About
“Platformer gets big tech scoops.” — Slate
“Widely read in Silicon Valley.” — NBC News
“Casey Newton[‘s] opinions hold sway among social media executives.” — New York Times
Platformer is your daily guide to understanding social networks and their relationships with the world. It's the best way to keep up on the events that mattered at Facebook, Google, YouTube, Twitter, Snap, and TikTok — with regular guest appearances from Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and the upstart platforms that are challenging them.
New issues arrive at 5PM PT on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and on particularly newsy Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s written by Casey Newton and Zoë Schiffer. Casey spent 10 years covering Silicon Valley for The Verge, CNET, and the San Francisco Chronicle before founding Platformer. Zoë wrote groundbreaking scoops about Away, Apple, Netflix, and Twitter for The Verge before joining in 2022.
In addition to the below, Casey wrote a more extensive guide to what Platformer covers, how we do our work, and how he sees the world — you can find it here. We also invite you to read our ethics policy and the Platformer posting schedule.
You can email us at casey@platformer.news and zoe@platformer.news.
But first, here are some reasons to consider subscribing.
Join the club. On weekdays at 5PM PT, thousands of top tech executives, journalists, academics and civil society workers read my reporting on — and analysis of — the day's biggest events at the intersection of technology and democracy.
Meet the community. Platformer is part of Sidechannel, a Discord server shared among some of the best independent journalists working today. As a member, you’ll be able to meet like-minded people in text chat, discuss the news of the day, and listen in on live interviews with leading industry CEOs and newsmakers.
Understand perception. Who's up, who's down, and what will it cost them? Amid a global reckoning over the impact of technology on society, Platformer helps you keep score.
100 percent signal. 0 percent noise. Expertly curated links catch you up on what you missed during the workday, with the relevant data highlighted for you.
No hot takes, ever. Platformer is written for an audience that understands that inventing the future is complicated. Expect plenty of criticism — but also an open mind, too, as well as regular updates on what I've been wrong about.
Reporting with impact. Casey produced a series of investigative reports about content moderation in America that became a finalist for the 2020 National Magazine Award for reporting, and helped lead to a $52 million settlement with Facebook moderators who developed PTSD on the job. More recently, Platformer broke a series of major stories about Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter. In some cases, employees learned of their own layoffs from our reporting.
Invest in a healthier democracy. Your subscription to Platformer helps chart a path forward for journalism outside the ad-supported, what-time-is-the-Super-Bowl web. Help me build a more sustainable, replicable model for independent journalists working to hold power to account.
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Casey Newton — Founder and editor
Zoë Schiffer — Managing editor
Lindsey Choo — Links