Some exciting news: 404 Media just won a grant via Muckrock to investigate book bans and educational censorship in the U.S. The plan is to file hundreds of public records requests around the country and to report on and archive all the documents for public use […]

Spent many (many!) hours pulling legal explanations and apologies from lawyers who were caught using AI that hallucinated in which they explained to a judge why they used AI. The explanations are astonishing and extremely good […]

The much-hyped SIM farm the Secret Service seized uses readily available off the shelf tech that, very interestingly, has also become critical to ticket scalping. I, like others, am extremely not buying the idea that this was intended to take down the cell network […]

New: We have just sued ICE to demand it turns over a secretive spyware contract that it refuses to release:

https://www.404media.co/were-suing-ice-for-its-2-million-spyware-contract/

Good news: Rather than deal with tariff logistics, some international eBay and Etsy sellers have simply jacked their shipping costs up to $2,000 for Americans buyers:

https://www.404media.co/2-000-shipping-international-sellers-charge-absurd-prices-to-avoid-dealing-with-american-tariffs/

Talked to 23 people who suddenly have to pay huge tariffs or otherwise cannot get chainmail from Pakistan, yarn from France, retro computers from Japan, metal music from the Netherlands, DVDs from Germany, cosplay supplies, sunscreen, etc […]

BREAKING: Michael Pratt, the ringleader of Girls Do Porn, was sentenced to 27 years in prison today. @samleecole.bsky.social is at the court in what sounds like a completely gut-wrenching day:

https://www.404media.co/michael-pratt-girlsdoporn-ringleader-sentenced/

AI "boring history" slop has taken over YouTube and is particularly insidious because it flattens history and drowns out the tireless work of creators who have been integral to legitimizing YouTube as a place for high-quality history videos […]

@CWilbur yep. i have begun hearing of people abandoning the packages etc

@maccruiskeen i dont have an argus but it seems like a decent time to give it a go

Trump take LEGO:

https://www.404media.co/lego-stops-shipping-individual-bricks-to-united-states-after-trumps-tariffs/

I don't know how this is going to go in the long term, but I suspect that the rough edges of this process for Americans are going to eventually be smoothed over, meaning it will just be a logistical nightmare for the small businesses / individuals overseas. But everything will be more expensive:

This is bc of the end of de minimis, which meant you didn't have to pay tariffs on anything under $800. I know I am personally excited to familiarize myself with harmonization tables, deal more with FedEx, and learn the difference between various acronyms.

If you have a hobby, your new hobby is […]

Buying anything from overseas is about to get more expensive, more logistically complicated, slower, and overall more annoying. Film photography community, retro games community, people into skincare already seeing chaos on eBay. eBay sellers locking US buyers out […]

New: An app developer has restored functionality to popular Echelon exercise bikes after the company made them all-but-useless unless you have a subscription. But he can't legally release the software […]

Breaking: 4chan and Kiwi Farms have sued the United Kingdom over the Online Safety Act:

https://www.404media.co/4chan-and-kiwi-farms-sue-the-uk-over-its-age-verification-law/

80s nostalgia AI slop: A niche like any other, reverse engineered by 20-something digital nomads in Bali to boomerfy the masses as they astral project to a fake past in service of making fractions of a cent per view on Zuckerberg's cultish algorithmic slop machine […]

Today is the two year anniversary of 404 Media, which is hard to fathom. We wrote about how it's going, what we've done, what we're going to do, and what we've learned. We cannot do this without the support of our subscribers and for that we are endlessly thankful […]

TikTok Shop is selling 'Silent' GPS trackers that are marketed to stalkers and domestic abusers. Many of the videos have millions of views and at least 100,000 of them have been sold. TikTok's algorithm endlessly puts these in front of you if you fall into the algo […]

An ICE sizzle reel propaganda video that used a Jay-Z song got hit with a copyright takedown and has been deleted off of X. Sound removed on Instagram and Facebook

https://www.404media.co/ice-propaganda-video-that-used-jay-z-song-hit-with-copyright-takedown/

SCOOP: A CBP agent wore Meta's AI smart glasses to an immigration raid in Los Angeles. CBP has no deal with Meta so it's possibly his own personal device

https://www.404media.co/a-cbp-agent-wore-meta-smart-glasses-to-an-immigration-raid-in-los-angeles/

New: A Sheriff's Office in Texas has access to data from AI license plate reading cameras at hundreds of Home Depots (in Texas) and Lowe's (around the country)

https://www.404media.co/home-depot-and-lowes-share-data-from-hundreds-of-ai-cameras-with-cops/

Apple is now selling repair parts for iPads ... but the prices are often astronomical and make repair totally untenable:

https://www.404media.co/apple-is-selling-ipad-repair-parts-for-astronomical-prices/

SCOOP: The manifests for three legally contested deportation flights to El Salvador contain the names of dozens of people who have not been acknowledged in any way by the US government. Immigration experts following the case say they don't know where these people are […]