There's a conspiracy theory on Reddit right now suggesting that Reddit is using aggressive tools to hide posts praising or supporting Luigi Mangione's alleged execution-style killing of the CEO of United Healthcare, Brian Thompson. Endless Thread looks at what is going on with Luigi memes on this platform: the Nintendo character memes… and the other ones.

Show notes:

A Reddit moderation tool is flagging ‘Luigi’ as potentially violent content (The Verge)

Reddit will warn users who repeatedly upvote banned content (The Verge)

What's the deal with all of these Luigi themed posts saying "nothing violent going on here"? (r/OutOfTheLoop)

Credits: This episode was produced by Grace Tatter and Ben Brock Johnson. It was edited by Meg Cramer, and hosted by Amory Sivertson and Ben Brock Johnson. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus.

Have you ever been deepfaked? Or maybe this is just a new fear – that photos of you end up online that are you – but not really you? What would you do? For an increasing number of people – especially women – this is becoming a reality.

So much so that a recent bill in Congress called the “Take It Down” Act has found some incredibly rare bipartisan support. The bill is sponsored by republican Senator Ted Cruz and democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar – making it illegal to post explicit deepfakes – First Lady Melania Trump has also been a vocal supporter. But the thing is, it isn't law yet and… it might not be enough.

A new podcast called Levittown, from Bloomberg and Kaleidoscope Podcasts, takes listeners on a sort of cyber thriller for the AI age. It's the story of a bunch of young women in the suburbs of Long Island who find naked fakes of themselves online and when told there’s nothing they can do about it – set out to catch the perpetrator. This ends up connecting them to a web of online vigilantes – and cyber criminals taking advantage of a justice system not ready for the reality of AI.

Endless Thread brings you the first episode in this series. If you like what you hear – find Levittown wherever you like to get your podcasts to listen to the full series.

In April of 2024, a group of aid workers were killed by Israeli Defense Forces while bringing food to Central Gaza. The IDF had alleged that its military analysts had identified a gunman on top of one of the trucks carrying supplies, suggesting it was a military vehicle, not an aid vehicle.

In the online debate following the event, a familiar trope popped up: arguing over whether one of the aid trucks a Toyota Hilux. The reason? In military conflict around the globe, the Hilux is a familiar character. Whether you're a U.S. designated terrorist group, a "freedom fighter," or someone else involved in direct armed conflict, you probably know about the Hilux.

Endless Thread wanted to know why, and how, this happened. So we took a journey beyond America's commercial pickup truck identity to understand why beyond our borders, the Hilux is the truck of choice.

Credits: This episode was produced by Ben Brock Johnson and Dean Russell. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus. It was co-hosted by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson.

Well, the messaging app Signal has been in the news recently, thanks to a snafu in which prominent federal defense officials mistakenly added The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, to a group chat in which they discussed military strikes in Yemen.

This whole situation reminds us of another conversation we've been having as a team about how to responsibly leak information to the press, and if there is such a thing as a "secure line."

To answer this question, we reached out to our WBUR colleague, investigative and data reporter Todd Wallack.

If you have a story you would like to share with us in a secure way, you can reach us on Signal (yes, Signal) at 646-456-9095 or email us at wbursecuretips@proton.me

There are moments that define each of our lives. Some we can predict: graduations, marriages, births, death. Others? Not so much.

And in the year 2025, sometimes, if the stars align just so, you may find that moment explode online.

That's what happened to 23-year-old Adrián Simancas. Last month, he was paddling the Straight of Magellan, with his father Dell, when the unimaginable happened: a humpback whale emerged from the water and engulfed him in its open mouth — and his father captured it all on video. Almost immediately, the video went viral.

Simancas sat down with Endless Thread to discuss his whale tale, the deluge of attention that followed, and what he's learned from his intimate moment with nature.

Show notes:

• Video of Adrián's whale encounter. We originally saw it on the Reddit thread: r/ThatsInsane
• Adrián Simanca's Youtube channel
• Dell Simanca's Youtube channel
• Did a whale swallow a kayaker? The truth behind the viral video (NPR)

Last week, we introduced you to the wildly popular, albeit controversial, streamer and self-declared socialist Hasan Piker — what he’s all about, how he’s delivering his message to millions of followers, and who he’s reaching and resonating with.

When we talked to him in November, Hasan had a lot to say about the Democratic Party, about the streaming platform Twitch, and about what’s further dividing Americans right now. So here's more of our conversation with him.

Every day, seven days a week, for eight hours or more, Hasan Piker is live on the video game streaming platform Twitch. This is where he shares his political commentary with a dedicated community of viewers — many of whom fall into a particularly sought-after electoral demographic: young men.

One of the dominant theories about the re-election of President Donald Trump in November 2024 was that it was aided by commentators like Piker: brash and bro-y. But Piker is a Socialist, considerably to the left of the mainstream Democratic Party. He gets into streamer beefs, but he also talks a lot about empathy and bringing a spirit of charitability to political discourse. What kind of affect does he have on his community and their political activism? Who's tuning in 50 hours a week to get their news from one guy (spoiler: it's not just twentysomething men), and really — who's that guy?

Endless Thread talks to Hasan Piker and his fans.

Credits: This episode was written by Ben Brock Johnson and co-hosted by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson. It was reported and produced by Grace Tatter. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus.

"Should I be joking at a time like this?"

That's the question then 33-year-old Brooke Eby asked herself when she uploaded her first piece of TikTok comedy in 2022, about being diagnosed with a terminal illness. Brooke's since built an audience of hundreds of thousands of people who are rooting for, and laughing with, her. Sometimes it gets weird. Brooke talks to Ben and Amory about how facing death changed her relationship with social media and online community.

• Brooke Eby's TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube
• ALSTogether
• When Your Terminal Illness Makes You a TikTok Star (The New York Times)