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The thing is, if AI had never come along, I doubt the Brown brothers ever would have amounted to much. It was the perfect tool for someone like Justin to finally achieve the huge audience he'd always craved... in a ghoulish type of way, of course

Whatever else you can say about him, Justin is resilient. When Ideapod’s various business plans didn’t work out, he pivoted the company, eventually folding it into Brown Brothers Media. And by embracing AI at incredible scale, he seems to have finally earned the vast audience he’d long dreamed of, even if getting there meant lying to the readers whom Ideapod promised to enlighten and respect.

“Changing the world used to be exceptionally hard,” he wrote in the Forbes article about visiting Richard Branson’s island. “One thousand years ago, only the kings or queens could make change at a national or regional level. One hundred years ago, it was the industrialists transforming society. Now, it’s anyone with an idea and Internet connection.”

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The Brown brothers remind me of those "see no evil, hear no evil" monkeys you see in tchotchke shops -- of course the sort of people who will carefully not notice that they're hanging out with a bunch of sketchy "Epstein class" power players will go on to embrace AI in an incredibly cynical way

It’s hard not to see a parallel to Justin heaping praise on Maxwell and milking her connections for publicity or funding, promising that Ideapod would “improve our world in unfathomable ways” while pointedly failing to notice that the entire milieu had a rotten stench. The closer you look, the more the Brown brothers start to feel like those “see no evil, hear no evil,” monkeys in tchotchke shops: talking a big game while staying willfully ignorant of exactly what’s made them relevant — whether it’s schmoozing with reprehensible people or pumping the web full of fake characters lamenting their loss of identity in old age or grieving the death of an imaginary loved one.

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The answer? I don't really know. Maybe more tips will come in now that we've published this story. But I do think that it shows, at the very least, a profound carelessness -- exactly what you'd expect from someone who would later start filling the web with AI slop at incredible scale

At the very least, Justin either didn’t perform basic research on Maxwell and her associates to discover their disturbing connections to a notorious sex criminal — or he did, and he just didn’t care.

In either case, the carelessness feels telling. As Brown Brothers Media built its AI empire over the past few years, it peppered the sites it acquired with high-minded language about how it “chronicles the systems that shape our lives” and brings “clarity, insight, and depth to the topics that shape how we think, communicate, and live.” The reality, of course, is that it was deploying this pretentious language at the exact same time that it was filling these sites with nonexistent journalists and using them as puppets to byline garbage-tier content.

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In fact, Ideapod is still operational -- it was even one of the Brown Brothers Media sites that we caught using fake journalists to post AI slop in our last story

On the same page, Ideapod claimed that its editor-in-chief was a man named “Theo Arden.” His “background in cognitive psychology,” his bio alleged, “shapes the publication’s approach to psychology and human behavior.”

But Arden was yet another completely fabricated Brown Brothers Media persona — a character so lazily made that in his AI-generated portrait on the site, his thumbs intersected each other in an impossible way. In many of the articles he once bylined, in fact, he appeared as a completely different AI-generated person.

“Theo guides Ideapod’s editorial direction with a focus on clarity, independent thinking,” Arden’s since-removed bio continued, “and respect for the reader’s intelligence.”

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Anyway, after all this stuff with Ghislaine Maxwell and Richard Branson and the others, in 2020 the Brown brothers folded Ideapod into Brown Brothers Media -- the company they now use to acquire struggling news sites and turn them into AI-powered slop farms

“Justin co-founded the digital media platform Ideapod and spent a decade at the intersection of ideas and audience,” reads Brown Brothers Media’s current corporate homepage. “When we pooled that experience under one roof, the model was clear: acquire publications with long histories of expertise and authority, and invest in them.”

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Richard Branson denies funding Ideapod. Justin and his cofounder deny that it received any funding from Epstein or Maxwell. This does leave an interesting question: where *did* its funding come from?

For his part, Justin firmly denied any connection to Epstein.

“Your questions appear to use associations with third parties, and even the geographic proximity of two islands, to imply a relationship with Epstein,” he wrote. “None existed.”

“Ideapod never received money or investment from Maxwell,” he added in response to questions about the socialite. “I am not going to speculate about other people’s connections to her.”

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So where *did* Ideapod turn for more funding? To Richard Branson, another character in the extended Epstein universe

Also in 2014, Ideapod sought financing from another figure with longstanding relationships to Epstein and Maxwell: Richard Branson, the English founder of Virgin Group, who once emailed the convicted sex offender encouraging him to “bring your harem!” to a meeting. Branson is also a figure from the TerraMar universe; he was named a “founding citizen” of the project, according to The New York Times, and praised TerraMar in a since-deleted Facebook post. (A spokesperson for Branson told us that the mogul had no role in TerraMar.)

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One place Ideapod was looking for funding during these lean times, according to an insider: among Ghislaine Maxwell's contacts

According to an Ideapod employee at the time, Justin emailed staff about approaching attendees at Maxwell’s party to let them “know we’re fundraising and that we’re looking for the right partner who believes in the vision.”

“Ghislaine has offered to continue hosting Ideapod events at her home and we’re exploring the best way to grow the community of early users,” Justin wrote in the message.

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Pretty soon, Ideapod is showing signs of financial distress. It even launches a crowdfunding campaign to support what it describes as "Medium meets Twitter meets TED"

Ideapod seemed to struggle to settle on a business model. Over the years, it vacillated between promoting a social network for people with big ideas, a search engine that never seems to have materialized, something called “Ideapod Academy,” and even a 16-week course by a Brazilian shaman named Rudá Iandê. It also held real-world “salons” where Ideapod users could meet and discuss ideas like virtual reality and the “role that inspiration can play in the human connection.”

There were soon signs that money was tight. In 2014, Ideapod launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo seeking backers — to support what it described as “Medium meets Twitter meets TED” — and ultimately r

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This is where things genuinely break my brain. After the party, Ghislaine did an interview with the Huffington Post that was prominently promoted as being "in association with Ideapod" where she talks about... well, you'll just have to watch it

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The relationship didn't end after the launch party. During the following months, Justin Brown would often go on social media to promote Ghislaine Maxwell and her various endeavors

In the wake of the September party, Justin repeatedly promoted Maxwell and her endeavors on social media.

In December 2013, he shared Maxwell’s TED Talk from earlier that year— titled “Sea Hope, Sea Change, Sea Future” — on Twitter, tagging TerraMar. Then in February 2014, he tweeted that he’d “just taken the I Love the Ocean pledge at the TerraMar Project.”

Days later, he shared an Ideapod page titled “Know Much More About Ghislaine Maxwell” — it’s since been deleted, and no archived version seems to exist — and again tagged TerraMar. He continued to post about TerraMar throughout the evening, at one point sharing a photo of Maxwell seated in a room at the UN.

“Ghislaine Maxwell of [the TerraMar Project] being graciously introduced by [Amir Dossal],” Justin wrote. “Two wonderful activists. cc [Ideapod.]”

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What was actually appearing on Ideapod's site around the time of its launch? It's all been deleted, and only bits have been archived

Content from Ideapod’s site around the time of its launch has long been deleted, and is only sporadically backed up by the Internet Archive.

One page that appeared on its site in advance of Maxwell’s launch party promoted an initiative called “APYouthNet,” which purported to “bring together people who share a passion for the subject of youth employment.” Another post, credited to “UNESCO [United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization] Bangkok,” promoted an initiative with the Thai Ministry of Education to “support youth, especially non-formal education students to obtain life skills.” (UNESCO Bangkok didn’t respond to a request for comment.)

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I really mean it: there were a bunch of people at Ideapod's launch party who were connected to TerraMar, Maxwell, and Epstein

Several more TerraMar board members were at the party. Photos show Ariadne Calvo-Platero, the daughter of the British Lord Beaumont of Whitley and reportedly Maxwell’s “best friend” as of 2011, whose name appears in Epstein’s notorious “little black book“; Steven Haft, a lawyer and executive connected to cryptocurrencies and media who produced movies including “Dead Poets Society”; and Stuart Beck, a former UN ambassador for the Pacific island nation of Palau who passed away in 2016. One shot from the gathering at Maxwell’s house shows Calvo-Platero, Dossal, Justin, and Bakacs all socializing together. (Neither Calvo-Platero nor Haft responded to requests for comment.)

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There were also a bunch of people at Ghislaine's party from TerraMar, her charity that abruptly shut down in 2019 amid reporting that the FBI was investigating whether it had any links to Epstein's trafficking operation

Also mingling at the Ideapod launch was Amir Dossal, a former United Nations official who served on the board of Maxwell’s environmental charity, the TerraMar Project, which reportedly raised $283,429 — and owed Maxwell $549,093 in loan repayments — while giving out just $874 in grants. Amid reporting in 2019 that it was facing an investigation by the FBI over whether it was linked to Epstein’s sex trafficking operation, TerraMar abruptly shut down.

Dossal was also associated with Ideapod, serving as an advisor for the venture. (Dossal didn’t respond to a request for comment.)

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This 2013 party had a wild guest list of people connected to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell -- who, in numerous cases, were also connected to Justin Brown's startup Ideapod

Another guest at the 2013 party was Katherine Keating, the daughter of the former Prime Minister of Australia Paul Keating. Like Maxwell, Keating was connected to Epstein. After Epstein’s 2019 arrest, unearthed video from 2010 appeared to show Keating at Epstein’s Manhattan home with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, then known as Prince Andrew, one of Epstein’s most notorious associates whose royal title was later stripped as the scandal deepened. Then, documents published in 2025 by the US Department of Justice revealed Keating exchanging friendly emails with Epstein and his staff to coordinate several meetings, with Keating at one point offering to bring her younger sister to lunch with Epstein and Woody Allen after she was told that the director — who’s faced his own child sex abuse allegations — liked “pretty women.”

Keating was also involved with Ideapod. She was listed as part of the company’s team on an archived page from the startup’s site back around the time of Maxwell’s fête, and a few months later she announced a “series of 52 five-minute interviews” for the Huffington Post, set to be published by Global Grind — a hip hop site by Def Jam cofounder Russell Simmons, who later resigned after a storm of sexual assault allegations — and Ideapod. Photos from the party show her conversing with Justin and Bakacs.

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What exactly was the relationship? It's tough to say. But in 2013, Ghislaine Maxwell threw a party at the townhouse Jeffrey Epstein bought her to celebrate the launch of Justin Brown's new startup, which was called Ideapod

Justin showed up to the party years after Epstein’s original 2008 conviction for soliciting girls as young as 14. At the time, Epstein had been released from prison and put on the sex offender registry. It was easy to Google news articles about his plea deal and his close relationship with Maxwell that dated back to the early 1990s.

Maxwell had thrown the soirée to celebrate the launch of Ideapod, a social media company started by Justin that billed itself as promoting “positive change by allowing everyone to share powerful ideas with the world’s most influential organizations and thought leaders.” Justin and his cofounder, Mark Bakacs — also at the 2013 party, as pictured below, and who Justin described in a 2015 article for Inc as his “best friend from high school” — positioned Ideapod as a more enlightened competitor to other social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

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jon christian @jonchristian.net · 27/09/2026

This was such a left-field claim that I initially couldn't believe it. But it turns out there are extensive photos of Justin Brown, cofounder of Brown Brothers Media, hanging out with Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for trafficking underage girls

selfie of Justin Brown with Ghislaine Maxwell

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mamdani balancing the budget by cutting nyc's draw distance down to silent hill levels

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jon christian @jonchristian.net · 27/09/2026

babe wake up we're vaping B12s now

vegan-branded vapes that provide B12 vitamine? who even knows

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jon christian @jonchristian.net · 26/09/2026

this was a good point, sorry for being snippy yesterday. i think the rule34 thing is actually pretty convincing. changed the headline and updated the piece!

Futurism new headline: Meta Desperately Wants People to Lust After Its Muse Mascot, But It’s Just Not Happening
Futurism new subheadline: Meta is trying to meme thirstiness for Muse into existence, but there are no signs that it's working.

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jon christian @jonchristian.net · 26/09/2026

this is honestly a really good point, thanks for pressing it. changed the headline to be hopefully more accurate, and updated the piece to point out the lack of actual horniness and cite the lack of rule34 posts. curious about your thoughts

Futurism's new headline: Meta Desperately Wants People to Lust After Its Muse Mascot, But It's Just Not Happening

Futurism's new subheadline: Meta is trying to meme thirstiness for muse into existence, but there are no signs that it's working.

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jon christian @jonchristian.net · 25/09/2026

opinions will differ but i sense a certain undercurrent of actual thirst!

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jon christian @jonchristian.net · 25/09/2026

they're calling it the most trustworthy bank of all time

X advertising its new credit card and bank account

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jon christian @jonchristian.net · 21/09/2026

This is the new reality of journalism

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jon christian @jonchristian.net · 21/09/2026

definitely open to changing my mind but your site does have ads on it, and it's asking readers for money at the bottom, both traditional ways of making money

Uprise RI asking readers for money at the bottom of the article

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people have hated on ICP for decades but one thing you simply cannot deny is that they put on an INCREDIBLE live show

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i cannot tell you how big this is for the juggalo community

justin bieber wearing an insane clown posse t-shirt

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the reason that everyone on social media is telling you this is awful is because what you are doing is fundamentally dishonest -- a real person's byline is a signal of trust and you are turning it back against the reader to deceive them

screenshot of an article bylined by a fake journalist

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oh everything is coming into focus now mr brailsford

Brailsford, a software developer, joined the company in 2020, according to the Uprise RI website. When he became its sole owner in 2024, the cadence of stories significantly dropped, and many were published with the byline “Uprise RI Staff.”

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definitely not off to a strong start

But when he returned to the site after winning the Democratic nomination for Providence mayor last week, he noticed that the site — once a go-to for Rhode Island’s left — had become almost unrecognizable. Part of a story erroneously labeled him as the incumbent in the race, for starters. And a closer look at the article shows that Adriana Vossari, the name listed on the byline, is not a local journalist, but rather a “digital LLM reporter” who, according to her bio, “files at all hours” and “has never requested a day off.”

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mamdani risking the crucial voter bloc of "people who take a really long time to poop"

AI slop post by "Real People News" complaining that Mamdani's public restrooms only give you "ten minutes"

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linkedin lunatics pondering the big questions

linkedin post:

> how are people saying “i made this” when they made it with AI?

> I feel dishonest saying "I" did something, when a team of agents did it, but equally saying "We" feels.. not quite right. I'm personally currently saying "I-well-actually-me-and-grokbot/astra/fable' which sort of covers all bases but not sure it's a keeper

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easy to complain about bluesky's various technical issues, but i go over to twitter for one minute and it's a vibe coded brick

twitter notifications saying "Something went wrong. Try reloading"

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to be fair, if jesus actually did come back these days, he probably WOULD have some kind of nervous breakdown

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