a test ad, convicted sex offenders inquired about a child model. www.nytimes.com/2024/05/13/u...