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Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

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

Trust & Safety

+1

AI-driven tech layoffs suck, but might lead to certification

Oct 30, 2026

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4 min read

AI-driven tech layoffs suck, but might lead to certification

Microsoft’s offer to buy out 27% of their workforce inspired one last piece about licensing software engineers. As AI coding obliterates the traditional junior engineer, training will probably looks even more like the practices of other licensed professions.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Explainer

+1

Explainer #10: Sampling the squirrelburger

Oct 23, 2026

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5 min read

Explainer #10: Sampling the squirrelburger

In which I retell Scrum co-creator Ken Schwaber’s famous parable, and connect it to ethical engineering.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Explainer

+2

Explainer #9: How a software legend made the case for licensing engineers almost 30 years ago

Oct 20, 2026

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5 min read

Explainer #9: How a software legend made the case for licensing engineers almost 30 years ago

If the book “After the Gold Rush” by Steve McConnell had been taken more seriously by the software industry in 1999, we might not be in such a mess now.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Trust & Safety

+1

Licence to code? Google’s Demis Hassabis is half-right about FINRA

Oct 2, 2026

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5 min read

Licence to code? Google’s Demis Hassabis is half-right about FINRA

Last week I said that the financial industry is a lousy model for AI regulation. But like finance jobs, software professionals should require licensing, ethical standards, and continued education.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Explainer

+2

Explaining AI doomerism to my dad

Sep 25, 2026

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5 min read

Explaining AI doomerism to my dad

I don’t talk about AI much in Platformocracy. A recent email to my father does a good job of laying out my priors and biases. [tl;dr: self-regulation is weak sauce]

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

News Round-Up

+2

News roundup: the EU's age restriction proposal, a new book calls bullshit on Haidt, and another identity hack from hell

Sep 18, 2026

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4 min read

News roundup: the EU's age restriction proposal, a new book calls bullshit on Haidt, and another identity hack from hell

A Boston College professor calls out the moral panic over social media and the EU’s big age-restriction proposal rolls out. Plus excerpts from my other op-ed with Mariana Rosenblat.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Explainer

+1

“Blood and soil” politics are undermining our online future

Sep 11, 2026

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5 min read

“Blood and soil” politics are undermining our online future

A unique book about ancient Athens got me thinking about why billionaires are trying to destroy the global Internet culture that made them rich.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Google

Summer field trip 2.3: Is Google too big to succeed?

Sep 4, 2026

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6 min read

Summer field trip 2.3: Is Google too big to succeed?

Wrapping up my second summer field trip, is size destiny when it comes to corporate culture? A tour through my own career, from startups to a 200,000-person leviathan. Is Gemini a Google rebirth, or its last gasp of creativity?

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Transparency

+4

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

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.

Jonathan Bellack
Mariana Olaizola Rosenblat
Jonathan Bellack, +1

Ad Tech

+2

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

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.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Ad Tech

+1

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

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.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Children

+2

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

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.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Transparency

+2

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

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.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Explainer

+1

Explainer #8: what connects the creator economy, Spider-Man, and the English Civil War?

Jul 17, 2026

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6 min read

Explainer #8: what connects the creator economy, Spider-Man, and the English Civil War?

In the 1600s, Parliament fought for democracy against the divine right of kings. The most radical rebels of the time have lessons for today’s online creators, via the founding of Image Comics in 1992.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Due Process

+1

Palantir's Alex Karp goes full Galaxy Brain, and the US Supreme Court gets something right for once

Jul 10, 2026

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5 min read

Palantir's Alex Karp goes full Galaxy Brain, and the US Supreme Court gets something right for once

I am back from vacation and ready to take gratuitous potshots at Palantir CEO Alex Karp’s 20-minute free-associating rant on CNBC. Plus, a big win for online rights at the US Supreme Court (which I previewed back in March)!

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Privacy

+2

News round-up: lawsuits, social media bans, and a curious launch from Google

Jun 26, 2026

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3 min read

News round-up: lawsuits, social media bans, and a curious launch from Google

Sarah Wynn-Williams strikes back at Meta, Google blurs the line between Search and YouTube, and the child safety wars continue to rage across the globe.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Due Process

+3

Explainer #7: Trust & Safety with Chinese Characteristics

Jun 19, 2026

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5 min read

Explainer #7: Trust & Safety with Chinese Characteristics

To learn more about due process, I read a book comparing great legal traditions. I found that modern trust and safety practices have more in common with Chinese dynasties than Western democracy. Yikes.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Transparency

+4

The Platformocracy: what is it, why is it bad, and how do we fix it?

Jun 12, 2026

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7 min read

The Platformocracy: what is it, why is it bad, and how do we fix it?

Internet platforms have become our unelected governments. They should be subject to the laws of the communities they serve, not the will of their owners. Summarizing my first year of posts.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Google

+4

Platformocracy is one year old! Here’s what’s coming next (including song lyrics and maybe some code)

Jun 5, 2026

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4 min read

Platformocracy is one year old! Here’s what’s coming next (including song lyrics and maybe some code)

First, like any enthusiastic one-year-old, I’m gonna smash a big piece of cake into my face with my bare hands. Then, I’m going to try some new things, including attempting to write code that demonstrates my ideas.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Identity

+1

Practical exit part 2: groups and identity (again)

May 29, 2026

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5 min read

Practical exit part 2: groups and identity (again)

Last week I proposed regulation to make it easier for you to bring your friends and followers with you from one social platform to another. This week, I look at two use cases with more complexity.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Privacy

+1

Practical Exit: It’s time for regulators to require social graph portability

May 22, 2026

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5 min read

Practical Exit: It’s time for regulators to require social graph portability

We’ve had mobile phone number portability for twenty years. We now have proven technology to help move your online friends and followers in a secure and privacy-preserving way. If platforms won’t implement it, we should demand regulation to make it mandatory.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Children

+2

Social media vs. parasocial media vs. social networking

May 15, 2026

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5 min read

Social media vs. parasocial media vs. social networking

The “social media” platforms we demonize today are actually multiple suspects in a trench coat. Separating out key use cases makes it easier to talk about practical ways to reduce harm and take back control.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Children

+1

Meta unleashes a haiku of PR bullsh*t after being found guilty of harming children

May 8, 2026

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4 min read

Meta unleashes a haiku of PR bullsh*t after being found guilty of harming children

Yet again, Meta’s VP of Communications Andy Stone has responded to his company’s indefensible conduct with an insulting and ineffective public statement. Why does he keep doing this? Let’s break it down.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Google

+1

Q&A #2 - Ganesh Shankar, Google Director of Product Management, User Protection

May 6, 2026

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3 min read

Q&A #2 - Ganesh Shankar, Google Director of Product Management, User Protection

Second in this occasional bonus feature. Get to know the leaders, builders, and thinkers working to give us control over our online lives. This week - Ganesh Shankar from Google's Privacy, Safety, and Security team.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

Children

+3

Reader mailbag #3: age verification follow-up

May 1, 2026

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4 min read

Reader mailbag #3: age verification follow-up

Reader feedback on my piece criticizing social media age verification, plus more bumps on the road in the EU and Australia.

Jonathan Bellack
Jonathan Bellack

How tech companies became unelected governments and what to do about it, as told by a former Google executive.

© 2026 Jonathan Bellack.
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