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PODCAST

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

Every Friday and Sunday, Slate’s popular daily news podcast What Next brings you TBD, a clear-eyed look into the future. From fake news to fake meat, algorithms to augmented reality, Lizzie O’Leary is your guide to the tech industry and the world it’s creating for us to live in.

technology tech news

All Episodes

23:02

Inside Facebook’s Supreme Court

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

2020/02/21

After years of controversial content moderation decisions, from deepfakes to deplatforming, Facebook is trying something new. In January, the social network announced that its new Oversight Board, which will act as a sort of supreme court for controversial content, will begin hearing cases this summer. Could this independent board change the way we govern speech online? Guest: Kate Klonick, assistant professor at St. John’s University School of Law, and fellow at the Information Society Project at

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20:21

Coronavirus Tests China's Surveillance State

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

2020/02/14

Over the last month, as coronavirus spread across China, Xi Jinping’s vast surveillance and censorship infrastructure went into high gear. But with outrage growing over the death of a beloved doctor, and surveillance technology under strain, the virus is exposing the limits of the Chinese Communist Party’s techno-authoritarian network. Guest: Josh Chin, Wall Street Journal reporter covering Chinese politics and tech Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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20:33

Iowa’s App-ocalypse

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

2020/02/07

On Monday, the Iowa caucuses went off the rails. As the hours stretched into days, and still the results remained unclear, a new piece of election technology was identified as a central cause of the delay. An app designed to make the election process speedier and more secure had the opposite effect. And its failure is symptomatic of deep-rooted issues in the way the Democratic Party develops and deploys election technology. So, what exactly went wrong on Monday? And what does it say about the

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20:27

Why Is the U.S. Scared of Huawei?

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

2020/01/31

Recently a special delegation of senior Trump administration officials arrived in the U.K. Their mission? To convince prime minister Boris Johnson to bar Huawei from their new 5G network. Why is the U.S. so keen to influence Britain’s decision on 5G? And now that the U.K is officially withdrawing from the European Union, how will they manage competing pressures from the U.S. and China? Guest: Dan Sabbagh, defense and security editor at the Guardian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

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23:20

Which Tech Companies Are Doing the Most Harm?

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

2020/01/24

Last week, Slate published The Evil List, an expansive attempt to document the most concerning tech companies around the world, according to the experts. Some you’ve heard of, some you probably haven’t, and some you almost certainly use every day. Which of these deserve our attention? And why? Guests: Mutale Nkonde, public interest technologist and fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society Felix Salmon, chief financial correspondent at Axios and host of Slate Money Lindsey Barrett,

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24:03

The Silicon Valley Dream Was Always a Fantasy

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

2020/01/17

In 2013, Anna Wiener moved from New York to San Francisco to join the city’s booming tech scene. Over the course of four years, she worked at three companies: an e-book startup, a data analytics company, and an open-source software platform. Then, her infatuation with the tech industry took a turn. On this week’s show, an insider’s perspective on the intoxicating promise and disappointment of Silicon Valley during the mid-decade boom. Guest: Anna Wiener: author of Uncanny Valley and contributing

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20:48

How Targeted Ads Started Watching Us All

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

2020/01/10

In 2019, for the first time, more advertising money went toward targeted digital ads in the U.S. than on radio, television, cable, magazine, and newspaper ads combined. The moment was the culmination of a decadeslong journey that has completely transformed media, politics, and privacy. How did the targeted ad come to hold so much power? And what did we lose along the way? Guest: Siva Vaidhyanathan, professor of media studies at the University of Virginia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

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20:20

Do Algorithms Make Sentencing Fairer?

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

2020/01/03

Around the country, states are employing algorithms to help reduce prison populations and predict recidivism. This week, we hear from a Wisconsin judge with serious reservations about the algorithm used in his state. Also: a deep dive into Virginia's risk-assessment algorithm and the surprising results of its implementation. Guests: Nicholas McNamara, judge on the circuit court of Dane County, Wisconsin. Jennifer Doleac, associate professor of economics at Texas A&M and director of the Justice Tech

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19:31

A Landmark Privacy Law Takes Effect. Now What?

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

2019/12/27

On January 1st, a new law will grant Californians the right to see, delete, and stop the sale of personal information collected by tech companies. But the impact of the bill may reach far beyond California. How does this landmark law affect the rest of the country? And will it set the stage for national privacy legislation? Guest: Hayley Tsukayama, Legislative Activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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20:37

Ring: Your Doorbell Is Watching

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

2019/12/20

Back in 2013, an entrepreneur named Jamie Siminoff appeared on Shark Tank. He was seeking an investment in a new product he was calling Doorbot, a smart doorbell that would make answering the door more convenient and users’ lives “more connected.” Six years later, Doorbot is now Ring, an Amazon-owned home-security system that partners with more than 600 police departments around the country. How did Doorbot become Ring? And what are the consequences of placing surveillance cameras on front doors

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19:02

Inside The Influence Economy

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

2019/12/13

Over the past decade, the world of influencers has grown from a fringe marketing movement to a multibillion-dollar industry. Now, tactics and strategies originally developed by influencers can be found across industries, from health care to politics to higher ed. What’s behind this meteoric rise? And why do we misunderstand a movement that Taylor Lorenz calls “a fundamental shift in society”? Guest: Taylor Lorenz, internet culture reporter for the New York Times Learn more about your ad

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19:50

What Is Google After Larry and Sergey?

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

2019/12/06

On Tuesday, Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page announced that they are stepping down from their respective roles as president and CEO of Alphabet, Google’s parent company. The move will leave Sundar Pichai in charge of both Google and Alphabet. With pressure mounting from unhappy employees, antitrust regulators in Europe, and the Trump administration, Pichai takes the helm at a crucial moment in the company’s history. Will he be up to the task? Guest: Mark Bergen, technology reporter at

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22:18

Is TikTok Really a National Security Threat?

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

2019/11/22

TikTok now has over 1.5 billion downloads, putting it in the company of social media giants like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. While all of these companies have faced scrutiny from lawmakers in one form or another, TikTok is getting attention for its Chinese ownership as some fear that Beijing could use data uploaded to the platform for counterintelligence purposes. Is there a real reason to be concerned? Or is this just fearmongering about a geopolitical rival? Guest: Drew Harwell, technology

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22:11

How WhatsApp Got Hacked

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

2019/11/15

Recently, Facebook filed a lawsuit against a little-known Israeli spyware firm called NSO Group. Facebook is accusing NSO of supplying technology that enabled a hack of 1,400 WhatsApp accounts. But NSO’s reach goes far beyond a few thousand phones. Governments around the world purchase its powerful technology. Some use it to “lawfully hack” the devices of criminals and terrorists. But others use it more broadly, tracking the communications of activists, journalists, lawyers, and

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18:45

The Uber Drivers Who Don’t Want to Be Employees

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

2019/11/08

California recently passed a law that would classify rideshare drivers across the state as employees, rather than contractors. Among many other benefits, they’d be allowed to unionize, collect overtime pay, and take sick leave. So why are so many drivers against it? Guest: Harry Campbell, former Uber driver and founder of The Rideshare Guy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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17:38

The Price of Automating Aviation

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

2019/11/01

This week, Boeing’s CEO Dennis Muilenburg appeared in front of Congress. He was there to answer questions about what his company knew, and when, before two 737 Max airplanes crashed and claimed the lives of 346 people. But beyond the planes’ technological failures is another key issue: the way pilots react when automated systems go wrong. Guest: Jon Ostrower, Editor in Chief of The Air Current Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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21:06

Inside Facebook's Political Ad Mess

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

2019/10/25

Over the last week, Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have been under fire for declining to fact-check political ads. But a former insider says this is the wrong debate to be having—and it misses a more fundamental problem: Facebook’s business model itself. Guests: Yael Eisenstat, former head of global elections integrity operations at Facebook and Charlie Warzel, an opinion writer at the New York Times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:54

Announcement: What Next: TBD

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

2019/10/24

Hey If Then listeners! As of now, the new Slate podcast What Next: TBD will be taking over this feed. What Next: TBD is a weekly analysis with host Lizzie O’Leary of how technology is impacting our lives, and where we’re headed. From fake news to fake meat, algorithms to augmented reality, we’ll be examining the often hidden forces shaping our world, and we’ll talk to the people who are studying those forces, impacted by them, and creating them. What Next: TBD is a spinoff from the Slate daily news

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41:28

Smash Bros Side Hustlers

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

2019/10/16

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

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43:45

The People Who Hold The Internet Together

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

2019/10/09

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

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