Media Layoffs Are Trending

01/30/19 • 36 min

What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future

On today’s show, hosts April Glaser and Will Oremus discuss a rather terrifying security flaw from Apple, a company that prides itself on keeping information well-protected. A bug was found in the video chat app Facetime that let snoops listen in on someone by calling them on FaceTime, even if the call wasn’t answered.

Then, the hosts are joined by Franklin Foer, a staff writer for the Atlantic, former editor in chief of The New Republic, and author of a book about what he calls “the existential threat of big tech.” They talk to him about the recent wave of layoffs in the media—including big cuts at BuzzFeed, HuffPost, and Gannett newspapers— and how those tie into the dominance of companies like Google and Facebook over the way we get information now.

Don’t Close My Tabs:

April: Pandora’s New Corporate Parents Gave Millions to Trump, GOP

Will: Wired: Is Big Tech Merging with Big Brother? Kinda Looks Like It.

Podcast production by Max Jacobs

You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at [email protected].

If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

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This episode is brought to you by Warby Parker. Try their home try-on program for free today at warbyparker.com/ifthen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don’t Close My Tabs:

April: Pandora’s New Corporate Parents Gave Millions to Trump, GOP

Will: Wired: Is Big Tech Merging with Big Brother? Kinda Looks Like It.

Podcast production by Max Jacobs

Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

This episode is brought to you by Warby Parker. Try their home try-on program for free today at warbyparker.com/ifthen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

Juul Heist

On today’s show, hosts April Glaser and Will Oremus discuss news news that the french government has fined Google close to $57 million for violating the new European privacy laws that went into effect in 2018. This comes as news that the Federal Trade Commision here in the US is considering levying a record-breaking fine against Facebook for violations to their users privacy following the Cambridge Analytica mess. Corporate fines may well be a theme this year following the great clean up after the 2016 election went awry

And then we’re going to talk about Juul, the multibillion dollar e-cigarette company that is dominating the new industry. It’s been quite the year for Juul. Their offices were raided by the FDA. They at least provisionally agreed to stop selling certain fruity flavors of tobacco clearly popular with kids. They accepted a $12.8 billion dollar investment from Altria, the tobacco company that owns Marlboro. And most recently, announced, the vaping brand launched a new $10 million national TV marketing campaign.

To help make sense of the company that controls an estimated 70% of the e-cigarette market we’ll be joined by Nitasha Tiku, a senior writer for Wired.

Don’t Close My Tabs:

April: Bloomberg: Corporate America Is Getting Ready to Monetize Climate Change

Will: The Huffington Post: Jack Dorsey Has No Clue What He Wants

Podcast production by Max Jacobs

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