When Lies Spread Like Wildfire

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.  But as listeners to this show might wonder – isn't suing social media companies supposed to be impossible, because of Section 230? 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.”  Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter – we’ll be sharing Brian’s extended interview with Mariana McConnell there.  Guests:  Mariana McConnell, plaintiff's co-lead counsel 

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.  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.  Watch the video of Benjamin Netanyahu featured in this episode, which NewsGuard confirmed to be real. You can sign up for NewsGuard’s Reality Check newsletter here. And here’s our Question Everything newsletter. “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory.  Guests:  Sofia Rubinson, senior editor of Reality Check for NewsGuard If you’re interested in Fabric by Gerber Life go to https://meetfabric.com/QUESTION and apply today, risk-free.

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.  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. “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter. This episode originally aired January 30th, 2025.

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.  “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter. This episode originally aired January 15th, 2025.

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.  As Trump himself has said, the Ellisons are “friends of mine…big supporters of mine, and they’ll do the right thing.” 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. Is this what experts call “media capture?” Is the U.S. in it, right now?  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.  “Question Everything” is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter. This episode originally aired October 30th, 2025. Guests:  Natalia Antelava, founder of Coda Story

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. A version of Nick’s story first appeared in The Local – you can read it here. Please take 5 minutes to fill out this survey about Question Everything – it’ll help us know what you’re getting from our show; what you want to get from our show. We appreciate it. Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter. Guests: Nicholas Hune-Brown, Executive Editor at The Local  Victoria Goldiee

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 journalism made him too dangerous.  Mario was behind bars for 111 days. Then deported to El Salvador. If you’re wondering where the hell the first amendment is in all this, so are we!  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. Please take 5 minutes to fill out this survey about Question Everything – it’ll help us know who’s listening and what you want from us! Thank you.  Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. Sign up for our Substack newsletter, where we’ve been covering the big landmark lawsuits against social media companies for harming people with their products.  Guests: Mario Guevara, MG News Giovanni Diaz, ESQ. Scarlet Kim, ACLU Curtis Clemmons, former Gwinnett Sheriff's Deputy and Retired Assistant Chief of Gwinnett County Police 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.

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.  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? This is the first in a special two-part series about Mario Guevara.  Please take 5 minutes to fill out this survey about Question Everything – it’ll help us know who’s listening and what you want from us! Thank you.  Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. Sign up for our Substack 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. Guests:  Mario Guevara, MG News Emily Wu Pearson, WABE Giovanni Diaz, ESQ. Scarlet Kim, ACLU 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.

A little message from host Brian Reed about a scary incident he’s dealing with. And much scarier incidents other journalists are dealing with. Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. Sign up for our newsletter to see Brian’s interview with Senator Dick Durbin about his effort to repeal Section 230. We want to know who is listening to our show and how to make it a better experience! Please take 5 minutes to fill out this survey about Question Everything. Thank you!

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 an American citizen into a building, pinned him against a wall, and arrested him.  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. Question Everything is a production of KCRW and Placement Theory. Sign up for our Substack. Guests:  Mike Corey, Minnesota dad & public historian