Indicator

The Washington Post’s “Fact Checker” leaves newspaper with future of column uncertain A Q&A with Glenn Kessler about his 14-year run fact-checking for the WaPo

No more fact Czechers (sic)

The Washington Post’s “Fact Checker” leaves newspaper
🔥‼️🔥
The Indicator: “On Monday, The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler announced that he had accepted a buyout and would leave the publication on July 31.
indicator.media/p/the-washin...

Three more TikTok videos falsely claiming Dolly Parton is giving away her money have gotten thousands of commenters seemingly falling for the trap.

It's part of a scam I wrote about earlier this month (indicator.media/p/tiktok-has...) -- but the company just doesn't seem to care one bit.

Misogyny fills the plane crash data void Online mob assigns guilt to female pilot, Google runs ads for an antisemitic antivax Flat Earther, and Brazilian scammers reach millions on Facebook.

There is nothing in what's been reported that suggested Capt. Rebecca Lobach was individually to blame for the crash.

Yet back in January, an online mob sicced by the US president zeroed in on her. It is futile to expect any expression of remorse.

indicator.media/p/misogyny-f...

AI Nudifiers continue to reach millions and make millions We estimate that the nudifier economy is worth up to $36 million a year

Mainstream tech platforms enable this AI-enabled abuse ecosystem. This is an issue in schools, where students are creating and distributing fake nudes of classmates.

It's 21st-century bullying, powered by AI.

indicator.media/p/ai-nudifie...

#AI

The Washington Post’s “Fact Checker” leaves newspaper with future of column uncertain A Q&A with Glenn Kessler about his 14-year run fact-checking for the WaPo

The Post has not named a replacement for Kessler, nor did it respond to my questions about what is next for The Fact Checker.

indicator.media/p/the-washin...

Pretty cool to see @indicator.media included in this list of awesome independent media!

Hundreds of Meta ads with fake virus alerts tricked people into downloading suspicious apps The ads falsely told people that their phone had been infected with viruses, was compromised by hackers, or that their Facebook account would be permanently disabled

Hundreds of Meta ads with fake virus alerts tricked people into downloading suspicious apps indicator.media/p/fake-virus... such a great website! 🙄

The Washington Post’s “Fact Checker” leaves newspaper with future of column uncertain A Q&A with Glenn Kessler about his 14-year run fact-checking for the WaPo

The Washington Post’s “Fact Checker” leaves newspaper with future of column uncertain indicator.media/p/the-washin...

Le app per “denudare” le foto con l’IA sono diventate un business multimilionario | Facta L’analisi di Indicator stima che l’economia della nudificazione possa valere fino a 36 milioni di dollari ogni anno

Esistono siti che utilizzano l’IA per trasformare qualsiasi foto in un "deepnude" (un deepfake di nudo non consensuale).

L'inchiesta di @indicator.media ha analizzato il modello di business, l’infrastruttura e le strategie di marketing di questi siti che vendono questo tipo di abuso sessuale 🔎

Briefing: A new tool for detecting AI images, the Macrons sue Candace Owens and more Plus: AI ushering in a global fraud crisis and new research about YouTube and ChatGPT

The new Indicator Briefing (which is free to subscribe to) has:

📍 A new tool for detecting AI images, OSINT approaches for Reddit
📍 Research on chatbots, Russian military insignias, YouTube
📍 Must reads about disinfo, platforms, OSINT, media literacy

indicator.media/p/de...

An image that says, Top 50 Creator-Model Journalists 2025

A nice thing: @mantzarlis.com and I were named to Project C's Top 50 Creator-Model Journalists list. We're in some amazing company.

Read the full list:
projectc.biz/top50creator...

And subscribe @indicator.media for free to see what we're doing: indicator.media

Inside the global trade in YouTube channels, and how to identify if a channel has been repurposed Key findings from a study of thousands of YouTube channels that dramatically changed their name, description and content focus, typically after being sold to a new owner.

YouTube channels are often sold and completely rebranded by a new owner, which can have big implications for platform integrity.

I've got new data from the biggest study of sold/repurposed channels, and tips for how to ID repurposed YouTube channels: indicator.media/p/bu...

AI Nudifiers continue to reach millions and make millions We estimate that the nudifier economy is worth up to $36 million a year

Este artículo sobre la industria de las apps para "desnudar" fotos mediante IA bien vale una suscripción a @indicator.media. Kudos to @mantzarlis.com and @santi4dc.bsky.social indicator.media/p/ai-nudifie...

Briefing: AI bots join Community Notes and Clothoff whistleblower speaks Plus: Academics try fighting AI peer reviews with hidden prompts, SCOTUS refuses to review case against fact-checkers, and a tool that lets you search X without being logged in.

X opens crowdsourced moderation system Community Notes to AI bots https://indicator.media/p/briefing-ai-bots-join-community-notes-and-clothoff-whistleblower-speaks

Alexios from Indicator assesses the positives (yes, there are some) and the negatives (4th July)

#FactChecking

AI Nudifiers continue to reach millions and make millions We estimate that the nudifier economy is worth up to $36 million a year

Thorough reporting on the #nudifier eco system by @indicator.media - @santi4dc.bsky.social. Updates figures on distribution, monetization and reach of multiple nudify apps and the scene overall. indicator.media/p/ai-nudifie...

I love AI slop (the term, not the content itself) but it contains multitudes. In my latest for @indicator.media, I propose a taxonomy that differentiates it by form and purpose. Feedback welcome from slop savants!

indicator.media/p/a-tentativ...

Read the detailed analysis from @mantzarlis.com‬ and @santi4dc.bsky.social here indicator.media/p/ai-nudifie...

This post appeared under this Techmeme headline:

Our main finding, based on an intuition by @santi4dc.bsky.social, is that these websites are making millions of $.

We estimated the revenue of 18 out of the 85 in our sample by looking at outgoing traffic to payment processors, then assuming that about ~30% of those actually went on to pay.

Sometimes I'm told "well if we make it hard for them to operate openly they'll just migrate to Telegram."

As I told @mattburgess1.bsky.social: LET THEM. Respectable tech companies all the way down the moderation stack should bring down the ban hammer on AI nudifiers

www.wired.com/story/ai-nud...

AI 'Nudify' Websites Are Raking in Millions of Dollars Millions of people are accessing harmful AI “nudify” websites. New analysis says the sites are making millions and rely on tech from US companies.

NEW: AI 'nudifiers'—one of the biggest generative AI scourges—are likely making millions from abusive images.

Analysis of 85 nudifiers from @indicator.media says they're averaging a combined 18.5 million visitors monthly and in the last six months may have made up to $18m in 6 months

AI Nudifiers continue to reach millions and make millions We estimate that the nudifier economy is worth up to $36 million a year

AI Nudifiers continue to reach millions and make millions

(via @technologyreader.bsky.social)

indicator.media/p/ai-nudifie...

AI 'Nudify' Websites Are Raking in Millions of Dollars Millions of people are accessing harmful AI “nudify” websites. New analysis says the sites are making millions and rely on tech from US companies.

Grateful to @mattburgess1.bsky.social at @wired.com for reporting on our findings. Full thread with details that stood out to me to follow.

www.wired.com/story/ai-nud...

As a non-trivial aside: one of the intermediaries used by nudifiers to accept credit cards threatened @indicator.media with a lawsuit. indicator.media/p/ai-nudifie...

AI Nudifiers continue to reach millions and make millions We estimate that the nudifier economy is worth up to $36 million a year

NEW with @santi4dc.bsky.social on @indicator.media:

We estimate that 18 AI nudifiers made between 2.6 and 18.4 million dollars over the six months to May 2025. 

We believe this to be the first estimate of the overall turnover of these instruments of abuse.

Full 3,600 word report:

We have a *big* piece about AI nudifiers coming up on @indicator.media on Monday. Make sure to give us a follow if you care about combating this malignant outgrowth of generative AI.

Thank you to @mantzarlis.com and @craigsilverman.bsky.social for covering our latest DDIA research on X's Community Notes in @Indicator.Media, one of my favorite newsletters out there. indicator.media/p/briefing-g...

READ THE REPORT: lnkd.in/ebB8C_5B

WATCH THE BRIEFING: ddia.org/en/new-repor...

Oops. Try @mantzarlis.com because Craig is OOO — mantzarlis@protonmail.com. Thanks!

These videos are the top of the funnel of a sophisticated operation that draws out the naive and the desperate, directs them to WhatsApp or Telegram, and tries to extract $50 as an advance payment.

Thanks for adding us!