The end of the Silicon Valley insider–critic

“We have a generation of ‘veteran tech critics’ with ties to the industry they comment on.”

Ten years ago, it was relatively difficult to find critical coverage of Google, Facebook, Amazon, and other companies in the tech sector — it was hard to find any critical tech coverage. Stories like Edward Snowden’s NSA disclosures and the Cambridge Analytica scandal led to ramped-up journalism resources and attention, and in many cases, reporters staffed full-time on the tech beat, but before then, legacy media regarded Silicon Valley as a niche concern. Anything related to tech was significantly underreported despite the scale and influence of the industry that was only growing.

If you wanted to read about a new feature that Facebook implemented in 2011, you might have ended up on the blog of someone who worked in the tech industry — perhaps even the blog of someone who worked at Facebook and on that product. In the absence of professional journalists covering tech, there was independent media like blogs and newsletters to fill the gap.

Consequently, we have a generation of “veteran tech critics” with ties to the industry they comment on. These could be academics with fellowships funded by Microsoft or employees at Google who spoke critically about Facebook’s privacy issues at tech conferences around the globe. The sheen of expertise that experience inside these major companies might have conveyed before is dimming as the wider public begins to recognize that the problems Silicon Valley companies inflict on society are not new, but problems that rooted in their very inception. There were people organizing Google bus protests in 2013. Why should we listen to the people who were inside the buses then, if they’ve had a change of heart, and are now more politically aligned with the protesters they ignored before?

The belief in a tech insider as a tech expert is what led The New York Times to publish Nick Clegg’s op-ed in 2019, “Breaking up Facebook is not the answer.” Clegg is Facebook’s VP of global affairs, and his is an outrageously unpopular position that perhaps only one other person on earth could argue with full conviction (Mark Zuckerberg). Likewise, the Silicon Valley whistleblower-to-Aspen Ideas Festival pipeline that Frances Haugen has staked looks increasingly like a cynical face-saving measure post-“techlash.”

But now there is a deep bench of reporters and commentators with expertise in the tech industry who have never taken Silicon Valley money. These are the real experts.

Ten years ago, it was relatively difficult to find critical coverage of Google, Facebook, Amazon, and other companies in the tech sector — it was hard to find any critical tech coverage. Stories like Edward Snowden’s NSA disclosures and the Cambridge Analytica scandal led to ramped-up journalism resources and attention, and in many cases, reporters staffed full-time on the tech beat, but before then, legacy media regarded Silicon Valley as a niche concern. Anything related to tech was significantly underreported despite the scale and influence of the industry that was only growing.

If you wanted to read about a new feature that Facebook implemented in 2011, you might have ended up on the blog of someone who worked in the tech industry — perhaps even the blog of someone who worked at Facebook and on that product. In the absence of professional journalists covering tech, there was independent media like blogs and newsletters to fill the gap.

Consequently, we have a generation of “veteran tech critics” with ties to the industry they comment on. These could be academics with fellowships funded by Microsoft or employees at Google who spoke critically about Facebook’s privacy issues at tech conferences around the globe. The sheen of expertise that experience inside these major companies might have conveyed before is dimming as the wider public begins to recognize that the problems Silicon Valley companies inflict on society are not new, but problems that rooted in their very inception. There were people organizing Google bus protests in 2013. Why should we listen to the people who were inside the buses then, if they’ve had a change of heart, and are now more politically aligned with the protesters they ignored before?

The belief in a tech insider as a tech expert is what led The New York Times to publish Nick Clegg’s op-ed in 2019, “Breaking up Facebook is not the answer.” Clegg is Facebook’s VP of global affairs, and his is an outrageously unpopular position that perhaps only one other person on earth could argue with full conviction (Mark Zuckerberg). Likewise, the Silicon Valley whistleblower-to-Aspen Ideas Festival pipeline that Frances Haugen has staked looks increasingly like a cynical face-saving measure post-“techlash.”

But now there is a deep bench of reporters and commentators with expertise in the tech industry who have never taken Silicon Valley money. These are the real experts.

Francesco Zaffarano

Anika Anand

Errin Haines

Joy Mayer

A.J. Bauer

Matthew Pressman

Victor Pickard

Joni Deutsch

Alice Antheaume

Larry Ryckman

Anita Varma

j. Siguru Wahutu

Candace Amos

Andrew Freedman

Paul Cheung

John Davidow

Mandy Jenkins

Julia Angwin

Millie Tran

James Green

David Cohn

Natalia Viana

Sarah Stonbely

Wilson Liévano

Melody Kramer

Stephen Fowler

Sarah Marshall

Shannon McGregor & Carolyn Schmitt

Brian Moritz

Laxmi Parthasarathy

Mike Rispoli

Cherian George

Daniel Eilemberg

Simon Galperin

Cindy Royal

Zizi Papacharissi

Robert Hernandez

Matt Karolian

Mary Walter-Brown

Kerri Hoffman

Simon Allison

Chicas Poderosas

Parker Molloy

Gabe Schneider

Izabella Kaminska

Christoph Mergerson

Gonzalo del Peon

Jonas Kaiser

An Xiao Mina

Tamar Charney

Catalina Albeanu

Rachel Glickhouse

Stefanie Murray

Ståle Grut

Michael W. Wagner

Chase Davis

Kathleen Searles & Rebekah Trumble

Tony Baranowski

Mario García

Don Day

David Skok

Joanne McNeil

Richard Tofel

Meena Thiruvengadam

Whitney Phillips

Rasmus Kleis Nielsen

Jennifer Coogan

Janelle Salanga

Gordon Crovitz

Julia Munslow

S. Mitra Kalita

Matt DeRienzo

Juleyka Lantigua

Kendra Pierre-Louis

Kristen Muller

Burt Herman

Doris Truong

Kristen Jeffers

Amy Schmitz Weiss

Jessica Clark

Jesenia De Moya Correa

Shalabh Upadhyay

Jennifer Brandel

Jody Brannon

Moreno Cruz Osório

Christina Shih

Cristina Tardáguila

Nikki Usher

Jesse Holcomb

Megan McCarthy

Raney Aronson-Rath

Eric Nuzum

Joshua P. Darr

Jim Friedlich

Joe Amditis

Anthony Nadler

Sam Guzik

Tom Trewinnard

Amara Aguilar

Ariel Zirulnick