Davey Alba

Davey Alba

@davey.bsky.social

Bloomberg tech reporter / Google, Big Tech, misinfo / https://daveyalba.com / ask for my Signal

14,351 Followers 1,208 Following 244 Posts Joined Apr 2023
Posts Following
2 months ago

!! congrats right back at you! 🐣

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2 months ago

kind of you to repost! thank you

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2 months ago

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

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3 months ago
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I love this rallying cry by @davey.bsky.social on the value of humans in journalism.

www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/in-2...

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3 months ago
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“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...

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3 months ago
Me with my new bb

Also, that’s it from me for a while as I take maternity leave after becoming Mother this week — my greatest and biggest project of the last nine months. I will catch up with everyone in mid-2026 🥲

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3 months ago
Davey Alba In 2026, AI will outwrite humans “It’s a story about volume value, and what journalism becomes when ‘content’ grows functionally infinite.”

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...

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3 months ago

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!

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3 months ago

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

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3 months ago
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AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet -- And Thanksgiving Dinner Food bloggers see traffic dip as home cooks turn to AI, inspired by impossible pictures

"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."

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3 months ago

NO, LEAH

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3 months ago
Earlier this month, she posted two AI-generated tamale photos: one with sauce poured over the husks, and another showing tamales lying flat in a steamer. Both, she wrote, were obvious mistakes. The husks aren’t meant to be eaten; you remove them before adding sauce. And tamales should steam upright so the masa cooks evenly. “Little details like this are big red flags,” she told readers. “When you search for recipes, make sure they come from trusted human cooks who actually test their food.”

AI slop is ruining tamales now.

by @davey.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

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3 months ago

a lauren kirchner endorsement is nothing to take lightly!! thank you!

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3 months ago
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AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet -- And Thanksgiving Dinner Food bloggers see traffic dip as home cooks turn to AI, inspired by impossible pictures

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...

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3 months ago
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YouTube’s Right-Wing Stars Fuel Boom in Politically Charged Ads YouTube’s MAGA stars aren’t just talking politics—they’re selling it

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

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3 months ago
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YouTube’s Right-Wing Stars Fuel Boom in Politically Charged Ads YouTube’s MAGA stars aren’t just talking politics—they’re selling it

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...

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3 months ago

Graphics geniuses @rachaeldottle.bsky.social @elenamejia.bsky.social !!

they are so brilliant 🌟🌟

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3 months ago

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

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3 months ago

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

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3 months ago
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www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

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3 months ago
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YouTube’s Right-Wing Stars Fuel Boom in Politically Charged Ads YouTube’s MAGA stars aren’t just talking politics—they’re selling it

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...

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3 months ago

Grateful as always to co-authors @acookiecrumbles.bsky.social @leonyin.org @ashleycarman.bsky.social @julialove.bsky.social

Graphics geniuses @rachaeldottle.bsky.social @elenamejia.bsky.social

And editors @sarahfrier.bsky.social Yue Qiu for all the work behind this ❣️

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3 months ago
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YouTube has eased content rules in the Trump era, narrowing removals & letting controversial creators return—a shift experts say lets more hateful content persist. The platform is now where the politics of consumption flow freely. bloom.bg/3Kaio9w

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3 months ago
George Farmer, who runs the Candace podcast and is Owens’ husband, cast YouTube’s role in stark terms. “YouTube is the printing press of the digital age, if you want to call it that,” he said. He added that podcasting has leaned more conservative in part because many right-leaning voices were “pushed out of the mainstream orbit.” That dynamic has also shaped which advertisers show up: “If you’re pitching to a conservative listener, you’re going to want to be a more conservative brand.” Farmer is also the former chief executive officer of Parler, the social media site that had billed itself as a platform for “uncancelable free speech.”

There's a lot more reporting in our story & I hope you’ll read. But what I hope isn’t lost is how YouTube’s scale has let this niche content universe flourish. As George Farmer, who runs the Candace podcast told us, “YouTube is the printing press of the digital age, if you want to call it that.”

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3 months ago
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Podcast ads are heavily themed, depending on the show: Candace Owens had 90%+ anti-establishment ads; Kelly/Carlson/Shapiro 80%+ ideology; Nelk Boys 96% masculinity/hobbies. Major brands like DoorDash & BetterHelp also appeared on Rogan & Von's shows. bloom.bg/3Kaio9w

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3 months ago
The top 10 advertisers spending the most on host-read ads on the right-leaning podcasts are investing nearly four times more per month in 2025 than they did on average in 2023. So far this year, those brands have collectively spent about $5 million a month on podcast advertising, according to Bloomberg’s analysis of Podscribe data.

And, using data from Podscribe, a 3rd party podcast analytics firm, we made an effort to quantify spending on right-leaning podcasts. The top 10 conservative brands quadrupled monthly ad spend from 2023 to 2025, reaching ~$5M/month in 2025. bloom.bg/3Kaio9w

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3 months ago
Three in 10 advertisers relied on ideological appeals — emphasizing “pro-life,” Christian, pro-gun, “America first,” or pro-military themes, or attacking Democrats, gender identity or policies they described as liberal. Roughly a quarter promoted the “Make America Healthy Again” agenda or pushed health and wellness products that they framed as natural or an alternative to conventional medicine. About 16% leaned on safety and security themes, while another fifth invoked anti-establishment rhetoric, railing against big corporations, public agencies, or institutions in medicine, education and finance. Several also catered to a distinctly masculine audience, tapping into a segment of the population that, polling data show, came out in force for Trump last year — many of them electrified by the podcasts that were part of this analysis. The strategy of using ideology to persuade someone to make a purchase — especially through an influencer — is powerful, said Emerson Brooking, a resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who studies online networks. “American culture has built up the idea of brand choice as a political act,” he said. The rise of political — and often right-wing — podcasts, which are an extremely influential force in listeners’ lives and opinions, has “opened the door to a whole industry of politically coded kitsch products that seek to target this exact demographic,” he said.

We also tracked themes used by the 188 unique advertisers to sell, sorting them into 5 buckets:

3/10 used ideological appeals
~1/4 leveraged alternative health
~1/5 each used anti-establishment or security messages
13% appealed to masculinity

bloom.bg/3Kaio9w

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3 months ago
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The ads we reviewed were fascinating. They revealed products like Republican Red Winery, Black Rifle Coffee, and XX-XY Athletics—all targeting ideological consumers. Other advertisers included gold companies, debt services counseling for issues like porn addiction, and more bloom.bg/3Kaio9w

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3 months ago
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YouTube’s Right-Wing Stars Fuel Boom in Politically Charged Ads YouTube’s MAGA stars aren’t just talking politics—they’re selling it

This was a follow-up to our story in Jan when we dug into how YouTube’s conservative podcasts led young men to the right. We listened to 876 episodes from 8 popular podcasters, noting every host-read ad. At least one ad with a political message appeared in 91% of videos reviewed. bloom.bg/3Kaio9w

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3 months ago
YouTube’s Right-Wing Stars Fuel Boom in Politically Charged Ads By Davey Alba Priyanjana Bengani Leon Yin Ashley Carman Julia Love Rachael Dottle Elena Mejía Technology Big Tech November 20, 2025 On YouTube’s conservative airwaves, podcast hosts tout products that let people buy into the MAGA crowd: Republican Red Winery vintages for toasting the “silent majority;” Black Rifle Coffee for caffeinating gun owners; XX-XY Athletics for workout clothes symbolizing opposition to the “lunacy of the left social agenda.” The popularity of YouTube podcasts among conservatives is driving a boom in small businesses tailoring ads to their millions of listeners, paying hosts like Joe Rogan and Candace Owens to read out promotions in the hope that fans will place orders. The phenomenon has enriched both the hosts and YouTube, supporting further growth of the businesses using ideology to sell. A Bloomberg analysis of host-read ads across nearly 1,000 videos from eight of the platform’s top right-leaning podcasters found that advertisers on the shows routinely tapped into political identity in marketing. At least one host-read ad with a political message appeared in 91% of videos reviewed.

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

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