The Oversight Board knocks Meta over unwarranted account bans
After hundreds of users submitted public comments, the board says it's clear the company has a problem
Tech
Platformer.
Casey Newton on Silicon Valley, social media policy, and the intersection of tech and democracy.
Recent essays
30 of 60An economist's case against the AI jobs-pocalypse
Labor economist Kathryn Anne Edwards isn't worried AI will create a new class of permanently idle Americans — but argues it's still time for the government to fix the social safety net
In a surprise, Meta increases funding to the Oversight Board
After months of uncertainty, the company's oversight body has a new lifeline
Claude Code's creator on the end of the software engineer
Anthropic's Boris Cherny tells me major job loss due to automation really is coming — but job creation is, too. PLUS: the Pope's AI encyclical, and Trump abandons an AI executive order
Is the web being summarized to death?
At Google I/O, new features bring AI agents into the inbox and YouTube in ways that further strain the relationship between publishers and platforms
Google's James Manyika is betting that doomers are wrong about AI and jobs
Tasks are getting easier to automate — jobs aren't. What now?
Following: Elon loses the OpenAI trial
Musk vows to appeal; the judge vows to throw that case out, too
Are the Twitter clones in trouble?
A new report says X is resurgent — but it may be missing the bigger picture
The best argument I’ve heard for why AI won't take your job
In the first episode of the Platformer podcast, Box CEO Aaron Levie makes the case that you'll keep your job — but soon, you might not recognize it
Did xAI just concede the AI race?
Elon Musk had lots of reasons to make a deal with Anthropic — but he wouldn’t have done it if he were ahead. PLUS: The incredible testimony of Shivon Zilis, and a big new study on school phone bans
The Trump administration's AI doomer moment
A year ago, officials all but sneered at the idea of AI safety. A new frontier model has them reconsidering
We may now know what kind of AI bubble this is
Think railroads, not crypto. PLUS: The government can't decide what to do about Mythos, and week one of the OpenAI-Elon Musk trial
How we're shaking up Platformer for the AI era
On newsletters in the age of AI automation. PLUS: Musk and OpenAI in court, and China blocks Meta's Manus acquisition
The week that Meta employees became training data
Invasive monitoring and a fresh round of layoffs have workers I spoke to on edge. Is this the future of knowledge work?
Following: Trump says Anthropic is “shaping up”
PLUS: Everyone has feelings about Tim Cook
Why UBI is making a comeback
Tech companies hope a check in the mail will calm the AI backlash — but there are reasons for skepticism
The scientific case for being nice to your chatbot
New research confirms that LLMs often perform better when you encourage them. But why?
Sam Altman’s second thoughts
OpenAI’s CEO is asking the public to lower the temperature on AI. But who turned it up in the first place?
Meta has a new model
Nine months after an expensive overhaul, the company says it's back in the AI race — but the race keeps getting faster
Why Anthropic’s new model has cybersecurity experts rattled
The company says it has built its most dangerous model yet. Can its coalition of internet companies fix the internet before others catch up?
OpenAI is getting weird again
A strange purchase, executive reshuffling and a New Yorker investigation are raising questions ahead of an IPO
Exclusive: Meta has discussed ending funding to the Oversight Board
Shifting priorities and budget pressures could bring an end to the company’s experiment in independent governance, sources say
Can you have child safety and Section 230, too?
The verdicts in last week’s social media trials have alarmed open-internet advocates. But it’s possible to regulate platform design while also protecting speech
Mark Zuckerberg is doing content moderation again
Meta’s CEO said he didn't want to be the speech police. Then he texted Elon Musk
Spotify takes on its doppelgänger problem
The company is taking new steps to stop AI impersonation — but across the internet, the problem continues to grow. PLUS: Anthropic in court, and Meta loses in New Mexico
Following: Elon tried to tank Twitter
PLUS: the White House's new AI agenda
Meta's new support bot probably can't get you your account back
The company's new support chatbot is better than what came before — but still missing the one feature that millions are clamoring for
Following: OpenAI wrestles with business strategy (and adult content)
Do Sam Altman and Fidji Simo have an alignment problem?
Why Meta is retreating from encryption
In 2019, Mark Zuckerberg called privacy the future of social networking. Not anymore
I have been released from my responsibilities as an unwilling editor for Grammarly
Some overdue reflections by its CEO, and a class-action lawsuit, bring an end to “expert review”