What Next | Daily News and Analysis

President Trump wanted to make this the election of the caravan. For red state democrats, that’s becoming the case. So with only days to go until midterms how will Trump’s immigration rhetoric shape close races? Slate’s Jim Newell joins us today to discuss the state of red state democrats. Plus, BuzzFeed’s Caroline O’Donovan spent the day in Mountain View, CA at Google’s headquarters to cover the walkout of its employees in protest of what they say is the company's lenient treatment of executives accused of sexual misconduct. She joins us to debrief on the day out West. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Eric Nagourney, an international desk editor for the New York Times, explains the paper’s decision to publish harrowing photographs of malnourished Yemeni children. And Fatima Alasrar, a Yemeni and a senior analyst for the Arabia Foundation, explains why she thinks assigning blame for Yemen’s famine is complicated. We’ll be piloting What Next in public for the next several weeks. Tell us what you think: [email protected]. Follow us on Instagram for updates on the show, our weekend reading lists, and occasional posts about pita chips.Podcast production by Mary Wilson and Jayson De Leon. Engineering by Terence Bernardo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser look further into the presidential election in Brazil and how tech has played a role. On Sunday, the far right candidate Jair Bolsanaro was elected President, and many have attributed his victory to misinformation that spread like wildfire through WhatsApp in the months leading up to the election.And it’s time again for more gadgets. Apple unveiled a new series of gizmos on Tuesday in Brooklyn: there were big changes to the iPad, Macbook Air, and MacMini. The hosts are also joined by Joan Donovan, the lead researcher at Data & Society, who focuses on hate groups congregate on social media. This conversation, sadly, comes following the horrific terrorist attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh over the weekend. The shooter, Robert Bowers, had been an active user of the free-speech-centric social media platform Gab that has become a kind of digital playpen for neo-Nazi and white supremacists since forming in 2016. Gab went offline Sunday night.5:43 - Interview with Pablo Ortellado15:11 - Interview with Joan Donovan33:41 - Don’t Close My TabsDon’t Close My Tabs: The New York Times: How Google Protected Andy Rubin, the “Father of Android”Frontline: The Facebook Dilemma (Part One)Podcast production by Max JacobsIf Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There's a clause in the 14th amendment that people wanting to change it continue to come back to: "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof." Today on the show, Professor Garrett Epps of The Atlantic joins us to explain why its absurd for Trump to think he can end birthright citizenship with an executive order and, also, why it's not absurd to talk about him wanting to change it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Slate’s April Glaser explains the futility of expelling bigots from one social media platform, only to see them find safe harbor on another. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While we wait for news on the bomb suspect, a debate between Slate’s Mike Pesca and Mary Harris: Can we blame the potential explosives on provocative political speech? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When it comes to the people we vote for, how corrupt is too corrupt? With Herb Jackson, Washington correspondent for USA Today and The Record. We take a whirlwind tour of the U.S. politicians hitting the campaign trail with a dark cloud hanging over their heads. We land in New Jersey, where Senate Democrats suddenly have to worry about a tighter race. The reason? Their incumbent, Bob Menendez, narrowly escaped corruption charges last year. We’ll be piloting What Next in public for the next several weeks. Tell us what you think: [email protected]. Follow us on Instagram for updates on the show, our weekend reading lists, and occasional posts about pita chips.Podcast production by Mary Wilson and Jayson De Leon. Engineering by Terence Bernardo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

US Cyber Command launched its first cyber operation to deter Russian interference in the 2018 midterm elections, but is it too late? Clint Watts, the author of Messing With the Enemy, "Oh yeah." Today on the show, the continued assault on our information space. Plus, the bomb scares that targeted high-profile Democrats. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser discuss Elon Musk’s other, other project with their Slate colleague Henry Grabar. Not space travel, not electric cars, but the Boring Company, which is working on a tunneling project in Los Angeles that would bring a new type of transportation to an area plagued by traffic. Musk announced over the weekend that the first tunnel will be open to the public later this year.They’ll also dig into never-ending battle to rid Facebook of disinformation—particularly the kind that can disenfranchise, confuse, or stoke hatred in voters. Last Friday, the Department of Justice unsealed a criminal complaint against a Russian woman accused of running an operation on behalf of the Kremlin-connected Internet Research Agency. The operation had been working to deepen America’s political divisions and muddle its upcoming midterm elections.April and Will are also joined by Kate Black, Global Privacy Officer and Senior Counsel at 23andMe, the genetic testing company. Sites like 23andMe and Ancestry.com have been in the spotlight lately after Senator Elizabeth Warren made public the results of her DNA test in a video last week. And earlier this year, when the capture of the Golden State Killer was aided by a genealogy website. The hosts ask Black about who really owns your data, who gets to see it—and what the company will say if law enforcement comes asking for it.13:45 - Interview with Kate Black23:53 - Don’t Close My TabsDon’t Close My Tabs: The Root: The Wildly Unregulated Practice of Undercover Cops Friending People on FacebookWired: An Alternative History of Silicon Valley DisruptionPodcast production by Max JacobsIf Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Slate senior editor Josh Keating explains why Turkey has seized on the disappearance of a foreign journalist to stick it to Saudi Arabia. And Slate writer Aymann Ismail reconsiders going on hajj. We’ll be piloting What Next in public for the next several weeks. Tell us what you think: [email protected]. Follow us on Instagram for updates on the show, our weekend reading lists, and a picture of a young Aymann Ismail going on “baby hajj.” Podcast production by Mary Wilson and Jayson De Leon. Engineering by Terence Bernardo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew Gillum began his candidacy as a "Medicare for All" supporter. His subtle slide from that position to another is a small, but telling one. Today on the show, a look into the health care debate in the lead up to midterms. Plus, Slate's Mark Joseph Stern on the Trump administration's effort to roll back civil rights protections for transgender people. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kai Wright of WNYC and Slate’s Jamelle Bouie on the governor’s race in Georgia. Plus, Deadspin’s Dvora Meyers explains the implosion of USA Gymnastics. We’ll be piloting What Next in public for the next several weeks. Tell us what you think: [email protected]. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at Slate.com/whatnextplus. Follow us on Instagram for updates on the show, our weekend reading lists, and occasional posts about pita chips. Podcast production by Mary Wilson and Jayson De Leon. Engineering by Terence Bernardo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Budget cuts have crippled the IRS allowing tax cheats to run rampant. ProPublica's Jesse Eisinger says the agency's ability to pursue criminal cases is in collapse because of budget cuts and the fact that the agency still has the same number of auditors it had in 1953. So who benefits from this? And why does it matter? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mary Harris is joined by Vox’s Dara Lind to discuss how the latest caravan from Honduras is shining a light on the danger and red tape facing asylum seekers. Plus, what else did you miss today?We’ll be piloting What Next in public for the next several weeks. Tell us what you think: [email protected]. 'Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at Slate.com/whatnextpus. Follow us on Instagram for updates on the show, our weekend reading lists, and our occasional posts about pita chips. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser discuss the continuing saga that is Facebook’s effort to fix itself--ideally, without breaking everything else. On Friday, the company finally released more information about the huge hack that it announced last month, which affected nearly 30 million people. They’ll talk about what was stolen, and why it matters. Then, April and Will are joined by Senator Mark Warner, from Virginia, the top democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, conducting its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. This summer he released a policy paper proposing possible regulations for U.S. social media and technology companies. They talk to him about what worries him most about the largely unregulated tech industry that can’t seem to keep our data private and stop muddying our elections. They also ask him what he thinks congress can do to rein these companies in and why lawmakers haven’t been quick to act. 10:44 - Interview with Senator Mark Warner31:40 - Don’t Close My TabsDon’t Close My Tabs: The New Yorker: The Growth of Sinclair’s Conservative Media EmpireNew York Magazine: Here Is a List of Every Animal Humans Currently Monitor Using Facial Recognition TechnologyPodcast production by Max JacobsIf Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Mary Harris talks to Dexter Filkins of the New Yorker on the fraught relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Plus, Slate’s Jim Newell explains why you should care about the final debate tonight between Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke. This is the debut episode of What Next, Slate’s new daily news show. We’ll be piloting What Next in public for the next several weeks. Tell us what you think: [email protected]. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at Slate.com/whatnextpus. Follow us on Instagram for updates on the show, our weekend reading lists, and our occasional posts about pita chips. Podcast production by Mary Wilson and Jayson De Leon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser discuss the latest data spill in Silicon Valley: It’s Google this time. And it’s time to talk gadgets again. This week Facebook announced its second foray into the hardware space with the Portal and Portal Plus—essentially a smart display for making video calls, equipped with an AI camera and Amazon Alexa. Meanwhile, Google launched a new smart display called the Google Home Hub, a new tablet that shares a name with the hosts’ employer, and a new phone that’s interesting for both its camera and the AI built in.The hosts are also joined by tech attorney and privacy expert Tiffany C. Li. She teaches a course at Yale about the changing rights to privacy throughout history. They talk to her about what privacy rights we really have, whose interests are served by U.S. privacy law, and the difference between government and corporate surveillance.19:16 - Interview with Tiffany Li34:45 - Don’t Close My TabsDon’t Close My Tabs: IPCC ReportBloomberg: The Big Hack: How China Used a Tiny Chip to Infiltrate U.S. CompaniesPodcast production by Max JacobsIf Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about the announcement that Amazon would raise the minimum wage for its US workers to 15 dollars an hour. While Jeff Bezos may be receiving praise for the move this week, another enigmatic tech CEO is facing retribution. Elon Musk has agreed to settle with the SEC following tweets he made about potentially taking the company private and will step down from Tesla’s board.Net neutrality is also back in the news: California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill on Sunday to implement net neutrality protections in the state starting next year. But within 30 minutes of Brown’s signing, the Justice Department announced it would be suing the state of California to prevent circumventing the federal net neutrality repeal.And the headaches continue for Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook... Last week it was announced that a massive security breach to the social media site allowed for hackers to take control of upwards of 50 million accounts. Facebook does not yet know who the culprits are.The hosts are then joined by Katherine Maher, the executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, best known for, well, Wikipedia: the fifth most popular website on the planet. Maher talks to Will and April about how it all works; how a community of millions of volunteer editors are able to pull fact from fiction, how a site dedicated to trying to be correct deals with false news, how it deals with harassment within its editor community, its changing relationship with Google, and why diversity is important in writing the web’s massive nonprofit encyclopedia. 17:04 - Interview with Katherine Maher47:15 - Don’t Close My TabsDon’t Close My Tabs: Slate: The Temptation of Apple NewsPodcast production by Max JacobsIf Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A smart round-up of the biggest stories of the day. When the news feels overwhelming, we’re here to help you answer: What next? Look for the show every weekday afternoon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about the recent announcement that Instagram’s founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, would be leaving the company - at least in part due to clashes with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the company’s future. They also discuss tech talks on capitol hill this week between the justice department and federal and state law enforcement on political bias, antitrust, and privacy on social media -- as well as a hearing in the Senate scheduled for Wednesday on how technology companies use and misuse consumer data. Then, the hosts spend the rest of the podcast talking about...podcasts. The last couple weeks have witnessed some dramatic changes in the podcast industry (including right here at the Slate Group). Last week Buzzfeed axed it’s entire podcast department, a very popular and groundbreaking arm of the media company. Meanwhile, Vox Media did just the opposite, announcing they’d be doubling their podcast output this fall. To help make sense of all this, April and Will are joined by media writer Nick Quah, who pens the weekly newsletter Hot Pod, which is considered required reading for many in the podcast industry. 15:41 - Interview with Nick Quah34:36 - Don’t Close My TabsDon’t Close My Tabs: okayplayer: The Secret History of Outkast’s ‘Speakerboxxx/The Love Below:’ the Last Truly Great Double AlbumThe New Yorker: How Russia Helped Swing the Election for TrumpThe Guardian: ‘Sorry I’m Scuba Diving’” Salesforce CEO Criticized Over Response to Border Contract BacklashPodcast production by Max JacobsIf Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about a literal moonshot. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has announced the first private customer who is signed up for a trip around earth’s moon, possibly as early as 2023—and he’ll be bringing some surprising passengers. Meanwhile,the Justice Department is investigating Musk’s other company, Tesla, over an ill-advised tweet. Next, Will and April discuss a new Twitter feature that brings back the classic, reverse-chronological timeline. The hosts are then joined by Margaret Sullivan, the media columnist for the Washington Post and former public editor of the New York Times. They’ll talk to her about the trend of tech barons buying media companies. That’s what Salesforce founder and CEO Marc Benioff did this past weekend with his $190 million purchase of Time Magazine. Sullivan knows abit about tech titans buying media companies--her employer, the Washington Post, was bought by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in 2013, and she worked for Warren Buffett at the Buffalo News. We’ll talk to her about what this sale might mean for the future of Time, and the growing entanglements between big tech and journalism.13:34 - Interview with Margaret Sullivan33:33 - Don’t Close My TabsDon’t Close My Tabs: Slate: Why Did the New York Review of Books Publish that Jian Ghomeshi Essay?Engagdet: Why PayPal’s Crackdown on ASMR Creators Should Worry You Podcast production by Max JacobsIf Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Technology continues to change the way we live and work. Which is why The Secret History of The Future—the new technology show from Slate and The Economists—is digging through the past to find lessons for our future. Subscribe to Secret History of the Future via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have a special bonus If Then! On Wednesday afternoon Apple held its big annual event full of new and expensive gadgets. We wanted to help you make sense of what happened, and what it means. Host Will Oremus is joined by journalist and Slate contributor Christina Bonnington, who covers emerging technology and consumer technology. They talk through new phones, new watches, and all the things Apple is taking away from their original products. Stories discussed on the show: Slate: Why Apple’s Not Giving Us Another Small iPhone Anytime SoonSlate: Everything We Know About The Three New iPhonesSlate: Apple’s Devices Are Pulling Us Into Our Own Personal CloudsPodcast production by Max JacobsIf Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser discuss California’s landmark decision to eliminate cash bail for defendants in criminal cases--and the controversial algorithmic “risk assessment” system that will partially replace it. They also hash out a fresh debate over who gets to fact-check the news that appears in your Facebook feed following an outcry in media circles on Tuesday, after Facebook flagged a story in the liberal outlet ThinkProgress as “false”--all because the conservative Weekly Standard had taken issue with its headline. The hosts are then joined by Professor Safiya Umoja Noble, author of Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. Lately, media coverage - and congressional hearings - have focused on potential anti-conservative bias among the big tech companies, but professor’s Noble’s work suggests we may actually have a much different problem.17:50 - Interview with Safiya Umoja Noble36:36 - Don’t Close My TabsDon’t Close My Tabs: Anatomy of an AI System by Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler The New Yorker: Can Mark Zuckerberg Fix Facebook Before it Breaks Democracy?Podcast production by Max JacobsIf Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser are joined once again by their Slate colleague Mark Joseph Stern to make sense of a what a Kavanaugh-court might mean for the internet going forward.They are also joined by music and technology writer David Turner, who pens the weekly newsletter Penny Fractions, which is all about the economics and culture of music streaming. They’ll talk to him about how streaming works for artists and if there’s anything they can do to push back against the streaming giants like Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. And they’ll also talk about some of the surprising ways in which streaming is changing music itself.13:24 - Interview with David Turner33:57 - Don’t Close My TabsDon’t Close My Tabs: The New York Times: How Much Hotter Is Your Hometown Than When You Were BornBuzzFeed News: How Duterte Used Facebook to Fuel the Philippine Drug WarThe New Yorker: The Shaming of Geoffrey Owens and the Inability to See Actors as Laborers TooPodcast production by Max JacobsIf Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser discuss reports that big tech companies are lobbying in favor of a national privacy law. They’ll talk about what their motivations are. (Hint: It’s not just altruism or civic duty.)The hosts are also joined by Eugen Rochko, the founder of Mastodon, a social network that’s becoming an increasingly popular alternative to Twitter. Rochko likes to say that you can join Mastodon if you want social networking without the Nazis and white supremacists. We talk to him about exactly how it works, and the daunting obstacles that every social networking startup faces. 15:00 - Interview with Eugen Rochko31:00 - Don’t Close My TabsDon’t Close My Tabs: NBC News: Secret message board drives 'pizzagate'-style harassment campaign of small businessesThe Information: Waymo’s Big Ambitions Slowed By Tech TroublePodcast production by Max JacobsIf Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about a new Russian hacking report--this time, targeting conservatives. And it’s been a busy news week (as always) for Facebook, with reports on massive changes to its ad targeting and a heretofore secret plan to rate the credibility of its own users. Then, April is joined by Ryan Gallagher, a U.K. based investigative journalist at the Intercept, where he reports on digital security and state surveillance. Earlier this month Ryan broke a story on Dragonfly, a secretive Google search engine for China that would censor certain websites banned by the Chinese government. The vast majority of Google’s employees, including founder and board member Sergey Brin reportedly was unaware of this project until Gallagher broke the story. Now, many Googlers are livid. 19:25 - Interview with Ryan GallagherDon’t Close My Tabs: RadioLab: “Post No Evil”Jezebel: How a Woman Disappears from the History BooksPodcast production by Max JacobsIf Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about how Google has been tracking and storing your location—even after you’ve asked it not to. Then they review some of the disturbing security news out of DEF CON, the annual hacker conference in Las Vegas, including a demonstration in which an 11-year-old managed to hack a voting machine in minutes.The hosts are joined by Dana Hull, a reporter for Bloomberg News, who covers the electric-car company Tesla and the space transportation company SpaceX. What those companies have in common, of course, is their CEO, the enigmatic Elon Musk. Will and April ask her what to make of Musk’s latest machinations, including his surprise bid to turn Tesla back into a private company.Don’t Close My Tabs: Huffington Post:The Story Behind the Story That Created a Political Nightmare for FacebookThe Washington Post: A Small-Town Couple Left Behind a Stolen Painting Worth Over 100 Million Dollars - And a Big MysteryPodcast production by Max JacobsIf Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser discuss why a bunch of the big tech platforms—Facebook, YouTube, Apple—are suddenly banning the far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his media empire Infowars. They also talk about the latest Wells Fargo foreclosure scandal where a computer glitch led to hundreds of wrongful foreclosures. The hosts are then joined by William Sommer, tech reporter with the Daily Beast who follows QAnon and other right-wing conspiracy theories closely. He’ll help us understand how this fringe thinking tumbled into mainstream attention. The interview with Will Sommer starts at 17:54. Don’t Close My Tabs: New York Times: Phone Calls From New York City Jails Will Soon Be FreeNew York Times: Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate ChangeIf Then plugs: 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 Slateand 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk talk about a new study that suggests the internet might not have played the crucial role in Trump’s election victory that we tend to assume. And then: flying cars! And self-driving cars. The hosts are joined by Justin Erlich, the new VP of policy at Voyage, an self-driving vehicle company in Silicon Valley. Before that, he was head of policy for autonomous vehicles and urban aviation at Uber. The hosts discuss when these “cars” will hit the skies, what this means for investment in public transit, and how we’ll know they’ll be safe.If Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about what’s happening new with the proposed $3.9 billion dollar merger between Sinclair, the largest television station owner in the country and also happens to have an overt tilt in favor of Trump, and Tribune media. Thanks to an unexpected announcement from the FCC last week, that merger may be doomed. The hosts are also joined by Claire Wardle, the executive director of First Draft, a nonprofit news literacy and fact-checking outfit with Harvard University. Wardle works hands-on with journalists and newsrooms around the world to find and responsibly debunk disinformation. They talk to Wardle about what we should be concerned about as the midterm elections approach, how false stories spread on social media to confuse readers, disenfranchise voters, or incite violence—even when Russian agents aren’t working behind the scenes. Don’t Close My TabsThe Atlantic: Artificial Intelligence Shows Why Atheism Is UnpopularTwitter: Shane Goldmacher Podcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus is joined by guest co-host Maya Kosoff from Vanity Fair. They discuss the latest Congressional dog and pony show involving the big social media platforms. They’ll get into a controversy over whether Facebook should ban the prominent conspiracy theorist Alex Jones of InfoWars. Meanwhile, there’s a new owner of the title “wealthiest person in modern history.” They’ll talk about who that is and what it says about our economy. Later, Will is joined by Vijaya Gadde, a top-level executive at Twitter, in charge of their legal, public policy, and trust and safety teams. It’s her job to fight bots, trolls, and Russian agents, all while navigating the laws of more than 100 different countries in which the site operates. They’ll talk about how that uphill battle is going these days, and find out how Twitter is thinking about the balance between free speech and user safety at the highest level. Don’t Close My TabsMedium: Digital Exile: How I Got Banned for Life from AirBnBBuzzfeed: Elon Musk Has Always Been At War With The MediaPodcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then by clicking the arrow on the audio player below, or get the show via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk to Dr. Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a professor of political science and policy at George Mason University and an expert on immigration and security at the U.S.-Mexico border. They discuss how technology contractors benefit from working with the government to carry out its immigration policies — while others suffer from the ever-broadening surveillance state. And they examine the concept of a “virtual border wall,” and what that might look like in reality.The hosts are then joined by Brian Brackeen, CEO of a face recognition company called Kairos. Kairos provides face recognition technology to businesses, but Brackeen warns that putting that same kind of software and data in the hands of law enforcement is a very bad idea. Oremus and Glaser ask him why that is, and what he sees as the more appropriate uses for a controversial cutting-edge technology.Podcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about the Facebook privacy scandal that won’t go away. They’ll also touch on some new data from our employer, Slate, that illustrates how Facebook is pulling back from the news business. Then, the hosts will be joined by our colleague Mark Joseph Stern, who covers courts and the law. They’ll discuss some recent tech-related Supreme Court cases, and how the court’s stance toward technology and privacy could change with the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy.Don’t Close My TabsReal Life Mag: Big and Slow: How can we represent the threats that are too vast to see? What if civilization itself is one of them?Vanity Fair: Sorry to Bother You Director Boots Riley Takes a Ride Through Oakland’s Changing LandscapePodcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about the midterm elections coming up in November -- and whether Silicon Valley companies are ready for the deluge of disinformation -- whether from Russia, Macedonia, or right here in the U.S. The hosts are joined by Paige Panter, a product manager in Silicon Valley who is also a volunteer with the Tech Workers Coalition, a group that’s been active since 2014, but more recently has acted as a kind of communications hub for people who work in the technology industry to organize to make demands of their employers. They discuss this recent wave of tech employee activism, how it got started, and what could come down the line. Don’t Close My TabsThe New York Times: San Francisco Restaurant Can't Afford Waiters. So They're Putting Diners to Work.SF Chronicle: Silicon Valley bus drivers sleep in parking lots. They may have to make way for developmentWired: How A Child Moves Through A Broken Immigration SystemPodcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser discuss the horrifying story that’s on everyone’s minds this week: the Trump Administration’s policy of separating immigrant families crossing the US Mexico border. They focus on how tech’s big players -- some of the most powerful companies in the world -- are responding to the policy and what we should expect from those companies and their leaders in the face of a humanitarian emergency.The hosts also discuss the fallout from AT&T’s merger with Time Warner. Both Disney and now Comcast want to buy Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox. And as always - Don’t Close My Tabs - some of the most interesting stories from the web this week.A quick update to Will’s tab, in which he discussed Verizon’s announcement that it would stop sharing customers’ real-time location data with third parties: As of Wednesday, the other three major carriers have all announced that they will do the same. Don’t Close My TabsThe New Yorker: The Government Has No Plan For Reuniting The Immigrant Families It Is Tearing ApartThe Verge: Verizon Will Stop Sell Real-Time Location Data to Third-Party BrokersPodcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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.Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus is joined by guest co-host Maya Kosoff from Vanity Fair. They discuss the electric scooters that are suddenly wreaking havoc on city streets—and why Silicon Valley venture capitalists are swooning over them. They also discuss the layoffs at Tesla, and what they might mean for the electric-car company and its workers. Later, Will is joined by journalist Sarah Kessler of Quartz. Her new book is called “Gigged: The End of the Job and the Future of Work,” and it looks at the so-called gig economy from the human side. She talked to people around the country who are trying to make ends meet on services like Uber, Amazon Turk, and Taskrabbit. On Tabs this week, the hosts discuss Palmer Luckey’s proposed surveillance border wall, and why you probably shouldn’t let foreign governments help you cool down your computer.Don’t Close My TabsSlate: Why the Gift Bags at the North Korea Summit Could Pose a Cybersecurity ThreatWired: Inside Palmer Lucky’s Bid to Build a Border WallPodcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about how Microsoft is buying GitHub, Google is ending its Pentagon contract, and all the news from Apple’s developer conference on Monday—including the company’s effort to engineer a less addictive iPhone.April is joined by journalist, author, and activist Naomi Klein to discuss her new book The Battle for Paradise about how corporations and politicians are trying to cash in on the chance to rebuild Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria’s destructive sweep through the island last fall. Some of the people descending on the island: blockchain enthusiasts hoping to build a “Crypto Island” of their own.On ‘Tabs’ this week, the hosts discuss Silicon Valley’s relative silence on local elections and some listener mail about politicians who won’t stop texting us.Don’t Close My TabsNew York Times: Tech Was Supposed to Get Political. It’s Hanging Back in This Election.Listener mail!Podcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about GDPR, Europe’s sweeping new online privacy legislation that took effect last Friday. They explain why it triggered an avalanche of emails to your inbox, and what it means for the tech industry.The hosts are joined by John Carreyrou, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter with the Wall Street Journal. His new book, Bad Blood, chronicles his investigation into Theranos, the now-disgraced blood-testing startup, which sold faulty machines that may have put patients’ lives in danger. Carreyrou fills in some fascinating details in this bizarre story, and reflects on what it tells us about Silicon Valley—and whether it could happen again. On ‘Tabs’ this week, Will digs into Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s attacks on the media and his idea to fix journalism by rating the credibility of individual journalists. April discusses the New York Times story about how Googlers’ quest to help stray cats has gone awry.Don’t Close My TabsThe Daily Beast: What It’s Like When Elon Musk’s Twitter Mob Comes After YouThe New York Times: As Google Feeds Cats, Owl Lovers Cry FoulPodcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about about a privacy invasion that’s arguably scarier than Cambridge Analytica, and why it’s not getting nearly the same amount of attention. It involves your cellphone, and its ability to track where you are at all times.The hosts are then joined by Luther Lowe, the senior VP of public policy for Yelp, a company that has had some major beef with Google’s allegedly anti-competitive behavior. They’ll talk about how Google got so big, and whether or not federal regulators might start taking action.Podcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about about an unexpected move by President Trump that could save the Chinese electronics maker ZTE. Also in the news is Project Maven, a Pentagon project to build AI for drones, which Google has been working on. This week it was reported that around a dozen Google employees quit over the company’s involvement in the project.The hosts discuss what one Apple blogger calls “one of the biggest design screwups in Apple history,” which has led to a class-action lawsuit. And they break down a major vulnerability in email encryption. Later, April and Will are joined by antitrust expert Gene Kimmelman. He’s the president and CEO of Public Knowledge, a nonprofit that focuses on tech policy research and advocacy. He formerly served as the Chief Counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division under President Obama, during which time the NBC/Comcast merger was approved. They talk to him about AT&T’s antitrust trial with the DOJ as the company attempts to acquire Time Warner for $85 billion. If approved, that deal could reshape the future of how people connect to the internet, how they get their news and entertainment, and the future of mega-mergers proposed under Trump. And then there’s the recent revelation that AT&T hired Trump attorney Michael Cohen as a consultant last year. Don’t Close My TabsThe Guardian: Black Activist Jailed for His Facebook Posts Speaks Out About Secret FBI SurveillanceThe Verge: UK Newsstands Will Sell “Porn Passes” to verify Ages Under New LawsThe Telegraph: Newsagents and Corner Shops To Sell “Porn Pass” Access Codes To Allow Adults To Visit X-rated SitesPodcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about the hedge fund that’s gutting the newsrooms of local newspapers across the country—and racking up huge profits. They also discuss the futuristic news out of Google’s annual developer conference, including an AI that can hold a conversation and book you a dinner reservation.Oremus is joined by Professor Raj Rajkumar, a self-driving car expert who serves as co-director of Carnegie Mellon’s autonomous driving research lab. They discuss the future of self-driving cars, but also the current moment—how today’s technology stacks up to human drivers in terms of safety, and what’s behind the recent spate of crashes. Don’t Close My TabsThe New York Times: Yes, It’s Bad. Robocalls, And Their Scams, Are Surging.The Atlantic: I’m not Black, I’m KanyePodcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about Facebook’s big privacy changes and its foray into online dating, as Glaser reports from the company’s annual developer conference in San Jose. Oremus takes a listener’s question about the Golden State Killer case and the questions it raises about the privacy of our DNA. Oremus is joined by Eric Lundgren, a pioneer in e-waste recycling who is awaiting a 15-month prison sentence for distributing CDs that allow people to reinstall Microsoft Windows on used Dell computers. Lundgren insists he’s not a criminal, and that the real crime is how tech companies drive sales of new products by discouraging people from fixing up their old ones. And on this week’s “Don’t Close My Tabs,” Slate tech reporter Heather Schwedel joins Oremus as they share stories about “Moviepass movies” and Google’s increasingly divided internal culture.Timestamps:1:47 News: Golden State Killer and DNA Tech5:55 News: April dispatches from F8, Facebook’s Annual Developer Conference16:09 Interview: Eric Lundgren, the e-waste recycler on why he’s going to prison35:04 Don’t Close My TabsDon’t Close My TabsThe Cut: The Distinct Pleasure of the “MoviePass Movie”The Wall Street Journal: Google Vs. Google: How Nonstop Political Arguments Rule It’s WorkplacePodcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus talk about a somewhat surprising speech from the antitrust chief of Trump’s DOJ. They bring you up to date on a big new data privacy bill in Congress, and Mike Nuñez, a journalist for Mashable, joins the show to discuss how his reporting on alleged liberal bias at Facebook has sparked a somewhat bizarre Congressional inquiry.The hosts are also joined by Dr. Mary Anne Franks, a professor of law at the University of Miami Law School, where she teaches criminal law, First Amendment law, and Technology policy. They speak about the massively important Communications Decency Act, which was just amended to allow victims of sex trafficking to sue websites that knowingly facilitate it.And as always, “Don’t Close My Tabs,” the Sean Hannity/Jeff Bezos edition.Timestamps:1:40 DOJ Antitrust Speech6:15 New data privacy bill11:13 Diamond and Silk on Capitol Hill: phone call with Mashable’s Michael Nuñez20:55 Zillow clarification regarding last week’s show22:14 Interview: Professor Mary Anne Franks on amending the CDA to fight sex trafficking44: 08 Don’t Close My TabsDon’t Close My Tabs Links:KQED: How Sean Hannity Began His Path to Punditry on Santa Barbara Community RadioWashingtonian: Here Are the Floor Plans for Jeff Bezos’s $23 Million DC HomePodcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus talk about trouble at Tesla: the company has suspended production of the Model 3, the car that will make or break its business. The hosts also dig into the news about the real estate site Zillow, which is expanding its business in a surprising new way--and why its stock is tumbling.The hosts are also joined by Yeshimabeit Milner - founder and executive director of Data for Black Lives. You might’ve seen her piece earlier this month on Medium entitled “An Open Letter to Facebook from the Data for Black Lives Movement: Give Black researchers, data scientists and Black communities access to our data.” They talk to her about what questions she has for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg following his two congressional hearings last week in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data spill and everything else the company has been grappling with over the past couple years.Don’t Close My TabsSF Chronicle: SF’s Scooter Conflict: City Attorney Orders Cease-and-Desist Order to CompaniesThe Wall Street Journal: You Think Discovering a Computer Virus is Hard? Try Naming One.Podcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Will Congress let Mark Zuckerberg get away with under-sharing? On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus break down the Facebook chief’s trip to Washington to testify before Congress on the Cambridge Analytica scandal. They review the most amusing and revealing moments from his 10-hour testimony. The hosts also analyze Zuckerberg’s evasion strategy and discuss whether members of Congress were buying it. And they look ahead to what regulation might be brewing that could affect Facebook and other Internet companies. Finally, Don’t Close My Tabs: their picks for the best stories and Twitter threads on the Web this week.Don't Close My TabsBloomberg: Tesla Workers Claim Racial Bias and Abuse at Electric Car FactoryTwitter: @Max_FisherPodcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus bring us an early-week show in anticipation of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony to Congress Tuesday and Wednesday (which also means we will have a show recapping the hearings later this week). The hosts speak with members of Congress from both sides of the aisle who will be questioning Zuckerberg on Wednesday at his second hearing in Congress this week. They speak with Pennsylvania republican Congressman Ryan Costello, and two democratic Congressman from California; Jerry McNerney and Raul Ruiz. Each of these politicians are on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which will be questioning Mark Zuckerberg after his first round of questioning from the Senate. Podcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus discuss the outrage at the largest television station owner in the country—Sinclair Broadcasting—after the media conglomerate forced its local news anchors read a script that echoes Trumpian talking points. They also unpack Trump’s beef about Jeff Bezos owning what he calls #AmazonWashingtonPost. Meanwhile, music streaming site Spotify went public this week in a totally new kind of way. The hosts take a look at its unorthodox move, and what it means for the company’s future.Will is joined by Al Lindsay, vice president of Alexa Engine Software at Amazon to talk about how exactly Alexa works, what privacy concerns it raises, and why it started scaring the bejesus out of people a few weeks ago by emitting peals of creepy laughter for no apparent reason.Don’t Close My Tabs:The New York Times: ‘I Can’t Stop”: Schools Struggle With Vaping ExplosionBuzzFeed: Growth At Any Cost: Top Facebook Executive Defended Data Collection In 2016 Memo - And Warned That Facebook Could Get People KilledPodcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus dissect the latest fallout from the Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal, wherein the profile data of over 50 million Facebook users was obtained and allegedly used by Trump’s online voter targeting firm. The hosts go deep into some of the subplots of that scandal, and what it means for Facebook, elections, and your privacy. They’ll also discuss the death of a pedestrian in Arizona at the hands of an Uber self-driving car, and what that means for the future of autonomous vehicles. Finally, a tech story that has gotten less attention that it probably deserves: a change in the law that governs whether websites are liable for what their users say. Will and April are joined by David Carroll, a professor at Parsons School of Design at the New School, who focuses on political campaigns and data targeting. He’s suing Cambridge Analytica in the UK to find out what the company did with his data, and where it went. The hosts talk with him about the mechanics of how campaigns use voters’ persona data to win elections.Don’t Close My Tabs:Twitter: Sally Kuchar on Housing in the Bay AreaThe Atlantic: My Cow Game Extracted Your Facebook DataPodcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus take a deep look into gerrymandering and the highly specialized mapping technology that has allowed for political parties - especially the GOP since 2010 - to drastically change the way political districts are drawn and controlled. The hosts are joined by David Daley, a senior fellow at FairVote and the author of Ratf**ked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America's Democracy. This interview was recorded on March 13th, so no news or tabs this week, but we’ll be back to our regular schedule next week. Podcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: 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] 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.