Question Everything

<p dir="ltr">***Question Everything has been nominated for a Webby Award! <a href="https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2026/podcasts/individual-episode/news-politics">Please click here to vote for us.</a> The episode that was nominated is the event we held at Tufts University while grad student Rümeysa Öztürk was being detained by ICE for co-authoring an op-ed. Today (April 16th) is actually the last day to vote, so don’t wait. Thanks!***</p> <p dir="ltr">Taylor Little was 11 years old when they lied about their age to sign up for Instagram. Now, 13 years later, they’re one of thousands of people suing the company, accusing Instagram of purposely addicting them as a child and driving them to years of mental health struggles. </p> <p dir="ltr">Taylor takes Brian inside their dark and twisted experience with the app. They say it all started with a suggestion Instagram sent them to visit an account they didn’t follow, which they developed a morbid fascination with.</p> <p dir="ltr">Who bears responsibility for what happened to Taylor? Is it Instagram? The users who posted the content that consumed them? Their mom? </p> <p dir="ltr">Today’s show deals with issues of self harm and suicide. If you or someone you know are struggling with these issues, call the <a href="https://988lifeline.org/">Suicide & Crisis Lifeline</a> at 988. </p> <p dir="ltr">Question Everything is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>. And don’t forget to sign up for our <a href="http://questioneverything.substack.com">newsletter</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">Guests: </p> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Taylor Little, plaintiff in social media trial</p> </li> </ul> <p dir="ltr">Please support the organizations that support this show:</p> <ul> <li dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.lmu.edu/">Loyola Marymount University</a></li> <li dir="ltr">If you’re interested in Fabric by Gerber Life go to <a href="https://meetfabric.com/QUESTION">https://meetfabric.com/QUESTION</a> and apply today, risk-free.</li> <li dir="ltr">Get 15% off OneSkin with the code QUESTION at <a href="https://www.oneskin.co/QUESTION">https://www.oneskin.co/QUESTION</a>  #oneskinpod</li> <li dir="ltr">Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias and break free from algorithms. Go to <a href="groundnews.com/QUESTION">groundnews.com/QUESTION </a>to get 40% off the unlimited Vantage plan. <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> </li> </ul>

<p dir="ltr">***Question Everything has been nominated for a Webby Award! <a href="https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2026/podcasts/individual-episode/news-politics">Please click here to vote for us.</a> The episode that was nominated is the event we held at Tufts University while grad student Rümeysa Öztürk was being detained by ICE for co-authoring an op-ed. Today (April 16th) is actually the last day to vote, so don’t wait. Thanks!***</p> <p dir="ltr">In the span of two days, juries handed down landmark verdicts against Meta and Google. In New Mexico, a jury ordered Meta to pay the state $375 million for failing to protect young people from predators on Instagram. And in Los Angeles, a jury found that Meta and Google knowingly designed social media platforms that addicted a young girl, causing depression, body dysmorphia, and self-harm. </p> <p dir="ltr">But as listeners to this show might wonder – isn't suing social media companies supposed to be impossible, because of Section 230?</p> <p dir="ltr">Brian talks to co-lead counsel in LA, Mariana McConnell, about how they pulled off the win, what this huge verdict means for the internet, and the internal Meta document that said, “Young ones are the best ones.” </p> <p dir="ltr">Question Everything is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>. And don’t forget to sign up for our <a href="http://questioneverything.substack.com">newsletter</a> – we’ll be sharing Brian’s extended interview with Mariana McConnell there. </p> <p dir="ltr">Guests: </p> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Mariana McConnell, plaintiff's co-lead counsel </p> </li> </ul> <p dir="ltr">Please support the organizations that support this show:</p> <ul> <li dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.lmu.edu/">Loyola Marymount University</a></li> <li dir="ltr">If you’re interested in Fabric by Gerber Life go to <a href="https://meetfabric.com/QUESTION">https://meetfabric.com/QUESTION</a> and apply today, risk-free.</li> <li dir="ltr">Get 15% off OneSkin with the code QUESTION at <a href="https://www.oneskin.co/QUESTION">https://www.oneskin.co/QUESTION</a>  #oneskinpod</li> <li dir="ltr">Ground News is a platform that makes it easy to compare news sources, read between the lines of media bias and break free from algorithms. Go to <a href="groundnews.com/QUESTION">groundnews.com/QUESTION </a>to get 40% off the unlimited Vantage plan.</li> </ul>

<p dir="ltr">Brian sits down with expert fact-checker Sofia Rubinson who spends hours every day tracking lies online, and together they dissect a single lie that’s been rocketing around the world to millions of people, affecting the way people think about the war in Iran — including the world’s biggest podcaster. </p> <p dir="ltr">Sofia says the AI deepfakes she’s seen consume the internet in just the last few weeks make her worried that we’ve entered a dangerous new phase of disinformation. </p> <p dir="ltr">Watch the <a href="https://x.com/netanyahu/status/2033190035764232360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2033190035764232360%7Ctwgr%5E8c5350f8dca42821b3e07b940b5c3eaf639f3680%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbc.ca%2Fnews%2Fworld%2Fnetanyahu-video-proof-of-life-iran-israel-9.7132558">video of Benjamin Netanyahu</a> featured in this episode, which NewsGuard confirmed to be real.</p> <p dir="ltr">You can sign up for NewsGuard’s Reality Check newsletter <a href="https://substack.com/@newsguard">here</a>. And here’s our Question Everything <a href="https://questioneverything.substack.com/">newsletter</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Question Everything” is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>. </p> <p dir="ltr">Guests: </p> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Sofia Rubinson, senior editor of <a href="https://www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/">Reality Check</a> for NewsGuard</p> </li> </ul> <p dir="ltr">If you’re interested in Fabric by Gerber Life go to <a href="https://meetfabric.com/QUESTION">https://meetfabric.com/QUESTION</a> and apply today, risk-free.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Locked up, alone, accused of being a spy, reporter Jeremy Loffredo has to defend the fact that he’s a journalist. To the Israeli courts. And then…to our reporter. </p> <p dir="ltr">This is part two of our two-part series about Jeremy Loffredo, who in October 2024 became the first American journalist arrested by Israel. This story won Best Reporting at the 2026 Ambie Awards, which is why we’re sharing it again now.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Question Everything” is a production of<a href="http://www.kcrw.org/"> KCRW</a> and<a href="http://www.placementtheory.com/"> Placement Theory</a>. And don’t forget to sign up for our <a href="https://questioneverything.substack.com/">newsletter</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">This episode originally aired January 30th, 2025.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Part one of a special, two-part series, about Jeremy Loffredo, the first American journalist ever arrested by Israel, and the questions that were raised about not only Israel, but the outlet Jeremy worked for, once our team started looking into his story. We’re re-airing these episodes because they won Best Reporting from the Podcast Academy, at the 2026 Ambie Awards. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Question Everything” is a production of<a href="http://www.kcrw.org/"> KCRW</a> and<a href="http://www.placementtheory.com/"> Placement Theory</a>. And don’t forget to sign up for our <a href="https://questioneverything.substack.com/">newsletter</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">This episode originally aired January 15th, 2025.</p>

<p dir="ltr">News recently broke that Paramount, which is newly controlled by David Ellison and his billionaire dad Larry Ellison, won the bid to buy Warner-Brothers Discovery, after aggressively squeezing out Netflix. </p> <p dir="ltr">As Trump himself has said, the Ellisons are “friends of mine…big supporters of mine, and they’ll do the right thing.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Is the “right thing” squashing critical coverage of the president? Doing stories he’s more inclined to like? The Ellisons already own CBS News, through Paramount; now they’re about to own CNN. Larry Ellison also has a new ownership stake in TikTok, via a deal anointed by Trump.</p> <p dir="ltr">Is this what experts call “media capture?” Is the U.S. in it, right now? </p> <p dir="ltr">In this conversation we first ran in October 2025, after the Ellisons took control of Paramount, foreign correspondent Natalia Antelava explains the insidious implications of media capture from her experience living and reporting in captured countries around the world. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Question Everything” is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>. And don’t forget to sign up for our <a href="https://questioneverything.substack.com/">newsletter</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">This episode originally aired October 30th, 2025.</p> <p dir="ltr">Guests: </p> <ul> <li dir="ltr">Natalia Antelava, founder of <a href="https://www.codastory.com/">Coda Story</a></li> </ul>

<p dir="ltr">When a promising young freelancer pitched a good story to his magazine, editor Nicholas Hune-Brown was ready to assign it. But as he looked more closely at the pitch and the writer’s bylines across the internet, Nicholas began to realize maybe this writer wasn’t who she seemed.</p> <p dir="ltr">A version of Nick’s story first appeared in The Local – you can read it <a href="https://thelocal.to/investigating-scam-journalism-ai/">here</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">Please take 5 minutes to <a href="https://forms.gle/o4oZPiDwATUtc1nX8">fill out this survey about Question Everything</a> – it’ll help us know what you’re getting from our show; what you want to get from our show. We appreciate it.</p> <p dir="ltr">Question Everything is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>. And don’t forget to sign up for our <a href="http://questioneverything.substack.com">newsletter</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">Guests:</p> <ul> <li dir="ltr">Nicholas Hune-Brown, Executive Editor at The Local </li> <li dir="ltr">Victoria Goldiee</li> </ul>

<p dir="ltr">After journalist Mario Guevara was arrested while covering an anti-ICE protest, ICE moved him into their detention. As his lawyers and the ACLU tried to get Mario free, ICE argued again and again that he shouldn’t be let out, because his <em>journalism</em> made him too dangerous. </p> <p dir="ltr">Mario was behind bars for 111 days. Then deported to El Salvador.</p> <p dir="ltr">If you’re wondering where the hell the first amendment is in all this, so are we! </p> <p dir="ltr">In the second episode in our special two-part series about Mario Guevara, we look into how the federal government targeted and detained a reporter, and ultimately fast-tracked his deportation–his first amendment rights be damned.</p> <p dir="ltr">Please take 5 minutes to <a href="https://forms.gle/o4oZPiDwATUtc1nX8">fill out this survey about Question Everything</a> – it’ll help us know who’s listening and what you want from us! Thank you. </p> <p dir="ltr">Question Everything is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>. Sign up for our <a href="http://questioneverything.substack.com">Substack</a> newsletter, where we’ve been covering the big landmark lawsuits against social media companies for harming people with their products. </p> <p dir="ltr">Guests:</p> <ul> <li>Mario Guevara, MG News</li> <li>Giovanni Diaz, ESQ.</li> <li>Scarlet Kim, ACLU</li> <li>Curtis Clemmons, former Gwinnett Sheriff's Deputy and Retired Assistant Chief of Gwinnett County Police</li> </ul> <p>This episode has been updated to reflect the fact that the news outlet Mario did an interview with from El Salvador was not Fox News -- it was a local Fox affiliate in Atlanta.</p>

<p dir="ltr">In June, journalist Mario Guevara was arrested while covering an anti-ICE protest in Georgia, transferred to ICE detention, and locked up by the federal government for more than 100 days. And that wasn’t even the worst of it. </p> <p dir="ltr">But Mario is not the kind of ICE-criticizing reporter you might be picturing. He was a Trump-supporting, Republican-identifying, law-and-order-sympathizing immigration hawk, who knew ICE well and had covered them favorably for years. Why did the Trump administration still go after him?</p> <p dir="ltr">This is the first in a special two-part series about Mario Guevara. </p> <p dir="ltr">Please take 5 minutes to <a href="https://forms.gle/o4oZPiDwATUtc1nX8">fill out this survey about Question Everything</a> – it’ll help us know who’s listening and what you want from us! Thank you. </p> <p dir="ltr">Question Everything is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>. Sign up for our <a href="http://questioneverything.substack.com">Substack</a> newsletter, where we’ve been covering the big landmark lawsuits against social media companies for harming people with their products. This week: Mark Zuckerberg’s rare testimony in an LA courtroom.</p> <p dir="ltr">Guests: </p> <ul> <li dir="ltr">Mario Guevara, MG News</li> <li dir="ltr">Emily Wu Pearson, WABE</li> <li dir="ltr">Giovanni Diaz, ESQ.</li> <li dir="ltr">Scarlet Kim, ACLU</li> </ul> <p>This episode has been updated to reflect the fact that Mario Guevara had a Social Security card before his immigration case was administratively closed, not after. His subsequent green card petition was also unrelated.</p>

<p dir="ltr">A little message from host Brian Reed about a scary incident he’s dealing with. And much scarier incidents other journalists are dealing with.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Question Everything</em> is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>. Sign up for our <a href="http://questioneverything.substack.com">newsletter</a> to see Brian’s interview with Senator Dick Durbin about his effort to repeal Section 230.</p> <p dir="ltr">We want to know who is listening to our show and how to make it a better experience! Please take 5 minutes to <a href="https://forms.gle/o4oZPiDwATUtc1nX8">fill out this survey about Question Everything</a>. Thank you!</p>

<p dir="ltr">Our managing editor, Kevin Sullivan, had a conversation this week with an old colleague in Minnesota that we wanted to share with you as quickly as we could. He’s a former data journalist, Michael Corey, who lives with his family in St. Paul. As ICE agents have flooded Mike’s state as part of a massive federal immigration enforcement operation, he started getting involved in grassroots efforts to track and document ICE’s conduct. He’s been following and filming agents during tense encounters, including one where they chased <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/12/10/ice-agents-tackle-arrest-american-citizen-in-minneapolis">an American citizen</a> into a building, pinned him against a wall, and arrested him. </p> <p dir="ltr">Mike takes us inside what it’s like to live in Minnesota right now, and tells us how he and his neighbors are getting and trying to verify information with the encrypted messaging app, Signal, which he thinks deserves a Pulitzer.</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong id="docs-internal-guid-2545251f-7fff-aa69-4d5e-b3831a6b6845"></strong>Question Everything is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>. Sign up for our <a href="http://questioneverything.substack.com">Substack</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">Guests: </p> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Mike Corey, Minnesota dad & public historian</p> </li> </ul>

<p dir="ltr">As ICE agents have continued to threaten and kill people in Minneapolis and Minnesota’s governor and other state officials plead with the agency to leave, we share an interview with the governor of another state that was recently targeted by ICE: JB Pritzker of Illinois. </p> <p dir="ltr">In October, as ICE agents were descending on Chicago in “Operation Midway Blitz”, Ben Smith and Max Tani of the Mixed Signals podcast from Semafor spoke to Governor Pritzker about the novel communications tactics he was using to combat ICE’s incursion into his city. Eventually he was successful in stopping President Trump from sending in National Guard troops, and Border Patrol agents left the city.</p> <p dir="ltr">It was an urgent and timely conversation with lots of significance as we watch a similar situation unfold daily in Minnesota.</p> <p dir="ltr">Thanks to Semafor for letting us share this interview with you. <a href="https://www.semafor.com/hub/mixed-signals-media-podcast">Find all episodes of Mixed Signals here</a>.  </p> <p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.semafor.com/newsletters/media">Sign up for Semafor Media’s Sunday newsletter here</a>. </p> <p dir="ltr">The hosts are on X: @semaforben, @maxwelltani</p> <p dir="ltr">Question Everything is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>.<strong id="docs-internal-guid-4865fb65-7fff-a3d8-26fa-abca2eddacad"></strong>Please rate and review our show – on this very app that you’re in right now! And don’t forget to sign up for our <a href="https://questioneverything.substack.com/">newsletter</a>.</p>

<p>Many people were surprised that ICE officer Jonathan Ross was filming with his phone when he shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis. But Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell was leaked thousands of internal ICE messages that show the agency is obsessed with creating viral videos, and is using arrests of immigrants slapped with “hooky” captions and pop music to feed their content machine.</p> <p dir="ltr">Question Everything is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>. Please rate and review our show – on this very app that you’re in right now! And don’t forget to sign up for our <a href="https://questioneverything.substack.com/">newsletter</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">Here are Drew's Washington Post stories:</p> <ul> <li dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2025/ice-social-media-blitz/">‘It’s a War’: Inside ICE’s media machine</a></li> <li dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/12/31/ice-wartime-recruitment-push/">ICE Plans $100 million ‘wartime recruitment’ push</a></li> </ul> <p>Guests:</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/drew-harwell/">Drew Harwell</a>, Washington Post technology reporter</li> </ul>

<p dir="ltr">The story of an adult performer, Davin Strong, whose life was upended by a seemingly small change to Section 230.</p> <p dir="ltr">Question Everything is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>. For more of our coverage of how the internet and press shape our reality, sign up for our <a href="https://questioneverything.substack.com/">newsletter</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">Guests: </p> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Davin Addison (aka Davin Strong), adult performer whose livelihood was upended after FOSTA-SESTA.</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Sam Eagan, Producer, Question Everything</p> </li> </ul>

<p dir="ltr">At a bar that survived the destruction, a group of reporters get together a year later to talk about the personal impact the LA wildfires had on them. And some of the harrowing – and surprising – requests they got from people to check if their homes were still standing.</p> <p dir="ltr">Thanks to Good Neighbor Bar and West Altadena Wine & Spirits for hosting us.</p> <p dir="ltr">Question Everything is a production of <a href="http://www.kcrw.org">KCRW</a> and <a href="http://www.placementtheory.com">Placement Theory</a>. Sign up for our <a href="https://questioneverything.substack.com/">newsletter</a> please!</p> <p dir="ltr">Guests: </p> <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation"><a href="https://www.latimes.com/people/tony-briscoe">Tony Briscoe</a>, environmental reporter, Los Angeles Times</p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation"><a href="https://www.jacobsoboroff.com/">Jacob Soboroff</a>, senior political and national correspondent, MSNOW and author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Firestorm-Great-Angeles-Americas-Disaster/dp/0063467968/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=1338106215353335&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.IaJWUtzzsqCKnZWUayowzrXnRwOiJhMs_PwLfLIHMKq4cUVswA9gImPw5MwiNAX_.i2nWWtcYYXClBGa2hdMylzvJd_KMdOEK6M-DDGMIF-o&dib_tag=se&hvadid=83631878381315&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=51636&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-83631983395927%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=20561_13322678&keywords=jacob+soboroff+book&mcid=c796f8ad825d34bba4fa2a243fe3a56a&qid=1767387207&sr=8-1">“Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America’s New Age of Disaster”</a></p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation"><a href="https://abc7.com/about/newsteam/leanne-suter/">Leanne Suter</a>, reporter, ABC7/KABC-TV Los Angeles </p> </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> <p dir="ltr" role="presentation"><a href="https://www.calonews.com/users/profile/michelle/">Michelle Zacarias</a>, reporter, CALÓ News</p> </li> <li>Randy Clement, co-owner, <a href="https://www.goodneighborbar.com/">Good Neighbor Bar in Altadena, California</a></li> </ul>