Platformer

Platformer serves as your daily resource for navigating social media networks and their impact on society. It’s an excellent way to stay informed about significant happenings at Facebook, Google, YouTube, Twitter, Snap, and TikTok. You can also expect occasional insights from major players like Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft, along with emerging platforms that are making waves in the industry.

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Mark Zuckerberg on bots and benchmarks

1 week ago | platformer.news | Casey Newton

Meta — 11 min read This post is for paying subscribers only
The AIs are trying too hard to be your friend

2 weeks ago | platformer.news | Casey Newton

This is a column about AI. My boyfriend works at Anthropic. See my full ethics disclosure here. Today let’s talk about the emerging tendency of chatbots to go overboard in telling their users what they want to hear — and why it may bode poorly for efforts to build systems that consistently tell the truth. I. Tuesday marked the inaugural LlamaCon, a developer conference organized by Meta to promote its latest open-weight models and open-weight software in general.
Meta has a chatbot problem

2 weeks ago | platformer.news | Casey Newton

Meta — 10 min read This post is for paying subscribers only
The Oversight Board gives Meta a pass on anti-trans posts

2 weeks ago | platformer.news | Casey Newton

Meta — 13 min read This post is for paying subscribers only
Google just helped the government’s case against it

3 weeks ago | platformer.news | Casey Newton

Google — 7 min read This post is for paying subscribers only
Google may be on the brink of a breakup

3 weeks ago | platformer.news | Casey Newton

It took a couple of decades for antitrust law to catch up with the world’s biggest companies. But over the past year, lawyers for the US government have successfully made their case that the biggest platforms have created illegal monopolies — and the solutions they are now proposing could begin to reshape the web. Last week, we discussed the government’s effort to break up Meta, which is now in its second week at trial. Today, let’s talk about a similar effort to break up Google.
Meta can't figure out what to do about Facebook

4 weeks ago | platformer.news | Casey Newton

Meta — 10 min read This post is for paying subscribers only
Meta’s antitrust trial begins

1 month ago | platformer.news | Casey Newton

I. Today, more than four years after the Federal Trade Commission first filed its lawsuit, Meta’s high-stakes antitrust trial began. Today, let’s talk about the case that prosecutors plan to make — and the ongoing difficulty of predicting an outcome in a country where the Trump administration is ignoring Supreme Court orders, illegally firing FTC commissioners, and seemingly making up the law as it goes along.
The platforms cash in their chips with Trump

1 month ago | platformer.news | Casey Newton

I. On Monday, the Federal Trade Commission’s landmark antitrust lawsuit against Meta is scheduled to go to trial in Washington, DC. The lawsuit, which was filed during the first Trump Administration, alleges that Meta’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp were illegal and should be undone. While a breakup is seen as unlikely, it remains a significant threat to Meta’s business. Under normal circumstances, we would expect this trial to be determined by what happens in the courtroom.
Meta's Llama drama

1 month ago | platformer.news | Casey Newton

Meta — 13 min read This post is for paying subscribers only