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Will Oremus
Will Oremus

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Published in OneZero

·Pinned

Nextdoor Is Quietly Replacing the Small-Town Paper

While Facebook and Twitter get the scrutiny, Nextdoor is reshaping politics one neighborhood at a time — One year ago, Delaware’s second-largest school district was in trouble. A failed referendum in 2019, on the heels of state funding cuts two years prior, had left it staring down a $10 million deficit that raised the specter of teacher layoffs, the end of sports and extracurriculars, and the demise…

Technology

18 min read

Nextdoor Is Quietly Replacing the Small-Town Paper
Nextdoor Is Quietly Replacing the Small-Town Paper
Technology

18 min read


Published in OneZero

·Mar 20, 2021

The Flaw in Facebook’s Vaccine Plan

The company’s campaign to encourage vaccination is fighting against the dynamics of its own platform. — In the most idealistic view of Facebook’s mission, this is the sort of moment it was built for. With Covid-19 killing thousands of people every day, humanity is in a race to vaccinate enough of the global population to curb the pandemic — ideally before it evolves in ways that…

Pattern Matching

8 min read

The Flaw in Facebook’s Vaccine Plan
The Flaw in Facebook’s Vaccine Plan
Pattern Matching

8 min read


Published in OneZero

·Mar 18, 2021

YouTube Explains Why a Racist Steven Crowder Video Didn’t Violate Its Hate Speech Rules

A grotesque segment mocking Black farmers illustrates just how much bigotry a conservative star can get away with — An overtly racist video by conservative YouTube star Steven Crowder did not violate YouTube’s hate speech policy, the company told OneZero, though it has been taken down for other reasons. …

YouTube

6 min read

YouTube Explains Why a Racist Video Didn’t Violate Its Hate Speech Rules
YouTube Explains Why a Racist Video Didn’t Violate Its Hate Speech Rules
YouTube

6 min read


Published in OneZero

·Mar 13, 2021

The True Cost of Bitcoin and NFTs

Blockchain takes a substantial toll on the environment that experts are beginning to reckon with — The price of one bitcoin, as I write this, is $57,383 — more than 10 times what it cost just a year ago. That price is volatile, so it will be different by the time you read this. But rest assured it will remain expensive. There’s another toll, though, for…

Pattern Matching

7 min read

The True Cost of Bitcoin and NFTs
The True Cost of Bitcoin and NFTs
Pattern Matching

7 min read


Published in OneZero

·Mar 12, 2021

Apple and Google Won’t Save Online Privacy. Take It From a Former DoubleClick Executive.

An industry veteran on why recent moves from the tech giants should be the impetus for a federal privacy law — Jules Polonetsky remembers the moment that shattered his naivete about the internet. “I was the consumer affairs commissioner for New York City 20 years ago when some company I’d never heard of came in with a big billboard,” he recalls. “It said, ‘Welcome to Silicon Alley,’ sponsored by DoubleClick.” I’d…

Privacy

7 min read

Apple and Google Won’t Save Online Privacy. Take It From a Former DoubleClick Executive.
Apple and Google Won’t Save Online Privacy. Take It From a Former DoubleClick Executive.
Privacy

7 min read


Published in OneZero

·Mar 6, 2021

Google’s ‘Privacy-First Web’ Is Really a Google-First Web

Why the search giant can afford to kill the cookie — For two decades, the cookie has been an emblem of the online advertising model that powers much of the open web — and the privacy invasions that come with it. Now, the cookie as we know it is dying. Online advertising will live on, of course, and so will privacy…

Pattern Matching

6 min read

Google’s ‘Privacy-First Web’ Is Really a Google-First Web
Google’s ‘Privacy-First Web’ Is Really a Google-First Web
Pattern Matching

6 min read


Published in OneZero

·Mar 4, 2021

Who Really Writes Twitter’s ‘Trending’ Summaries

‘Twitter description guy’ isn’t a guy. It’s Twitter’s curation team, and I talked to the woman who runs it. — “Twitter description guy,” in users’ collective imagination, is a beleaguered soul, constantly scrambling to comprehend the bizarre subcultural memes that go viral on the site so that he can write sober-minded summaries of them for Twitter’s trending section. In December, Twitter’s description of a Minecraft-related trending topic led Twitch streamers…

Twitter

9 min read

Who Really Writes Twitter’s ‘Trending’ Summaries
Who Really Writes Twitter’s ‘Trending’ Summaries
Twitter

9 min read


Published in OneZero

·Mar 1, 2021

Facebook Is Betting That Users Secretly Like Targeted Advertising

Apple’s new privacy measures will test the theory that underlies Facebook’s business model — Facebook recently launched an ad campaign to defend personalized advertising against Apple’s new privacy measures. The campaign, called “Good Ideas Deserve to Be Found,” touts targeted ads as a boon for small businesses. …

Facebook

3 min read

Facebook Is Betting That Users Secretly Like Targeted Advertising
Facebook Is Betting That Users Secretly Like Targeted Advertising
Facebook

3 min read


Published in OneZero

·Feb 27, 2021

The New Era of Social Media Isn’t About Feeds

Products like Clubhouse and Twitter’s “Super Follows” offer a new kind of engagement — Open Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, or Pinterest, then look at your index finger. If you’re like me, you’ll find it already hovering over the screen, poised for scrolling. …

Pattern Matching

6 min read

The New Era of Social Media Isn’t About Feeds
The New Era of Social Media Isn’t About Feeds
Pattern Matching

6 min read


Published in OneZero

·Feb 20, 2021

There’s a Smarter Way to Make Tech Pay for News

How to bolster the media without breaking the internet — A proposed law intended to bolster the struggling news media at the expense of thriving tech platforms is playing out quite poorly in Australia. Google reluctantly obeyed the legislation, which is expected to pass in the next week, by agreeing to pay large sums to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and…

Pattern Matching

7 min read

There’s a Smarter Way to Make Tech Pay for News
There’s a Smarter Way to Make Tech Pay for News
Pattern Matching

7 min read

Will Oremus

Will Oremus

24K Followers

Senior Writer, OneZero, at Medium

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