This podcast is the most left leaning I have heard in a long time. I listen to a lot of neutral news and for this to be considered facts is a joke. I’m very disappointed that the Freakonomics group blatantly went this far left.

The lack of awareness this guy has for his own bias is astounding. Somehow he sees himself as open minded despite being completely in the pocket of the men who own the Internet’s most popular sights. This podcast does give the discerning listener an inside look at how truly corrupt these platforms are.

This series was disappointing. I really thought Sudhir’s earlier work with gangs was fascinating and was very excited to hear this podcast. However, it fails to impress, and actually makes me start to question his credibility. I was expecting him to speak on the effect of social media on society from a sociologists perspective. Although the podcast started out that way, it seems more and more he is using this as a vehicle to expound his leftist viewpoints. Dude, you have the choice of being a social scientist, or a political activist, but you can’t do both at the same time. I question his credibility, because he used a quotation taken out of context, and spent significant time in one episode interviewing and supporting the ultra biased opinions of a political agitator without critical examination. It seems Sudhir is fueling the problem for which he is claiming to have a solution.

Incredible podcast, I saw all things mentioned working at a tech giant. This is a great resource to learn about start up vices. Hopefully they’ll release a 2nd season!

This podcast is horrendous not worth anyone’s time. There is nothing in this podcast of value Unless you follow the host’s resume with unhealthy interest. Please drop this before it ruins freakonmics brand.

I really enjoyed this show and thought it was a fascinating look at the internet and social media. Why’d you stop? This was a highlight of my week!

I consider myself pretty moderate politically. Ilove how freakenomics is able to balance and remain mostly unbiased. I feel the content of this show SHOULD lend itself to an unbiased presentation, but this podcast has a strong left leaning bias while acting as though they believe they are telling the total truth. Thus this show feels rather untrustworthy. Don’t bother!

Bad or horrible is an understatement!

A shallow show from a shallow self-promoter who is not above plagiarizing graduate students.

Why I started listening, things I like about the show, and potential improvements Why I started Listening: I started listening because I love freakanomics and the host kept mentioning your podcast. Pro’s: You have a lot of experience that I want to learn from. I am excited to hear your stories of the tech community and how you bring in your sociology background. It’s rare for tech podcasts to talk about emotions or human connection- as a woman going into tech, I want to hear about those things. I loved the raw emotion and personal stories in The Garbage Can Model of Decision Making episode. Potential Improvements: - Tell the story like you’re talking to a friend at the bar. Right now it comes across like a really nice audiobook. - **Read the book “Talk Like Ted”** Bring more than one guest on each episode and have each guest talk no longer than 15-18 minutes (Most people can’t focus for more than 15-18 minutes)

Interesting info, but has a hard slant to the left. Definitely portrays the conservatives as the problem in the political realm. Zero examples of Leftys being the problem. When you have consumed so much Koolaid you can’t see your bias. Can get some good info though... some.

Lots of anecdotes and broad generalizations; really light weight stuff. And his name dropping and bragging gets a bit repetitive. All anecdotes and data (rare though they occur) bash the right and elevate the left. Maybe 10 years ago, this would do ok. Today, it's just one of a thousand lazy biased podcasts that plays to believers. Surprising that it's part of the Freakonomics network; their QC team must be on summer vacation.

why doesnt anyone ever consider maybe the leftists are the wrong ones?

It was slightly interesting to get a glimpse inside the tech bubble and see how alienated they are from the middle of the US, but Sudhir’s lack of self awareness (along with the supposition that Jan 6 was as bad as 9/11) make it painful to listen to. I’ve heard everything I need to hear with this one.

Heavy on “social justice” light on substance

Venkatesh has made a career out of self-promotion in place of legit research and substance. More of the same here.

Fascinating that someone can host a podcast with episodes about how tech is racist while admitting that he managed Facebook’s hate speech team. That equals someone directly responsible for the proliferation of right wing hate on Facebook is actually attempting to claim it is racist. The next time Facebook enforces their “community standards” against hate speech will be the first time. We now know two jobs that Sudhir failed at.

Nice look into the digital world. Soft hitting and at times unchallenging but a new look into a world with increasing influence.

So far so good. A little too much left pandering, I wish he had right wing guests as well. However, it gives a peek into the sometimes ephemeral Facebook and silicon valley.

That’s a racist appropriation of a cultural term that is not respectful or helpful and the host using that term is itself a glimpse of his mind. This guy is supposed to be a sociologist. Latin-x was made up and perpetuated by people who don’t have enough respect for Latino cultures to let them decide what they want to be called.

Very insightful, incredible content and super interesting....but Sudhir’s breathy, garbled voice ruins it. He likely will improve on it but it’s unbearably bad at times. Also, some guests suffer from terrible delivery as well. That gentleman with the vocal fry was painful. And you might say, well, Sudhir is a sociologist and brilliant, he’s not a radio host. Fine- get a co-host to do more of the talking. You don’t have a voice for podcast. Either get a vocal coach or quit.

Gives you a window into an industry that nobody understands. It is worth a good listen.

Way to alienate 1/2 the population and in the first 3 minutes of episode 1! Elitists!

Sometimes we get so caught up in are parts, that we forget we are sum of our parts. This podcast helps to bring the ecology of social media into context. We, as people, are much more than a single post or tweet.

Wonderful storytelling. It makes complex ideas simple and clear. Very worth the time.

Sudhir’s mix of social science perspective and industry expertise make this an insightful dive into today’s social media landscape.

America needs answers from objective sources now more than ever. This isn’t that.

The content (two episodes in) is fascinating but the show is so slowly paced, so dryly delivered, that I’m tempted to bail. The Freakonomics Network’s other shows move apace with dollops of humor; this one wiggles along lugubriously with scant energy. Com’on, folks!

I am not disappointed with the bias. Heck, I probably agree with the bias myself, but there wasn’t anything really enlightening or informative, and the final line of the last of three episodes is the biggest COP OUT ever. Not only could I hear it coming five minutes away, it just left a useless taste in my mouth. Such promise, not delivered.

A pale shadow of freakonomics, without the empirical evidence, different views, filled with hacks that all say the same thing the host wants to hear. It’s like propaganda not even pretending to be based in facts or reality

Very interesting to hear an inside view of what was happening before, during, and after Jan 6, which was terrible. I can sympathize with the tension of protecting free speech and protecting public safety. And it's fascinating to hear an insider's perspective. But your conservative and centrist listeners also want to hear the inside story of what was going on in The Silicon Valley during the summer of 2020. Was it just the sheer magnitude of such an important place as the Capitol being attacked that makes that event the one act of violence worthy of concrete steps to address (that would make some sense)? And do you see any relationship between silicon valleys response to the 2020 riots and what happened on Jan 6? Telling your side of the story here will help with the "liberal bias" perception. No reasonable person wants to justify or minimize what happened on Jan 6, but we do want to better understand other events.

This is a single sided viewpoint from a liberal perspective much like Twitter and Facebook. I think we are all tired of condescending tones from the so-called elite. The mischaracterization of conservative minded individuals as the extreme QAnon mentality is so offensive. They have literally no idea what they are talking about. Done with this ...don’t waste your time.

This is great story telling as well as reporting from the belly of the beast. Thoughtfully constructed and compelling. Worth your time.

When I heard the trailer for this podcast, I was cautiously optimistic that it might truly present both sides of the political spectrum. I was deeply disappointed to find it heavily biased to the left. They pay only modest lip service to the systemic censorship of conservative voices and instead spent most of the first episode lamenting events of Jan. 6th 2021 in the context that Facebook and Twitter didn’t do enough to police their platforms; and that failure allowed would-be insurrectionists to organize. As a sociologist I am shocked that the host did not immediately recognize that less censorship (not more) would have helped to alleviate the concerns that led to the unfortunate events of Jan. 6th. People resort to violence only when they believe have no voice. The makers of this podcast should throw this out and start again from a level playing field. I’m beginning to think that it is not possible for the political left to step back and own their biases and hypocrisy. This Gramsci agenda to take down the US from within has been brewing on college campuses and K-12 classrooms since the fall of the Soviet Union. And it’s this generation of students who graduated having been subjected to this socialist propaganda curriculum of in the past 25 years that are now running most of the major corporations (tech, entertainment, news and otherwise), universities, and government agencies around the country. The aim is to undermine the rights and liberties of the individual in favor of the collectivist prime mover: the aggrieved groups that make up modern identity politics. This is not your father’s DNC and it started at least as far back as the election of Bill Clinton in 1992. This business of the left pitting one group against another and the willful participation by the majority of the nation’s trusted institutions is what’s tearing at the fabric of US society. Social media companies are just one manifestation of this larger collectivist movement that threatens the principles of The Enlightenment and Western Civilization (i.e. individual liberties) everywhere.

Sudhir and his guest offer an insiders view to the world of Facebook and Twitter but with an obvious bias. “White supremacy” was used often as an example of platform misinformation. However, there were NO examples of left wing extremism. Even more disappointing, the phrases “white supremacists” and “Trump and his supporters” were intermixed with the Implication they were synonymous. This maybe an unconscious bias...or maybe Sudhir is just a smart capitalist who knows his target audience.

Re: Episode 1 Sorry I don’t have the energy or inclination to dissect properly, but, an overview: - The most glaring tells come early enough. Alas, no, not even close to contending with their own biases ... - And (evidently) still unaware THAT is a prerequisite for producing actually useful thoughts or ideas intended to benefit, manage or reform the lives of (of course) other people, to benefit other misled, ignorant or bad people, people they do not know, but have heard about and spoken of and imagined a lot. For years. - So yeah, still unaware of the importance (the necessity) of tidying themselves, personally, before gazing outward and fixating on what clearly provides them greater reward: that is, both other people’s problems and other problem people, in their humble opinions. - Listen if you like, first episode is just more insight, more fascinating-repellent-boring-astonishing insight into how powerful, insecure creatures justify what they do to and for(?) others. All while keeping what they have AND still managing to feel authentically righteous, hence contented, in their comfy bubble ... No new or hopeful info, they proceed apace

I’m guessing that the “breaking the internet” in the title refers to the half truths and complete lack of information. He couldn’t have a more left leaning ideology than if he got vaccinated on the show and then double masked alone while recording everything he’s learned off of CNN. I had such high hopes for this show being a huge fan of Freakanomics(yes I know this leans left sometimes). Economics and statistics isn’t a place for politics, which is why I love them so much, but this is hands down a political show, that is just echoing everything the mainstream media is saying in a vague semi-economical way. First episode get four Pinocchio’s.

Just finished episode one. Very interesting and good information. I’m looking forward to future episodes. One note. The examples used were well presented. However it seemed that the examples suffered from the same tech issue discussed in the episode. They were a bit myopic. While properly calling out the far right problems, especially for Jan 6th and how the platforms were used to organize and foment. The far left was not cited as to how it used the platforms to organize the protests that turned into riots in the summer of 2020. Maybe that will be discussed in the future.

I really appreciate the thoughtful and pragmatic approach Sudhir takes with his subject. I look forward to the full journey this podcast will no doubt take me on.

So happy I can listen to him semi-regularly!