Decoder with Nilay Patel

Cambridge Analytica’s former business development director Brittany Kaiser talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about her new book TARGETED: The Cambridge Analytica Whistleblower's Inside Story of How Big Data, Trump, and Facebook Broke Democracy and How It Can Happen Again. Kaiser talks about how she first observed the dangers of social media while working on Barack Obama's 2008 campaign, why she mis...

Matt Hulett, the president of education company Rosetta Stone, talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about the company’s pivot away from language-learning CDs and into a more advanced and “approachable” mobile app. He also talks about his “promiscuous” background in the tech industry; Rosetta Stone’s literacy catch-up program for children, Lexia Learning; and the bigger picture of how language educatio...

Recode's Kara Swisher interviews two CEOs in this double-feature episode of Recode Decode: First, she speaks with OpenDoor CEO Eric Wu about how technology is encroaching on the real estate industry, why housing is ripe for disruption, and how OpenDoor is bracing for the next recession. Later in the show, Swisher talks to Evite CEO Victor Cho about how the 21-year-old company is exploring new reve...

Andrew Marantz, a staff writer at the New Yorker, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his new book, Antisocial: Online Extremists, Techno‑Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation. He discusses the danger of designing social media platforms around emotional engagement, how people like Mike Cernovich and Milo Yiannopoulos exploited people's belief in a broad political "consensus,"...

Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of HP who ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2016, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about campaigning against Donald Trump, her friendship with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, and the over-concentration of power among a handful of CEOs in the tech industry. Fiorina also talks about her experience as one of the few female tech CEOs of the 1990s, the “lasti...

Federal Election Commission Chair Ellen Weintraub talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about how the FEC works, how it tries to defend elections from foreign influence, and why the Commission is currently immobilized by a lack of "quorum" — in other words, it doesn't have enough members to launch or conclude any investigations. Weintraub talks about pending legislation to make advertising and campaign...

Barack Obama's former cybersecurity coordinator Michael Daniel, now the CEO of the nonprofit Cyber Threat Alliance, talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about the state of US cybersecurity heading into the 2020 elections. Daniel says the proposed solutions to election hacking may just cause new problems: "If you can track your vote," he says, "I can track your vote." Featuring: Michael Daniel (@CyAlli...

Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, one of the FTC's two Democratic commissioners, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the state of antitrust problems in the tech industry, the history of pushback against the FTC for alleged over-enforcement, and whether it is under-enforcing the law today. Slaughter also talks about her objections to the $5 billion fine against Facebook that the FTC negotiated this year,...

Mark Warner, the senior US Senator from Virginia, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about several interconnected policy issues affecting the 2020 elections, including the security of voter registries, the expectation of social media manipulation by Russia and other hostile foreign powers, and the newly announced impeachment inquiry into President Trump's phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymy...

John Napier Tye, the founder and CEO of Whistleblower Aid, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about how his non-profit law firm helps people seeking to legally expose corruption in the government and at private companies. It recently worked with a whistleblower at MIT, connecting them with New Yorker reporter Ronan Farrow to discuss the university's cover-up of funding that had come from convicted s...

Recode's Kara Swisher talks with Hermitage Capital CEO Bill Browder, a hedge fund manager turned human rights activist and his son, Josh Browder, whose company DoNotPay helps consumers fight everything from parking tickets to the Equifax leaks. They talk about the different ways they have pursued justice for relatively powerless people, their entrepreneurial journeys, and how both the Putin regime...

New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey talk with Recode's Kara Swisher about their new book, She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement. They talk about how Kantor and Twohey reported stories about sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein; how Weinstein's network of lawyers and advisers kept his misconduct under wraps; and how the stor...

Steve Schwarzman, the CEO of the private equity firm The Blackstone Group, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his new book, What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence. Schwarzman — a longtime advisor to President Trump — also discusses his scholarship program that teaches future leaders how to do business in China, how he would like to see policymakers address populist anger, and the...

Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York City, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about why he's still running for the Democratic nomination in 2020, the threat of job automation and his proposed "robot tax," and how de Blasio thinks about the future of transit in New York and beyond. He also talks about how the plan for New York to become one of Amazon's "HQ2" locations fell apart, and why he supports...

Author and spiritual teacher Marianne Williamson talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about her campaign to be the Democratic nominee for president in 2020. Williamson explains why she's still in the race even though she didn't qualify for the third debate and talks about what she has learned from running as an non-establishment candidate, negativity and anger on social media, and how she thinks about...

Audrey Gelman, the co-founder and CEO of women's coworking space The Wing, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the company's new hiring network for its members, and how it can combat bias in hiring. They also discuss why Gelman and her co-founder Lauren Kassan started The Wing, the services it provides for its members, and the challenges of raising money for a business aimed at women. Featuring...

Microsoft President Brad Smith talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about his new book, co-authored with Carol Ann Browne, Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age. They discuss what Microsoft learned from United States v. Microsoft Corp. in 2001 and how that antitrust investigation compares to today’s techlash; the culture of disruption and “move fast and break things” in Silic...

Former New York Times labor reporter Steve Greenhouse talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his most recent book, Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor. Greenhouse explains why worker power and compensation are at their lowest levels since World War II and how a series of cultural changes — including globalization, the internet, and the gig economy — have affecte...

James O'Toole, a professor emeritus at the University of Southern California, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his book, The Enlightened Capitalists: Cautionary Tales of Business Pioneers Who Tried to Do Well by Doing Good. O'Toole discusses the first such "enlightened capitalist," British industrialist Robert Owen; why, like Owen, do-gooder CEOs can't or won't make change today; and the his...

Jennifer Eberhardt, professor of psychology at Stanford University, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about her most recent book, Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do. She talks about where bias comes from, why the erosion of old social norms has brought our prejudices to the surface, and how technology can encourage bias. Eberhardt shares examples of acade...

Lime President Joe Kraus talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about how he came to Lime after a long career in both startups and venture capital, the company's pivot from bikes to scooters and the "unbundling of the car." Kraus also talks about the impact of scooters on cities and public transit, how Lime is trying to stand out in the crowded global scooter market, and the large valuations for scooter...

Gro Intelligence founder and CEO Sara Menker talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the growing field of agriculture technology and how farmers around the world are using data. She also talks about the impact of geopolitical events like the US-China trade war and the challenges of raising capital for an ag-tech startup. Featuring: Sara Menker, founder and CEO of Gro Intelligence (@SaraMenker) Host...

Andy Purdy, the chief security officer for Huawei Technologies USA, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher. They discuss the trade and security disputes between the US and Chinese governments, the increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity threats facing America, and how China's government intersects with its tech industry. Purdy also talks about Huawei's 5G ambitions, saying that some of its competitors...

Recode's Kara Swisher convenes a panel of experts to talk about section 230 of the Communications Decency Act: cybersecurity law professor Jeff Kosseff, author of "The Twenty Six Words That Created The Internet"; lawyer Carrie Goldberg, author of "Nobody’s Victim: Fighting Psychos, Stalkers, Pervs, and Trolls"; and the CEO and founder of Techdirt, Mike Masnick. Follow us Kara Swisher (@karaswisher...

Writer Joe Menn talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his most recent book, "Cult of the Dead Cow: How the Original Hacking Supergroup Might Just Save the World." In this episode: How Menn started writing about cybercrime; the rise and fall of Napster; his first book about hacking, “Fatal System Error”; the origins of Cult of the Dead Cow; “they’re basically good guys”; its invite-only membership...