The Daily - Should Facebook Be Broken Up?

Should Facebook Be Broken Up?

Explicit content warning

12/17/20 • 27 min

47 Listeners

The Daily

This episode contains strong language.

When the photo-sharing app Instagram started to grow in popularity in the 2010s, the chief executive of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, had two options: build something comparable or buy it out. He opted for the latter.

The subsequent $1 billion deal is central to a case being brought against Facebook by the federal government and 48 attorneys general. They want to see the social network broken up.

Will they succeed? On today’s episode, we look at one of the biggest cases to hit Silicon Valley in decades.

Guest: Mike Isaac, a technology correspondent for The New York Times.

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Background reading:

Regulators have accused Facebook of buying up rising rivals to cement its dominance over social media.
The cases against Facebook are far from a slam dunk — the standards of proof are formidable.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

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This episode contains strong language.

The subsequent $1 billion deal is central to a case being brought against Facebook by the federal government and 48 attorneys general. They want to see the social network broken up.

Will they succeed? On today’s episode, we look at one of the biggest cases to hit Silicon Valley in decades.

Guest: Mike Isaac, a technology correspondent for The New York Times.

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background reading:

Regulators have accused Facebook of buying up rising rivals to cement its dominance over social media.
The cases against Facebook are far from a slam dunk — the standards of proof are formidable.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Previous Episode

Hacked, Again

Undetected for months, sophisticated hackers working on behalf of a foreign government were able to breach computer networks across a number of U.S. government agencies. It’s believed to be the handiwork of Russian intelligence.

And this is far from the first time.

Today, why and how such hacks keep happening and the delicate calculation that dictates how and if America retaliates.

Guest: David E. Sanger, a national security correspondent for The New York Times.

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background reading:

In one of the most sophisticated and perhaps largest hacks in more than five years, email systems were breached at the Treasury and Commerce Departments. Other breaches are under investigation.
The sophistication and scope of the attack has stunned experts. About 18,000 private and government users downloaded a Russian tainted software update — a Trojan horse of sorts — that gave its hackers a foothold into victims’ systems, according to SolarWinds, the company whose software was compromised.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Next Episode

Evicted During the Pandemic

For years there has been an evictions crisis in the United States. The pandemic has made it more acute.

On today’s episode, our conversations with a single mother of two from Georgia over several months during the pandemic. After she lost her job in March, the bottom fell out of her finances and eviction papers started coming. The federal safety net only stretched so far.

And we ask, with Congress seeking to pass another stimulus bill, what do the next few months hold for renters in the United States?

Guest: Matthew Desmond, a Professor of Sociology at Princeton University and contributing writer for The Times Magazine.

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background reading:

Emergency pandemic funding to help renters must be distributed by Dec. 30. But getting the money to those who need it is no small task.
Residents of weekly rentals worry they will be kicked out if they can’t pay the rent. It’s unclear if the federal moratorium on evictions applies to them.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily