A must-read from @davey.bsky.social :

I love this rallying cry by @davey.bsky.social on the value of humans in journalism. www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/in-2...

“It’s a story about volume, value, and what journalism becomes when “content” grows functionally infinite.” - @davey.bsky.social www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/in-2...

New from me: A NiemanLab prediction! Have always admired this end-of-year package from the smartest people in media, so it was an honor to be asked to write this. Imo, in 2026, AI-written content online will outpace what humans produce. www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/in-2...

AI slop. it's what's for dinner. Thanks tech overlords! Keep looking in the mirror while you sing the song about your utopian genius!

Public service journalism this holiday season courtesy of @davey.bsky.social & Carmen Arroyo: bsky.app/profile/dave...

"An AI-assembled version of Gargano’s Christmas cake, for instance, would have people cooking a 6-inch cake for 3 to 4 hours at 320°F (160°C). 'You’d end up with charcoal!' she said. Meanwhile, traffic to her turkey recipe is already down 40% year over year."

AI slop is ruining tamales now. by @davey.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NEW: AI “recipe slop” is overrunning search and social. Food creators say Google’s AI Overviews and glossy fake food pics are drowning out real, tested recipes — collapsing traffic and setting home cooks up for disaster, especially this Thanksgiving. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Deep dive by @davey.bsky.social + Bloomberg colleagues into the growing number of small businesses marketing products around conservative political identity and their relationship with the right-wing influencer universe on YouTube bit.ly/4oR7fcF

A totally fascinating deep dive by my pal @davey.bsky.social and her talented Bloomberg colleagues on the rising economy of MAGA-coded brands advertising on right-wing YouTube channels www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

This is such a big deal... And so poorly understood / visible to normies - who can only see the outcomes / downstream consequences in our society... Follow the fucking ad money. Every time

Analysis: YouTube's top conservative podcasters drive a boom in host-read ads targeting right-wing audiences; nearly 91% of 876 episodes had political ads (Bloomberg) Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

Such a great story from @davey.bsky.social & other star reporters on the politics of consumption and the MAGA ad machine www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

NEW: For months, my colleagues and I dug into YouTube's conservative airwaves and found a flourishing network of host-read ads on right-leaning podcasts. This phenomenon has enriched hosts, YouTube, and businesses that use ideology to sell. bloom.bg/3Kaio9w

In its Q3 earnings, Alphabet said the profit included "net gains on equity securities of $10.7B," in part from a private company, which sources say is Anthropic (Bloomberg) Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

Here's confirmationnnn www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Kind of a crazy scoop (given the amount money involved here) with colleagues @rachelmetz.bsky.social & Ed Ludlow: Anthropic is in discussions with Google for a massive cloud deal — computing power valued in the high tens of billions www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

this story is fun lol @zoeschiffer.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/owning...

The amazing thing about the hundreds of billions of dollars being spent on AI development is it doesn't even include all the externalized costs like higher electricity prices for hundreds of millions of people.

Some news.

Duterte was arrested in March by Philippine authorities on a warrant issued by the ICC. He is now being held at an ICC facility in the Netherlands.

Speaking over a radio, the federal agent who told police that Villegas González tried to use his car as a weapon said his partner had suffered “a left knee injury and some lacerations to his hands.” “Nothing major,” the injured agent said. chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdog...

This story isn't just a look back at what happened last hurricane season. It also looks forward at the threat today. bsky.app/profile/zhir...

Oh, did I mention: We published all of the hundreds of FOIA docs with this story. Now you can look through them yourself: assets.bwbx.io/documents/us... bsky.app/profile/did:...

NEW: More than 500 pages of #FOIA docs @zhirji.bsky.social @davey.bsky.social & I obtained from FEMA detail previously unreported threats against personnel in the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene & Milton, including the swatting of then-FEMA Director Deanne Criswell 🎁 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

New docs obtained via FOIA reveal how the personal attacks to FEMA staff last hurricane season were much worse than previously known, including swatting & doxxing of officials. Story @bloomberg.com, w/ @davey.bsky.social @jasonleopold.bsky.social (gift link): www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

“‘The profit-driven platform model, where sensational falsehoods outperform factual updates in emergencies, ensures this problem persists across political cycles and it can put lives at risk,’ said Callum Hood, head of research at the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate.”

NEW: Bloomberg obtained 100s of pages of agency emails & other docs via FOIA, shedding new light on how disaster-related misinfo affects the govt's emergency response, sucks up resources & puts staff at risk. with @zhirji.bsky.social @jasonleopold.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Important detail here as we think about AI deals for the long haul -- Reddit looking for dynamic payment based on use in answers (in addition to payments for training)

Scoop: Reddit is in talks with Google to strike a new AI content deal—one that would get the platform paid more for its data, which has become crucial for training Google's AI & powering search results w/ @rileyraygriffin.bsky.social & @shiringhaffary.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The Trump administration, from the CDC to EPA to NOAA, is going to war with established climate science. I, along w/@blkahn.bsky.social @eroston.bsky.social, try to capture the big picture of what's already happened & what's at stake. Gift link @bloomberg.com: www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

New analysis: Google avoided the most severe outcomes in its search antitrust case because of the growing threat from generative AI. The result is a letdown for many who hoped for accountability for Big Tech in a landmark legal battle. From me, @sisco.bsky.social & @leahnylen.bsky.social

Google's lobbyists are a major force in D.C., yet they're not at the top of the spending charts. A colleague has a great story explaining the workaround www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The study finds that in 2022 over 26% of systems reviewed gave a disclaimed that they aren’t providing medical advice. Now? Less than 1%.

A thing that makes that Times story especially odious is that Zohran Mamdani's father was LITERALLY expelled from Uganda during Idi Amin's fascist effort to scapegoat Asian Ugandans as not really African www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

A little bit of news from me and @julialove.bsky.social: Google isn’t pushing through with its Quick View Recipe feature, which food bloggers had feared could erode their search traffic www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

And its a wrap on the DOJ's Google search antitrust case, as closing arguments end. Next stop likely August with a ruling that could force the company to sell Chrome, license critical data, and bar $20b + in annual payments to Apple w @davey.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Trump stopped mentioning the hazard mitigation grant program in major disaster declarations, so I started looking into what was happening. Here's what I found by asking each state asking about the status of their recent hazard mitigation requests. Full story here: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

🚨 New Businessweek Feature 🚨 What is behind Mark Zuckerberg's rightward swing toward President Trump? I'd wager it's less about personal politics, and more about a finely tuned sense of self-preservation... w/ @rileyraygriffin.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

“This is a man who wears many different costumes,” she continued. “Now his new costume is MMA-fighting or whatever, free speech—we don’t know what the next costume is going to be, but it will be something different. “It’s whatever gets him closest to power.” www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

New: As Google search head Liz Reid announces at #googleio that AI Mode is rolling out to all US users today, Alphabet shares drop... Follow along with my & @julialove.bsky.social's live I/O coverage here

I left my job at ProPublica about a month ago. Here's why: I've teamed up with @mantzarlis.com to launch indicator.media, a new publication dedicated to exposing digital deception and to equipping professionals and the public with knowledge and skills to investigate it. Sign up for free below!

New: Wrote about a Google trial exhibit that the public seemed to have paid little attention to. The document shows Google had a “hard red line” and would require all publishers who wanted their content to show up in the search page to also be used to feed AI features. with @julialove.bsky.social ⤵

I spent the past several months with the family of one patient in the study, Ian, who was injured in a car crash in 1986. His mother has never stopped believing he could understand her. Today in @theatlantic.com, Ian's story: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

🧵 Last year, I came across one of the most harrowing studies I've ever read. It found that 1 in 4 unresponsive brain-injury patients—many considered vegetative—might be cognitively aware but trapped inside their bodies. Could this be true? What did it mean? www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

The definitive analysis of congestion pricing to date: it’s working in just about every way we could think up! Huge team effort, led by @emmbadger.bsky.social and the Upshot team

was personally rooting for First Filipino Pope but i will allow Chicago Pope 👍

During its antitrust trial Google confirmed that websites opting out of AI crawling only affects Gemini. Google search still uses your content to power AI overviews. The only way to opt out of your content showing up in AI overviews in search is to opt out of being shown in Google search results.