Decoder with Nilay Patel

Today, I’m talking to Jason Citron, the co-founder and CEO of Discord, the gaming-focused voice and chat app. You might think Discord is just something Slack for gamers, but over time, it has become much more important than that. For a growing mix of mostly young, very online users steeped in gaming culture, fandom, and other niche communities, Discord is fast becoming the hub to their entire online lives. A lot of what we think of as internet culture is happening on Discord. In many ways Discord represents a significant shift away from what we now consider traditional social platforms. As you’ll hear Jason describe it, Discord is a place where you talk and hangout with your friends over shared common interests, whether that’s video games, the AI bot Midjourney, or maybe your favorite anime series. It is a very different kind of interface for the internet, but that comes with serious challenges, especially around child safety and moderation.  Links:  * Discord opens up to games and apps embedded in its chat app — The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/12/24098262/discord-embedded-apps-games-sdk-developers] * Discord is nuking Nintendo Switch emulator devs and their entire servers — The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/11/24127545/discord-suyu-sudachi-server-shutdown-account-ban] * Inside Discord’s reform movement for banned users — The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/20/23925119/discord-moderation-reform-rehabilitation-users-servers] * Discord ends deal talks with Microsoft — WSJ [https://www.wsj.com/articles/discord-ends-deal-talks-with-microsoft-11618938806] * Discord cuts 17% of workers in latest tech layoffs — NYT [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/11/technology/discord-tech-layoffs.html] * Discord to start showing ads for gamers to boost revenue — WSJ [https://www.wsj.com/tech/discord-to-start-showing-ads-for-gamers-to-boost-revenue-bf5848b9] * Discord says it intentionally does not encrypt user messages — CNN [https://www.cnn.com/tech/live-news/meta-x-discord-tiktok-snap-chiefs-testimony-senate/h_557918e403c4caae01f369d13b560b8a] * How Discord became a social hub for young people — NYT [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/29/business/discord-server-social-media.html] * ‘Problematic pockets’: How Discord became a home for extremists — WashPo [https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/12/12/discord-app-extremism/] * Discord CEO Jason Citron on AI, Midjourney — Bloomberg [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2023-06-22/discord-ceo-on-ai-midjourney-video] Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23898955 [https://www.theverge.com/e/23898955] Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Today’s episode was produced by Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James. 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 Disney, the massive activist investor revolt it just fought off, and what happens next in the world of streaming. Because what happens to Disney really tells us a lot about what's happening in the entire world of entertainment. Earlier this month, Disney survived an attempted board takeover from businessman Nelson Peltz. While investors ultimately sided with Disney and CEO Bob Iger, the boardroom showdown made something very clear: Disney needs to figure out streaming and get its creative direction back on track.  To help me figure all this out, I brought on my friend Julia Alexander, who is VP of Strategy at Parrot Analytics, a Puck News contributor, and most importantly, a former Verge reporter. She's a leading expert on all things Disney, and I always learn something important about the state of the entertainment business when I talk to her.  Links:  * The Story of Disney+ — Puck News [https://puck.news/the-story-of-disney-plus/] * Disney’s CEO drama explained, with Julia Alexander — Decoder [https://www.theverge.com/23495146/disney-ceo-bob-iger-julia-alexander-disney-plus-netflix-streaming-chapek-marvel-star-wars] * Is streaming just becoming cable again? Julia Alexander thinks so — Decoder [https://www.theverge.com/23010559/decoder-streaming-platforms-cable-netflix-disney-apple] * Disney Fends Off Activist Investor for Second Time in 2 Years — NYT [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/03/business/disney-peltz-trian-proxy-vote.html] * For Disney, streaming losses and TV’s decline are a one-two punch — NYT [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/09/business/media/disney-earnings.html] * Disney’s ABC, ESPN weakness adds pressure to make streaming profitable — WSJ [https://www.wsj.com/articles/disneys-abc-espn-weakness-adds-pressure-to-make-streaming-profitable-196055c7] * Disney reportedly wants to bring always-on channels to Disney Plus — The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/15/24131034/disney-plus-fast-channels-streaming] * The Disney Plus-Hulu merger is way more than a streaming bundle — The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/27/24112747/disney-plus-hulu-tile-app-streaming] * Disney’s laying off 7,000 as streaming boom comes to an end — The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/8/23590901/disney-layoffs-earnings-streaming-bob-iger] * The last few years really scared Disney — Screen Rant [https://screenrant.com/disney-sequel-strategy-studio-teamup-plan-scared/] Credits:  Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Today’s episode was produced by Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James. The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

At the absolute most basic, Dropbox is cloud storage for your stuff — but that puts it at the nexus of a huge number of today’s biggest challenges in tech. As the company that helps you organize your stuff in the cloud itself goes all remote, how do we even deal with the concept of “your stuff?” Today I’m talking with Dropbox CEO Drew Houston about those big picture ideas — and why he thinks generative AI really will be transformative for everyone eventually, even if it isn’t yet now. Links:  * Dropbox AI and Dash make it easier to find your files from all over the web | The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/21/23767248/dropbox-ai-dash-universal-search] * Kids who grew up with search engines could change STEM forever | The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/22684730/students-file-folder-directory-structure-education-gen-z] * No, Dropbox's cafeteria didn't get a Michelin star | VentureBeat [https://venturebeat.com/offbeat/no-dropboxs-cafeteria-didnt-get-a-michelin-star/] * It's official: San Francisco's office vacancy rate just set a record | San Francisco Examiner [https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/business/san-francisco-office-vacancies-reach-record-high-to-end-2023/article_a402aeaa-af51-11ee-bf35-1b852d332ddd.html] * Jeff Bezos: This is the 'smartest thing we ever did' at Amazon | CNBC [https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/14/jeff-bezos-this-is-the-smartest-thing-we-ever-did-at-amazon.html] * Dropbox is laying off 500 people and pivoting to AI | The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/27/23700629/dropbox-laying-off-500-people-pivoting-ai] * Congress bans staff use of Microsoft's AI Copilot | Axios [https://www.axios.com/2024/03/29/congress-house-strict-ban-microsoft-copilot-staffers] Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23892647 [https://www.theverge.com/e/23892647] Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Today’s episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and was edited by Callie 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 Vice, the media company: Where it came from, what it did, and, ultimately, why it collapsed into a much smaller, sadder version of itself.  This is a lousy time for digital media, and it’s hard to make a profit from putting words on the internet right now. So when Verge senior reporter Liz Lopatto went to go report on what happened, she and I both assumed Vice had been done in by the brutal economics of digital advertising on the web. But the Vice story is more than that — in the word of one executive that talked to Liz, it was a “fucking clown show.”  Links: * How Vice became 'a fucking clown show' — The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/24094310/vice-media-layoffs-bankruptcy-shane-smith] * Vice is abandoning Vice.com and laying off hundreds — The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/22/24080497/vice-media-website-layoffs] * Vice, decayed digital colossus, files for bankruptcy — NYT [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/15/business/media/vice-bankruptcy.html] * Vice Is Basically Dead — New York Magazine [https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/vice-media-is-basically-dead.html] * Shane Smith and the Final Collapse of Vice News — The Hollywood Reporter [https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/vice-media-shane-smith-1235837714/] * At Vice, cutting-edge media and allegations of old-school sexual harassment — NYT [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/23/business/media/vice-sexual-harassment.html] * HBO cancels ‘Vice News Tonight,’ severing relationship with Vice Media — CNN [https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/10/media/vice-news-tonight-canceled-hbo/index.html] * Shane Smith has a secret multimillion-dollar Vice deal — New York Magazine [https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/07/shane-smith-has-a-secret-multi-million-dollar-vice-deal.html] Credits:  Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Today’s episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James. The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Cloudflare is an infrastructure provider basically protecting more than 20% of the entire web from bad actors. When everything is going well, you don't even have to know it exists. It's one of the only defenses — sometimes the only defense — standing between websites and the people who want to take them down. Protecting free speech on the internet around the world, across war zones and hundreds of different kinds of government, is no easy feat. That puts the company, and CEO Matthew Prince, right at the heart of some of Decoder's biggest challenges and themes.  Links:  * A Cloudflare outage broke large swathes of the internet | The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/21/23176519/cloudflare-outage-june-2022-discord-shopify-fitbit-peleton] * Why security company Cloudflare is protecting U.S. election sites for free | Fast Company [https://www.fastcompany.com/90204867/why-security-company-cloudflare-is-protecting-u-s-election-sites-for-free] * The Daily Stormer just lost the most important company defending it | The Verge (2017) [https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/16/16157710/cloudflare-daily-stormer-drop-russia-hate-white-nationalism] * Cloudflare to revoke 8chan’s service, opening the fringe website up for DDoS attacks | The Verge (2019) [https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/4/20754310/cloudflare-8chan-fredrick-brennan-ddos-attack] * Cloudflare blocks Kiwi Farms due to an ‘immediate threat to human life’ | The Verge [https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/4/23336772/cloudflare-blocks-kiwifarms-immediate-threat-human-life] * Why Cloudflare Let an Extremist Stronghold Burn | Wired [https://www.wired.com/story/free-speech-issue-cloudflare/] * Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince interview on Ukraine cybersecurity | Semafor [https://www.semafor.com/article/02/22/2023/cloudflare-ceo-matthew-prince-interview-on-ukraine-cybersecurity] * 3 ways the ‘splinternet’ is damaging society | MIT Sloan [https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/3-ways-splinternet-damaging-society] Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23885440 [https://www.theverge.com/e/23885440] Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Today’s episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright. The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]