Decoder with Nilay Patel

Today, I’m talking with Paul Bascobert, who is the president of Reuters, as part of a special Thursday series we’re running this month to explore how leaders at some world’s biggest companies make decisions in such a rapidly changing environment. Reuters is a great company for us to kick off with, because it’s been around since 1851, when the hot technology enabling mass media was the telegraph.  Here, today, in 2025, the tech driving media has clearly changed more than a little bit. Distribution in a world full of iPhones and generative AI is a really different proposition than distributing media 50 years before the invention of the radio. So there’s a lot here, and you’ll hear Paul and I get deep into basically every Decoder theme there is. Links:  * The Trust Principles | Reuters [https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en/about-us/trust-principles] * Brendan Carr’s FCC is an anti-consumer, rights-trampling harassment machine | Verge [https://www.theverge.com/tech/656653/brendan-carr-fcc-anti-consumer-harassment-dei-trump] * AP wins reinstatement to White House events | AP [https://www.ap.org/media-center/ap-in-the-news/2025/ap-wins-reinstatement-to-white-house-events-after-judge-rules-government-cant-bar-its-journalists/]  * NYT publisher AG Sulzberger on Trump, OpenAI and the economy | Channels [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nyt-publisher-ag-sulzberger-on-trump-openai-and-the-economy/id1080467174?i=1000702850045] * Dow Jones CEO Almar Latour on AI, press freedom, and the future of news | Decoder [https://www.theverge.com/decoder-podcast-with-nilay-patel/626229/dow-jones-ceo-almar-latour-wsj-interview-ai-journalism] * Platforms need the news — but they’re killing it | Decoder [https://www.theverge.com/24320380/platforms-tiktok-influencers-news-media-journalism-google-matt-pearce-decoder-podcast-interview] * Why The Atlantic signed a deal with OpenAI | Decoder [https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/11/24196396/the-atlantic-openai-licensing-deal-ai-news-journalism-web-future-decoder-podcasts] * Platformer’s Casey Newton on surviving the great media collapse | Decoder [https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/5/24059524/platformer-casey-newton-substack-moderation-email-newsletters-media-layoffs] Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.  The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Hey everyone, it’s Nilay. We’re off today, but we’ll be back Thursday, so stay tuned. In the meantime, we have an excellent episode from Business Insider Chief Correspondent Peter Kafka, who hosts the media podcast Channels. In this episode, Peter sat down with one of the biggest names in journalism: New York Times publisher AG Sulzberger. It’s a fascinating conversation that covers some of the most pressing issues facing journalism and the news business today. We think you’ll like it.  Links: * NYT publisher AG Sulzberger on Trump, OpenAI and the economy | Channels [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nyt-publisher-ag-sulzberger-on-trump-openai-and-the-economy/id1080467174?i=1000702850045] * New York Times Reports 350,000 Additional Digital Subscribers | NYT [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/business/media/new-york-times-q4-2024-earnings.html] * IGN and CNET owner Ziff Davis sues OpenAI | Verge [https://www.theverge.com/news/656044/ziff-davis-sues-openai-ign-cnet-pcmag] * The New York Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement | Verge [https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/27/24016212/new-york-times-openai-microsoft-lawsuit-copyright-infringement] * Dow Jones CEO Almar Latour on AI, press freedom, and the future of news | Decoder [https://www.theverge.com/decoder-podcast-with-nilay-patel/626229/dow-jones-ceo-almar-latour-wsj-interview-ai-journalism] * Platforms need the news — but they’re killing it | Decoder [https://www.theverge.com/24320380/platforms-tiktok-influencers-news-media-journalism-google-matt-pearce-decoder-podcast-interview] * Why The Atlantic signed a deal with OpenAI | Decoder [https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/11/24196396/the-atlantic-openai-licensing-deal-ai-news-journalism-web-future-decoder-podcasts] * Platformer’s Casey Newton on surviving the great media collapse | Decoder [https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/5/24059524/platformer-casey-newton-substack-moderation-email-newsletters-media-layoffs] Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.  The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

A lot has happened in the first 100 days of Trump's second term. It’s nearly too much to keep up with, really, but we're going to try. Verge policy editor Adi Robertson joins Decoder this week to talk through six of the biggest stories and themes we're covering, from tariffs to TikTok to DOGE. Links:  * Donald Trump’s first 100 days: all the news affecting the tech industry | Verge [https://www.theverge.com/24348851/donald-trump-presidency-tech-science-news] * The DOGE days have just begun | Verge [https://www.theverge.com/tech/656704/elon-musk-doge-100-days-recap-list] * America is living in tariff limbo | Verge [https://www.theverge.com/tech/656695/trump-tariffs-china-canada-mexico-trade-war-anxiety] * MAGA’s next wave of influencers saved TikTok | Verge [https://www.theverge.com/politics/656717/trump-tiktok-ban-maga-influencers] * Whatever happened to the Kids’ Online Safety Act? | Verge [https://www.theverge.com/politics/657358/kids-online-safety-100-days-trump-administration] * Brendan Carr’s FCC is an anti-consumer, rights-trampling harassment machine | Verge [https://www.theverge.com/tech/656653/brendan-carr-fcc-anti-consumer-harassment-dei-trump] * Environmental warning systems are suffering from Trump’s data purge | Verge [https://www.theverge.com/tech/656714/trump-disaster-hurricane-flood-famine-data-purge-usaid] * Why Trump can’t be trusted with Congress’ new anti-deepfake bill | Decoder [https://www.theverge.com/decoder-podcast-with-nilay-patel/627868/take-it-down-act-weapon-trump-ncii-deepfakes] * How Trump’s tariffs actually work on the ground | Decoder [https://www.theverge.com/decoder-podcast-with-nilay-patel/649986/trump-tariffs-china-ryan-petersen-flexport-interview] * The FCC is a weapon in Trump’s war on free speech | Decoder [https://www.theverge.com/decoder-podcast-with-nilay-patel/612069/fcc-brendan-carr-elon-musk-donald-trump-first-amendment-free-speech-censorship] Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.  The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

A few days ago, I hosted a panel with FTC commissioners Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya at the IAPP Global Privacy Summit in Washington, DC. We recorded the discussion, and we’re bringing it to you today. Normal Decoder stuff, but these are anything but normal times. Becca and Alvaro were FTC commissioners until very recently, when President Donald Trump fired them — but he doesn't have that legal authority. They’re suing to get their jobs back, and they’re prepared to go all the way to SCOTUS if they have to. Links:  * * Trump fires Democratic FTC commissioners | The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/news/632267/democratic-ftc-commissioners-alvaro-bedoya-rebecca-kelly-slaughter-illegally-fired-trump] * * Fired FTC commissioners sue Trump | The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/news/637602/fired-democratic-ftc-commissioners-sue-trump] * * The case for breaking up Google has never been stronger | The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/decoder-podcast-with-nilay-patel/654243/jonathan-kanter-antitrust-google-ad-tech-monopoly-doj] * * The government doesn’t understand Meta | The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/command-line-newsletter/652191/ftc-meta-antitrust-trial-instagram-whatsapp-network-effects] * * FTC v Meta live: updates from the battle for Instagram, WhatsApp | The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/news/646809/ftc-v-meta-antitrust-monopoly-trial-instagram-whatsapp] * * DOGE has arrived at the FTC | The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/news/643674/doge-members-spotted-ftc-elon-musk] * * Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s failed negotiations with the FTC | Wall Street Journal [https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/mark-zuckerberg-meta-antitrust-ftc-negotiations-a53b3382] * * FTC chair says he’d drop Meta case if lawfully ordered to | The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/news/642068/ftc-chair-andrew-ferguson-trump-drop-meta-lawsuit-hypothetical] * * Bedoya warns of “corrupting influence of billionaires”| The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/news/632944/democratic-ftc-commissioner-alvaro-bedoya-tech-billionaires-trump] * * The FTC has enough staff to sue Amazon, after all | The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/news/628981/ftc-amazon-prime-delay-resource-constraints] Transcript: ⁠https://www.theverge.com/e/657115⁠ [https://www.theverge.com/e/657115] Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.  The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Today we’re talking about the very real possibility that Google might be broken up by the United States government. And to do that, I’m talking to Jonathan Kanter, the former assistant attorney general for antitrust under the Biden administration. Kanter left the DOJ after Trump was elected, but he was the architect of the major antitrust cases the Trump administration continues to pursue against Google. That means he’s much more free to share his thoughts on what it took to build and win both of these cases and what should happen next. Links:  * Google loses ad tech monopoly case | Verge [https://www.theverge.com/news/650665/google-loses-ad-tech-antitrust-monopoly-lawsuit] * Google is in more danger than ever of being broken up | Verge [https://www.theverge.com/policy/652170/google-search-ad-tech-remedies-antitrust-chrome-breakup] * OpenAI tells judge it would buy Chrome from Google | Verge [https://www.theverge.com/news/653882/openai-chrome-google-us-judge] * The high stakes of Google’s monopoly trial | Verge [https://www.theverge.com/policy/652708/google-search-antitrust-remedies-trial-opening] * DOJ says Google must sell Chrome to crack open search monopoly | Verge [https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/20/24300617/doj-google-search-antitrust-chrome-breakup] * Google makes history with rapid-fire antitrust losses | NYT [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/technology/google-antitrust-losses-history.html] * Read the antitrust ruling against Google | NYT [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/17/technology/google-ads-antitrust-ruling.html] * Google ad monopoly ruling's surprise winner: OpenAI | Axios [https://www.axios.com/2025/04/18/google-monopoly-openai-antitrust-platforms] * DOJ antitrust chief is ‘overjoyed’ after Google monopoly verdict | Decoder [https://www.theverge.com/24215684/doj-jonathan-kanter-antitrust-google-monopoly-verdict-win-decoder-podcast-interview] * DOJ’s Kanter says the antitrust fight against Big Tech is just beginning | Decoder [https://www.theverge.com/24067873/jonathan-kanter-doj-antitrust-google-policy-monopoly-big-tech] Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.  The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]