• Show Notes

In this special episode of the CAFE Insider podcast recorded on November 16, Joyce speaks with prominent technology investor Roger McNamee. CAFE Insider is usually behind the paywall, but we’re taking it down for this episode due to popular demand. 

The conversation centers around the threat Facebook poses to democracy, and what happened when McNamee confronted Mark Zuckerberg following the 2016 election. They also discuss McNamee’s mentorship of Zuckerberg, how that relationship fell apart after Facebook changed its business model to maximize profit, and what can still be done to protect the public from exploitative technologies. 

What’s McNamee’s vision for a regulatory agency in the mold of the Food and Drug Administration to monitor technology and social media? Why does McNamee consider himself an “accidental investor” after first setting out to become a musician? We get into these questions and more.

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Executive Producer: Tamara Sepper; Senior Editorial Producer: Adam Waller; Technical Director: David Tatasciore; Audio Producer: Matthew Billy; Editorial Producers: Jake Kaplan, Noa Azulai, Sam Ozer-Staton.

REFERENCES & SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS

  • Roger McNamee, “Zucked”, 2019 
  • Alex Hern, “It’s bigger than Facebook. This is a problem with the entire industry”, The Guardian, 2/19/20
  • Tom Bissell, “An Anti-Facebook Manifesto, by an Early Facebook Investor,” New York Times, 1/29/19
  • Roger McNamee, “Facebook Will Not Fix Itself”, Time, 10/7/21 
  • McNamee’s band, Moonalice