After five days of voting and tens of thousands of ballots cast, 32 candidates were narrowed down to two PayPal billionaires. Now, in a very tight race that came down to the wire, the votes are in and a winner has been chosen.

2022’s Worst Person in Tech is…

🔮 PETER THIEL 🩸 From the start some voters predicted a Musk-Thiel match-up in the final round, and with each elimination they moved closer.

When polls opened, Musk had a slight lead, but within a few hours Thiel overtook him. They stayed close, but Thiel kept a very narrow advantage to the end.

🚨 THE FINAL TWO 🚨

Tens of thousands of voters narrowed 32 candidates down to just two. Today, the PayPal rivals and right-wing billionaires harming the world face off.

It’s Peter Thiel vs Elon Musk.

Cast your vote to choose who takes the title of Worst Person in Tech. Peter Thiel: Puppet master. Democracy opponent. Fascism funder. Palantir founder. Gawker destroyer.

Elon Musk: Snake-oil salesman. Transit and train opponent. Monkey killer. Twitter destroyer. Journalist banner.

🗳️ VOTE NOW: forms.gle/Btn1Q4ULMKvseg…

🚨 SEMI-FINALS ARE HERE 🗳️

After starting with 32 names, we’ve narrowed it down to the final four contenders for Worst Person in Tech of 2022. How to choose from people who’ve caused so much harm?

Cast your votes and get the executive you despise to the finish line! Funder of fascism. Trump friend. Mass surveillance facilitator. Gawker destroyer. Opponent of democracy.

vs

Genocide enabler. Booster of conspiracy theories. Defender of intrusive user tracking. Meta imploder. Roman dictator admirer.

🚨 IT’S TIME FOR ROUND THREE 🗳️

32 terrible tech industry figures have now been narrowed down the top 8 in a competition for the honor of being 2022’s Worst Person in Tech.

Make your voice heard, and get your chosen ghoul to the finish line! Anti-woke Shopify CEO vs Funder of US neo-fascists

🗳️ WHO IS THE WORST PERSON IN TECH? 🏆

2022 saw tech leaders move further to the right, crack down on workers, scam people out of their money, and find new many ways to make the world a worse place — but who was the worst?

Make your voice heard and get your choice to the top! Apple CEO vs Shopify CEO

This week @dgolumbia joins @parismarx to discuss the right-wing politics of cryptocurrencies and blockchain.

In this clip, David outlines the anti-government cyberlibertarian thought that too often influences conversations about digital tech.

Full ep: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/bitcoi… More ways to listen 👇

Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/7IJw2R…

Overcast: overcast.fm/+ZpQA7ciS0

Google: podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6L…

Stitcher: stitcher.com/show/tech-wont…

Podcast Addict: podcastaddict.com/episode/125170…

Everywhere else: buzzsprout.com/1004689/879320…

🚨UK Supreme Court ruled Uber drivers are workers 🚨

Uber is claiming it only applies to some workers, but the SC said any contracts drafted “to side-step basic protections were void & unenforceable.”

Now the employment tribunal will decide compensation. theguardian.com/technology/202… This is a great thread on the decision and its potential implications:

https://twitter.com/jeremiasprassl/status/1362700749709471748?s=21

This year saw a ton of incisive, critical books on technology and the tech industry published by some fantastic authors — many of which have appeared on the show!

If you’re looking for some great reads over the holidays, here’s a list of our ten favourites.

📚👇 In “Automation and the Future of Work,” @abenanav dismantles the myth that automation is going to eradicate work and forces us to consider what kind of future we actually want to live in.

40% off at @VersoBooks: versobooks.com/books/3717-aut…

It’s undeniable that Facebook is elevating right-wing voices on its platforms and even helping far-right politicians get into office.

But now it’s denying responsibility.

“Right-wing populism is always more engaging,” an exec says. “That was there in the [19]30's.”

1/ That FB exec says right-wing content speaks to “an incredibly strong, primitive emotion” that comes from topics like “nation, protection, the other, anger, fear.”

Fascism isn’t new, but that doesn’t mean FB execs are blameless. Quite the opposite.

politico.com/news/2020/09/2…

2/

This week, @swodinsky joins @parismarx to discuss how digital advertising works and the role Facebook & Google play in that market.

In this clip, Shoshana explains how a lack of regulation allows Facebook & Google to control digital ad markets.

Full ep: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/tech-w… More ways to listen 👇

Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/49vhNU…

Overcast: overcast.fm/+ZpQAiS7TE

Stitcher: stitcher.com/podcast/tech-w…

Podcast Addict: podcastaddict.com/episode/112906…

All the rest: buzzsprout.com/1004689/557834…

This week, Jenny Chan joins @parismarx to discuss how Foxconn treats the workers who build tech products for Apple and many other companies.

In this clip, Jenny explains the pressure of product launches, long hours, and few days off.

Full ep: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/how-fo… More ways to listen 👇

Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/517be3…

Overcast: overcast.fm/+ZpQD8aOr4

Stitcher: stitcher.com/podcast/tech-w…

Podcast Addict: podcastaddict.com/episode/112593…

All the rest: buzzsprout.com/1004689/547540…

This week, @doctorow joins @parismarx to discuss why we need to stop being distracted by Big Tech’s sales copy and enforce antitrust legislation against them.

In this clip, Cory explains that data isn’t as powerful as they want us to think.

Full ep: podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/bet… More ways to listen 👇

Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3YZswP…

Overcast: overcast.fm/+ZpQBxpDkI

Podcast Addict: podcastaddict.com/?podId=2863130

Stitcher: stitcher.com/podcast/tech-w…

All the rest: buzzsprout.com/1004689/537234…

This week, @bentarnoff joins @parismarx to discuss how history can inform a better future of tech and what a Biden presidency might mean for tech organizing.

In this clip, Ben explains how the Luddites saw tech in the present tense.

Listen to full ep: podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/thi… More ways to listen 👇

Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/53ogDg…

Overcast: overcast.fm/+ZpQC4ZV2s

Stitcher: stitcher.com/podcast/tech-w…

Podcast Addict: podcastaddict.com/podcast/2863130

All the rest: buzzsprout.com/1004689/527168…

This week, @triofrancos joins @parismarx to discuss the impacts of resource extraction in Latin America and the response of local movements.

In this clip, Thea argues a more equitable, collective future requires less resource extraction.

Listen now: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/we-can… More ways to listen 👇

Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/6M5SKp…

Overcast: overcast.fm/+ZpQAgm5dU

Stitcher: stitcher.com/podcast/tech-w…

Podcast Addict: podcastaddict.com/episode/111651…

All the rest: buzzsprout.com/1004689/516253…

“Carceral technologies are racist because the institutions that develop and use them are intended to manage populations in a country that has a white supremacist inheritance.”

Highly recommend this thought-provoking interview with @hamidtasnuva: logicmag.io/care/community… “Knowledge takes a particular shape when you start to use particular mediums. So it’s important to continuously reassess how your knowledge is being shaped because, at the end of the day, if you give into what the technology wants, then your work just becomes police work.”

This week, @SamWHarnett joins @parismarx to discuss how tech journalism gave the gig economy and its exploitation a pass.

In this clip, Sam succinctly outlines the history of California’s fight to get Uber to reclassify its drivers as employees.

Full ep: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/tech-w… More ways to listen 👇

Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/3UhsI7s4b…

Overcast: overcast.fm/itunes15076210…

Stitcher: stitcher.com/podcast/tech-w…

Podcast Addict: podcastaddict.com/podcast/2863130

All the rest: buzzsprout.com/1004689/507072…

This week, @EvensTom joins @parismarx to discuss what the history of television can teach us about Netflix and the streaming platforms.

In this clip, Tom explains how techno-optimist promises about new tech don’t often deliver, like with cable.

Full ep: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/what-t… Tom Evens is a professor at @ugent and co-author of “Platform Power and Policy in Transforming Television Markets” with @DondersKaren.

Find out more about the book here: palgrave.com/gp/book/978331…

This week, @taniadavidge joins @parismarx to discuss @OurFedSquare’s campaign to keep an Apple Store out of Melbourne’s Fed Square.

In this clip, Tania explains how the fight was rooted in local concerns and how public space is socially created.

Listen: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/tech-w… .@taniadavidge recently wrote for @ArchitectureAU about what a town square is, how Fed Square lost its way, and what can be done to ensure it serves its role as a great public space in Melbourne. architectureau.com/articles/valui…

This week, @awalkerinLA joins @parismarx to discuss how the Boring Company doesn’t solve a real transport problem.

In this clip, Alissa explains how Elon Musk’s Loop system has evolved and how his original idea was multi-level highways.

Full episode: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-bo… .@awalkerinLA recently wrote about the latest changes to the Boring Company Las Vegas project:

It “is somehow more visually underwhelming than the previous version and also manages to contradict much of what he’s previously said about it.” curbed.com/2020/7/23/2133…

This week, @Prof_Klinger joins @parismarx to discuss how resource scarcity myths drive space mining plans and why space must remain a commons.

In this clip, Julie explains the white supremacist vision for space has not stopped for the pandemic.

Full ep: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/tech-w… .@Prof_Klinger is the author of “Rare Earth Frontiers: From Terrestrial Subsoils to Lunar Landscapes,” published by @CornellPress.

Find more information here: cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/978150171…

Should all technologies, all innovations be allowed to exist, even when they don’t serve the public good?

In our interview, @jathansadowski expresses how we should be more deliberate about the tech we allow in our societies, and we shouldn’t be scared to dismantle the bad ones.

https://twitter.com/techwontsaveus/status/1281220393156644867

This critical perspective on technology is not just held by Sadowski, but is part of a long tradition starting with the Luddites, who, during the Industrial Revolution, dismantled machines that benefited bosses at the expense of workers.

Now it’s being applied to digital tech.