A weekly newsletter that tells the story of how tech companies became unelected governments and what to do about it, by former Google executive and 30-year Internet veteran Jonathan Bellack.

Posts

Aug 28, 2026

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4 min read

Meta’s new settlement with the states should only be the first step toward real regulation.

The Meta settlement requires limited oversight of Instagram and Facebook for just five years. Making it permanent, independent, and industry-wide requires a law.

Aug 28, 2026

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5 min read

Summer field trip 2.2: Strategy theatre at Google: was I the hero or the fool?

My summer field trip into Google corporate culture continues with a memoir of twenty years of strategic planning success and debacle.

Aug 14, 2026

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6 min read

Summer field trip 2.1: two mythic tales of Sridhar Ramaswamy, former Google Ads chief

In the spirit of Odysseus, I’m sailing the seas of Google corporate culture for the next three weeks. Today, how senior executives, like the Gods, shaped the fate of billions even when they weren’t in the room.

Jul 31, 2026

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4 min read

News round-up: New York, France, & Google jump on the child-safety bandwagon; Meta, Tiktok, & Discord auto-moderation goes rampant

Online age verification keeps accelerating with a major new EU report and a new Android feature. Creators and regular users continue to take it on the chin from platform moderation errors. Plus, I preview this year’s summer field trip.

Jul 24, 2026

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5 min read

What if the path to open social media runs through creators, not communities?

In 1992, Marvel’s top artists flexed their power to break the comic book industry wide open. The best way to open up the Internet today might be to get today’s biggest creators on our side in the same way.