The War on LGBTQ+ Rights

Will Congress let Mark Zuckerberg get away with under-sharing? On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus break down the Facebook chief’s trip to Washington to testify before Congress on the Cambridge Analytica scandal. They review the most amusing and revealing moments from his 10-hour testimony. The hosts also analyze Zuckerberg’s evasion strategy and discuss whether members of Congress were buying it. And they look ahead to what regulation might be brewing that could affect Facebook and other Internet companies. Finally, Don’t Close My Tabs: their picks for the best stories and Twitter threads on the Web this week.Don't Close My TabsBloomberg: Tesla Workers Claim Racial Bias and Abuse at Electric Car FactoryTwitter: @Max_FisherPodcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

12 Apr 201832min

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus bring us an early-week show in anticipation of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony to Congress Tuesday and Wednesday (which also means we will have a show recapping the hearings later this week). The hosts speak with members of Congress from both sides of the aisle who will be questioning Zuckerberg on Wednesday at his second hearing in Congress this week. They speak with Pennsylvania republican Congressman Ryan Costello, and two democratic Congressman from California; Jerry McNerney and Raul Ruiz. Each of these politicians are on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which will be questioning Mark Zuckerberg after his first round of questioning from the Senate. Podcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

10 Apr 201830min

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus discuss the outrage at the largest television station owner in the country—Sinclair Broadcasting—after the media conglomerate forced its local news anchors read a script that echoes Trumpian talking points. They also unpack Trump’s beef about Jeff Bezos owning what he calls #AmazonWashingtonPost. Meanwhile, music streaming site Spotify went public this week in a totally new kind of way. The hosts take a look at its unorthodox move, and what it means for the company’s future.Will is joined by Al Lindsay, vice president of Alexa Engine Software at Amazon to talk about how exactly Alexa works, what privacy concerns it raises, and why it started scaring the bejesus out of people a few weeks ago by emitting peals of creepy laughter for no apparent reason.Don’t Close My Tabs:The New York Times: ‘I Can’t Stop”: Schools Struggle With Vaping ExplosionBuzzFeed: Growth At Any Cost: Top Facebook Executive Defended Data Collection In 2016 Memo - And Warned That Facebook Could Get People KilledPodcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

4 Apr 201840min

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus dissect the latest fallout from the Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal, wherein the profile data of over 50 million Facebook users was obtained and allegedly used by Trump’s online voter targeting firm. The hosts go deep into some of the subplots of that scandal, and what it means for Facebook, elections, and your privacy. They’ll also discuss the death of a pedestrian in Arizona at the hands of an Uber self-driving car, and what that means for the future of autonomous vehicles. Finally, a tech story that has gotten less attention that it probably deserves: a change in the law that governs whether websites are liable for what their users say. Will and April are joined by David Carroll, a professor at Parsons School of Design at the New School, who focuses on political campaigns and data targeting. He’s suing Cambridge Analytica in the UK to find out what the company did with his data, and where it went. The hosts talk with him about the mechanics of how campaigns use voters’ persona data to win elections.Don’t Close My Tabs:Twitter: Sally Kuchar on Housing in the Bay AreaThe Atlantic: My Cow Game Extracted Your Facebook DataPodcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

28 Mars 201848min

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus take a deep look into gerrymandering and the highly specialized mapping technology that has allowed for political parties - especially the GOP since 2010 - to drastically change the way political districts are drawn and controlled. The hosts are joined by David Daley, a senior fellow at FairVote and the author of  Ratf**ked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America's Democracy. This interview was recorded on March 13th, so no news or tabs this week, but we’ll be back to our regular schedule next week. Podcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

21 Mars 201824min

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus discuss Elon Musk’s plan to… colonize Mars? They explain how sanctuary cities may unwittingly be sharing data with ICE through police surveillance tech. And Facebook VP Adam Mosseri, head of the news feed, joins the show for a wide-ranging interview. He explains how his team thinks about its responsibility to inform the public, and how they tackle complex problems ranging from fake news in the United States to Facebook-fueled hate campaigns in Myanmar.Podcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

14 Mars 201839min

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus try to make sense of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s rare honest assessment of his company’s shortfalls, and what new state regulations mean for self-driving cars and trucks. Cody Wilson, the man behind the first 3D printed gun, joins the hosts to talk about his vision of a “Wikileaks for guns” and why he thinks gun control is no longer possible. And, as always, Don’t Close My Tabs: this week Will looks at the “deepfakes” video phenomenon and April discusses former Trump aide Sam Nunberg’s email inbox exhaustion.Don’t Close My Tabs:Twitter: Sam Nunberg on CNN with Jake TapperNew York Times: Here Comes the Fake Videos, TooPodcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Please fill out the Slate podcast survey at slate.com/podcastsurvey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

7 Mars 201845min

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus take a look at Vero, the new social network that has people fleeing Instagram and Facebook, how conspiracy theories after the Parkland massacre have bubbled to the top of YouTube’s search results, and the controversy over how Facebook charges for campaign ads, after a Wired report showed that Trump faced much lower rates than Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn joins the show to talk about net neutrality, the upcoming Sinclair merger, sky-high prison phone rates and what the FCC is doing to help restore communications post Hurricane Maria. Don’t Close My Tabs:Wired: How Trump Conquered Facebook - Without Russian AdsUber Driver’s Playlists: @TEEJUS Podcast production by Max Jacobs.If Then plugs: You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Please fill out the Slate podcast survey at slate.com/podcastsurvey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

28 Feb 201843min