megan farokhmanesh

Palantir Is Extending Its Reach Even Further Into Government Palantir has become one of the few winners in the Trump administration’s cost-cutting efforts, offering other contractors a lifeline while consolidating its own reach and power.

NEW: After massive contract terminations for consulting giants like Accenture, Booz Allen, and Deloitte, Palantir has emerged ahead. Now the data analytics firm is partnering with those companies—offering them a lifeline while consolidating its own power.

www.wired.com/story/palant...

Who Shit In My Building’s Hallway? A New York Mystery

Gamers Are Furious About the Censorship of NSFW Games—and They’re Fighting Back As industry groups decry censorship, players are flooding Visa and Mastercard with complaints and sharing the titles of delisted NSFW games to support developers.

Itch's founder told me the site is seeking alternative payment processors as it navigates its widescale NSFW deindexing. "We need to complete conversations with our payments processors to understand where they stand so that we can make the right decisions going forward" www.wired.com/story/gamers...

unbearable

if this post makes sense to you i will be reporting you to the authorities for being a gamer

a screenshot of a google search for "philabieldia," the game of a continent in a new game from square enix. google returns "these are the results for philadelphia." philabieldia

this is me if you even care

this is a good nintendo direct

In a previous statement to WIRED, Collective Shout campaigns manager Caitlin Roper said the organization had had “no communication with payment processors” outside of an open letter. In a blog posted July 28, however, Collective Shout says it “approached payment processors because Steam did not respond to us.” Corcoran told WIRED that Collective Shout had not spoken to Itch.

Also of note: Collective Shout previously told WIRED they'd had “no communication with payment processors” outside of an open letter. In a blog posted July 28, however, Collective Shout says it “approached payment processors because Steam did not respond to us.” www.wired.com/story/gamers...

Gamers Are Furious About the Censorship of NSFW Games—and They’re Fighting Back As industry groups decry censorship, players are flooding Visa and Mastercard with complaints and sharing the titles of delisted NSFW games to support developers.

Itch's founder told me the site is seeking alternative payment processors as it navigates its widescale NSFW deindexing. "We need to complete conversations with our payments processors to understand where they stand so that we can make the right decisions going forward" www.wired.com/story/gamers...

Living Next To Tesla Diner Is 'Absolute Hell,' Neighbors Say We talked to people living in the building whose views are being blocked by Tesla's massive four-story screen.

“I don't think Tesla people are great drivers to begin with. Now there's just a bunch of them blocking the street on both sides.” lmao www.404media.co/living-next-...

UK Users Need to Post Selfie or Photo ID to View Reddit's r/IsraelCrimes, r/UkraineWarFootage “If visibility of r/IsraelCrimes is being restricted under the Online Safety Act, it’s only because the state fears accountability,” moderators say.

Age verification has a bias that diminishes how cruel, bloody, and inhumane the world can be, and that's going to have real consequences www.404media.co/uk-users-nee...

How Edward ‘Big Balls’ Coristine and DOGE Got Access to a Federal Payroll System That Serves the FBI Hundreds of pages of records reviewed by WIRED show just how quickly DOGE gained access to systems at the Small Business Administration—and through it, a USDA system that handles payroll for federal...

Hundreds of pages of records reviewed by WIRED show just how quickly DOGE gained access to systems at the Small Business Administration—and through it, a USDA system that handles payroll for federal law enforcement.

Is He Really Mad at Me? Maybe ChatGPT Knows People are turning to generative AI to sort out their interpersonal conflicts, but some say it’s heightening their anxiety.

@megannicolett.bsky.social is known for gaming coverage, but she also wrote this bonkers story on people litigating their breakups and situationships by dumping their entire text histories into ChatGPT—and using it as a life coach: www.wired.com/story/using-...

Steam and Itch.io Are Pulling ‘Porn’ Games. Critics Say It’s a Slippery Slope to More Censorship A conservative group is targeting payment processors as “a weapon” to get adult games deindexed in storefronts. Even games that have nothing to do with sex or abuse have been caught in the dragnet.

:) www.wired.com/story/steam-...

Steam and Itch.io Are Pulling ‘Porn’ Games. Critics Say It’s a Slippery Slope to More Censorship A conservative group is targeting payment processors as “a weapon” to get adult games deindexed in storefronts. Even games that have nothing to do with sex or abuse have been caught in the dragnet.

On Wednesday evening, developers began to notice their games were being unceremoniously delisted or outright removed from Itch.io. Itch's founder says it's the direct result of a financial censorship campaign from Collective Shout, an org with ties to anti-porn groups www.wired.com/story/steam-...

The Cut's Survey about Men and Dating Hello! For an upcoming story, the Cut is surveying men about what it's like to date in 2025, from sexting to breakups to first dates. If you are a man who dates women, we would love to hear your thoug...

ATTN: @TheCut is doing its first-ever survey on men and dating! We want to know what single men think about breakups, apps, first dates, sex, etc. Survey is anonymous and super quick, you can fill it out here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Payment processors are powerful arbiters in deciding what companies can sell. Even private companies like Valve and Itch could face major blowback if companies like Visa and Mastercard suddenly disallowed the platforms from using their services. According to Mike Stabile, policy director at Free Speech Coalition, targeting financial institutions is a fast way for people on both sides to lose something, whether it’s access to a product or their livelihoods. “When they allow payment processors to make these decisions—when they don't fight back or defend their creators, what they're actually allowing are the anti-porn groups and the anti-LGBT groups to make those decisions,” Stabile says.

Pressuring payment processors is a powerful tactic to sidestep a company like Valve or Itch's control of their own platform. “...They're able to effectively censor [content] by debanking it,” says @mikestabile.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/steam-...

One thing I’ve asked Collective Shout directly and repeatedly is if their mission includes protecting trans women and girls. They have yet to answer.

In a joint email statement to WIRED, Consume Me developers Jenny Jiao Hsia and AP Thomson say that although they expect their game will be reinstated, it is “completely unacceptable that payment processors are conducting censorship-by-fiat and systematically locking adult content creators out of platforms like Itch where they can be fairly compensated for their work.” Hsia and Thomson say that doing so at the behest of groups like Collective Shout “should raise many alarm bells, especially since the position of these right-wing groups is often that ANY LGBTQ+ content is ‘adult’ by default.”

Consume Me devs @qdork.bsky.social and‪ @apthomson.bsky.social say Collective Shout's mission to protect women and girls is doing the opposite. "Their actions here mainly serve to cut off income streams for adult content creators, many of them women.” www.wired.com/story/steam-...

Steam and Itch.io Are Pulling ‘Porn’ Games. Critics Say It’s a Slippery Slope to More Censorship A conservative group is targeting payment processors as “a weapon” to get adult games deindexed in storefronts. Even games that have nothing to do with sex or abuse have been caught in the dragnet.

“These are the stakes: Conservatives will label anything they dislike as pornographic and obscene,” says @radiatoryang.bsky.social. “This is the goal of anti-pornography and anti-obscenity laws: conservative control over society.” www.wired.com/story/steam-...

In a joint email statement to WIRED, Consume Me developers Jenny Jiao Hsia and AP Thomson say that although they expect their game will be reinstated, it is “completely unacceptable that payment processors are conducting censorship-by-fiat and systematically locking adult content creators out of platforms like Itch where they can be fairly compensated for their work.” Hsia and Thomson say that doing so at the behest of groups like Collective Shout “should raise many alarm bells, especially since the position of these right-wing groups is often that ANY LGBTQ+ content is ‘adult’ by default.”

Consume Me devs @qdork.bsky.social and‪ @apthomson.bsky.social say Collective Shout's mission to protect women and girls is doing the opposite. "Their actions here mainly serve to cut off income streams for adult content creators, many of them women.” www.wired.com/story/steam-...

Roper says that claims of freedom of speech violations are being used “as a defense of misogyny and male violence” against women. “I don’t think men’s ‘speech’ should trump the rights of women and girls,” Roper says. “Violence and dehumanization of women should not be acceptable outcomes of free speech. We also have to consider whose voices are being heard, and whose are being silenced. Does free speech apply to women, to survivors of rape and sexual assault? Do we have a right to object to speech that promotes and normalizes violence against us?”

Collective Shout says it is “not looking to ban any instances of explicit or adult content, and we did not do that here.” on Itch, however, impacted games include an award-winning game about navigating disordered eating, and another about healing from domestic abuse www.wired.com/story/steam-...

Payment processors are powerful arbiters in deciding what companies can sell. Even private companies like Valve and Itch could face major blowback if companies like Visa and Mastercard suddenly disallowed the platforms from using their services. According to Mike Stabile, policy director at Free Speech Coalition, targeting financial institutions is a fast way for people on both sides to lose something, whether it’s access to a product or their livelihoods. “When they allow payment processors to make these decisions—when they don't fight back or defend their creators, what they're actually allowing are the anti-porn groups and the anti-LGBT groups to make those decisions,” Stabile says.

Pressuring payment processors is a powerful tactic to sidestep a company like Valve or Itch's control of their own platform. “...They're able to effectively censor [content] by debanking it,” says @mikestabile.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/steam-...

Steam and Itch.io Are Pulling ‘Porn’ Games. Critics Say It’s a Slippery Slope to More Censorship A conservative group is targeting payment processors as “a weapon” to get adult games deindexed in storefronts. Even games that have nothing to do with sex or abuse have been caught in the dragnet.

On Wednesday evening, developers began to notice their games were being unceremoniously delisted or outright removed from Itch.io. Itch's founder says it's the direct result of a financial censorship campaign from Collective Shout, an org with ties to anti-porn groups www.wired.com/story/steam-...

Steam and Itch.io Are Pulling ‘Porn’ Games. Critics Say It's a Slippery Slope to More Censorship A conservative group is targeting payment processors as “a weapon” to get adult games deindexed in storefronts. Even games that have nothing to do with sex or abuse have been caught in the dragnet.

Antiporn groups said they were only going after games with violence against women. But what got censored? Award-winning games about disordered eating, LGBTQ+ games and anything flagged NSFW.

@megannicolett.bsky.social's reporting raises alarms about the real danger of this censorship campaign.

Steam and Itch.io Are Pulling ‘Porn’ Games. Critics Say It's a Slippery Slope to More Censorship A conservative group is targeting payment processors as “a weapon” to get adult games deindexed in storefronts. Even games that have nothing to do with sex or abuse have been caught in the dragnet.

A conservative group is targeting payment processors as “a weapon” to get adult games deindexed in storefronts. Even games that have nothing to do with sex or abuse have been caught in the dragnet. www.wired.com/story/steam-...

$17 hot dog send elon to j ail

Google’s AI Is Destroying Search, the Internet, and Your Brain Google’s AI Overview, which is easy to fool into stating nonsense as fact, is stopping people from finding and supporting small businesses and credible sources.

Google's AI summaries are
- killing traffic to legitimate sites
- producing summaries that can be wrong
- in the long run probably making you a dumbass

www.404media.co/googles-ai-i...

i love this photo so much author photo forever