Today, we’re talking about the landmark social media addiction trials that just resulted in two major verdicts against Big Tech — one in California against Meta and Google, and another in New Mexico against just Meta.
These are complicated cases with some huge repercussions for both how these platforms work and the very nature of speech in America. So we’ve brought on two heavy hitters: my friend Casey Newton, founder and editor of Platformer and co-host of Hard Fork, as well as Verge senior policy reporter Lauren Feiner, who’s been covering these trials since the beginning.
Links:
Meta & YouTube found negligent in social media addiction trial | The Verge
Meta misled users about its products’ safety, jury decides | The Verge
Meta’s legal defeat: a victory for kids, or a loss for everyone | The Verge
Can you have child safety and Section 230, too? | Platformer
The terrible cost of infinite scroll | The New York Times
I watched grieving parents stare down Zuckerberg in court | The Verge
Section 230 turns 30 as it faces its biggest tests yet | The Verge
Congress considers blowing up internet law | The Verge
Sen. Rob Wyden: “Why the internet still needs Section 230” | The Verge
How America turned against the First Amendment | The Verge
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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In the era of AI, sometimes a story is really just too good to be true, even if the initial evidence suggests otherwise.
And as artificially engineered content becomes mainstream, journalists need to go the extra mile to verify a story’s authenticity.
Casey Newton from Platformer spoke with “Marketplace Tech” host Meghan McCarty Carino about his recent wild goose chase that ended in an AI hoax.
On Christmas Eve, Elon Musk’s X rolled out an in-app tool that lets users alter other people’s photos and post the results directly in reply. With minimal safeguards, it quickly became a pipeline for sexualized, non-consensual deepfakes, including imagery involving minors, delivered straight into victims’ notifications.
Renée DiResta, Hany Farid, and Casey Newton join Kara to dig into the scale of the harm, the failure of app stores and regulators to act quickly, and why the “free speech” rhetoric used to defend the abuse is incoherent. Kara explores what accountability could look like — and what comes next as AI tools get more powerful.
Renée DiResta is the former technical research manager at Stanford's Internet Observatory. She researched online CSAM for years and is one of the world’s leading experts on online disinformation and propaganda. She’s also the author of Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality.
Hany Farid is a professor of computer sciences and engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. He’s been described as the father of digital image forensics and has spent years developing tools to combat CSAM.
Casey Newton is the founder of the tech newsletter Platformer and the co-host of The New York Times podcast Hard Fork.
This episode was recorded on Tuesday, January 20th.
When reached for comment, a spokesperson for X referred us to a a statement post on X, which reads in part:
We remain committed to making X a safe platform for everyone and continue to have zero tolerance for any forms of child sexual exploitation, non-consensual nudity, and unwanted sexual content.
We take action to remove high-priority violative content, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and non-consensual nudity, taking appropriate action against accounts that violate our X Rules. We also report accounts seeking Child Sexual Exploitation materials to law enforcement authorities as necessary.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher.
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January brings two things in Vergecast-land: CES, and New Years' Resolutions. We start this episode with a dive into the story of this year's biggest tech show, the Lego Smart Brick, which is either a clever way of thinking about creativity or the end of creativity as we know it. Sean Hollister explains how the Smart Brick works, and how Lego can make sure it ends the right way. Then, Platformer's Casey Newton discusses his productivity system, his adventures in Claude Code, and how you too can make yourself a little more productive this year — with or without AI.
Further reading:
Lego announces Smart Brick, the ‘most significant evolution’ in 50 years
Lego’s Smart Bricks aren’t just an experiment
I played with the Lego Smart Brick
From Platformer: The project that turned me into a Claude Code believer
From Platformer: What I learned about productivity this year
Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11.
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Myke talks to Casey Newton about his workflow for running Platformer, from idea capture to writing and publishing, and how he balances reporting with access to some of the most powerful people in tech.
This episode of Cortex is sponsored by:
Nexos.ai: All-in-one AI platform for enterprises. Get a 14 day free trial now.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code CORTEX.
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Guest Starring:
Stephen Hackett and Casey Newton
Links and Show Notes:
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Submit Feedback
🎗Relay for St. Jude – Donate Today
Platformer
What really happened at Basecamp - by Casey Newton
Capacities
What I learned about productivity this year – Platformer
Google Docs
Ghost
Why Platformer is leaving Substack – Platformer
Ghost
Todoist
My dinner with Altman – Platformer
Casey Newton (@crumbler) – Threads
Hard Fork Podcast
Sam Altman upstages the critics – Platformer
Notion
Installer Newsletter | The Verge
Casey's Homescreen
Bear
Balatro
Notion Calendar
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Relay for St. Jude Podcastathon 2025 - YouTube
Streaming live from 12pm to 12am US Eastern time on September 19, 2025
Kara and Scott discuss the Taylor Swift effect on the Super Bowl, and pick their favorite ads. Then, they've got opinions about the new special counsel report that raised questions about Biden's age and memory. Plus, Disney reports blockbuster earnings, and announces a new investment into Epic Games. Our Friends of Pivot are Zoë Schiffer, Managing Editor of Platformer, and author of “Extremely Hardcore: Inside Elon Musk's Twitter," and Kurt Wagner, social media reporter for Bloomberg, and the author of "Battle for the Bird: Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, and the $44 Billion Fight for Twitter's Soul."
Follow Zoë at @reporterzoe and Kurt at @kurtwagner8
Follow us on Instagram and Threads at @pivotpodcastofficial.
Follow us on TikTok at @pivotpodcast.
Send us your questions by calling us at 855-51-PIVOT, or at nymag.com/pivot.
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Today, I’m talking with Casey Newton, the founder and editor of the Platformer newsletter and co-host of the Hard Fork podcast. Casey is also a former editor here at The Verge and was my co-host at the Code Conference last year. Most importantly, Casey and I are also very close friends, so this episode is a little looser than usual.
I wanted to talk to Casey for a few reasons. One, the media industry overall is falling apart, with huge layoffs at almost every media organization you can think of happening weekly, but small newsletters seem to be a bright spot. So I wanted to talk about how Platformer started, how Casey got it to where it is, and how much farther he thinks it can go. And then, I wanted to talk about Substack. It’s the newsletter platform Paltformer used to call its home, but content moderation problems — including its decision to allow Nazis to monetize on the platform — have pushed away a number of its customers, including Platformer.
This episode goes deep, but it’s fun — Casey is just one of my favorite people, and he is not shy about saying what he thinks.
Links:
Can Substack CEO Chris Best build a new model for journalism? — The Verge
Substack launches its Twitter-like Notes — The Verge
Substack Has a Nazi Problem — The Atlantic
Substack says it will remove Nazi publications from the platform --- Platformer
Substack keeps the Nazis, loses Platformer — The Verge
Why Platformer is leaving Substack — Platformer
The Messenger to close after less than a year — The New York Times
Do countries with better-funded public media also have healthier democracies? — Nieman Lab
AI is killing the old web, and the new web struggles to be born — The Verge
The Biden deepfake robocall Is only the beginning — WIRED
Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23823565
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Today’s episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Pivot will return on Friday! But in the meantime, we're bringing you this special episode of Decoder, all about the demise of Twitter. Nilay Patel talks with Marty Baron, former executive editor of The Washington Post, and Zoe Schiffer, managing editor of Platformer and author of "Extremely Hardcore: Inside Elon Musk’s Twitter."
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Casey Newton is the editor of Platformer and co-host of Hard Fork. He joins Big Technology Podcast for our annual look back and forward at the year that was and the year to come. In this episode, we both go through our standout moment from 2023, then make predictions on Gemini, GPT-5, the future of Google Search, Apple’s Vision Pro, X vs. Threads, Falling in love with bots, autonomous driving, and plenty more. Tune in for a fun lively discussion to close out 2023.
---
Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice.
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2023 will go down as the year that Elon Musk killed Twitter. First he did it in a big way, by buying the company, firing most of the employees, and destabilizing the platform; then he did it in a small, but important, symbolic way, by renaming the company X and trying to make a full break with what came before. So now that the story of the company named Twitter is officially over, it felt important to stop and ask: What was Twitter, anyway, and why were so many powerful people obsessed with it for so long?
In this special episode, I sat down with Marty Baron, former executive editor of The Washington Post, and Zoe Schiffer, managing editor of Platform and author of Extremely Hardcore: Inside Elon Musk’s Twitter. We discussed how two of Twitter’s most dedicated power users – Donald Trump and Elon Musk — were addicted to the platform, defined it, changed it, broke it, and then put it to rest.
Links:
The year Twitter died: a special series from The Verge
Extremely softcore
Inside Elon Musk's “extremely hardcore” Twitter
How Twitter broke the news
Trump vs. Twitter: The president takes on social media moderation
Martin Baron recounts leading The Washington Post during the Trump era
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Today’s episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt. It was edited by Callie Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan.
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“I’m Sydney, and I’m in love with you. 😘”
A conversation with Bing AI (aka Sydney) turns romantic and bizarre. Why Microsoft’s AI search tool appears more powerful — and unsettling — than we thought. Then, inside Elon Musk’s quest to be the most popular user on Twitter.
Plus: It’s not just you. Online ads have gotten much worse.
On today’s episode:
Tiffany Hsu is a technology reporter at The New York Times who covers misinformation and disinformation.
Zoë Schiffer is the managing editor of Platformer.
Additional reading:
Bing AI appeared to have a split personality in a conversation with Kevin Roose, a “Hard Fork” co-host.
Elon Musk ordered changes to Twitter’s algorithm after his Tweets did not perform as well as he desired.
Why digital ads are so bad these days.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Today on the flagship podcast of wanting to smooch your laptop:
01:23 - The Verge's Nilay Patel, Alex Cranz, Richard Lawler, Adi Robertson, and James Vincent discuss the flaws with Microsoft's Bing AI, and why it can be an "emotionally manipulative liar."
34:56 - Platformer managing editor Zoë Schiffer joins to explain why Twitter is showing everyone all of Elon Musk's tweets.
50:33 - The crew discuss YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki stepping down after nine years at the helm.
Further reading:
Microsoft’s Bing is an emotionally manipulative liar, and people love it
AI search engines are not your friends
These are Microsoft’s Bing AI secret rules and why it says it’s named Sydney
Microsoft says talking to Bing for too long can cause it to go off the rails
The Supreme Court could be about to decide the legal fate of AI search
Microsoft’s Bing AI, like Google’s, also made dumb mistakes during first demo
From Bing to Sydney (Stratechery)
A Conversation With Bing’s Chatbot Left Me Deeply Unsettled (The New York Times)
Seeing other people’s AI art is like hearing other people’s dreams
Yes, Elon Musk created a special system for showing you all his tweets first
Elon Musk’s reach on Twitter is dropping — he just fired a top engineer over it
Twitter is just showing everyone all of Elon Musk’s tweets now
Elon Musk says Twitter should be ready for new CEO by end of year
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki steps down after nine years at the helm
The maze is in the mouse (Praveen Seshadri)
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review: practically peerless
Razer Blade 18 review: the price is going up
Tesla recalls 362,758 vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving beta for ‘crash risk’
Mazda MX-30 electric SUV review: a perfect storm of range anxiety
Hyundai and Kia forced to update software on millions of vehicles because of viral TikTok challenge
Less money and more fear: what’s going on with tech
Erase browser history: can AI reset the browser battle?
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call our Vergecast Hotline at 866-VERGE11, we'd love to hear from you.
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Kara and Scott discuss Microsoft layoffs, cryptocurrency’s surprising recovery, and Jacinda Ardern’s resignation. Plus, someone bought a Twitter bird statue for $100k, and it wasn’t Kara. Friend of Pivot Zoë Schiffer (@zoeschiffer) joins to discuss all of her recent Twitter reporting, including the work that went in to this week’s major New York Magazine story, which you can read here.
Send us your questions! Call 855-51-PIVOT or go to nymag.com/pivot.
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Enjoy this episode of On with Kara Swisher!
From the high speed train wreck at Twitter to the extradition of a fallen crypto kingpin and an AI that can rewrite your dating profile, there’s a lot happening in tech right now. Today, Nayeema moderates a conversation with Kara Swisher and Casey Newton, the tech reporter who runs the Platformer substack. They break down the biggest stories of 2022. And they look at what lies ahead in 2023. Will there be less billionaire grift? Is this the year that AI takes your job? And, ok Google, could this be the year of revenge for Bing?
This conversation was taped in front of a live audience at Manny’s in San Francisco.
You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema.
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Casey Newton is the editor of Platformer and co-host of Hard Fork. He joins Big Technology Podcast to keep up an annual tradition of looking back on the year that was, and looking ahead to the year that will be. In this episode, we review the wild developments at Twitter, the decline of Web3, and Amazon and Meta's progress in 2022. Then, we predict what will take place with ChatGPT, state bans on content moderation, Substack's ad business, and Apple's App Store. Tune in for one of our most fun shows of the year.
If you like Big Technology Podcast, please rate it five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. (Big thank you to all who rated in the past few weeks!!).
For weekly updates on the show, sign up for the pod newsletter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6901970121829801984/
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Casey Newton is the editor of Platformer, a CNBC Contributor, and a friend of Big Technology Podcast. He joins us for our final show of the year, where we look back on the biggest stories of 2021 and predict what's coming in 2022. Join us for a conversation about Big Tech's year of transition, the upcoming Web3 wars, and whether the cult of the founder is falling apart.
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Join us for a 'mega' episode with three guests! The Markup investigative reporter Adrianne Jeffries leads off with a discussion of Amazon's self-preferencing in search. Stanford Internet Observatory's Renee DiResta joins for our second segment to discuss her story on bottom-up propaganda on social media, something she calls 'ampliganda.' Verge Reporter Zoë Schiffer rounds out the week with a look into the state of worker activism at Netflix and Apple.
Check out Adrianne's story on The Markup, Renee's in The Atlantic, and Zoe's on The Verge.
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Kara and Scott talk about Uber and Lyft rideshare prices surging as the companies struggle to find contract drivers. They also discuss hold-ups from Republican Senators and the Biden infrastructure bill. Then All-Star Friend of Pivot and writer of the newsletter Platformer, Casey Newton comes on to talk about all things social media.
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Platformer's Casey Newton returns to Big Technology Podcast to discuss the intensifying battle among Facebook, Clubhouse, Spotify, Apple, and Twitter in the new, social audio space. Fresh off a conversation with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Newton discusses Facebook's plans, Clubhouse's potential for longevity, and what empowering the individual vs. the institution really means. Plus we discuss this week's big Apple release event.
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Kara and Scott talk about Airbnb and DoorDash's IPOs expected this week. They also discuss Warner Media potentially launching more streaming services in 2021. In Friend of Pivot we hear from Casey Newton about his jump to Substack and his new newsletter. Send us your Listener Mail questions through our site, nymag.com/pivot and use Yappa to leave a video or audio message.
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Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway talk about the growing power of Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon during the COVID-19 pandemic. Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai joins to talk about Google’s impact on society, its feud with Fortnite maker Epic Games, whether he believes America is headed in the right direction, and more; then, Columbia University professor Tim Wu talks with Kara and Scott about the future of tech antitrust, how China has run circles around the US in tech policy, and why Facebook faces the greatest legal risk; finally, The Verge’s Casey Newton drops in to discuss the TikTok acquisition drama, disinformation on Facebook, and Joe Biden’s plan to repeal section 230 of the CDA. Plus: Comedian Roy Wood Jr. has some predictions about Apple's next iPhone.
Get your Pivot Schooled hats, mugs, shirts and more at PivotSchooled.com/Shop.
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The Verge's Casey Newton writes The Interface, a daily newsletter about social media and democracy. He joins the podcast to talk about the tech press, Facebook, and the newsletter life.
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Recode's Kara Swisher talks with the Verge's Casey Newton and her older son, Louie Swisher, about how the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine has affected their tech habits. They also discuss Louie's remote final months of high school, the future of video conferencing, and the growing power of tech giants such as Facebook and Amazon. Newton also talks about his reporting on Facebook moderators who developed PTSD on the job, which led to a recent $52 million settlement. Plus: What is everyone watching and playing to pass the time, and are movie theaters dead?
Featuring:
Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton), tech reporter at The Verge and writer of The Interface
Louie Swisher
Host:
Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), Recode co-founder and editor-at-large
More to explore:
On Reset, Arielle Duhaime-Ross explores why — and how — tech is changing everything.
On Recode Media, Peter Kafka interviews business titans, journalists, comedians and podcasters about the collision of tech and media.
On Pivot, Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway talk about the big tech news stories of the week, who's winning, who's failing, and what comes next.
And on Land of the Giants, Jason Del Rey chronicled the rise of Amazon. Season 2 will focus on Netflix and is coming soon!
About Recode by Vox:
Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.
Follow Us:
Newsletter: Recode Daily
Twitter: @Recode and @voxdotcom
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Someone inside Facebook secretly recorded Mark Zuckerberg for two hours and sent the audio to The Verge’s Casey Newton; Kara interviews Casey about his scoop and gets Scott’s take on Zuckerberg’s apparent fear of President Elizabeth Warren. They also talk about why WeWork CEO Adam Neumann may have to go into the Unicorn Protection Program and why the company’s canceled IPO is a victory for the public markets. Plus: Kara dares Twitter to take responsibility for President Trump’s Tweets, and The Big Dog adopts a puppy.
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It's rare that I've seen an investigative piece get as much pickup as The Trauma Floor, Casey Newton's look at the secret lives of Facebook content moderators. It was all anyone could talk about at the beginning of the week. Hope you've read it. If not, link in the show notes. So... simple. We're gonna talk to Casey and dig a bit deeper. How did this story happen? What has the reaction been? And a couple of the implications of the piece, at least to me.
THE TRAUMA FLOOR (The Verge)
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Recode's Kara Swisher talks with her older son, Louie Swisher, and the Silicon Valley editor of the Verge, Casey Newton. Thank you to all of our listeners for 300 episodes. Here's to 300 more! In this episode: (01:27) The mess at Facebook and blaming Sheryl Sandberg; (06:01) Why Louie is cutting back on Snapchat and why Instagram is a “museum”; (08:38) The return of the group chat and the future of Instagram; (16:42) New social networks and Vine 2.0; (21:52) TikTok, teens and Facebook’s Lasso; (25:04) The integrity of memes and Reddit; (28:29) Gab, Donald Trump and becoming desensitized to nastiness; (35:17) Twitter, Snap Maps and privacy; (42:18) What tech hardware do Louie and Casey rely on?; (47:52) “Spider-Man,” “Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey” and “Red Dead Redemption 2”; (51:21) The PS4 Pro and "Wii Sports Resort" (53:15) Kara reads quotes about death; (56:26) Predictions for 2019 in tech Subscribe to Recode Media with Peter Kafka Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Overcast | Pocket Casts Subscribe to Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Overcast | Pocket Casts Read The Interface by Casey Newton theverge.com/interface
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