Companies like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash have always argued that their workers are independent contractors, not employees. This distinction has been crucial in their rise from startups to multi-billion-dollar companies.On Tuesday, Californians sided with these companies by approving Prop 22, a ballot measure that enshrines workers’ non-employee status. Why did progressive Californians side with Big Tech? And will the rest of the country follow California’s lead?Guest: Sam Harnett, Tech and Labor reporter at KQEDHostLizzie O’Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2016 general election changed the way we think about information online and its power to sway results. Four years later, Americans will vote amid a surge of misinformation, collected and distorted to fit political narratives.What can people and platforms do to protect the truth in this most consequential election?Guests:Renee DiResta, Research manager at the Stanford Internet ObservatoryJustin Hendrix, founder of Tech Policy Press Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been 22 years since the federal government last brought a meaningful legal challenge to a big tech company. Back then, when the Justice Department sued Microsoft, the outcome changed the direction of the company for years to come. Now, the Department of Justice is coming for Google. Can the search giant resist this challenge to its role as the gatekeeper of the internet?Guest: Tony Romm, technology reporter at the Washington PostHostLizzie O’Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two years ago, Mark Zuckerberg held up Holocaust denial as an example of the type of speech that would be protected on Facebook. The company wouldn’t take down content simply because it was incorrect. This week, Facebook reversed that stance. Is this decision the first step toward a new way of policing speech on the social network?Guest: Evelyn Douek, Lecturer at Harvard Law School and affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & SocietyHostLizzie O’Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the last decade, born from the chaos of the 2008 financial crisis, automated tenant screening has grown into a billion-dollar industry. Now, nine out of 10 landlords rely on automated tenant-screening reports, scraped from eviction history, criminal background records, and terror watchlists, to decide if they can trust potential renters. The problem? Often, the reports contain major errors, mistaken identities, and criminal records that are supposed to be expunged. Can these reports really be trusted?Guest: Lauren Kirchner, investigative reporter at The MarkupOriginal reporting with Matthew Goldstein, reporter at The New York Times HostCeleste Headlee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Spanish-speaking voters in Florida have been exposed to a steady uptick in falsities and conspiracy theories. This misinformation is shared in WhatsApp groups, Facebook groups, and YouTube channels, then amplified by enormously popular local radio stations. Now there are signs that the flood of misinformation is having an effect. Groups that voted Democrat in 2016 seem to be leaning to the right.Will this onslaught of misinformation tilt the Latino vote in Florida? And if so, what does that mean for Florida’s 29 electoral votes?Guest: Eduardo Gamarra, professor of politics and international relations at Florida International University. HostCeleste Headlee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As of Sept. 24, there are 42 vaccines in clinical trials on humans. At least 92 others are being developed but have not yet gone to trial. For months, the world has tracked the progression of these vaccines closely, with the expectation that once one arrives on the market, we can finally start to go back to normal. But, is that true? Does the world really look much different with an effective vaccine?Guest: Dr. Paul Offit, professor of pediatrics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.HostCeleste Headlee  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For pregnant women in the U.S., there are plenty of reasons to mistrust the medical establishment. Mortality rates are high compared to other western countries, and one-third of women in the U.S. give birth by C-section. It’s no wonder that many women turn to the internet for alternatives. This week, the story of one woman who was drawn into a network of private Facebook groups dedicated to the idea of ‘freebirth,’ or unassisted birth. And what happens when the misinformation shared in these private groups has real-life consequences. Guest: Brandy Zadrozny, reporter for NBC News. You can read her reporting on ‘freebirth’ here.  This episode originally aired in March 2020  HostLizzie O’Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the planet warms in the coming decades, many parts of the planet that millions now call home will become uninhabitable. At first, people in these areas will move to the cities, then across international borders. This mass migration is already underway in the hottest parts of the world, and it is likely to accelerate in coming years.Just how many people will be forced to move? And where will they go?Guest: Abrahm Lustgarten, senior reporter at ProPublicaHostCeleste Headlee  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the wake of the killing of Michael Brown in 2014, and the national protests that followed, many believed that video shared on social media, along with footage from body cameras, would reshape the relationship between police and citizens. Six years later, one thing is clear: It didn’t work. Can viral videos really hold power to account?And why do we so often put our faith in technological solutions to solve societal problems?Guests:Bijan Stephen, reporter at the VergeEthan Zuckerman, former director, the Center for Civic Media, MIT Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices