The vibe shift in Silicon Valley

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Allison P. Davis wrote an article in New York last month that said the third year of the Pandemic would reveal an obvious and wrenching evolution. She wrote that a vibe shift is a relatively simple idea, that sometimes things change and a once dominant social wavelength starts to feel dated.

I have been thinking about Davis since. I've been working on how to apply it to my field of tech journalism, which is driven by social wavelengths as much as any other part of our culture. I had been trying to figure out which stories were relevant in the year 2022. I want to tell you what I came up with.

Some kinds of tech journalism feel dated to me, while others feel like they are about to end. There are a lot of new stories that need to be told, thanks to shifts in power in Silicon Valley, and talented journalists are already bringing them to our attention.

The change in presidents is the most obvious reason for this shift. Donald Trump's reign as president demanded one type of coverage, while Joe Biden's quiet, pro-democracy presidency demands another. Biden doesn't appear in the story, but on the subject of tech and tech policy, his presidency, and Trump's social media exile, for a significant portion of the vibe shift.

There are a few things before we start. One, just because a storyline is starting to feel old doesn't mean publications should stop covering it. Even on beats, there are great stories to be told. Tech labor issues; diversity, equity, and inclusion; cybersecurity; the long-term effect on COVID-19 on companies and the economy; and the uses and misuses of artificial intelligence are some of the important stories that have arisen from the shift in presidents.

Max Read wrote a funnier version of what.

I hope this guide will be useful to readers who want to improve their understanding of the moment, junior reporters who want to start a Substack!, publications who want to allocate their resources, and anyone who works for a tech company trying to understand where the energy is going.

Here is a guide to what feels dated and what feels fresh in 2022.

The center of the Trump-era vibe is Facebook.

During the Trump era, Facebook's user base grew by billions and it became the center of global communications. Multiple people were assigned to cover the company's many controversies, focused on its content moderation decisions.

Apple's move to crush the market for targeted mobile advertising has put Facebook in a tough spot. It is spending billions of dollars in a risky attempt to pivot to augmented and virtual reality. Its stock price has plummeted and its user base has begun to shrink for the first time.

The center is TikTok.

Nobody in America knew that TikTok was coming. In September, ByteDance announced it had hit 1 billion users. The app survived Trump's attempt to force ByteDance to sell TikTok to his cronies, and now Meta, YouTube, and Snap have all introduced clones.

We don't know much about the executives leading ByteDance and TikTok. Can you name the current CEO of TikTok? What is on their product plan? What do their user growth and retention look like? What are the leaders trying to manage? How do you develop a content policy? We are all ears.

Hire dedicated ByteDance and TikTok reporters and increase their coverage.

Information is being spread too quickly.

This genre of reporting focused on the spread of misinformation. It was premised on the idea that Facebook and other social networks would last a long time, if not forever. It made it more difficult to use tech companies' moderation tools for ill purposes.

The media elite became more used to the idea that fast-spreading information is not legit. Real-time fact-checking and explanatory journalism was invested heavily. The thing about misinformation is that it won.

Information is having trouble spreading.

This genre of reporting focuses on the splinternet, which is a combination of good-natured regulation and lunacy. The consequences of India banning TikTok, or hostage-taking laws, that threaten tech executives with jail time over their content moderation decisions are looked at. It focuses on who loses when free expression is restricted.

It's time to re-orient coverage of online speech issues and information flows.

Fix the web is a Trump-era vibe.

Tech coverage focused on how to improve the internet through regulations and breaking up big tech companies. The introduction of several tech bills in the US Congress and the installation of antitrust crusaders in the Federal Trade Commission was a success. The moment has passed and it seems that nothing will get broken up. TikTok is the center.

The web should be replaced by the Biden-era vibe.

Efforts to rebuild large parts of the internet using cryptocurrencies are the focus of this genre of tech coverage. It focuses on efforts to transform successful platforms of the Web 2.0 era as equivalents of Web3 and offers skeptical but open-minded coverage of NFTs, DAOs, and related technologies.

What to do is to flood the zone on cryptocurrencies and assume the US will not regulate tech.

Data is mind control.

The Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal was sparked by the idea that you could control people's behavior through targeted advertising. The firm's claims had always been overblown, but distrust of data collection practices by big tech platforms persisted. There is a direct link between Cambridge Analytica and app tracking transparency.

Data is a personal liability.

Wartime has shown that there are more pressing risks to be faced by those who live under autocrats. It shows the need for advanced protections for activists, journalists, dissidents, and marginalized groups. It is a daily scandal that NSO Group is a legal and thriving spyware industry.

What should be done about it: Op-ed pages should fight against data brokers. Where disappearing messages don't exist should be complained at. Publications should demand to know what Apple and Google are doing to stop NSO Group and its competitors.

The United States is tech's Regulator-in-chief.

Many of us assumed that US lawmakers would crack down on Russian interference in the US presidential election after hearing about it on social platforms.

They held endless hearings and didn't pass anything.

Europe and Apple are tech's regulators-in-chief.

There was more to come. The Age-Appropriate Design Code of the United Kingdom changed more about US tech platforms than it has done in the US. The Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act would affect the US tech platforms. For most of the time, it is covered in the United States as a story for foreign correspondents.

Apple's App Store monopoly and insistence on taking its 30 percent cut (or when sued, 27 percent cut) continue to limit the kinds of internet businesses that are created.

US publications should cover Europe with an eye toward explaining how legislation there will affect Americans. Apple policy decisions affect businesses.

Tech is destroying our politics.

The genre of coverage focused on the tendency to amplify outrage, promote right-wing voices above all others, and generally accelerate polarization. It was persuasive, though there are different explanations for polarization and more research is needed.

Max Read said that the thing about outrage is that it won.

Tech is hurting the children.

The Wall Street Journal's coverage of the leaks made it clear that tech platforms might be harmful to children. The United Kingdom's Online Safety Bill, which was introduced into Parliament this week, was inspired by the furor.

If these proposed regulations were to become law, it's important to scrutinize the claims on all sides, particularly the trade-offs involved in free expression and the impact on marginalized children. There is a report on new research on the subject. Tech platforms should tell us more about what they know.

There are many other shifts that would support a full-time tech reporter at any publication: the increased importance of chip manufacturing and innovation, the global supply chain, and the post-COVID gig economy.

My evolving sense of where power is moving in tech and the surrounding culture is one of the shifts guiding my own coverage.

I'm eager to hear your thoughts on the vibe shift.