The Epistemic Glitch: Why We Fight Over Images We Can No Longer Verify
The panic over Ariana Grande's weight is a dress rehearsal. The real performance, waged over political images we can't confirm are real, is still to come.
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The Ad Was Fake. The Reach Was Real.
A synthetic attack ad cost a couple hundred dollars to run and reached six million people. Here’s how that happens — and how to see it coming.
I Use AI. Here’s Why That’s Exactly the Point.
How an independent media critic uses the machine to expose the machine.
Social Proof & Conformity Bias
Why we look to the crowd — and why the crowd is not what it seems
The Government Manufactured a Crime to Justify Watching You
How a botched contract at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool became a surveillance operation, built on video no one could verify.
Seen Everywhere, Checked Nowhere
What a viral World Cup story reveals about the modern information ecosystem.
The Invisible Editor
Algorithmic influence is designed to go unnoticed. The TikTok deal is a warning about who controls it — and who inherits it next.
Media AI Watch
The disappearing thumb on Meet The Press.
The Billionaires Who Decide What You See
Control of American media is collapsing into a handful of owners — every one of them courting the same White House.
When a Newspaper Decides the Truth Is Optional
The Washington Post editorial board defended a man whose viral, discredited claims helped fuel an operation that killed two Americans.
The Illusory Truth Effect
How repetition gets turned into belief
Quarantined in Nebraska, Brought to You by Heinz
The New York Times called him an influencer. The morning shows that reached millions did not.
Government AI Watch
Government AI Watch: The Selfie
An attempted presidential assassination. A federal court filing. A photograph the government admits was enhanced.
Meta
Meta's Ray-Ban Smart Glasses Have a Privacy Problem
Inside the global pipeline that turns "Hey Meta" into a stranger watching you undress.
White House Correspondents Dinner
Inside the Lie Factory
How a Vietnamese clickbait operation paired Cole Allen with fifty celebrities, and the 7 billion reasons Meta has to let it happen.
Media Literacy
The Amish lady selling you supplements doesn't exist.
Inside the AI-generated influencer operation that hundreds of thousands of people trust for health advice.
Newsletter
Government AI Watch
The FBI released this video. The New York Times analyzed it. Nobody asked why a man's forearm vanishes into a door, and reappears a frame later.
Newsletter
Government AI Watch
The official White House Instagram posted this. No label. No disclosure.
Newsletter
Media AI Watch
A wire photo of King Charles and Queen Camilla shows signatures consistent with AI. Two editorial policies say it shouldn't.
Newsletter
The Business Model Behind Free Platforms
Ad revenue, data harvesting, and why you are not the customer
Newsletter
The Lie Traveled In a Real Photo
How a miscaptioned image of Kid Rock got 7 million views, and why you'll see it again.
Newsletter
The Information Vacuum
What happened on social media after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting wasn't chaos. It was the business model.
Newsletter
The Fake Face at Coachella
AI influencers are now a fixture of every major cultural moment. Disclosure is not required.
Newsletter
She had a million followers. She doesn’t exist.
AI-generated influencers are flooding your feed. The system rewarding them has no interest in stopping.