Tips to investigate right-wing influencers from @gijn.org. Many points from a recent NICAR talk of 3 recent Bloomberg investigations. gijn.org/stories/tips...

Tips for Investigating Right-Wing Influencers and Podcasters

Journalists have found popular right-wing podcasters hard to cover, but expert journalists at the 2026 NICAR conference shared techniques for digging into this cohort's global influence.

gijn.org

NEW @bloomberg.com feature on Stake: the world's largest crypto casino. Our year-long piece dives into Stake employing superstar influencers such as Drake and Adin Ross to livestream gambling. By @cecianasta.bsky.social @oliviasolon.bsky.social and myself: www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Unlikely Wins and Comped Spins: Inside Stake’s Empire

Crypto casino Stake pays Drake and other stars to bet, spreading clips of big wins to impressionable gamblers. The numbers show unusual luck is at work.

bloomberg.com

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

Friday was my last day at WIRED. Today I started a new job at Bloomberg on a dream desk with @suryamattu.com and @jeffykao.bsky.social. Got a tip? A dataset? Something we should look at? Find me on Signal at dmehro.89 In no particular order, here’s some stuff I’d like to continue to dig in to:

Headed to New Orleans or my first @ire.org Conference. I'll be on a panel Friday morning (11:30) on crowdsourcing data for your next investigation w/ Cassandra Garibay and Sergio Olmos. schedules.ire.org/ire-2025/ind...

IRE 2025 schedule | June 19-22, 2025 | New Orleans

Welcome to the #IRE25 conference schedule!

schedules.ire.org

Good "missing data" story

Catherine Rampell@crampell.bsky.social · last yr.

When Trump encounters a demographic he doesn’t care for, he “disappears” them–in many cases, the very record of their existence. Meet America’s new “missing persons," and the govt campaign to delete statistical evidence of anyone who doesn't fit Trump’s idea of our new golden age. w/ @ashendruk.com

Tried "vibe coding" ... hated it! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

NEW: The US government has collected DNA samples from 133,000+ migrant children and teenagers and uploaded them into CODIS, a national criminal database originally built for convicted sex offenders and violent criminals, according to documents reviewed by WIRED.

The US Is Storing Migrant Children’s DNA in a Criminal Database

Customs and Border Protection has swabbed the DNA of migrant children as young as 4, whose genetic data is uploaded to an FBI-run database that can track them if they commit crimes in the future.

wired.com

This is a great story, the kind of great story you can do through using the data released by The Deportation Data Project: deportationdata.org Every data reporter covering immigration should get familiar with the data here

Leon Yin@leonyin.org · last yr.

NEW: @bloomberg.com analysis of +13 years of ICE detentions shows immigrants transferred to the South and SW from interior US at unprecedented rates. Reducing the odds of winning their cases. w/ @elenamejia.bsky.social @racheladhe.bsky.social @pollymosendz.bsky.social bloom.bg/43am95w

NEW: @bloomberg.com analysis of +13 years of ICE detentions shows immigrants transferred to the South and SW from interior US at unprecedented rates. Reducing the odds of winning their cases. w/ @elenamejia.bsky.social @racheladhe.bsky.social @pollymosendz.bsky.social bloom.bg/43am95w

ICE will be working with IRS now. New data-sharing document signed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will allow ICE to use IRS data. Acting Commissioner resigns over it. apnews.com/article/irs-...

IRS acting commissioner is resigning over deal to send immigrants' tax data to ICE, AP sources say

The Internal Revenue Service’s acting commissioner is resigning over a deal to share immigrants’ tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the purpose of identifying and deporting people i...

apnews.com

This Friday at @ire-nicar.bsky.social myself and @leonyin.org will be teaching how to can find and use undocumented API and build your own datasets. Come say hi and learn something new!

After a big story we (reporters) go back to zero. It's a lifeless and cold wasteland. Sometimes we shine a light down a new rabbit hole and see new potential to start digging again.

Wrote about how Bloomberg used WhatsApp to crowdsource data on rideshare labor practices for @gijn.org. gijn.org/stories/what...

Using WhatsApp to Crowdsource Data on Ride Hailing Companies’ Labor Lockouts

Bloomberg investigative data journalist Leon Yin used WhatsApp to crowdsource data from Uber and Lyft drivers in New York City about company lockouts during a local, minimum wage dispute.

gijn.org

An absolute pleasure to talk to @davey.bsky.social and @leonyin.org about their blockbuster Bloomberg investigation into the podcasts building support for Trump's agenda. Via @columjournreview.bsky.social www.cjr.org/the_media_to...

Q&A: Bloomberg’s Davey Alba and Leon Yin on the New Political Influence of Podcasts

“The question is, Can they hang?”

cjr.org

Read our Oct. investigation into Uber and Lyft's driver lockouts, which the FTC is now looking into for illegally limiting driver pay in New York City bloom.bg/3WHra1X

How Uber and Lyft Used a Loophole to Deny NYC Drivers Millions in Pay

Uber and Lyft locked drivers out of their apps to game a NYC wage law, denying drivers millions in pay

bloom.bg

Leah 'AntiTrustButVerify' Nylen@leahnylen.bsky.social · 2y ago

New from me and @natalielung.com: The US Federal Trade Commission is probing whether Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. illegally coordinated to limit driver pay in New York City, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg News

If you’re looking for a weekend read, please check out our new data investigation on podcasters and streamers. bloom.bg/4jnaKW1

How Popular YouTubers Pushed Young Male Voters Toward Trump

How podcasters like Joe Rogan and Logan Paul turned young men, a once apolitical demographic, into a massively powerful voting bloc

bloom.bg

Leon Yin@leonyin.org · 2y ago

NEW: Bloomberg reviewed +1K hours of YouTube vids from 9 popular streamers and podcasters who cater to American men. We analyzed 2 yrs of guests and transcripts to see how they discussed political topics and understand their role as a new mainstream info hub www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

The story behind RFK Jr. in Samoa's measles crisis has never been reported. He wasn't there to spread misinformation about vaccines (though he did). He wanted to study a "natural experiment" of unvaccinated kids. “I can’t imagine anything less ethical or more cruel.” www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

Experts saw Samoa's plunging vaccination rates as a crisis. RFK Jr. saw an opportunity.

New details show how Robert F. Kennedy Jr., then chair of an anti-vaccine group and now Trump’s pick for health secretary, sought to exploit a deadly vaccine accident.

nbcnews.com

Transgender identity was mentioned in 29% of the most highly viewed YouTube videos from top male podcasters/YouTubers. 30% videos discussing trans identity also mention children.

How YouTubers pushed young male voters to Trump (with receipts)

+ Gamergate 2.0, pocket cheese, NYT on The Rizzler, MrBeast is hiring, and a Twitter exec reveals why Vine *really* failed

usermag.co

Becca’s 2018 study on the reactionary right on YouTube was so illuminating and prescient, and inspired this piece in so many ways! Grateful that she paved the path for us datasociety.net/library/alte...

Alternative Influence

datasociety.net

Becca Lewis@beccalew.bsky.social · 2y ago

Incredible new piece of data journalism from a crack team at Bloomberg, led by @davey.bsky.social and @leonyin.org 🔥 bloom.bg/4jnaKW1

Incredible new piece of data journalism from a crack team at Bloomberg, led by @davey.bsky.social and @leonyin.org 🔥 bloom.bg/4jnaKW1

How Popular YouTubers Pushed Young Male Voters Toward Trump

How podcasters like Joe Rogan and Logan Paul turned young men, a once apolitical demographic, into a massively powerful voting bloc

bloom.bg

NEW: Bloomberg reviewed +1K hours of YouTube vids from 9 popular streamers and podcasters who cater to American men. We analyzed 2 yrs of guests and transcripts to see how they discussed political topics and understand their role as a new mainstream info hub www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

@dmehro.bsky.social has been reporting on the serial school swatter Torswatz for over 2 years. Read this thrilling piece about the private detective who discovered the identity of Torswatz. www.wired.com/story/school...

The School Shootings Were Fake. The Terror Was Real

The inside story of the teenager whose “swatting” calls sent armed police racing into hundreds of schools nationwide—and the private detective who tracked him down.

wired.com

In response to driver lockouts, NYC is working to close the loophole that Uber and Lyft used to deprive drivers of millions in future pay. The answer? Fix the variable efficiency rate that companies were trying to inflate with lockouts. From @natalielung.com www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NYC Is Trying to End Uber, Lyft Driver Lockouts With a Pay Hike

New York City is trying to close a loophole that Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. have used to deny drivers millions of dollars in pay with a raft of new measures that would effectively raise thei...

bloomberg.com

@denisedslu.bsky.social's graphics for Bloomberg's investigation into Uber and Lyft locking drivers out of work made it to @flowingdata.com's top data viz projects of 2024. flowingdata.com/2024/12/30/b... cc: @natalielung.com @agordon.me

Best Data Visualization Projects of 2024

Many datasets were analyzed and many charts were made this year. These are my favorite data visualization projects from 2024.

flowingdata.com

Professors and researchers: are you booking speakers for the Spring semester? I have talks and workshops on data-driven investigations using crowdsourcing with WhatsApp, auditing black box AI systems and advanced web scraping. inspectelement.org/apis.html gist.github.com/yinleon/4e39...

Finding Undocumented APIs

Introduction, case studies, and exercises for finding and using undocumented APIs hidden in plain sight.

inspectelement.org

How do I feel when I find an undocumented API and get it to serve my purpose. Thanks👏 @leonyin.org for making such a great resource inspectelement.org/apis.html

a teenage mutant ninja turtle is typing on a laptop with the words im in below him

ALT: a teenage mutant ninja turtle is typing on a laptop with the words im in below him

media.tenor.com

NEW: Alan Filion, believed to have operated under the handle “Torswats,” admitted to making more than 375 fake threats against schools, places of worship, and government buildings around the United States. New details in here: www.wired.com/story/alan-f...

Teen Behind Hundreds of Swatting Attacks Pleads Guilty to Federal Charges

Alan Filion, believed to have operated under the handle “Torswats,” admitted to making more than 375 fake threats against schools, places of worship, and government buildings around the United States.

wired.com

One thing about me that most of you prob don’t know is that I cook Thai food frequently… So much so that I broke through a mortar.

I’m ashamed to admit it, but (despite being a journalist) I’ve been in a dark place for so long that I respond to most journalism with a strange combination of numbness and despair. I’m surprised by how outraged I was reading this, and grateful for it. It’s excellent work, excellently rendered.

Leon Yin@leonyin.org · 2y ago

NEW INVESTIGATION: Uber and Lyft locked drivers out of work to game a NYC minimum wage law. We crowdsourced screenshots, monitored surge pricing and ran financial models to reveal the devastating impact on drivers. w/ Natalie Lung @awgordon.bsky.social Denise Lu https://bloom.bg/3BIPTLB