Mia Sato
LightNews LightNews
banner
miasato.bsky.social
Mia Sato
@miasato.bsky.social
38K followers 470 following 1.1K posts
reporter at @theverge.com, and things of that nature. i cover social media/tech companies and life online. contact me securely on signal: @miasato.11.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
miasato.bsky.social
Mia Sato @miasato.bsky.social · 4d
New from me: The internet promised the democratization of information, power, and expression. Now there are vanishingly few ways to be online that don't involve being a billboard.

I wrote about the weird — and sometimes devastating — experience of being *influenced*
www.theverge.com/cs/features/...
Confessions of the influenced
Behind every influencer is an army of the people mired in debt and mass-produced clutter.
www.theverge.com
Reposted by Mia Sato
parkermolloy.com
I mean, the Penn student newspaper isn't wrong, but www.instagram.com/p/DSH1X4EDwP...
dailypenn YEAR IN REVIEW Four Penn alumni in the national spotlight in 2025 dailypenn From the Oval Office to courtrooms, several Penn alumni made national headlines this year - repeatedly tying the University to high-profile controversies. Swipe for a look at four alumni who stepped into the national spotlight in 2025, and continue reading at the link in our bio.
December 12, 2025 at 2:23 AM
Reposted by Mia Sato
atrupar.com
MAGAZINER: How many veterans have you deported?

NOEM: We haven't deported veterans

MAGAZINER: We are now joined on Zoom by a combat veteran you deported to Korea
December 11, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Mia Sato
miasato.bsky.social
the state should issue all journalists five (5) mandatory non-media industry friends to keep us all normal
November 27, 2025 at 2:11 AM
miasato.bsky.social
may this love never find me
December 11, 2025 at 4:28 AM
miasato.bsky.social
This clip of a teacher who worked with Yuanxin, the 6 year old boy who was abducted by ICE and separated from his dad, completely crushed me. And DHS still won’t say where Yuanxin is.

www.tiktok.com/@ranafromque...
ICE is abducting our children 😭 #ice #queens #nyc #astoria
TikTok video by The Rana Show
www.tiktok.com
December 9, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Reposted by Mia Sato
thedextriarchy.bsky.social
I read this @miasato.bsky.social piece and spent the entire time second-guessing whether I had, without realizing it, been Influenced. Jury still out.
Confessions of the influenced
Behind every influencer is an army of the people mired in debt and mass-produced clutter.
www.theverge.com
December 9, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Reposted by Mia Sato
urbanbohemian.com
As a former compulsive shopper and someone now who even sometimes laments being sent things as PR swag, this article resonated with me.

I definitely get "influenced" but have been able to stop spending on things and be honest about "will I actually use it?" vs. "am I just in the hype splash zone?"
miasato.bsky.social Mia Sato @miasato.bsky.social · 4d
New from me: The internet promised the democratization of information, power, and expression. Now there are vanishingly few ways to be online that don't involve being a billboard.

I wrote about the weird — and sometimes devastating — experience of being *influenced*
www.theverge.com/cs/features/...
Confessions of the influenced
Behind every influencer is an army of the people mired in debt and mass-produced clutter.
www.theverge.com
December 9, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by Mia Sato
wendyxu.bsky.social
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"T've had people tell me that they've purchased things just because I'm wearing them and I'm actively telling people to buy less," she says. "I'm actively telling people the perils of shopping too much." Berman recounts a video she saw of a user crying that their mother had died; some comments asked where their mascara was from because it wasn't running down their face.
December 9, 2025 at 2:48 AM
Reposted by Mia Sato
joshuajfriedman.com
Mia is wonderful, and you can read her feature today for free!
miasato.bsky.social Mia Sato @miasato.bsky.social · 4d
New from me: The internet promised the democratization of information, power, and expression. Now there are vanishingly few ways to be online that don't involve being a billboard.

I wrote about the weird — and sometimes devastating — experience of being *influenced*
www.theverge.com/cs/features/...
Confessions of the influenced
Behind every influencer is an army of the people mired in debt and mass-produced clutter.
www.theverge.com
December 9, 2025 at 2:25 AM
Reposted by Mia Sato
miasato.bsky.social
New from me: The internet promised the democratization of information, power, and expression. Now there are vanishingly few ways to be online that don't involve being a billboard.

I wrote about the weird — and sometimes devastating — experience of being *influenced*
www.theverge.com/cs/features/...
Confessions of the influenced
Behind every influencer is an army of the people mired in debt and mass-produced clutter.
www.theverge.com
December 8, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Mia Sato
charlespulliam.bsky.social
A few minutes into watching vids about shiny hunting in Z-A, it was painfully clear that a certain controller manufacturer was pushing content creators to mention their products in the exact same offhanded way and it left the nastiest taste in my mouth. We live in hell!
miasato.bsky.social Mia Sato @miasato.bsky.social · 4d
We're in an era where "social" feeds largely function not as a way to connect with humans, but a place to find commerce-related content. Pew found that 62 percent of adults on TikTok are there to find product recommendations or reviews. Even "educational" content tends to morph into a commercial
Commerce has long been central to social media; as long as ads keep the lights on at Meta, TikTok, and YouTube, we will all be pressured to buy, buy, buy. Instagram was a mall even before #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt and Pinterest became an “AI-enabled shopping assistant.” The influencer industry — which Goldman Sachs has predicted will grow to nearly half a trillion dollars by 2027 — has snowballed into a possible side hustle for anyone with access to a phone. There’s a handful of MrBeasts and Alix Earles at the top and an untold number of micro-influencers hawking goods and services at the bottom. For audiences, it means we have spent the better part of a decade living within a 24/7 digital infomercial, with social media — sponsored content and organic posts alike — resembling not much more than a buying guide, a catalog of unabashed and conspicuous consumption. Some audience members find themselves in deep debt or describe their behavior as a full-blown shopping addiction; others have developed careful strategies in an effort to limit their consumption. We have never been so aware of all the things there are to purchase, and the frictionlessness of shopping apps disguised as social media has created an army of voracious buyers. What has this abundance done to us? Social media isn’t just filled with ideas for things to buy — increasingly, there are moments where reactionary anti-consumer trends bubble up, too. Project Pan has been around for years but had a resurgence earlier in 2025; “loud budgeting” emerged as a foil to the so-called quiet luxury trend; and the act of owning a normal amount of things (one fancy water bottle, clothes that are several years old) has been rebranded as “underconsumption core.” For a second it seemed like “de-influencing” had some legs — until inevitably the de-influencers started promoting other things to buy instead. Even the mechanisms for buying less can prompt people into shopping more. When there is shopping fatigue, things eventually swing back. Duffy says creators often describe how TikTok rewards educational content, but that even that genre has consumption at its center. “There’s always been advertising packaged as advice,” Duffy says, pointing back to things like women’s magazines. “But in the context of TikTok, you had so many people that were sharing their tips and tricks on life with consumer purchases at the center.”
December 8, 2025 at 4:35 PM
miasato.bsky.social
By the way, my story is free to read for everyone today, no subscription required, as part of a new feature The Verge introduced :-)
The Verge homepage with a "free to read" section including my story about online shopping / "shopaganda"
December 8, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Mia Sato
rcmacleod.bsky.social
Haha what the hell
The content doesn’t even have to be explicitly promotional: I recall a video I made last year about my reporting being used without credit by content creators. My frustration had hit a breaking point, so I recorded a selfie-style TikTok complaining about the contemporary media ecosystem. Only my head and a portion of my shoulders were in the video, but someone wanted to know where my blouse was from. “I’ve had people tell me that they’ve purchased things just because I’m wearing them and I’m actively telling people to buy less,” she says. “I’m actively telling people the perils of shopping too much.” Berman recounts a video she saw of a user crying that their mother had died; some comments asked where their mascara was from because it wasn’t running down their face
December 8, 2025 at 3:29 PM
miasato.bsky.social
New from me: The internet promised the democratization of information, power, and expression. Now there are vanishingly few ways to be online that don't involve being a billboard.

I wrote about the weird — and sometimes devastating — experience of being *influenced*
www.theverge.com/cs/features/...
Confessions of the influenced
Behind every influencer is an army of the people mired in debt and mass-produced clutter.
www.theverge.com
December 8, 2025 at 3:00 PM
miasato.bsky.social
Here's my dispatch from a week of pre-trial hearings in the Luigi Mangione case: The supporters, the media frenzy, and the simmering tensions between all factions on how to talk about a case that is maybe too viral for its own good.

www.theverge.com/policy/83905...
One week at the Luigi Mangione media circus
Frog costumes, Luigi hats, and the press frenzy at the viral murder trial.
www.theverge.com
December 5, 2025 at 6:48 PM
miasato.bsky.social
Initial reports last year claimed Luigi Mangione had $2,000 in foreign currency on him but the judge just unsealed the inventory picture and
A police image of a flat lay of cash -- $7,000 USD plus ~$20 in foreign currency like Japanese Yen 1000 JPY, 120 Thai baht, 500 Indian rupees,
December 4, 2025 at 11:43 PM
miasato.bsky.social
From the Luigi Mangione hearings in NYC: After initially sealing all exhibits, Judge Gregory Carro just told us that some materials WILL be released. Earlier this week Carro said he would seal everything, prompting backlash from reporters — one reporter was ejected from court after they objected
December 4, 2025 at 6:46 PM
miasato.bsky.social
Oh it somehow got even more boring than the beige from last year www.theverge.com/24316196/pan...
December 4, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Reposted by Mia Sato
drewharwell.com
Sabrina Carpenter's post yesterday calling the White House video "evil and disgusting" is in record-setting ratio territory: 1.3 million likes (20x more than WH's), 177,000 reposts, 83 million views
this video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.
December 3, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by Mia Sato
clauirizarry.bsky.social
A 6-year-old boy is missing after ICE arrested him and his dad in NYC last week and shipped them off to separate facilities. www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/02/i... @thecity.nyc @gwynnefitz.bsky.social
ICE Arrested and Separated Chinese Father From 6-Year-Old Son, Advocates Say
The father and son were detained at an ICE check-in on Nov. 26, advocates say. The son’s location is currently unknown, while the father is being held at an upstate ICE facility.
www.thecity.nyc
December 2, 2025 at 5:42 PM
miasato.bsky.social
I'm at the Luigi Mangione hearing today in New York. This week is focused on whether some key pieces of evidence are admissible in court. Follow along at @theverge.com www.theverge.com/policy/83488...
Luigi Mangione has entered the courtroom.
We’re more than an hour and a half behind the scheduled start time for the hearing in New York. Mangione was allowed to wear street clothes today, which elicited wall-to-wall news coverage last month....
www.theverge.com
December 1, 2025 at 3:57 PM
miasato.bsky.social
black friday/cyber monday always makes me want for nothing
November 30, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Mia Sato
hellgatenyc.com
Federal immigration enforcement officials called off a planned raid on Canal Street today shortly before it was slated to begin.

New Yorkers who heard about the raid showed up at the garage where the feds had gathered, and as federal agents tried to leave, the NYPD cleared the way for them.
November 29, 2025 at 7:34 PM
miasato.bsky.social
Eminem over Hello Operator is CRAZY
cjzero.bsky.social CJ Fogler @cjzero.bsky.social · 15d
Jack White brings out Eminem
November 27, 2025 at 8:10 PM
miasato.bsky.social
“I haven’t seen him in a hell of a long time”
- my mom about the Jolly Green Giant
November 27, 2025 at 6:50 PM