My TED talk: how I took on the tech titans in their lair

For more than a year, the Observer writer has been probing a darkness at the heart of Silicon Valley. Last week, at a TED talk that became a global viral sensation, she told the tech billionaires they had broken democracy. What happened next?If Silicon Valley is the beast, then TED is its belly. And on Monday, I entered it. The technology conference that has become a global media phenomenon with its short, punchy TED Talks that promote “Ideas Worth Spreading” is the closest thing that Silicon Valley has to a safe space.A safe space that was breached last week. A breach that I was not just there to witness, but that I actively participated in. I can’t claim either credit or responsibility – I didn’t invite myself to the conference, held annually in Vancouver, or programme my talk in a session called “Truth”. But I did take the reporting that we have been publishing in the Observer over the past two and a half years, I did condense it into a 15-minute talk, and I did deliver it on the TED main stage directly to the people I described as “the Gods of Silicon Valley: Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Jack Dorsey”. The founders of Facebook and Google – who were sponsoring the conference – and the co-founder of Twitter – who was speaking at it.You came into their temple and shat on their altarHow hard is it to get rid of Nazis from Twitter?, TED's Chris Anderson asked Twitter co-founder Jack DorseyPerson after person tells me they were moved or... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2019-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "My TED talk: how I took on the tech titans in their lair"


Mark Zuckerberg's personal charity is part of a push to steer $500 million to affordable housing

As tech companies face mounting pressure to address their role in the California housing crisis, a band of corporations, philanthropies and foundations — including Facebook as well as the personal philanthropic company of Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg — are seeking to raise $540 million to... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun

[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-01-25 00:05:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Mark Zuckerberg's personal charity is part of a push to steer $500 million to affordable housing

As tech companies face mounting pressure to address their role in the California housing crisis, a band of corporations, philanthropies and foundations — including Facebook as well as the personal philanthropic company of Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg — are seeking to raise $540 million to... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun

[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-01-25 00:05:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Jack Dorsey Says Mark Zuckerberg Once Killed a Goat and Served It to Him for Dinner

An interview with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey published by Rolling Stone on Wednesday took a darkly comic turn when he was asked about his most memorable interaction with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2019-01-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Our Cambridge Analytica scoop shocked the world. But the whole truth remains elusive

The inside story of our award-winning investigation into the political consulting firm and its use of Facebook profiles• Read our other top stories from 2018Visiting the Observer’s newsroom on the Monday after we published our revelations about the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Facebook may finally face a reckoning as more grave misdeeds are revealed | Jill Abramson

Moves to oust the company’s leadership team of Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg suddenly look a lot more serious as its legal position becomes more perilous So far, the public and political reaction in the US to Facebook’s grave misdeeds has been surprisingly muted. That’s about to change.... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Michelle Obama is no fan of Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In” manifesto

The former First Lady spoke out on her Becoming book tour. Michelle Obama is getting real on her Becoming book tour.Read Full Story Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2018-12-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Sheryl Sandberg asked Facebook staff to investigate George Soros' finances

Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook Inc., told employees to investigate the financial interests of billionaire George Soros in response to his January criticism of the social media giant. Sandberg wanted to know if Soros had a financial incentive to criticize Facebook, the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Melinda Gates, B.J. Novak, Sundar Pichai, and more share the children’s books that shaped them

Does a love of reading as a child lay the foundation for a productive life? These great minds of our time are connected by their passion for children’s books. There’s compelling data that children who grow up with parents reading to them perform better in school. But is it possible that a... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2018-11-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Facebook ‘Better Prepared’ to Fight Election Interference, Mark Zuckerberg Says

Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, published a roughly 3,300-word blog post cataloging the steps the company has taken to prevent a repeat of the 2016 manipulation. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2018-09-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Zuckerberg says intel-sharing key to halting election meddling

Just days after his op-ed in The Washington Post, Mark Zuckerberg has published another lengthy note titled 'Preparing for Elections,' this time via Facebook. In it the Facebook CEO describes his platform's removal of fake accounts ahead of electio... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2018-09-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Autoptic Festival Showcases Small Press Comics

Held annually in Minneapolis, the Autoptic Festival featured such artists as Craig Thompson and Gabrielle Bell and showcases small press comics, zines and other small press publication Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-08-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


There Is No Justification for What Mark Zuckerberg Did to WhatsApp

The Wall Street Journal published a bombshell story on Tuesday about what reporters Kirsten Grind and Deepa Seetharaman call “the messy, expensive split between Facebook and WhatsApp’s founders.” The dishy piece makes for great reading. (Do the multi-billionaire founders of global communications... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2018-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Facebook is trying to close the book on Cambridge Analytica

Mark Zuckerberg is over it. Yes, Facebook allowed the data of more than 80 million users to land in the hands of a partisan political consulting firm during an obscenely contentious presidential election, but that's all in the distant past. You know,... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2018-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


OUP Moves Up Forthcoming Book on Facebook

OUP president Niko Pfund told PW that after Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony on Capitol Hill, it became clear that Siva Vaidhyanathan's book, originall scheduled for fall, "needed to be part of the conversation" now taking place. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Zuckerberg says internet regulation 'inevitable,' but he'll still put up a fight

After two days of testimony on Capitol Hill, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg wants you to know: He’s sorry — really, really sorry — about that Cambridge Analytica thing, and he’s open to some degree of internet regulation. Is he really sorry? If contrition is measured in a willingness to put on a suit... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Pre-Scandal Mark Zuckerberg Said Users Trusted Facebook To Protect Their Privacy

In an interview released for the first time today, the Facebook CEO discussed privacy with Freaknonomics Radio last summer. It was a simpler time. Last summer, months before Mark Zuckerberg was feeling the intense pressure of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, the Facebook CEO said he knew... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2018-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Facebook may have kept the videos you recorded but never published

Mark Zuckerberg's terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad 2018 keeps getting worse. As people have begun downloading their Facebook data, they've found something unsettling: videos they recorded, but never published on the site. Recently, a Select/All... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2018-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Facebook shares fall as FTC confirms it is investigating the company's privacy practices

The Federal Trade Commission confirmed Monday that it opened an investigation of Facebook and the Senate Judiciary Committee called on the company’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, to testify as scrutiny mounts over the social media giant’s handling of user data. The unfolding crisis at... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Week in Libraries: March 23, 2018

Among this week's headlines: Despite another blizzard, librarians make it to PLA in Philadelphia; Mark Zuckerberg is sorry; And Congress passes a bill that critics say will harm free speech online. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


At A Moment Of Crisis, Facebook Needs Sheryl Sandberg Out Front

It’s hard to fathom why Facebook’s number two has gone along with a crisis strategy that puts herself (and Mark Zuckerberg) squarely behind the curtain. Over the weekend it was business as usual on Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s profile page. On Saturday, she shared two photos from a visit to... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2018-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this