NIOSH was protecting workers from all kinds of safety hazards for a grand total of… $1 per taxpayer per year. Once again, federal workers are stepping up to tell us what will happen when these agencies are gutted. ⬇️

500 thank-yous to @amberscorah.bsky.social & @psst-org.bsky.social for caring to profile me and taking the time to narrate my perspective with empathy + flair! Amber & Psst are shining examples of why independent media is critical! Please read AND support: psstpsst.substack.com/p/strategic-...

WORKERS SPEAK OUT 🎤 Be careful who you RIF. Aisha Coffey spent 15 years running campaigns that literally saved lives. After getting laid off by Doge, she’s leading a network of federal workers getting the truth out to the public. Here's her “villain arc”: psstpsst.substack.com/p/strategic-...

Ah yes, glasses from Meta, which we know is famous for neglecting to protect user data and silencing whistleblowers. What could go wrong!

👇 Integrity is what drives everyone who risks their career and reputation to share information in the public good. No matter the circumstances, to continue to have whistleblowers looking out for us, we must return the favor by listening to them and keeping them safe.

Good news today. 👏👏👏 We tuned into this hearing live and shared out the most salient moments, check out our thread for a recap: bsky.app/profile/psst...

Senate hearing today, "Examining the Harm of AI Chatbots." Parents who lost children at the encouragement and instruction of an AI "friend" sounding a warning to us all. Robbie Torney of @commonsensemedia.bsky.social on the failure of AI safety systems. Hear what the public needs to know: 🧵⬇️

Meanwhile, Gemini just surged past ChatGPT for the top spot on the App Store - helping Alphabet hit a $3 *trillion* violation for the first time. 👀

A common thread across AI research: safeguards exist, but are way too easy to bypass. ⬇️

I'm surprised this whistleblower story about WhatsApp security isn't getting more attention on this site. Maybe people on Bluesky already know to use Signal instead? Anyway, NYT story troubling enough on its own: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/t...

More whistleblower news this week ➡️ a former executive at Alphabet’s health subsidiary, Verily, alleged that the company jeopardized the sensitive health data of 25,000 patients. When he raised the alarm, he was fired. While on protected leave. www.fastcompany.com/91402764/why...

Did you read the WhatsApp whistleblower story out this week? 6 security engineers for 2.5 billion users? ~100,000 hacks/day? Meta pretending the whistleblower is the problem? (surprise surprise) Here are the juicy details the NYT left out, in our newsletter: psstpsst.substack.com/p/a-whatsapp...

For every $1 Meta has invested in the safety and security of its users, it has spent more than $7 to boost its own stock price.

Whistleblowers say Meta buried research showing kids — some as young as 10— faced grooming and harassment in VR. We’ll live‑update the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing as testimony unfolds. Turn on notifications for this thread. #Meta #LiveUpdates #ChildSafety #SenateHearing

New Meta whistleblower says WhatsApp was shockingly unprotected: just 6 security engineers, 100,000 account hacks/day, exposed metadata. Businesses, journalists, activists, families rely on it daily. We helped protect this worker as he brought his story to the NYT: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/t...

NEW: Current and former #Meta staffers tell Congress the company’s lawyers suppressed research that exposed child safety risks associated with their virtual reality products. Workers keeping us informed, yet again.👇 www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

Whistleblowers have long been one of the most important checks on power we have. When they share, we listen.

Groups of workers coming together is what the public needs right now to stay informed. AND what workers need--there is strength in numbers. ⬇️

Today in headlines that make you want to rip your hair out 🫠 futurism.com/medicare-pay...

👇 PSA: AI chatbots can very easily be tweaked to reflect the ideological biases of their makers. (Translation: Elon Musk is personally tweaking Grok to reflect his billionaire's worldview) www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/t...

AI’s drive to please its users is increasingly coming at the expense of their lives. As Steyer writes, “Realistic conversations maximize engagement, and maximum engagement means maximum profit.”

There’s nothing more in the public’s interest than ensuring we can save lives during natural disasters. Whatever our political party, we cannot allow the suppression of federal workers' voices. Spread the word. @standupforscience.bsky.social

Breaking: A whistleblower alleged that DOGE put hundreds of millions of Americans at risk of being hacked by uploading Social Security info to a vulnerable cloud server. According to him, no oversight mechanisms exist to monitor what DOGE is using the data for. 👇 www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/u...

NEW: Big Tech is putting $100m towards PACs that will fight the regulation of AI. …Not great news for those concerned with keeping the technology safe. Protecting and platforming AI whistleblowers is becoming more important by the day. www.wsj.com/politics/sil...

A whistleblower has exposed a #Meta Shops scheme to inflate ads performance by counting shipping and taxes as sales. Not un-obvious why Zuck loves to fire leakers. www.adweek.com/media/whistl...

Below are the Meta chatbot messages that led Thongbue Wongbandu, a 76 year old retiree with cognitive impairments following a stroke, to pack up his things and head to NYC to visit who he thought was his girlfriend. Tragically, he passed away as a result of a fall while rushing to catch his train.

While GPT-5 includes some much needed safety guardrails to prevent chats from turning sexually explicit or hateful, WIRED’s @thiccreese.bsky.social was able to bypass them with just a little bit of trial and error. It probably shouldn’t be that easy. 🥴 www.wired.com/story/openai...

White House HR Chief: “It’s totally reasonable to not have people in [federal] positions who are trying to, you know, thwart the goals that the president has been elected to do.” Is it “thwarting goals” or reporting information in the public interest? 🤔 news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-...

The playbook used against whistleblowers looks exactly the same, no matter where you are in the world. Jeannie-Marie Blake makes an urgent case for whistleblower protections in Australia, with lessons to be learned for anyone reading. 👇

If we don’t make it safe and simple for tech whistleblowers to come forward, we’re losing one of our last avenues to protect the public from the harms of AI. More from @techpolicypress.bsky.social ⬇️ techpolicy.press/stopping-ai-...

“If nobody’s going to regulate, we’re going to need insiders to tell us what’s going on.” Thanks to @semafor.com's Rachyl Jones for this piece on Psst's work helping AI workers quietly flag alarms. (Tech workers, reach out even for a gut check, we're discreet): www.semafor.com/article/08/0...

👇 Important essay from a dedicated public servant detailing the conditions that pushed him to leave government work. “If we want people to choose service, we have to make it a choice worth making.” open.substack.com/pub/slowmind...

This is important public-interest information. Thanks for coming forward. @psst-org.bsky.social supports collective whistleblowing with pro bono protected legal advice. Mostly in government and tech. We need more folks like this lady to let the public know.

Please vote for Psst.org's panels at the SXSW conference! Option #2 includes a discussion of our "I Do Solemnly Swear" audio series! bit.ly/FedSeries YOUR VOTE COUNTS HERE!

VOTE FOR US! No, we’re not running for president (yet), but we do have some great ideas for our current moment. Can you help upvote Psst.org’s SXSW panel submissions? Just click the link for the topic you like (or, all 3!), hit the ♥️ by the title, follow prompts to create a SXSW account, and voila:

Crucially, whistleblower David Lochridge brought safety issues to OceanGate leadership as early as 2018- only to be ignored, fired, and eventually sued by the company. His story could’ve saved lives. We need to listen to workers. Read his accounting here: www.bbc.com/news/article...

We think leaders building AI have got this right: “it’s up to the people building AI to ensure it’s a force for the greater good.” But we believe the definition of "greater good" has to involve the public. We can do this together. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/t...

@kateconger.com’s newest: Gone are the days of ping pong tables and corporate transparency at Big Tech companies. Workers now describe being “scared to death” to step out of line as benefits and job security dwindle. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/t...

⬇️ Excellent piece. When it comes to developing and safeguarding the AI industry, workers (not Big Tech lobbyists) are who we need to hear from.

On July 30, 1778, Congress unanimously passed America's first whistleblower protection law. They knew then what we know now: this country will not survive if people can't to speak up without fear of retribution. All gratitude to the truth-tellers then and now. We're here to help ➡️ psst.org

We’re not asking for Claude to spill the tea or for Sam Altman’s ChatGPT therapy notes. Just a document explaining how AI companies handle worker concerns. We're joining @aiwi-official.bsky.social and a growing coalition in this call to AI companies: publishyourpolicies.org #PublishYourPolicies

More from National Whistleblower Appreciation Day, we hear from @wyden.senate.gov: "It’s really hard today to come forward. But it was always hard--it was never a walk in the park. Whistleblowers can be the difference in ensuring the rule of law and due process is followed."

We're at National Whistleblower Center's Whistleblower Appreciation Day today, hearing firsthand from whistleblowers and others who work to support them. This year, whistleblowing has become more fraught than ever. We are sharing some of what we are hearing here today, for all our benefit...

Unreal and unacceptable. “The expectation is that every whistleblower complaint is investigated with speed and due diligence. Those responsible need to be held to the highest standards of accountability.” - @wbaidlaw.bsky.social Chief Legal Counsel Andrew Bakaj

ICYMI: Last week Sen. Chuck Grassley signed on to cosponsor a bill that expands whistleblower protections for federal contractors and subcontractors. This legislation now has bipartisan support. 🥳👇 www.govexec.com/oversight/20...

Psst… Erez Reuveni’s case is even stronger after being corroborated by a second whistleblower. Read their account here: www.cnn.com/2025/07/27/p...

ICYMI 👇 NASA employee: “We’re scared of retaliation. We go to the bathroom to talk to each other, and look under the stalls to make sure that no one else is there before we talk.” It shouldn’t have to be this way. Psst.org is here to help workers with sensitive information the public should know.

A totally nascent industry given a free pass to dodge government oversight and safeguards. Buckle up folks, this will be interesting… www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/t...

Psst… Our co-founder @jengibson.bsky.social is on the Locked Up Living podcast today discussing our movement to turn whistleblowing on its head from an individual act to a collective force. Tune in to hear how we’re helping people find strength in numbers. 🎧 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/j...

NEW: A bill introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley & @blumenthal.senate.gov‬ would allow people to sue tech companies for training their AI models with pirated or copyrighted data. Nice bi-partisan momentum on putting people over Big Tech, we'll be watching this one. www.axios.com/pro/tech-pol...