Endings and New Beginnings

Reflections on writing 100 newsletters since September 2021

This is Anchor Change’s 100th edition! Please consider supporting this newsletter. For $5 a month or $50 a year, you’ll get full access to the archives and one newsletter a week that is just for paid subscribers. You’ll also support my ability to do more research and writing on issues at the intersection of technology and democracy. Also, a huge thank you to everyone who has subscribed!

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Sometimes I get a lot of ideas for this newsletter late at night - usually, but not always - after a few glasses of wine. I’ll write them in my Google doc, and then morning Katie will figure out what is or isn’t viable.

These past ten days have been a whirlwind of emotion. Last week was a lot of reliving and thinking about my Facebook years. The week started with someone walking me through my entire time there - warts and all - in a 90-minute timespan. One would think I’d be used to that by now - it hit me harder than I was expecting.

Then the layoffs happened - where many of my friends lost their job or saw their roles change somehow. Things I had a hand in building look very different now.

As I was doing a little rant about that fact, a friend who has been through layoffs and change in a different industry nonchalantly said that’s how things go in corporate America. She was right, but I also wanted a moment to mourn.

It’s been two years and change since I left the company, and I’m still figuring out what post-Facebook life looks like. I’m still working through a lot that happened while I was there and after I left.

This was on my mind as three of my favorite television shows ended their runs this past week - Succession, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Ted Lasso. Now, no spoilers in this newsletter (though if you’ve watched and want to discuss, I’m here for it), but watching the end of Mrs. Maisel and Ted Lasso last night gave me the idea for this newsletter’s title. Especially watching the various characters' arks, the struggles they went through, and the choices they made. 

See, this is a special milestone for me - issue 100. And oh boy, have we been through a lot in these last 21 months.

When I left Facebook in March of 2021, I knew I wanted to continue contributing to the public conversation around technology and democracy. Still, I had horrible self-esteem about my writing. I took some writing classes to freshen up and started this Substack in September 2021. I figured the best way to get better would be to start writing and do it at least once a week.

Little did I know that the Facebook Files would drop just weeks later. Since then, we’ve explored everything from how many elections we’ll see in 2024 and the challenges that will come with that, how platforms work with politicians (including Trump being re-platformed), numerous Congressional hearings, Elon Musk taking over Twitter, newer platforms grappling with content moderation issues, the rise of AI and so much more.

I’ve also tried to be real here about the challenges I’ve gone through in transitioning to a new chapter of my career, life as a single woman, and just dealing with all the change in the world. 

My top five popular posts have been:

1. July 16, 2022 - How I Mapped Out My Post-Facebook Journey 

2. April 23, 2023 - The next generation of platforms grapple with content moderation 

3. January 21, 2023 - Finding Balance 

4. January 29, 2023 - Platforms and Politicians: A New Chapter 

5. January 13, 2023 - Announcing the Election Cycle Tracker

Three other things I’m proud of publishing during this time include:

1. The Tech and Elections Brief History I put out last Fall with the Bipartisan Policy Center

2. The Elections Guide we put out a few weeks ago with the Integrity Institute. 

3. My first quarterly trends report for Q1 2023.

The constant through all of this? Change. These past 18 months have been a lot about letting go and starting anew for me personally and all the changes in the world. And I know the next 18 months will be even more of that. I’m starting to map out the next 18 months and what this world might look like starting in 2025.

Many of you seem to be going through similar transitions. While the tech layoffs are sad, I’m excited to see where people will land. Some are going to different platforms; some are going into academia, civil society, and even government. I think this is good overall, but the transition is hard. It’s scary. 

My offer stands for anyone who wants to talk as they think about their own next steps. I talk in the link above about how I mapped out my post-Facebook journey, but it doesn't talk at all about how Anchor Change has - and continues to evolve - nor my strategy toward thought leadership in this space. Happy to talk about any and all of that.

I’m so grateful to all of you who have signed up for this newsletter, especially those who have upgraded to a paid subscription! 

The next 18 months and beyond are going to be insane. This election reminds me a bit of where we were in 2007, where Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and even Google search ads were very new tools for campaigning. But now we have AI, TikTok, Discord, Twitch, Substack, and so many other platforms that are emerging on top of those legacy platforms, very much still playing a role. I also think a lot about how this time in 2007, many thought that the nominees would be Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton. Instead, it ended up being Obama and McCain. 

I can’t wait to dig into all of those issues. I am also still working on launching a podcast. I even got intro music done, I just need to map out the first set of episodes and get to recording. This summer, I promise.

Are there things you’d like to see me write more about or cover in the podcast? Let me know. Your feedback helps me so much.

Have a great rest of the week!

What I’m Reading

• New York Magazine: How TikTok Beat the Ban (for Now) 

• Euronews: Turkish election 'free but not fair', say international observers

• New York Times: Trump White House Aides Subpoenaed in Firing of Election Security Expert

• The New York Times: AI Scientists Issue Urgent Warning About Potential Threats

• The Washington Post: Study: At all levels of public office, threats now come with the job

• The Wall Street Journal: China, India Expel Most of Each Other's Journalists Amid Escalating Rivalry

• Techdirt: Perhaps GPT Is Not Ready for the Supreme Court

• Forbes: TikTok Creators’ Financial Info, Social Security Numbers Have Been Stored In China

• Axios: 1 big thing: The future of media

• The Washington Post: OpenAI's Shifting Stance on Regulation in Europe

• The Atlantic: Political Campaigns May Never Be the Same

• CNBC: Tech Companies Lay Off Ethics and Safety Teams

• The Washington Post: Former Tech Adviser to Biden Discusses What Washington Fails to Understand About AI

• Columbia Journalism Review (CJR): Examining Media Coverage of ChatGPT and AI's Impact on Journalism

• The Information: TikTok CEO Expands Purview to Include ByteDance’s New App Lemon8

• Euractiv: French lawmakers set to pass law to crack down on influencers

Calendar

🚨NEW 🚨

• June 6, 2023 - Democracy Alive: The Brussels Summit

• July 10, 2023 - Trust and Safety Hackathon

• July 23, 2023 - Spain Election

• August 23, 2023 - Zimbabwe Election

Topics to keep an eye on:

• Biden Administration POV on Texas and Florida laws

• Facebook 2020 election research 

• TV shows about Facebook - Doomsday Machine and second season of Super Pumped

• June 4, 2023 – Guinea Bissau election

• June 5-9 - RightsCon

• June 6, 2023 - Democracy Alive: The Brussels Summit

• June 5 - 9 - WWDC - Apple developer event

• June 5, 2023 - The European Commission, European parliament and EU member states are due to agree a final definition for political advertising 

• June 11, 2023 – Montenegro election

• June 13 - Book Release, The Power of One: How I Found the Strength to Tell the Truth and Why I Blew the Whistle on Facebook 

• June 19, 2023 - Meta response due on COVID misinfo 

• June 24 - June 30 - Aspen Ideas Festival

• June 24, 2023 – Sierra Leone election

• June 25, 2023 – Guatemala election

• July 10, 2023 - Trust and Safety Hackathon

• July 11-13, 2023 - TrustCon

• July 2023 – Sudan election (likely to have further changes due clashes erupted mid-April, despite temporary humanitarian ceasefire,)

• July 23, 2023 – Cambodia election

• July 23, 2023 - Spain Election

• August 10 - 13, 2023 - Defcon

• August 23, 2023 - Zimbabwe Election

• August-2023 – Eswatini election

• August 2023 - First GOP Presidential Primary Debate

• Mid-September: All Tech Is Human - Responsible Tech Summit NYC

• September 27-29, 2023: Athens Democracy Forum

• September 28-29, 2023 - Trust & Safety Research Conference 

• TBD September: Atlantic Festival

• TBD September: Unfinished Live

• September 2023 – Bhutan election

• September 2023 – Tuvalu election

• September 9, 2023 – Maldives election

• September 28-29, 2023 - The Atlantic Festival

• September 30, 2023 – Slovakia election

• September 2023 – Rwanda election

• October 2023 – Oman election

• October 2023 Poland election

• October 8, 2023 – Pakistan election

• October 10, 2023 – Liberia election

• October 14, 2023 – New Zealand election

• October 22, 2023 – Switzerland election

• October 29, 2023 – Argentina election

• October 2023 – Gabon election

• October 2023 – Ukraine election

• Nov 14 - Book Release, Broken Code: Inside Facebook and the Fight to Expose Its Harmful Secrets by Jeff Horwitz 

• November 15, 2023 - Aspen Cyber Summit

• November 20, 2023 – Marshall Islands election

• November 29, 2023 – Argentina election

• December 1-3, 2023: Build Peace 2023 Conference

• December 20, 2023 – Democratic Republic of the Congo election

• December 2023 –Togo election

• 2023 or 2024 – Peru election

• TBD – Dominica election

• TBD – Luxembourg election

• TBD – Myanmar election

• TBD – Spain election

• TBD – Gabon election

• TBD – Madagascar election

• TBD – Haiti election

• TBD – Libya election

• TBD – Singapore election

2024

• January 2024 – Bangladesh election 

• January 2024 – Finland election 

• January 13, 2024 – Taiwan election 

• February 4, 2024 – El Salvador election 

• February 4, 2024 – Mali election 

• February 14, 2024 – Indonesia election 

• February 25, 2024 – Senegal election 

• February 25, 2024 – Belarus election 

• March 17, 2024 – Russia election 

• March 31, 2024 – Ukraine election 

• April 10, 2024 – South Korea election 

• April 2024 – Solomon Islands election 

• April 2024 – Maldives election 

• May 5, 2024 – Panama election 

• May 19, 2024 – Dominican Republic election 

• June 2024 – Mongolia election 

• June 6-9, 2024 - EU Parliament Elections

• July 7, 2024 – Mexico election 

• July 15 - 18, 2024 - Republican National Convention

• August 19 - 22, 2024 - Democratic Convention, Chicago

• October 27, 2024 – Uruguay election 

• October 2024 – Mozambique election 

• October 2024 – Chad election 

• November 2024 – Guinea Bissau election 

• November 2024 – Moldova election 

• November 2024 – Romania election 

• November 5, 2024 – United States of America election 

• November 12, 2024 – Palau election 

• December 2024 – Croatia election 

• TBD – Algeria election 

• TBD – Austria election 

• TBD – Belgium election 

• TBD – Botswana election 

• TBD – Burkina Faso election 

• TBD – Chad election 

• TBD – Comoros election 

• TBD – Croatia election 

• TBD – Dominica election 

• TBD – Egypt election 

• TBD – Ethiopia election 

• TBD – Georgia election 

• TBD – Ghana election 

• TBD – Iceland election 

• TBD – India election 

• TBD – Iran election 

• TBD – Jordan election 

• TBD – Kiribati election 

• TBD – Kuwait election 

• TBD – Lithuania election

• TBD – Madagascar election 

• TBD – Mauritania election

• TBD – Mauritius election

• TBD – Montenegro election 

• TBD – North Korea election

• TBD – North Macedonia election

• TBD – Romania election 

• TBD – Rwanda election

• TBD – San Marino election

• TBD – Slovakia election 

• TBD – South Africa election

• TBD – South Sudan election

• TBD – Syria election 

• TBD – Tunisia election

• TBD – United States of America election 

• TBD – Uzbekistan election

• TBD – Venezuela election