NEW: We spent months investigating a little-known media startup called Brown Brothers Media, which buys legit news sites and turns them into AI-powered zombie content farms What blew my mind was its traffic -- it appears to be getting more readers than NPR or CBS News futurism.com/artificial-i...

How Three Brothers Built an AI Slop Empire by Buying Legitimate News Sites and Turning Them Into Zombie Content Farms That They Say Get 50 Million Page Views per Month

Brown Brothers Media is a media empire raking in millions of clicks with AI, fake writers, and plagiarism.

futurism.com

Another installment of how private equity is making everything shittier: This time it's ICE flights & the human rights abuses baked into the big business of deportation. @manpreetkalra.bsky.social & @artofcitizenry.bsky.social www.artofcitizenry.com/podcast/priv...

Private Equity Playbook: Deportation Flights and Omni Air | Art of Citizenry

Private equity, ICE deportation flights, and public pension funds collide as Manpreet Kalra and Anna Canning trace Omni Air, Stonepeak, and the business of deportation.

artofcitizenry.com

‼️ End the farm line. Incarcerated people at Angola are still forced to work in extreme heat, facing solitary confinement if they don't meet daily quotas, rooted in Louisiana's history of slavery. A federal court recognized the harm, and still, the farm line continues. #FoodJustice  Learn more 👇🏾

The future of farming cannot be built on forced labor • Louisiana Illuminator

For the men on the farm line at Angola, agricultural labor is not a pathway to opportunity. It is a state-enforced practice of degradation and dehumanization.

lailluminator.com

Corporate Social Responsibility is really just Corporate Self Regulation. Whether it's labor in supply chains, climate change, or now AI, voluntary codes of conduct are how corporations turn possible legal obligations into marketing fluff - while continuing the status quo.

Ketan Joshi@ketanjoshi.co · 2w ago

There is nice long historical precedent of fossil fuel companies volunteering to regulate themselves, if you want an insight into why big tech is spinning up so many criti-hype narratives about itself right now commonslibrary.org/tactics-used...

The degree to which 9/11 completely normalized our surveillance state is wild—it is sometimes genuinely hard to remember how different the world was before the PATRIOT Act.

Reversing post-9/11 surveillance won’t be easy, advocates say

Twenty-five years after the U.S. government launched the war on terror, the “terrorist” profile is widening

prismreports.org

It's rare to actually see a social audit report. But I was leaked a copy of the audit that gave the Huiteng Shoe Factory an A on safety just months before it burned. Comparing the findings to local reporting reveals horrors- & now 2 months w/ no accountability dignityandrights.org/2026/09/soci...

I was just telling someone that if the internet Wayback Machine went away, I would be broken.

Internet Archive@archive.org · 4w ago

If you see something, save something. Web pages disappear daily—changed, moved, deleted, or just forgotten. 🕳️ Save Page Now lets you preserve a webpage before it disappears. See something worth keeping? Save it today. ➡️ web.archive.org/save/ #ToolsYouCanUse

Low-wage workers in Minneapolis and San Francisco are working directly with local government to enforce workplace protections. Liz Sullivan-Yuknis and @annacanning.bsky.social report: it’s co-governance in practice: workers & community organizations helping make labor laws mean something.

Co-Governance and the Next 250 Years of American Democracy

As we mark the United States’ 250th anniversary, experiments in co-governance point the way toward making our democracy actually work for working people.

inthesetimes.com

From China to Pakistan, social audits are failing to protect workers. Thanks to @jasminchua.com for mentioning my writing on the Huiteng Shoes factory-& the appalling fact that it was recently audited to Amfori’s BSCI standards, earning a B grade overall & an A for safety. wwd.com/sourcing-jou...

On the Line: Social Audits Are Failing Pakistan’s Garment Workers

Also in this edition: Factory fires keep erupting, extreme heat is costing India’s informal workers billions in lost wages, another factory on the Thai-Cambodian border closes, and how to make sure Se...

wwd.com

It’s a bad time for corporate accountability, as this thread spells out. But the women pictured below won the $ they were owed thanks to a global campaign I’m proud to have worked on. We can still win, it just takes solidarity (& some more $ would be good too) dignityandrights.org/2026/05/gap-...

derek guy@dieworkwear.bsky.social · 2mo ago

And by making it easier for factories to hide exploited labor and hobbling our ability to pressure suppliers to pay what's owed, we've put US factories at a further disadvantage. It's now easier to sell a $2 T-shirt in the US, as you can exploit workers abroad and never be held accountable.

I am once again writing about the horrors of global supply chains & the $20 billion industry that exists to protect brands' reputations. No one should die for fashion. dignityandrights.org/2026/07/soci...

"In 2005-2010, there were ~45x more futures contracts traded... than physical coffee contracts. By 2025, that had risen to 88x higher, w/ much of that trade explicitly classed as speculative." I was in coffee in the 2000s & remember hedge fund trading seeming wild-now there's AI bots in the mix

Fionn Pooler@thepourover.coffee · 3mo ago

On Monday the coffee futures market jumped nearly 19%, before falling back on Tuesday. It was the biggest one-day spike in more than 25 years. What happened? To try and find out, I spoke to several experts, analysts, and traders. ☕ This is a paywalled article, but Ghost now does gift links, so:

New zine day! This one is a collaboration with my friend @annacanning.bsky.social and I looove how it turned out, printed with riso in 4 ink colors! Only $5 to get the printed zine mailed to you!! Or just $2 for the digital files. New zine every month! www.patreon.com/LeeDoesStuff...

New zine: Doors, by Lee & Anna | Lee Does Stuff

My friend Anna has been taking photos of doors while traveling and posting them on instagram for awhile now, and I always loved the series a

patreon.com

When people hear “Patagonia,” do they think of the place or the brand? I sat down with @lexlanham.bsky.social to discuss how a corporations trademark geographic names and the cultural impact. New episode of Art of Citizenry out now! 🎧 tune in ~ open.substack.com/pub/artofcit...

Today in corporate backsliding: fashion brand Hugo Boss is backing away from the legally-binding Pakistan Accord & opting for a mishmash of discredited corporate-friendly social audits to take its place. We've been here before. 1000s of people died. Don't do it dignityandrights.org/2026/06/hugo...

I want to say one thing about this. This has been the hiring process for low wage workers for awhile. Wal Mart et al have been using automated job application systems to gamify everything from postings to schedules. The crisis, such that it is, is that it is now happening in middle skills jobs.

Thankful Thinker@thankfulthinker.bsky.social · 4mo ago

"AI has Tinderized hiring. Workers are applying to hundreds of positions & never hearing back; companies are receiving thousands of resumes & struggling to respond. More than that, AI has Amazoned hiring. It has scrubbed the uniqueness out of applications..." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Pyrex, Instant Pot- they're kitchen staples that cooks have a deep emotional attachment to. Now they're owned by a private equity firm & getting turned into MAGA propaganda tools Listen to my convo w/@manpreetkalra.bsky.social @artofcitizenry.bsky.social artofcitizenry.substack.com/p/private-eq...

Nearly the entire American kitchenware market is now owned by ONE private equity firm — from Instant Pot to Pyrex to Lenox. @annacanning.bsky.social and I dig deep and uncover a story that spans the entire private equity playbook! Tune in: open.substack.com/pub/artofcit...

The trouble with hanging your hat on "rule of law" is then the rulers just go change the law so they can remain forever the rulers.

Anat Shenker-Osorio@anatosaurus.bsky.social · 5mo ago

The Roberts Court majority may be pretending they don't know the Voting Rights Act is what ended Jim Crow and their decision to gut it is license to take us back ("again") to stealing power from Black voters, but Americans do:

In December 2025, the University of Utah became the first major college athletic program to take private equity investment. @annacanning.bsky.social and I trace how we got here on Art of Citizenry Podcast! 🎙️

The Private Equity Playbook: College Sports and the University of Utah

Private Equity’s New Playing Field

open.substack.com

Good morning, here's still more data showing that raising low-wage workers' pay doesn't actually cause prices to skyrocket. There are always apocalyptic threats when wage increases pass, but their only evidence remains discredited restaurant industry studies capitalandmain.com/despite-apoc...

Despite Apocalyptic Warnings, California Fast Food Wage Hike Didn’t Kill Jobs

UC Berkeley study finds employment held steady — and only pennies were added to menu prices.

capitalandmain.com

It's so grim to see so many pillars of the corporate accountability campaign landscape losing funding & crumbling. Decentralized locals can do all sorts of things, but funding for research & analysis to back campaigning is so critical.

Jasmin Malik Chua@jasminchua.com · 6mo ago

Born out of the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse, the activism group that asked "Who Made My Clothes?" is shutting down its London headquarters in favor of decentralized governance for its global affiliates.

What if a private equity firm was better for workers than a union? KKR has $410 billion+ in assets, pretty sure it doesn't need NPR doing its PR, but maybe we're witnessing a new greenwashing trope emerge? www.npr.org/transcripts/...

an alarming scoop from DSA Portland: local company Sightline is providing drone tech for Israeli military use. there is concern the company has developed some of its tech via surveilling Portland communities. Sign on letter here: actionnetwork.org/letters/sigh...

Portland DSA@portlanddsa.bsky.social · 6mo ago

🚨 🚨 🚨 New research reveals that Portland-based company Sightline Intelligence has been shipping drone technology components to Israeli military contractor Elbit Systems. Is Sightline testing & training this technology on us without our consent?

America's oil execs have pocketed $1.4 billion selling stock during the Iran war, the WSJ reports This cash windfall won’t go primarily toward yachts and private jets, but toward political campaigns and lobbying orgs dedicated to blocking climate policy and fueling authoritarianism

Chevron's CEO made $104 million while America bombed Iran

America's oil executives have pocketed $1.4 billion selling stock during the Iran war, a new investigation shows.

heated.world

75% of layoffs are at unionized stores - that certainly looks like retaliation from a company whose *profits* were $170 million last year.

OPB@opb.org · 7mo ago

A spokesperson for New Seasons Market confirmed the layoffs, citing increased labor costs after the grocery chain and union reached a labor agreement in December.

The labor conditions: bad. Even worse: a state governor who has weaponized state power against workers at every turn. But workers have developed innovative solutions to hold accountable the corporations who profit off their exploitation. New report out today: dignityandrights.org/resources/rr...

As an organizer, he helped win back $6M+ in stolen wages for low-wage workers--it's clear who the real criminals are, & it's not who's getting detained. Great coverage from @sarahlazare.bsky.social- & good to see the petition mentioned is now at 5k signatures workdaymagazine.org/worker-organ...

Worker Organizer Abducted By Federal Agents in Minnesota - Workday Magazine

This article is a joint publication of Workday Magazine and In These Times. Federal immigration agents have abducted Eustaquio Orozco Verdusco, a workers’ rights organizer well known in Minnesota for ...

workdaymagazine.org

“No matter how Ring and other surveillance tech companies may downplay it, there’s no world in which finding lost dogs is the final end-use for this technology.”

Opinion | Ring is using lost dogs to make the surveillance state adorable

The same technology the Amazon-owned company uses to find lost dogs could easily be turned against their owners.

ms.now