404 Media

2026-02-09 02:32:01

Watch 404 Media’s Super Bowl Ad

Behold, 404 Media’s Super Bowl ad. Yes, we bought a Super Bowl ad. No, we did not spend $8 million.

Until now, 404 Media has never done any paid advertising, but we figured why not get in on the country’s biggest ad extravaganza with a message about our journalist-owned, human-focused media company. There are tons of ads for AI and big tech this year, so how about some counter programming?
youtube.com/embed/hmdo9kKdbH8?…
On a whim last week, we began looking into purchasing a Super Bowl ad for as little money as possible, by finding a local station willing to air our ad. We knew this was possible because in 2015, The Verge bought a Super Bowl ad that aired only in Helena, Montana, for a cost of $700. Inspired by them, we did the same this year.

After googling “smallest TV markets in the United States,” we came across KYOU, which serves the city of Ottumwa, Iowa: population ~25,000. There were other options, but we thought we would try Ottumwa and see if anyone responded or if this seemed like a fool’s errand. We emailed KYOU to see if we could buy a Super Bowl ad, and we got an immediate answer: There was one slot left, and it would cost $2,550. They also had a slot immediately after the game for $1,250, one during the Olympics following the game for $500, or pregame slots for $500. It felt important to have the ad actually run during the game, so we paid the $2,550 in-game slot.

We then had several things to figure out: First, we needed to make an ad. Second, we needed to find someone in Ottumwa to film the ad for us.

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After batting around various concepts involving celebrities that we don’t actually know and high production values that we could neither afford nor execute, we decided to write an incredibly straightforward script about who we are, what we do, and what type of person we are for. We each recorded it in front of our computers where we do our podcasts. It is perhaps the easiest possible concept we could have created, but I think it feels very us. We then asked Evy Kwong, our social media manager, to cut the Super Bowl ad. Evy did a great job with the cybery filters and b-roll. Our friends at Kaleidoscope, which produces our podcast, then gave it a last-minute sound mix. We delivered a final version of the ad to KYOU Thursday morning, and were told that it would air early in the third quarter, around 8:07 p.m. CST.

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Finding someone in Ottumwa to film the ad for us in its natural habitat was slightly trickier. We put out a call on Bluesky and on our podcast this week, where we very cryptically asked for anyone in Ottumwa to contact us immediately. We got a shocking number of responses from people with ties to Ottumwa, but most either had family or friends there, had lived there briefly and moved on, or lived a few hours away but said they were willing to go there if we needed. Turns out many people were willing to call in favors, even after learning that we were not doing some sort of Flock or ICE investigation and instead needed something more frivolous. We learned a surprising amount of info about Ottumwa during this process, and I made friends with a semi local archaeologist who noted various ancient civilization sites in the broader area. All of this support was a really heartening experience, but we didn’t want to make people drive a long way or reach out to ex-colleagues for us.

Tip Jar

Eventually, a current Ottumwan resident said that not only were they going to be in Ottumwa during the Super Bowl, but they would be watching at a party full of people who would also probably be willing to film the TV too. We are endlessly indebted to these folks.

Whether this ad moves the needle for us in any way, only time will tell. If you’re an Ottumwan who saw the ad and checked us out, please let us know.
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We ran a Super Bowl ad... in Helena, Montana

Seven hundred dollars

^{Nilay Patel (The Verge)}

404 Media

2026-01-30 21:26:56

Musk to Epstein: ‘What Day/Night Will Be the Wildest Party on Your Island?’

Here is an email that Elon Musk, current world’s richest man and owner of a gigantic social media network that generated child sexual abuse material on demand, sent to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on November 11, 2012: “What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?”

At first glance, the latest Department of Justice dump of Epstein documents is at least as horrifying as any of the dumps that came previously. Whether or not—and most likely not—any consequences of any sort come for any of the people who interacted with or were friends with the notorious child sexual abuser, the documents are depraved and continue to show that Musk and many other rich and powerful people have been lying about their relationships with Epstein for years.

In September, Musk tweeted “this is false” in response to a Forbes article based on previously released documents that stated he “planned a trip to Epstein’s private island.” He also wrote “Epstein tried to get me to go to his island and I REFUSED.” Musk had previously been named on Epstein’s calendar as being slated to visit Epstein’s island in 2014.

The emails released Friday show without a doubt that Musk, at the very least, “planned” a trip to Epstein’s island. They also show that Epstein asked Musk if SolarCity, his solar power startup that was eventually folded into Tesla, could electrify the island or his New Mexico ranch.

The newly released documents show that Musk emailed with Epstein over the course of more than a year. In a December 2013 thread called “Christmas and New Year’s,” Musk wrote “Will be in the BVI [British Virgin Islands]/St Bart’s area over the holidays. Is there a good time to visit?”

“I will send heli for you,” Epstein responded. “Thanks,” Musk answered.

“Actually, I could fly back early on the 3rd. We will be in St Bart’s. When should we head to your island on the 2nd?,” Musk said in a follow-up email.

In October 2012, Musk emailed Epstein and said “The world needs more romance […] Talulah [Musk’s second wife] and I are headed to St. Barth’s at the end of the year. I assume you will most likely be on your island?”

Epstein eventually responded in November and offered to send Musk as helicopter: “how many people will you be for the heli to island,” Epstein wrote.

“Probably just Talulah and me,” Musk responded. “What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?”

Another thread between Epstein and Musk was about providing power to two of Epstein’s properties: “is there any one at Solar City that my guys can talk to about electrifying the caribean [sic] island? Or the New Mexico ranch,” Epstein wrote. “Are we in New Mexico?” Musk wrote, adding a colleague to the thread.

These emails are hitting at a time where there is quite a lot going on in the world, and Musk, Donald Trump, and the current class of people in political power have shown that they will suffer very little from essentially any political scandal. And yet, these emails show in black and white that Musk has been lying about his relationship with Epstein, and that’s worth documenting.

Epstein calendar released by Democrats mentions Elon Musk, who denies visiting his island

A copy of Jeffrey Epstein’s daily schedules released Friday by House Democrats stated that Elon Musk was tentatively expected to visit Epstein’s private island in December 2014

^{David Ingram (NBC News)}

404 Media

2026-01-30 14:49:01

Here is the User Guide for ELITE, the Tool Palantir Made for ICE

Earlier this month we revealed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is using a Palantir tool called ELITE to decide which neighborhoods to raid.

The tool lets ICE populate a map with potential deportation targets, bring up dossiers on each person, and view an address “confidence score” based on data sourced from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other government agencies. This is according to a user guide for ELITE 404 Media obtained.

404 Media is now publishing a version of that user guide so people can read it for themselves.

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Do you know anything else about ELITE? Do you work at Palantir, ICE, or CBP? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.

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Here is the User Guide for ELITE, the Tool Palantir Made for ICE

^{Joseph Cox (404 Media)}