Explained: What's the ‘Panama Playlists' leak and what does it expose?
Eight years later, we have the Panama Playlists – and while the fallout of these new leaked documents may be significantly less damaging to high-profile figures, the repercussions will be felt.
Well, heard.
The new site, Panama Playlists, quietly went live yesterday and exposes the Spotify accounts of various prominent figures – including US Vice President JD Vance, Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
The website is run by an anonymous sleuth who claims they have been 'scraping' accounts of celebrities, politicians and journalists since the summer of 2024.
Deep throat – or should that be deep ear? - said their team has access to 'playlists, live listening feed, everything. I know what songs they played, when, and how many times.'
'I found the real Spotify accounts of celebrities, politicians, and journalists,' the site claims. 'Many use their real names. With a little sleuthing, I could say with near-certainty: yep, this is them.'
So, what are the bombshell revelations?
For one, JD Vance is into boybands – with One Direction's 'What Makes You Beautiful' and Backstreet Boys 'I Want It That Way' featuring prominently on his playlists.
Fine bops, undermined by Justin Bieber's 'One Time' on his oft-listened 'Making Dinner' playlist - but somewhat redeemed by the presence of 2000s indie darlings Death Cab For Cutie and their track 'You Are A Tourist'.
The puns write themselves for that last entry.
Pam Bondi seems to have an affinity for 2000s hits, like Nelly's 'Hot In Herre' and Black Eyed Peas' 'I Gotta Feeling', as well as Adele – with the inclusion of the British singer's hit 'Hello'.
As for Karoline Leavitt, her 'Baby Shower' playlist features Shaboozey's hit song 'A Bar Song (Tipsy)', Beyoncé's 'Run The World (Girls)', Aretha Franklin's 'Respect', as well as Corinne Bailey Rae's stellar track 'Put Your Records On'.
For our money, this is the superior playlist.
However, the presence of Cyndi Lauper's 'Girls Just Want To Have Fun' makes us think that they may also want reproductive rights as well... Leavitt previously said on a podcast: '(Abortion) is not about women's reproductive rights, it is not about women's health. It is about life and protecting that period. And as a woman, it is the most amazing thing that we can do to reproduce. That's why we're here. That's why, you know, God made men and women.'
Make of that what you will.
Back to the playlist leaks...
The sleuth told the New York Post: 'I gained confidence in each person by looking at lots of signals. An example is Pam Bondi. Her longtime partner is John Wakefield, and her profile has an old playlist called 'john' and an old shared playlist with a user named 'John Wakefield,' so that gives me a lot of confidence it is her account.'
The sleuth added: 'Karoline Leavitt's profile has a playlist called 'Baby Shower,' and she had a baby a month after the playlist was made.'
The mysterious sleuth did emphasize that they only collected publicly available information – in case anyone felt that privacy laws had been violated.
Outside of Washington, several other prominent figures are mentioned in the 'Panama Playlists,' such as late-night host Seth Meyers, Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
According to the site, Altman's 'My Shazam Tracks' playlist includes David Guetta and OneRepublic's 'I Don't Wanna Wait', Dixon Dallas' 'Good Lookin'' and Nicki Minaj's 'Fly'.
We're less keen on this one.
You can check out the full Panama Playlists leaks here.
Beyond the listening habits of the wealthy and powerful, what do the Panama Playlists reveal? Well, not a great deal – apart from serving as a valuable reminder that should you wish to keep your online data private, keep in mind that Spotify playlists are public by default.
If you don't want your bops to be leaked, try manually turning off the public settings on Spotify. You never know who's listening in...
Oh, and do check out the New York Times privacy and technology reporter Kashmir Hill's 'Writing Music' playlist, featuring Mogwai, Aphex Twin and Nils Frahm. She's the real winner here, with some jams in there, madam!
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2 days ago
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Explained: What's the ‘Panama Playlists' leak and what does it expose?
You've all presumably heard about the Panama Papers, the 11.5 million leaked documents detailing financial information on offshore entities that were published in 2016. Eight years later, we have the Panama Playlists – and while the fallout of these new leaked documents may be significantly less damaging to high-profile figures, the repercussions will be felt. Well, heard. The new site, Panama Playlists, quietly went live yesterday and exposes the Spotify accounts of various prominent figures – including US Vice President JD Vance, Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. The website is run by an anonymous sleuth who claims they have been 'scraping' accounts of celebrities, politicians and journalists since the summer of 2024. Deep throat – or should that be deep ear? - said their team has access to 'playlists, live listening feed, everything. I know what songs they played, when, and how many times.' 'I found the real Spotify accounts of celebrities, politicians, and journalists,' the site claims. 'Many use their real names. With a little sleuthing, I could say with near-certainty: yep, this is them.' So, what are the bombshell revelations? For one, JD Vance is into boybands – with One Direction's 'What Makes You Beautiful' and Backstreet Boys 'I Want It That Way' featuring prominently on his playlists. Fine bops, undermined by Justin Bieber's 'One Time' on his oft-listened 'Making Dinner' playlist - but somewhat redeemed by the presence of 2000s indie darlings Death Cab For Cutie and their track 'You Are A Tourist'. The puns write themselves for that last entry. Pam Bondi seems to have an affinity for 2000s hits, like Nelly's 'Hot In Herre' and Black Eyed Peas' 'I Gotta Feeling', as well as Adele – with the inclusion of the British singer's hit 'Hello'. As for Karoline Leavitt, her 'Baby Shower' playlist features Shaboozey's hit song 'A Bar Song (Tipsy)', Beyoncé's 'Run The World (Girls)', Aretha Franklin's 'Respect', as well as Corinne Bailey Rae's stellar track 'Put Your Records On'. For our money, this is the superior playlist. However, the presence of Cyndi Lauper's 'Girls Just Want To Have Fun' makes us think that they may also want reproductive rights as well... Leavitt previously said on a podcast: '(Abortion) is not about women's reproductive rights, it is not about women's health. It is about life and protecting that period. And as a woman, it is the most amazing thing that we can do to reproduce. That's why we're here. That's why, you know, God made men and women.' Make of that what you will. Back to the playlist leaks... The sleuth told the New York Post: 'I gained confidence in each person by looking at lots of signals. An example is Pam Bondi. Her longtime partner is John Wakefield, and her profile has an old playlist called 'john' and an old shared playlist with a user named 'John Wakefield,' so that gives me a lot of confidence it is her account.' The sleuth added: 'Karoline Leavitt's profile has a playlist called 'Baby Shower,' and she had a baby a month after the playlist was made.' The mysterious sleuth did emphasize that they only collected publicly available information – in case anyone felt that privacy laws had been violated. Outside of Washington, several other prominent figures are mentioned in the 'Panama Playlists,' such as late-night host Seth Meyers, Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. According to the site, Altman's 'My Shazam Tracks' playlist includes David Guetta and OneRepublic's 'I Don't Wanna Wait', Dixon Dallas' 'Good Lookin'' and Nicki Minaj's 'Fly'. We're less keen on this one. You can check out the full Panama Playlists leaks here. Beyond the listening habits of the wealthy and powerful, what do the Panama Playlists reveal? Well, not a great deal – apart from serving as a valuable reminder that should you wish to keep your online data private, keep in mind that Spotify playlists are public by default. If you don't want your bops to be leaked, try manually turning off the public settings on Spotify. You never know who's listening in... Oh, and do check out the New York Times privacy and technology reporter Kashmir Hill's 'Writing Music' playlist, featuring Mogwai, Aphex Twin and Nils Frahm. She's the real winner here, with some jams in there, madam!
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