Substack announced last week that it acquired Letter, a platform that encourages written dialogue and debate. The financials of the deal weren’t disclosed, but this acquisition follows Substack’s recent $65 million raise. Newsletters are all the rage — Facebook launched its exclusive, celeb-studded Bulletin platform last month, and Twitter acquired the newsletter startup ***** earlier ...

For the past several years, I’ve led a graduate-level class studying the early history of Internet policy in the United States. It runs just seven weeks – the truth is, there’s not that much actual legislation to review. We spend a lot of the course focused on Internet business models, which, as I hope this ...

Never in my five-plus decades has a year been so eagerly anticipated, which makes this business of  prediction particularly daunting. I’m generally inclined to be optimistic, but rose-colored glasses stretch time. Good things always take longer to emerge than any of us would wish. Over 18 years of doing this I’ve learned that it’s best ...

From the Department of Didn’t See THAT Coming… Yes, it’s true: Last year, I did not predict a global pandemic in 2020. COVID is a gravitational force that warps everything it touches, so I approach this annual ritual of self-grading with trepidation. As I start, I honestly don’t remember what I predicted twelve months ago…but ...

Why “information equity” matters.   An idea has been tugging at me for months now, one I’ve spent countless hours discussing and debating with leaders in marketing, media, and journalism. And as I often do, I’m turning to writing to see if I can push it into more concrete form. I’m literally thinking out loud ...

The video above is from a conversation at The Recount’s SHIFT event last month, between Nick Clegg, Facebook VP, Global Affairs and Communications, and myself. If you can’t bear to watch 30 or seconds of video, the gist is this: Clegg says “Thank *** Mark Zuckerberg isn’t editing what people can or can’t say on ...

From Forbes: Facebook launched a new 'Facebook Campus' feature Thursday that aims to connect college students with their campus communities, returning the social network to its initial college-only roots as students across the country contend with virtual learning and decreased opportunities for face-to-face socializing amid the continuing Covid-19 pandemic. Minus the COVID-19 specifics, this is … exactly ...

My rock band recently released a new EP. And since we can't play any concerts because we're in the middle of a global pandemic that's been horribly mismanaged by authorities and killed hundreds of thousands of people, we decided to celebrate the album's release by hosting a Live Listening Party on Instagram, where we'd play ...

A gentleman who participated in a meme where gun enthusiasts point loaded handguns at their junk (safety off, finger on trigger) shot himself in the junk. This instantly made him a hero among his peers, as he diligently documented his trip to the hospital for junk repair. Via Matthew Gault at Vice, who has been ...

Facebook took out one of its largest Qanon groups this weekend, deleting the 200,000-member "Official Q/Qanon" page citing "repeated violations of the company’s policies."

Numerous posts in the group had already been removed for violating Facebook's policies on bullying, harassment, hate speech, and false information that could lead to harm, Facebook told Reuters.

QAnon followers espouse ...