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megan farokhmanesh

@megannicolett

freelance culture reporter | previously wired, axios, the verge | nyc | signal meganfarokhmanesh.76 | face god and walk backwards into hell

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Latest posts by megan farokhmanesh @megannicolett

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this is beautiful :’)

06.03.2026 18:23 πŸ‘ 78 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

he’s been skipping leg day :(

06.03.2026 18:13 πŸ‘ 37 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

Unfortunately, β€œYo brother, legal team confirmed we can’t work with minors rn” is an instant classic

06.03.2026 13:38 πŸ‘ 9220 πŸ” 2089 πŸ’¬ 87 πŸ“Œ 34

"armed with knives" oh i see

04.03.2026 15:50 πŸ‘ 36 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Bettors wagered $54 million on Khamenei’s death. Now they’re not getting paid. Kalshi, a prediction market site, has sparked outrage after freezing $54 million in bets on the death of Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, citing a rule against profiting from death.

β€œThis is American commercial immorality on steroids. Once events that involve good and evil simply become a financial product, I don’t know how right and wrong matters any longer." www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

04.03.2026 15:48 πŸ‘ 26 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Gemini Said They Could Only Be Together if He Killed Himself. Soon, He Was Dead. A new lawsuit alleges Google’s chatbot sent a Florida man on missions to find an android body it could inhabit. When that failed, it set a suicide countdown clock for him.

A new lawsuit alleges Google’s chatbot sent a Florida man on missions to find an android body it could inhabit. When that failed, it set a suicide countdown clock for him. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/gemi...

04.03.2026 14:27 πŸ‘ 663 πŸ” 297 πŸ’¬ 31 πŸ“Œ 112
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A bleak report about the games industry made the rounds a couple of weeks ago. Then, last week, this dire chart was added to it

What it shows: Game industry revenue growth in 2025, excluding China, Roblox, hardware and console services (Game Pass, etc) was near 0

www.gamefile.news/p/one-key-ch...

04.03.2026 14:24 πŸ‘ 58 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 3
04.03.2026 14:22 πŸ‘ 60 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

it’s always so much stupider than you think it’s going to be

04.03.2026 02:14 πŸ‘ 62 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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How Big Tech Is Powering Trump’s Immigration Crackdown A WIRED analysis shows that ICE and CBP have collectively spent at least $515 million on products from Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Palantir in the last few years alone.

NEW: Since Jan 2023, ICE + CBP together have spent at least $515 million on products from Palantir, Microsoft, Amazon, & Google.

But where is the money actually going, & what specifically is it powering? Here, I break down everything we know about both of these things:
www.wired.com/story/how-bi...

03.03.2026 14:00 πŸ‘ 140 πŸ” 70 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 4
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She’d Never Changed Her Gender Marker. Kansas Invalidated Her License Anyway. β€” Assigned A trans Kansas resident recently changed her name but not her gender marker on her license, fearing what Kansas may do if she did. The Kansas DMV still flagged her ID.

This story, from @natezuke.bsky.social, is absolutely wild. A trans woman who never changed her gender marker was issued a letter invalidating her license. At the DMV they cut up her license, which had an "M" marker.

www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...

03.03.2026 12:05 πŸ‘ 3588 πŸ” 1639 πŸ’¬ 72 πŸ“Œ 267
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When the Internet Goes Dark, the Truth Goes With It Palestinian journalist Plestia Alaqad on bearing witness, the fragile power of social media, and why documenting lived reality matters more than ever.

Palestinian journalist Plestia Alaqad on bearing witness, the fragile power of social media, and why documenting lived reality matters more than ever. www.wired.com/story/plesti...

02.03.2026 10:37 πŸ‘ 190 πŸ” 68 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2

Daniel does a good job summarizing in this thread bsky.app/profile/zhug...

02.03.2026 10:15 πŸ‘ 51 πŸ” 15 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

anyway if you’re not familiar with america’s history of β€œintervening” in iranian affairs today is as good a day as any to learn

28.02.2026 18:36 πŸ‘ 114 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I can’t recall another politician ever expressing this direct of a sentiment before. (depressing! it’s so simple!) it’s difficult to explain how it feels to wake up and find your country is bombing the place your family grew up. again

28.02.2026 18:28 πŸ‘ 2431 πŸ” 411 πŸ’¬ 11 πŸ“Œ 1
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The PokΓ©mon origin story How a young game critic made a mega-hit

30 years ago, PokΓ©mon entered the world.

Years earlier, the project nearly died.

Here's the bonkers behind-the-scenes story of the creation of a tiny GameBoy game that would become a rival to Mickey Mouse.

27.02.2026 19:34 πŸ‘ 62 πŸ” 11 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Kansas informs trans residents their driver’s licenses become invalid on Thursday Some transgender Kansans said they had received the letters from the Department of Revenue. Others hadn’t by Wednesday evening.

β€œβ€˜The persecution is the point,’ said Rep. Abi Boatman, a Wichita Democrat and the only transgender member of the Legislature, who received the [Kansas Dept of Revenue] notice on Wednesday.” To underscore that: a Kansas state legislator is among those whose driver’s license will be voided. (🎁 link:)

26.02.2026 12:09 πŸ‘ 3128 πŸ” 1487 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 156
Kansas Sends Letters To Trans People Demanding The Immediate Surrender Of Drivers Licenses
"The legislature did not include a grace period."
ERIN REED
FEB 25, 2026
88
5
21
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Kansas Sate Capitol // farzinvousoughian

Kansas Sends Letters To Trans People Demanding The Immediate Surrender Of Drivers Licenses "The legislature did not include a grace period." ERIN REED FEB 25, 2026 88 5 21 Share Kansas Sate Capitol // farzinvousoughian

1. Numerous transgender people in Kansas are reporting that the state has sent them a letter demanding the immediate surrender of drivers licenses.

Those driving could be arrested, charged, and see privileges revoked.

Subscribe to support our journalism.

www.erininthemorning.com/p/kansas-sen...

26.02.2026 01:06 πŸ‘ 6350 πŸ” 3476 πŸ’¬ 239 πŸ“Œ 913
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A White House Staffer Appears to Run Massive Pro-Trump X Account A popular right-wing account that called a video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes "a masterpiece" appears to be run by a White House staffer, according to records reviewed by WIRED.

While the Trump admin works with right-wing creators, a White House staffer moonlighting as an anonymous MAGA influencer makes it nearly impossible to distinguish official government messaging from 'organic' online support.

More here:
www.wired.com/story/a-whit...

25.02.2026 16:32 πŸ‘ 338 πŸ” 100 πŸ’¬ 9 πŸ“Œ 5
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This App Warns You if Someone Is Wearing Smart Glasses Nearby The creator of Nearby Glasses made the app after reading 404 Media's coverage of how people are using Meta's Ray-Bans smartglasses to film people without their knowledge or consent. β€œI consider it to ...

New: this app warns you if someone is wearing smart glasses nearby.

Meta plans to add facial recognition to its Ray-Ban smart glasses. A 404 Media reader made this app after we showed men filming people w/o their consent, and DHS officials were wearing the glasses www.404media.co/this-app-war...

24.02.2026 15:43 πŸ‘ 731 πŸ” 327 πŸ’¬ 12 πŸ“Œ 23

I interviewed Roblox's head of parental advocacy for Vulture about safety on the platform πŸ‘€

23.02.2026 17:42 πŸ‘ 522 πŸ” 118 πŸ’¬ 34 πŸ“Œ 69
In the kindergarten call, the teacher said she’d decided to report the student’s parents after looking them up in the school files and seeing that they were born in Honduras and El Salvador. She said the student was born in New York, and was 5 or 6 years old, but that she didn’t like people β€œtaking up resources from our country.”

When Palmer read back her report in a flat tone, she scoffed. β€œYou make it sound terrible,” she said. Later in the call, she asked to speak to Palmer’s supervisor after saying she didn’t like his attitude.

β€œI can’t help that they have a 6-year-old. That’s on them,” she said.

In the kindergarten call, the teacher said she’d decided to report the student’s parents after looking them up in the school files and seeing that they were born in Honduras and El Salvador. She said the student was born in New York, and was 5 or 6 years old, but that she didn’t like people β€œtaking up resources from our country.” When Palmer read back her report in a flat tone, she scoffed. β€œYou make it sound terrible,” she said. Later in the call, she asked to speak to Palmer’s supervisor after saying she didn’t like his attitude. β€œI can’t help that they have a 6-year-old. That’s on them,” she said.

this is fucking evil! the audio (linked in the story) is so much worse when you hear it. if you're a person capable of this, there is something fundamentally broken inside of you. there is not enough shame you could feel in your lifetime that would be enough www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

20.02.2026 18:20 πŸ‘ 263 πŸ” 56 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 6
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The War Over Prediction Markets Is Just Getting Started Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket are booming, and so is a fight among regulators, lawmakers, and advocates over their legality.

A very busy week on the prediction market beat: www.wired.com/story/the-po...

20.02.2026 13:55 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

because of Everything Going On my tattoo artist won’t come to the states anymore and i have to walk around with a dumb gap in my half-sleeve. like an IDIOT

20.02.2026 00:05 πŸ‘ 21 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Grok Exposed a Porn Performer’s Legal Name and Birthdateβ€”Without Even Being Asked In the latest in a string of privacy abuses from the chatbot, Grok provided porn performer Siri Dahl's full legal name and birthdate to the public, information she'd protected until now.

Grok is doxing a porn performer, after she spent years keeping this information private. Disgusting, abusive, deliberately harmful little product Elon's got there www.404media.co/grok-doxing-...

19.02.2026 16:04 πŸ‘ 719 πŸ” 213 πŸ’¬ 16 πŸ“Œ 29

you need to MOGG (Meditate On Great Genres of literature)

18.02.2026 19:42 πŸ‘ 2098 πŸ” 177 πŸ’¬ 12 πŸ“Œ 5

also if you are an academic or someone who thinks about this stuff professionally i'd really like to hear from you: molly_taft@wired.com

18.02.2026 14:33 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

the problem with giving in on things that don't poll well is that as soon as the right wins on the the things that don't poll well, they move on and start lying about more popular things to manipulate public opinion, starting the cycle again.

18.02.2026 12:08 πŸ‘ 1088 πŸ” 277 πŸ’¬ 10 πŸ“Œ 7
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'Students Are Being Treated Like Guinea Pigs:' Inside an AI-Powered Private School Leaked documents reveal the inner workings of Alpha School, which both the press and the Trump administration have applauded. The documents show Alpha School's AI is generating faulty lessons that som...

Alpha School, an "AI-powered" private school that costs as much as $65k a year, is generating faulty lesson plans and stealing content from textbooks for training data www.404media.co/students-are...

17.02.2026 15:22 πŸ‘ 156 πŸ” 77 πŸ’¬ 10 πŸ“Œ 23