Jonathan Bellack

Xoogler, 30-year Internet veteran, advisory fellow @ Harvard's Berkman Klein Center

Children

Why I don’t like age verification for social media

Apr 17, 2026

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5 min read

Why I don’t like age verification for social media

Age verification laws for social media are sweeping the world. The EU just announced their own solution is ready to go. I am worried that we are making big platforms stronger without being clear about what problem we’re trying to solve.

Jonathan Bellack

Google

Q&A #1 - Scott Spencer, CEO and co-founder of Rewarded Interest

Apr 15, 2026

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7 min read

Q&A #1 - Scott Spencer, CEO and co-founder of Rewarded Interest

Introducing a new occasional bonus feature. Get to know the leaders, builders, and thinkers working to give us control over our online lives. Leading us off, Scott Spencer, one of the original veterans of online advertising safety.

Jonathan Bellack

Apr 10, 2026

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8 min read

News Round-Up: Bluesky, the Meta Oversight Board, Debanking, and A Horse

After a week off, I return with my first news round-up. This is something new for me, so please let me know if you find this useful.

Jonathan Bellack

Privacy

How is your Instagram account like a hotel room?

Mar 27, 2026

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8 min read

How is your Instagram account like a hotel room?

Data in our online accounts should be protected from unreasonable search and seizure just like luggage in a hotel room, according to a new US Supreme Court amicus brief from Harvard’s Cyberlaw Clinic and an old Google colleague. This could be extended to expand ownership and data portability rights.

Jonathan Bellack

Transparency

Mar 20, 2026

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8 min read

New data shows platforms use terms of service to subvert the rule of law

My rants about online due process are not purely theoretical. Data from the ASML Transparency Hub, compiled by students at Boston University, show that platforms are quietly cutting you off from your country’s justice system and forcing you to accept theirs.

Jonathan Bellack

Democracy

My turn at the Peter Thiel dunk tank: the nihilism of inventing our way backward

Mar 13, 2026

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8 min read

My turn at the Peter Thiel dunk tank: the nihilism of inventing our way backward

Seventeen years ago, billionaire Peter Thiel declared that freedom and democracy are incompatible. That’s the kind of defeatism that gets me riled up. Democracy needs innovation, not despair.

Jonathan Bellack

Explainer

Mar 6, 2026

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9 min read

Explainer #6: How population growth forced democracy to evolve

Democracies worldwide are struggling with the scale and velocity of the modern world, and online platforms are bigger than most countries. Looking at history shows that the size of a community changes democracy, but doesn't mean we need to abandon it.

Jonathan Bellack

Explainer

Magna Carta proves we deserve the rule of law online. No, really.

Feb 27, 2026

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9 min read

Magna Carta proves we deserve the rule of law online. No, really.

Rabble’s Social Media Bill of Rights sent me down a rabbit hole to the grand-daddy of declarations – Magna Carta, issued in England by King John in 1215. Its most radical turn of phrase points the way to online democracy today.

Jonathan Bellack

Due Process

Feb 20, 2026

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9 min read

Due process transparency, continued: does safety require secrecy?

Last week, I dodged the difficult question of whether transparency would help bad actors more than the rest of us. Secrecy is necessary today, but only as a band-aid on an enormous self-inflicted wound: easy, open account sign-ups.

Jonathan Bellack

Due Process

Feb 13, 2026

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8 min read

Let’s build due process! Part 3: Transparency should be the default, not the exception

Public information about user status, terminated accounts, and policy enforcement would help online communities build a sense of history, instead of living in a perpetual present. This would build trust in platforms and reduce the need for crisis communications.

Jonathan Bellack

Due Process

Feb 6, 2026

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11 min read

Let’s build due process! Part 2: A workflow that works

This is the big one - my proposal to restore user trust in the account termination process without breaking the bank. Ask your favorite platform for this. Or if you work at a platform, maybe even give it a try.

Jonathan Bellack

Due Process

Jan 30, 2026

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9 min read

Let’s Build Due Process! Part 1: Increase trust by improving account terminations

I’m setting out to convince you that platforms could expand due process without breaking the bank. In part one, I lay out the goal, narrow the scope, and address one big risk.

Jonathan Bellack

Due Process

Jan 26, 2026

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6 min read

Due process matters, in the real world and online

It’s hard to write about online due process when ICE is killing people in Minnesota. Losing your account is not the same as being kidnapped or deported. But the callous way we enforce online rules sets an uncomfortable precedent. We can do better.

Jonathan Bellack

Due Process

Explainer #5: Is the Social Media Bill of Rights our new founding document?

Jan 16, 2026

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10 min read

Explainer #5: Is the Social Media Bill of Rights our new founding document?

Twitter’s first employee has written an inspiring manifesto for the social media we deserve. I run you through the basics: who Rabble is, what he’s up to, and what the Nostr social media protocol has to do with it.

Jonathan Bellack

Ad Tech

Jan 9, 2026

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10 min read

Why is Meta still feeding us garbage in response to their scam ads scandal?

A new set of embarrassing documents about Meta’s fraud problems leaked on New Year’s Eve. Comms VP Andy Stone didn’t handle this batch any better than last time. Why can’t he get it right?

Jonathan Bellack

Trust & Safety

Scandals At Meta And OpenAI Prove It: Safety Needs Real Independence

Dec 19, 2025

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8 min read

Scandals At Meta And OpenAI Prove It: Safety Needs Real Independence

We can’t trust big tech platforms to make the right safety decisions of their own accord. Back in June, I called on Bluesky to spin off its safety team. To end the year, I generalize the argument. Let’s carve some roast platform beast together, shall we?

Jonathan Bellack

Google

Dec 12, 2025

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10 min read

Inside My Battles With Google Trust & Safety

Welcome to the two-week Platformocracy Holiday Party! Today I play the Grinch and share a few anecdotes in which I complain about my difficult relationship with Google Trust and Safety.

Jonathan Bellack

Reader Mailbag

Dec 5, 2025

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7 min read

Reader mailbag #2 - my first poll, and I missed a bunch of Fediverse tools for Exit

Your chance to pick my end-of-year articles, and a review of Exit coolness I overlooked from the world of ActivityPub.

Jonathan Bellack

Identity

Exit and Interoperability Exist Today, If You Know Where To Look

Nov 21, 2025

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10 min read

Exit and Interoperability Exist Today, If You Know Where To Look

Outside the big walled gardens, the open social web is making Exit and interoperability a reality. I review a few projects that I’m excited about, and where I think they could take us next.

Jonathan Bellack

Ad Tech

Nov 7, 2025

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10 min read

Rant: Meta is earning billions from scams and fraud. Their lack of transparency is an insult.

Meta’s newly-revealed carelessness is egregious, but their bullshit response is the Platformocracy at its worst. I am pissed. Welcome to what my coworkers used to call a “Bellack Special.”

Jonathan Bellack

Identity

Can we regulate or spend our way to Exit? Lessons from Europe, Utah, and Project Liberty

Oct 31, 2025

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9 min read

Can we regulate or spend our way to Exit? Lessons from Europe, Utah, and Project Liberty

The EU has regulated data portability, but the US is dragging its heels. A deep-pocketed benefactor has put $500 million into the fight, but is even a large fortune enough to make a difference?

Jonathan Bellack

Identity

More on Exit: competition is just one click away, unless it threatens our Daily Active Users metric

Oct 24, 2025

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8 min read

More on Exit: competition is just one click away, unless it threatens our Daily Active Users metric

Big social media platforms brag about their tools that let you download your data, but without import or forwarding, it’s a red herring. Companies could easily make this better.

Jonathan Bellack

Explainer

Oct 17, 2025

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8 min read

Explainer #4: “Exit, Voice, and Loyalty” is why big tech platforms want you to leave

A legendary economist and World War 2 badass tells us why heading to Bluesky or the Fediverse makes big platforms’ lives easier, and what it would take to convince you to stay and fight.

Jonathan Bellack

Explainer

Oct 10, 2025

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10 min read

Explainer #3: The First Person Project could be the future of online identity

A new project with a long pedigree promises to put trust at the center of the Internet. I attempt to summarize their epic 80-page white paper in one post.

Jonathan Bellack

Google

Private, community, public: online identity should not be one size fits all

Oct 3, 2025

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8 min read

Private, community, public: online identity should not be one size fits all

Today’s platforms don’t give us enough choice and control over expressing, or requiring, identity in different situations. Based on work of colleagues at Google, I propose a matrix of options to start a more nuanced discussion.

Jonathan Bellack