megan farokhmanesh
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megannicolett.bsky.social
megan farokhmanesh
@megannicolett.bsky.social
31K followers 770 following 720 posts
senior writer @ WIRED reporting on video games | nyc | face god and walk backwards into hell | email: [email protected] | signal meganfarokhmanesh.76
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megannicolett.bsky.social
if you've ever started a message with "hey trouble" you should go to jail
November 25, 2025 at 8:51 PM
megannicolett.bsky.social
fantastic story from @davidgilbert.bsky.social of a grooming victim who became a Roblox predator hunter trying to prevent the same thing from happening to other kids. Roblox then banned for his vigilantism www.wired.com/story/he-hun...
“The only way this can really be viewed in my eyes is Roblox is trying to silence a critic who has exposed the insane flaw in their platform: that there are sexual predators everywhere,” Schlep says. “I think Roblox wants to make an example of me.”
November 25, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
kattenbarge.bsky.social
Another good reason to avoid being on X is that Isaac Chotiner could start asking you questions there at any time
November 25, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
annamerlan.bsky.social
NEW: When Propecy Fails is one of the most famous social psychology books of all time, a look at a small group of UFO believers when the “spacemen” failed to land. I wrote about a new study from an independent researcher who says the book is not what it seems. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
It’s one of the most influential social psychology studies ever. Was it all a lie?
A classic book on UFO believers and their "cognitive dissonance" after aliens failed to land is called into question.
www.motherjones.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:36 PM
megannicolett.bsky.social
thrilled to reveal I will once again be making a gooey butter cake for friendsgiving. it will instantly kill anyone with dairy intolerance and it goes great with coffee the next morning
November 25, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
caseynewton.bsky.social
I wrote about our interview with Roblox's CEO and how platforms got too big to feel shame www.platformer.news/roblox-ceo-i...
Fast forward to today and the bargain no longer holds. Platforms do whatever the president of the United States tells them to do, and very little else. Shame, that once-great regulator of social norms and executive behavior, has all but disappeared from public life. In its place is denial, defiance, and the noxious vice signaling of the investor class. I'm still reckoning with what it means to do journalism in a world where the truth can barely hold anyone's attention — much less hold a platform accountable, in any real sense of that word. I'm rethinking how to cover tech policy at a time when it is being made by whim. I'm noticing the degree to which platforms wish to be judged only by their stated intentions, and almost never on the outcomes of anyone who uses them.
November 25, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
imodrew.bsky.social
This is what happened to me. Employers across the board need to be aware of how harassment campaigns work and do better to protect their employees from them. These people should not have a platform to profit off of harassment.
aftermath.site Aftermath @aftermath.site · 8d
Two months after firing over Charlie Kirk comments, Ghost of Yotei dev blames harassment campaign, not 'bad joke'
aftermath.site/sucker-punch-c...
Ghost of Yotei
November 24, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
megannicolett.bsky.social
I spoke with people role-playing ICE raids in video games to help educate people on their rights and what to do in real-life situations. Tonight, they're holding an event in Fortnite www.wired.com/story/activi...
New Save Collective plans to continue holding future events and organizing gamers. The fight for these communities online is far from over. “Gaming wasn't kind of a random genre that we chose,” says Siggelkow. “We've been tracking anti-immigrant myths and disinformation digitally for years. We really grounded this campaign in a lot of data and research. This really is a space that is critical for immigration narrative.”
November 21, 2025 at 10:16 PM
megannicolett.bsky.social
Chris is doing really great on the ground reporting
chrisbratt.bsky.social Chris Bratt @chrisbratt.bsky.social · 8d
EXCLUSIVE: So far it's been unclear what proof Rockstar Games has to justify its firing of 34 union members, who it claims were leaking "confidential information in a public forum".

PMG has now seen some of the messages which contributed to this decision being made.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TvW...
The Messages Rockstar Saw Before Firing 34 Union Members
YouTube video by People Make Games
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:39 PM
megannicolett.bsky.social
parents love to leave a voicemail where they identify themselves 1-3 times
November 23, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
jjinandtonic.bsky.social
Oh hey this was a technique for teaching protest skills in hong kong!
megannicolett.bsky.social megan farokhmanesh @megannicolett.bsky.social · 11d
I spoke with people role-playing ICE raids in video games to help educate people on their rights and what to do in real-life situations. Tonight, they're holding an event in Fortnite www.wired.com/story/activi...
New Save Collective plans to continue holding future events and organizing gamers. The fight for these communities online is far from over. “Gaming wasn't kind of a random genre that we chose,” says Siggelkow. “We've been tracking anti-immigrant myths and disinformation digitally for years. We really grounded this campaign in a lot of data and research. This really is a space that is critical for immigration narrative.”
November 22, 2025 at 5:53 AM
megannicolett.bsky.social
I spoke with people role-playing ICE raids in video games to help educate people on their rights and what to do in real-life situations. Tonight, they're holding an event in Fortnite www.wired.com/story/activi...
New Save Collective plans to continue holding future events and organizing gamers. The fight for these communities online is far from over. “Gaming wasn't kind of a random genre that we chose,” says Siggelkow. “We've been tracking anti-immigrant myths and disinformation digitally for years. We really grounded this campaign in a lot of data and research. This really is a space that is critical for immigration narrative.”
November 21, 2025 at 10:16 PM
megannicolett.bsky.social
wha t www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/p...
Newton: You have joined us today to talk about this new age-gating policy that Roblox is rolling out to protect kids. And I think we should start by just talking about the scope of the problem here. What has led you to this point? And how do you think of the problem of predators on Roblox? Baszucki: We think of it not necessarily just as a problem, but an opportunity as well. How do we allow young people to build, communicate and hang out together? How do we build the future of communication at the same time?
November 21, 2025 at 6:04 PM
megannicolett.bsky.social
this subplot is giving robin sparkles
parkermolloy.com Parker Molloy @parkermolloy.com · 13d
Someone found an mp3 of the creepy "Jailbait" song Olivia Nuzzi released when she was 16 🫣
November 19, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
waterslicer.bsky.social
Been fascinated by the idea of a Great Meme Reset ever since I first heard about it. Originally, I was trying to parse how it would be possible to rewind the internet. Then I really thought about what it could mean and why people might want to turn back time...

www.wired.com/story/the-gr...
The ‘Great Meme Reset’ Is Coming
From Jack Dorsey to Gen Alpha, everyone seemingly wants to go back to the internet of a decade ago. But is it possible to reverse AI slop and brain rot?
www.wired.com
November 19, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
caitlinkelly.bsky.social
NEW:

In 2024, Tierra Walker was sick and getting sicker. She was also pregnant.

She knew abortion was illegal in Texas, but thought there was an exception for women like her, whose health was at risk. Doctors told her there was no emergency.

Then she died.

www.propublica.org/article/texa...
“Ticking Time Bomb”: A Pregnant Mother Kept Getting Sicker. She Died After She Couldn’t Get an Abortion in Texas.
Walker is one of several women ProPublica found with underlying health conditions who died when they couldn’t access abortions.
www.propublica.org
November 19, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
jasonkoebler.bsky.social
Nearly two weeks of surveillance footage from the Broadview ICE Detention Center has been "irretrievably destroyed" and cannot be produced as evidence in a lawsuit against the government over abhorrent conditions there:

www.404media.co/two-weeks-of...
Two Weeks of Surveillance Footage From ICE Detention Center ‘Irretrievably Destroyed’
"Defendants have indicated that some video between October 19, 2025 and October 31, 2025 has been irretrievably destroyed and therefore cannot be produced on an expedited basis or at all."
www.404media.co
November 18, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
leahfeiger.bsky.social
NEW: For months, the Social Security Administration was quietly sharing sensitive data about immigrants with DHS. Now it’s official.

read @telliotter.bsky.social:
Social Security Data Is Openly Being Shared With DHS to Target Immigrants
For months, the Social Security Administration was quietly sharing sensitive data about immigrants with DHS. Now it’s official.
www.wired.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:54 PM
megannicolett.bsky.social
two full months away from all internet and news, and I somehow picked the perfect day to log back on
November 18, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
megannicolett.bsky.social
talked to Bennett Foddy about Baby Steps and watching men struggle unnecessarily www.wired.com/story/baby-s...
A playtester for his latest project, Baby Steps, was struggling to navigate the game’s lead—Nate, a 35-year-old “failson” in a stained onesie—up a slippery hill. Each time, the terrain proved to be too much, and Nate skidded uselessly down it. Foddy has a reputation for making onerous games that take a little bit of masochism to master. This was not one of those times. Neatly placed next to the slippery hill was a staircase, which Foddy says the player took note of after the third or fourth fall. However, this modern-day Sisyphus refused to quit; he continued to flop Nate’s thick limbs up that hill again and again, and he continued to fall again and again. The playtester’s “intense need to climb that mudslide—it's funny to me, it's gratifying as a designer,” says Foddy. “I loved that he was doing it. Like, that's not productive.”
September 17, 2025 at 1:52 PM
megannicolett.bsky.social
talked to Bennett Foddy about Baby Steps and watching men struggle unnecessarily www.wired.com/story/baby-s...
A playtester for his latest project, Baby Steps, was struggling to navigate the game’s lead—Nate, a 35-year-old “failson” in a stained onesie—up a slippery hill. Each time, the terrain proved to be too much, and Nate skidded uselessly down it. Foddy has a reputation for making onerous games that take a little bit of masochism to master. This was not one of those times. Neatly placed next to the slippery hill was a staircase, which Foddy says the player took note of after the third or fourth fall. However, this modern-day Sisyphus refused to quit; he continued to flop Nate’s thick limbs up that hill again and again, and he continued to fall again and again. The playtester’s “intense need to climb that mudslide—it's funny to me, it's gratifying as a designer,” says Foddy. “I loved that he was doing it. Like, that's not productive.”
September 17, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
lopatto.bsky.social
Natalie isn’t a public figure. But she’s been caught in the crosshairs of a broad right-wing harassment movement — one sanctioned and encouraged by the government. www.theverge.com/policy/77897...
The right wing is creating a society of snitches
The Republican Party is making a foray into digital McCarthyism
www.theverge.com
September 16, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Reposted by megan farokhmanesh
emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social
A DOJ study showing most domestic terrorism in the US comes from the far right is suddenly missing and replaced with a note saying DOJ is complying with Trump's executive order www.404media.co/doj-deletes-...
DOJ Deletes Study Showing Domestic Terrorists Are Most Often Right Wing
Following Charlie Kirk’s assassination and the Trump administration’s promise to go after the “radical left” a study showing most domestic terrosim is far-right was disappeared.
www.404media.co
September 16, 2025 at 4:27 PM
megannicolett.bsky.social
well that seems bad
haha that sounds bad too
oh that can't be good
hmm seems bad
i'm gonna go out on a limb, seems bad
sounds bad if i'm being honest
think this sounds kinda b
September 15, 2025 at 7:12 PM