Leon Yin

NEW INVESTIGATION: Uber and Lyft locked drivers out of work to game a NYC minimum wage law. We crowdsourced screenshots, monitored surge pricing and ran financial models to reveal the devastating impact on drivers. w/ Natalie Lung @awgordon.bsky.social Denise Lu https://bloom.bg/3BIPTLB

Tips to investigate right-wing influencers from @gijn.org. Many points from a recent NICAR talk of 3 recent Bloomberg investigations. gijn.org/stories/tips...

NEW: For months, my colleagues and I dug into YouTube's conservative airwaves and found a flourishing network of host-read ads on right-leaning podcasts. This phenomenon has enriched hosts, YouTube, and businesses that use ideology to sell. bloom.bg/3Kaio9w

Friday was my last day at WIRED. Today I started a new job at Bloomberg on a dream desk with @suryamattu.com and @jeffykao.bsky.social. Got a tip? A dataset? Something we should look at? Find me on Signal at dmehro.89 In no particular order, here’s some stuff I’d like to continue to dig in to:

Headed to New Orleans or my first @ire.org Conference. I'll be on a panel Friday morning (11:30) on crowdsourcing data for your next investigation w/ Cassandra Garibay and Sergio Olmos. schedules.ire.org/ire-2025/ind...

Good "missing data" story

Tried "vibe coding" ... hated it! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

NEW: The US government has collected DNA samples from 133,000+ migrant children and teenagers and uploaded them into CODIS, a national criminal database originally built for convicted sex offenders and violent criminals, according to documents reviewed by WIRED.

This is a great story, the kind of great story you can do through using the data released by The Deportation Data Project: deportationdata.org Every data reporter covering immigration should get familiar with the data here

This Friday at @ire-nicar.bsky.social myself and @leonyin.org will be teaching how to can find and use undocumented API and build your own datasets. Come say hi and learn something new!

After a big story we (reporters) go back to zero. It's a lifeless and cold wasteland. Sometimes we shine a light down a new rabbit hole and see new potential to start digging again.

An absolute pleasure to talk to @davey.bsky.social and @leonyin.org about their blockbuster Bloomberg investigation into the podcasts building support for Trump's agenda. Via @columjournreview.bsky.social www.cjr.org/the_media_to...

Read our Oct. investigation into Uber and Lyft's driver lockouts, which the FTC is now looking into for illegally limiting driver pay in New York City bloom.bg/3WHra1X

If you’re looking for a weekend read, please check out our new data investigation on podcasters and streamers. bloom.bg/4jnaKW1

The story behind RFK Jr. in Samoa's measles crisis has never been reported. He wasn't there to spread misinformation about vaccines (though he did). He wanted to study a "natural experiment" of unvaccinated kids. “I can’t imagine anything less ethical or more cruel.” www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

Transgender identity was mentioned in 29% of the most highly viewed YouTube videos from top male podcasters/YouTubers. 30% videos discussing trans identity also mention children.

Becca’s 2018 study on the reactionary right on YouTube was so illuminating and prescient, and inspired this piece in so many ways! Grateful that she paved the path for us datasociety.net/library/alte...

@dmehro.bsky.social has been reporting on the serial school swatter Torswatz for over 2 years. Read this thrilling piece about the private detective who discovered the identity of Torswatz. www.wired.com/story/school...

In response to driver lockouts, NYC is working to close the loophole that Uber and Lyft used to deprive drivers of millions in future pay. The answer? Fix the variable efficiency rate that companies were trying to inflate with lockouts. From @natalielung.com www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

@denisedslu.bsky.social's graphics for Bloomberg's investigation into Uber and Lyft locking drivers out of work made it to @flowingdata.com's top data viz projects of 2024. flowingdata.com/2024/12/30/b... cc: @natalielung.com @agordon.me

Professors and researchers: are you booking speakers for the Spring semester? I have talks and workshops on data-driven investigations using crowdsourcing with WhatsApp, auditing black box AI systems and advanced web scraping. inspectelement.org/apis.html gist.github.com/yinleon/4e39...

How do I feel when I find an undocumented API and get it to serve my purpose. Thanks👏 @leonyin.org for making such a great resource inspectelement.org/apis.html

NEW: Alan Filion, believed to have operated under the handle “Torswats,” admitted to making more than 375 fake threats against schools, places of worship, and government buildings around the United States. New details in here: www.wired.com/story/alan-f...

One thing about me that most of you prob don’t know is that I cook Thai food frequently… So much so that I broke through a mortar.

I’m ashamed to admit it, but (despite being a journalist) I’ve been in a dark place for so long that I respond to most journalism with a strange combination of numbness and despair. I’m surprised by how outraged I was reading this, and grateful for it. It’s excellent work, excellently rendered.