Insider Finance - Business - Big Tech’s big downgrade

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March 27, 2023

Hello, Insiders. It’s great to be back! I spent the last week with our amazing team of editors and reporters working out of Insider’s Los Angeles and San Francisco bureaus. The California weather was pretty dismal, but it’s always great to meet up in person.

And now that I’m back in NYC, here’s what’s on tap:

Google, Amazon, and Meta are making their core products worse — on purpose.
A Rivian owner shares his buyer's remorse story.
Billionaires like Peter Thiel are betting big on longevity.

— Nicholas Carlson

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Elon Musk's plan to charge $1,000 per month for Twitter checkmarks is “outlandish” and makes them “meaningless,” companies say. The full story.

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THE BIG STORY

Big Tech’s big downgrade

iStock; Marianne Ayala/Insider

In recent years, Google users have developed one very specific complaint about the ubiquitous search engine: They can't find any answers.

As Ed Zitron writes, simple searches often lead to pages dominated by sponsored links and low-quality, search-engine-optimized affiliate content.

Google isn't the only tech giant with a slowly deteriorating core product. Facebook constantly floods users' feeds with sponsored — or "recommended" — content, and seems to bury the things people want to see under what Facebook decides is relevant.

All of these miserable online experiences are symptoms of an insidious underlying disease: In Silicon Valley, the user's experience has become subordinate to the company's stock price. As a result, our collective online experience is getting worse.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

TOP READS

Rivian, immortality, & more

Chase Merrill

A Rivian buyer waited three years for his car. Just days later, his car was dead and he was facing a $2,100 bill. Read the full story.
This exclusive club for the ultra-rich is on the search for immortality. Members of R360, a club with a $100 million net-worth minimum, are seeking to push the limits of the human lifespan. Find out how.
“Fake work” in the tech industry. People have long accused tech workers of failing to pull their weight, but experts say the notion of fake work is actually just an excuse for “bad management.” The full story.
Auto dealers are facing an existential crisis. Car-buying isn't what it used to be, and for that, customers are glad. But auto dealers are being forced to evolve in order to keep up. How they’re coping with the changes.
The benefits of taking afternoons off. A remote worker who starts his job at 7:30 a.m. and takes afternoons off says that the schedule “makes it a lot easier to manage my focus, my energy, and just my overall attitude.” Read more.
A lawyer who quit to become an OnlyFans performer says she now makes more money and is happier. Her legal role paid $75,000 a year, but the 27-year-old made that much in February alone on OnlyFans. Here’s how she did it.
The twisted undercurrent of Tom and Greg's relationship is on full display in the “Succession” season 4 premiere. Ever since the pilot episode, Tom and Greg have made an odd couple. What was once plausibly just a funny "bromance" is now a nuanced — if twisted — portrait of male intimacy. Spoiler warning — more here.

TAKE A LOOK

Pros and cons

Tim Levin/Insider

Kia's super-quick $63,000 electric SUV. Insider’s Tim Levin drove Kia's high-performance electric SUV, the 2023 EV6 GT. It's quick, stylish, and high-tech, but suffers from a few shortcomings. Four reasons to buy the car — and three ways it falls short.

WATCH THIS

TikTok’s Congress moment

Highlights from the TikTok CEO's testimony before Congress. Shou Zi Chew testified before Congress last Thursday; US lawmakers are looking to ban TikTok due to concerns about the app's parent company. The biggest moments from the event.

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This edition was curated by Nicholas Carlson, and edited by Hallam Bullock, Lisa Ryan, Dave Smith, Nathan Rennolds, and Jack Robert Stacey. Get in touch: insidertoday@insider.com.

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Insider Finance - Business - Big Tech’s big downgrade

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