We spend all day reporting the news.
But here on Off Script, we get to talk about it.
In This Episode
- You know all those bots clogging your social media feeds? Turns out you can buy the hardware on Amazon to build your own bot farm for a few hundred bucks. We’ll show you what our reporter found — and how easy it is to fake online influence.
- Plus, would you want someone else to give ChatGPT access to your private text messages without asking you? That’s the concern about a new ChatGPT integration with Apple Messages. Our digital influence reporter explains what it could mean for your privacy.
- And presidents have been renovating the White House for generations. So what makes Trump’s ballroom different? A viewer asked, and we’ve got the answer.
What Matters
First, What Matters: a story that caught our attention this week — and why we think it deserves yours.
Want to manipulate hearts and minds online? Amazon sells just the bot farm you need
We used to say you can’t believe everything you read on the internet.
Now, you can’t always believe what you see there either.
Is everyone on your feed really talking about the same issue? Is something actually going viral — or is someone making it look that way?
Bot farms go back more than a decade, but technology once associated with sophisticated influence campaigns is now remarkably easy to get.
In some cases, you can buy the harware on Amazon for less than $200.
That’s what our media, bias, and algorithms reporter, Mark Keierleber, found in his latest story. Want to manipulate hearts and minds online?
… Amazon sells just the bot farm you need.
Conversation highlights:
SIMONE DEL ROSARIO: I want to read a passage from your piece because it made me laugh:
“For people looking to buy online clout, look no further than Amazon, the globe’s largest online retailer. It sells just about everything: funky socks, kangaroo meat, and yes, bot farms.”
How did you come across this story?
MARK KEIERLEBER: As part of my job, I’m looking at how platforms are shaped and manipulated and how people get content in front of audiences online.
While researching bot farm operators, I did a simple Google search and was surprised to find one of the top results was an Amazon listing for a bot farm rack with 20 Android phone motherboards. That sent me down the rabbit hole.
DEL ROSARIO: I kind of think of them as homemade bot farms. In some cases, they’re selling for less than $200. How do they work?
KEIERLEBER: The devices look a little like old-school desktop computers. Depending on the model, they can support around 20 phones at once.
Using specialized software, one person can control all of those devices through a single computer. They’re marketed as a way to operate large numbers of social media accounts simultaneously, and some systems can even be linked together to manage thousands of accounts.
DEL ROSARIO: I’m curious to end on this. What does this tell us about the internet today?
KEIERLEBER: One source in my story told me, “The entire internet is fake.”
Most people already know bots spread misinformation, promote content and flood feeds with spam. But the fact that hardware designed to automate and amplify that activity can be purchased on the world’s largest online marketplace shows just how widespread and normalized it has become.
Read Mark’s full article here >
Now to You
The comment section can be a pretty loud place. So every week, we pick questions or comments worth a closer look… and see where the facts take us.
This is Now To You.
We reported this week on the resignation of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, the Army’s top civilian leader, after months of reported fricton with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
And Ewen on YouTube had a pretty straightforward question about our coverage.
Viewer comment:
STRAIGHT ARROW: That’s a fair question because Driscoll isn’t exactly a household name. But the job he just left is a big one.
The Army Secretary is the top civilian leader of the U.S. Army, and Driscoll resigned in the middle of the war with Iran after months of reported clashes with Hegseth.
His departure leaves the Army without either of its top two Senate-confirmed leaders.
Hegseth fired Army Chief of Staff General Randy George earlier this year, and a permanent replacement still hasn’t been confirmed.
So for us, the story wasn’t really that “Dan Driscoll quit.” It was that the Army’s top civilian leader quit amid reported friction inside the Pentagon at a consequential moment for the U.S. military.
That’s why we thought it deserved the lead.
We also told you this week about the Supreme Court allowing construction on Trump’s White House ballroom to continue, even as Chief Justice John Roberts said the project is likely illegal.
And Kevin on YouTube responded with this:
Viewer comment:
STRAIGHT ARROW: Kevin, you’re right about one part of that: Presidents have been changing the White House for a long time.
Theodore Roosevelt expanded it. Taft added the first Oval Office. Truman added his famous balcony and later oversaw a massive reconstruction.
But here’s the important distinction: The legal fight over Trump’s ballroom isn’t really about whether a president can renovate the White House. This project demolished the East Wing and is adding a new 90,000-square-foot structure on federal property.
And by the way, when Truman did his massive reconstruction, Congress authorized and funded it. That’s also why private donations don’t necessarily settle the legal question.
Roberts’ argument is that Congress still has authority over construction on federal property, regardless of who writes the check.
So the question isn’t really whether presidents can change the White House. They clearly can.
It’s how far a president can go without congressional approval.
Inside the Story
Ok, let’s go Inside the Story.
You can read the stories on Straight Arrow, but this is where we go a step further, getting at the details that didn’t fit, the questions that came up and the reporting that shaped the story.
‘I can’t think of anything worse than this.’ Privacy at risk as ChatGPT now connects to iMessage
ChatGPT can now connect to your iMessages.
OpenAI rolled out the feature in August, allowing ChatGPT to help users sort through messages, identify what needs a response and even suggest what to say.
But there’s a privacy question that goes beyond the person who turns it on.
Other people in those conversations don’t get a say in whether their messages are shared with AI.
Our digital influence reporter Rosie Thomas looked at how the feature works, what happens to that information and why some privacy experts are concerned.
Conversation highlights:
SIMONE DEL ROSARIO: What sparked you to dig into this new feature?
ROSIE THOMAS: When I first saw the product announcement online, I noticed there were two very distinct groups in the comments.
One group, largely OpenAI supporters, was excited about the feature. The other group was saying, “Absolutely not.”
Whenever you see people split that strongly, it’s usually a sign there’s a deeper story worth exploring.
DEL ROSARIO: It seems like people either loved it or hated it. To be clear, the feature is currently available through iMessage on Mac computers. But even with those limitations, how widespread could this become if only one person in a conversation has to consent?
THOMAS: What’s interesting is that MacBooks account for roughly a quarter of computer use in the U.S. and the U.K., and around 60% of Americans use iMessage as their primary messaging service.
That means if you’ve ever exchanged messages with someone who later enables this integration on their MacBook, that person could potentially provide your name, phone number, and conversation data to ChatGPT.
So the implications could be fairly broad.
DEL ROSARIO: It makes me think of the idea of six degrees of separation. You never really know how connected you are to someone else’s decisions online.
Do we know whether Apple is on board with this?
THOMAS: Apple didn’t respond to my request for comment.
Apple has built a reputation around user privacy. iMessage is end-to-end encrypted, and that encryption has historically been strong enough that even law enforcement agencies have struggled to gain access to messages.
One expert I spoke with said Apple might not be happy about this type of integration because, while it doesn’t technically break encryption, it creates a pathway for messages to become accessible to a third party once they’re on a user’s device.
Read Rosie’s full article here >
Also Worth Your Time
We cover a lot every morning. But there are always stories we just can’t fit in Unbiased Updates.
Here’s what didn’t make the cut this week — but we think they’re Also Worth Your Time.
Nine more drugmakers agree to reduce prices under Trump policy
President Donald Trump announced that nine additional drugmakers have agreed to reduce their prices as part of his effort to align U.S. drug costs with those paid in other developed nations.
The new deals, revealed Monday, include discounted rates for state Medicaid programs and increase the total number of participating companies to 26. According to the White House, these firms now represent approximately 90% of the domestic pharmaceutical market.
“Today brings the total to 26 companies that have made agreements. These cover nine of the ten most-used drugs by Americans. This is going to have a dramatic impact medical pricing and public health in our country. Probably the biggest change in public health prior to this is dwarfed by this announcement.”
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., U.S. Health Secretary
These agreements are part of Trump’s “most-favored-nation” pricing policy, which urges drug manufacturers to offer Americans prices comparable to those in other developed countries. The administration also reported that the nine companies have pledged more than $19.6 billion to U.S. manufacturing.
Trump administration asks SCOTUS to allow removal of 29 transgender military plaintiffs
The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow the military to remove 29 transgender plaintiffs from service before their challenge to the Pentagon’s policy goes to trial in January.
Last year, the justices allowed the administration to move forward with its ban on service members with a history of gender dysphoria.
In this separate case, federal judges blocked the military from discharging the individuals who are suing over the policy. The group includes active-duty service members, reservists, National Guard members and one person seeking to enlist.
The Supreme Court is expected to consider this fall whether to take up the case before a lower court issues a final ruling. The administration says the question of who can serve in the military is a matter of “exceptional importance.”
For now, the 29 plaintiffs remain protected from removal as the legal fight continues.
Here’s the Kicker
Feeling overwhelmed by this week’s headlines?
We’ve got a good way for you to head into the end of the week.
Now you see it, now you don’t: Canada’s wandering island returns
Here one day, gone the next… and now back again.
A small, floating island in Canada has reappeared after officials lost track of it just weeks after its discovery.
Boaters first spotted it last month in the middle of British Columbia’s Williston Reservoir, and video of the little island quickly went viral.
It’s about the size of one-and-a-half American football fields, and satellite images confirmed its presence in late July.
But a few weeks later, it was gone.
Officials located it again this week, but they still don’t know exactly where it came from.
B.C. Hydro, which operates the reservoir, says record-high water levels likely caused the island to break away from somewhere along the shoreline.
And that’s it for us this week.
We hope you have a fantastic Labor Day weekend, and we’ll see you right back here next week.
