Big Take

It’s not just Levittown. The website hosting the doctored photos is the nexus of campaigns to harass women across the world. A victim in New Zealand helps to spark a global battle against the site and its elusive owner.

Levittown is a real-life horror story for the AI generation. In this six-part series from Bloomberg, Kaleidoscope and iHeart Podcasts, reporters Olivia Carville and Margi Murphy take listeners from quiet suburbs of New York to as far as New Zealand and into the darkest corners of the Internet. Where tech moves faster than the law, and it’s up to everyday people to hold back a rising tide of explicit deepfakes.

For official transcripts and additional information on this series, go to bloomberg.com/levittown

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Months after Kayla’s discovery, dozens of women in Levittown, a New York suburb on Long Island, learn they, too, are subjects of faked porn. Most are recent graduates of the local high school, and they zero in on a culprit. One of them sets out to prove it.

Levittown is a real-life horror story for the AI generation. In this six-part series from Bloomberg, Kaleidoscope and iHeart Podcasts, reporters Olivia Carville and Margi Murphy take listeners from quiet suburbs of New York to as far as New Zealand and into the darkest corners of the Internet. Where tech moves faster than the law, and it’s up to everyday people to hold back a rising tide of explicit deepfakes.

For official transcripts and additional information on this series, go to bloomberg.com/levittown

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SHOW DESCRIPTION

New Year’s Eve. Levittown, New York. Word travels swiftly as one young woman tells the next: “You’re on the website.” Dozens of recent high-school graduates are finding out that their photos have been scraped from their social media accounts, manipulated and posted to a porn website.

Who would have done this? And can the women get the images taken down? Told there isn’t much the police or anyone else can do, they set out to catch whoever did this. 

Along the way, they get some help from a global band of investigators and hackers who could take risks that police and prosecutors sometimes couldn't.

Levittown is a real-life horror story for the AI generation. In this six-part series from Bloomberg, Kaleidoscope and iHeart Podcasts, reporters Olivia Carville and Margi Murphy take listeners from quiet suburbs of New York to as far as New Zealand and into the darkest corners of the Internet. Where tech moves faster than the law, and it’s up to everyday people to hold back a rising tide of explicit deepfakes.

EPISODE 1:  Me… But Not Me

Stuck in her childhood home during the pandemic, Kayla is shocked to learn that photos of her, altered to make her look naked, are posted to a website where men swap violent fantasies about women. A conversation with police leaves Kayla discouraged.

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The International Space Station’s time in the stars will soon come to an end. NASA has said that the ISS is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2030 and replaced with a new station made by a private company. Now, the race is on to win the contract. 

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Kiel Porter and Loren Grush tell host Sarah Holder why a former crypto tycoon has made a billion-dollar bet that his startup, Vast, will build the next international space station — and what this space race tells us about the future of the commercial space industry.

Read More: One Man’s Crypto Windfall Is Funding a $1 Billion Space Station Dream

Listen More: What NASA’s Reliance on SpaceX Means for Boeing

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Trump's tariffs on China are causing a lot of pain around the world. Products that would've gone to the US are now pouring into other countries, leading to factory closures and layoffs. And this is likely to increase after April 2, when President Trump has promised to put in place a new set of tariffs.

On today’s episode of the Big Take, Katia Dmitrieva joins host David Gura to talk about the collateral damage from Trump’s trade war with China.

Read more: A New ‘China Shock’ Is Destroying Jobs Around the World

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It’s a busy week for the Federal Reserve, between Trump’s nomination of a new vice chair for supervision on Monday and an anticipated rate decision on Wednesday. 

To unpack all the news, host Saleha Mohsin sits down with former Fed and Treasury official Randy Quarles to talk about regulation, DOGE and Trump’s approach to the Fed.

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Crypto optimism soared after President Trump’s re-election and Bitcoin hit an all-time high the day of his inauguration. But it's been on something of a roller coaster since then. And the broader finance industry is watching all of this very closely. 

Bloomberg’s Katherine Doherty hit the road for a conference in South Florida, where members of the financial old guard are embracing digital assets anew, and are considering giving their core products a crypto update. She joins host David Gura to share a vibe check on all things crypto.

Read more: Wall Street Goes All In on Great Crypto Comeback Fueled by Trump

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CEO Jensen Huang has always said Nvidia is “thirty days from going out of business.” Even though Nvidia is now worth trillions, Huang is focused on future-proofing the business to outlast the current AI boom — and possibly even create the next one. 

Businessweek tech editor Joshua Brustein joins host David Gura to discuss the innovations the company is pursuing, its constant search for new markets and the threats to its dominance.

Read more: Nvidia Looks Past DeepSeek and Tariffs for AI’s Next Chapter

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After weeks of uncertainty that ricocheted through markets, President Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from every country in the world went into effect on Wednesday morning. 

Immediately after, Canada and the EU retaliated. Now, investors, automakers and American consumers are wondering how it will hit the economy.

On today’s Big Take DC podcast, host Saleha Mohsin is joined by Bloomberg’s Josh Wingrove to explore what Trump’s metals tariffs could mean for domestic manufacturing and for America’s relationships with some of its closest allies.

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As Trump signals a warmer relationship with Putin and a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine comes into focus, optimistic investors and businesses are eyeing potential opportunities in a re-opened Russian economy. But investing in Russia is still a risky bet.

On today’s episode of the Big Take, host Sarah Holder talks to Bloomberg’s Anthony Halpin about why some investors are enthusiastic about Russia’s possible return to global financial markets.

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