#36 Sam Biddle (The Intercept)
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Hello! And welcome to another edition of the Inside The Newsroom podcast newsletter. For many of you it\'ll be the first time receiving one, so I hope you get something out of it and please do message me with any suggestions (contact details at the bottom).
Today\\u2019s Guest Is\\u2026
\\u2026 Sam Biddle, technology reporter at The Intercept. Sam\\u2019s worked at a host of outlets including DCist, Newser and Gawker in the past, and reports from the intersection of technological malfeasance. Above is the podcast. And below is more context of everything we talked about with links and a little analysis from yours truly.
The Intercept is Born
Sam joined The Intercept back in 2016, shortly after it was launched in 2014 by Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill. It\\u2019s funded by eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar. You may have heard of Greenwald and Poitras from their time in a hotel room in Hong Kong with Edward Snowden, as part of Poitras\\u2019 movie Citizenfour, which documented Snowden\\u2019s first contact with journalists about leaked NSA files. The Intercept is one of the most important news outlets in the world, imo, if not only for Greenwald calling out b******t in public as he sees it.
Are Facebook\\u2019s Algorithm Sexist and Racist? Hmm\\u2026 \\U0001f914
Sam delved into a new study showing how Facebook delivers certain adverts to people based on their race and gender, even when advertisers had asked to target a broad audience. Per the researchers: \\u201cCritically, we observe significant skew in delivery along gender and racial lines for \\u201creal\\u201d ads for employment and housing opportunities despite neutral targeting parameters. Our results demonstrate previously unknown mechanisms that can lead to potentially discriminatory ad delivery, even when advertisers set their targeting parameters to be highly inclusive.\\u201d
Can We Live Without the \\u2018Big Five\\u2019?
Ever wondered what life could be like without Google and Facebook? I know I do all too often. Fortunately for us, Gizmodo journalist Kashmir Hill went all-in and cut the \\u2018Big Five\\u2019 technology companies from her life for an entire week. Personally, I\\u2019ve deleted Facebook and Instagram in the past six months and definitely feel better for it. But I\\u2019ll admit, I never knew how much of the internet\\u2019s infrastructure relied on a handful of companies and, as Kashmir found out, it\\u2019s almost impossible to operate as a human without them.
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Add Another Zero and Then We\\u2019ll Talk
The Washington Post reported last week that Facebook could be fined between $3 billion and $5 billion by the Federal Trade Commission, for the company\\u2019s mishandling of its users\\u2019 data. That could turn out to be more than 100 times larger than the previous largest fine levied by the FTC to a technology company \\u2014 $22.5 million given to Google in 2012. The problem is, though, Facebook released its latest earnings on Friday, and a $5 billion fine represents just a third of Facebook\\u2019s quarterly revenue, something the New York Times described as a \\u201cparking ticket\\u201d. Facebook\\u2019s share price rose 8 percent as a result. How do you penalize a company if a multi-billion dollar fine is good news?
Elizabeth Dwoskin and Tony Romm, The Washington Post
Zuckerberg\\u2019s Pivot to Privacy
Back in March, Mark Zuckerberg published the latest of his trivial essays, this time on \\u201ca privacy-focused vision for social networking.\\u201d The crux of Zuckerberg\\u2019s message was that his platform would be moving to complete end-to-end encryption, that \\u201cprevents anyone \\u2014 including us \\u2014 from seeing what people share.\\u201d Now, on the face of it, this appears to be positive. But does this now give Facebook an out from banning the fake content and Russian trolls that have plagued its platform in recent years? Like with most things, there\\u2019s be pros and cons. But it\\u2019s hard to believe that this move has been made for user protection, especially after leaked emails showed Facebook\\u2019s real mission is to make as much money out of its users\\u2019 data.
Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker
The Third Era of Zuck
It hasn\\u2019t been long since rumours of a presidential run circled Zuckerberg, but a tumultuous 24 months later, the only visit to Washington Zuck\\u2019s had has been to testify in Congress. According to Tim Hwang, who founded the California Review of Images and Mark Zuckerberg, we\\u2019ve entered the \\u201cthird era of Zuck.\\u201d First there was the \\u201cplucky in the college dorm room hacker guy\\u201d; then came \\u201cworld leader\\u201d; and finally we\\u2019ve entered Zuckerberg \\u201cin the wilderness.\\u201d Bearing in mind that Zuckerberg is still only 34, we\\u2019re starting to see through the cracks of what has been an efficient PR machine until now.
Julia Carrie Wong, The Guardian
Jack Dorsey\\u2019s PR B******t Tour
I\\u2019ve listened to three podcasts with Jack Dorsey in the past three months and all of them were scarily similar. Even ultra-skeptical podcast hosts such as Joe Rogan struggled to crack Dorsey\\u2019s veneer, as Twitter\\u2019s co-founder and current CEO told us that he\\u2019s working on changes that will mitigate abuse and harassment on the platform, but users wouldn\\u2019t notice them. Finally, in the below episode, journalist Tim Pool puts up more of a fight and things get a bit testy. Well worth the listen.
Joe Rogan Experience podcast with Jack Dorsey, Vijaya Gadde and Tim Pool
Related Podcasts
#31 \\u2014 Max Read (New York Magazine)
#25 \\u2014 Alex Hern (The Guardian)
#24 \\u2014 Ben Hammersley (Future Predictor)
Next up\\u2026
Later this week we\'ll have the folks of Hurricane Man on to talk about their new show and what it\'s like being in the middle of a hurricane.
\\u2026 Last week
#35 \\u2014 Richard Deitsch (The Athletic)
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