[Chronique] A whistleblower, photoshoots and exclusive interviews in international newspapers: in recent months, the revelations in the world of tech seem to have become standardized. Behind the necessary com plans of a press that needs to put itself on stage to be heard, there is also the question of the reversal of some officials, suddenly converted into witnesses.
You read here the written version of the chronicle of our journalists in the program The best of worlds of France Culture, Friday at 9 p.m., of which Numerama is a partner.
What if we demystified the figure of the modern whistleblower?
I’m not talking about the Aaron Schwartz, Edward Snowden or Chelsea Manning, but the Marks, the Tristans, the Justins… A new wave of men (mostly) and women (a little) that we saw coming out of the woodwork these last years. Their niche: denouncing today with force the tools that they helped to build yesterday.
Tim Kendall, for example, was in charge of monetization at Facebook and president of Pinterest. In 2020, he was indignant in the Netflix documentary, Behind our smokescreens : “ Sites like Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube have the sole purpose of keeping the user on their screen for as long as possible. They want to grab as much of each member’s time and attention as possible. “, we hear him say.
When it was released, this docu-fiction caused a stir. His intention is laudable: to alert the public to the reasons for his addiction to social networks. But it is on the format that something is slightly wrong. I plant the scene for you: we observe half a dozen former tech executives, seated facing the camera, their hands crossed, their intense gaze focused on the horizon, throwing all the evil they think of Silicon Valley… Valley which allowed them to grow monstrously rich for years, before suddenly discovering a conscience.
One might ask: don’t they have the right to repent? Of course, these words are important, but above all, they lend credibility to what NGOs, the media and politicians have been denouncing for a very long time. And it is difficult not to see a certain opportunism in the approach of these former officials who have visibly felt the tide turn.
What has struck me more broadly in recent years is that the whistleblower has become an aesthetic in its own right.
The shape of the scoop is as important as the bottom
Beyond this Netflix documentary, we have seen well-orchestrated revelations flourish in the press, almost “marketed” to the millimeter. International media obtain internal company documents, go through them, then organize a nice photoshoot with what we could call – with a bit of exaggeration, of course – the ” mole of the moment “.
We no longer need to introduce Frances Haugen and her partnership with the Wall Street Journal, which has obtained numerous internal documents from Facebook. Then in July 2022, it was Mark MacGann, who had the right to his portrait in Le Monde and the Guardian. This powerful lobbyist nevertheless contributed to forcing Uber into France when the service was illegal. In September, it was Peiter Zatko, the former security chief of Twitter, who had his portrait drawn in the Washington Post – the respected hacker and historic whistleblower, however, is a bit more of an exception to the rule, not not having lasted long in the company he decries.
Of course, we will always prefer to know these revelations than to know them hidden. However, it is still a good idea to question the reasons for acting of some of these “famous witnesses”, and to reflect on what is now behind the status of “whistleblower”. , perhaps now a bit overused.
Listen to Marie Turcan’s chronicle (at 52’51)
To follow Brave New World on France Culture
To listen to the show again Aaron Swartz, ten years later: the legacy of a pioneering hacktivist.
The best of worlds is François Saltiel’s program, prepared with Juliette Devaux. It is available as a podcast, on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Deezer and your other favorite platforms.
Do you like our media? Tell us in this survey!