Casey Newton
Born 1980 · Age 45
American technology journalist, founder and editor of Platformer newsletter; former senior editor at The Verge and host/co-host of podcasts about technology and platforms.
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Life & Career Timeline
Graduated Sonora High School; student board member & debate president
Served as a student board member and president of the debate club at Sonora High School (Los Angeles Times reference June 3, 1998).
Graduated Northwestern University (BSJ)
Completed a Bachelor of Science in Journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
Worked on The Daily Northwestern (student journalism)
Became involved in The Daily Northwestern during college; formative training in journalism (worked on campus paper as an undergraduate).
First professional reporting jobs (local/state politics)
Began career covering state and local politics (including work at The Times of Northwest Indiana and other local papers prior to Arizona Republic).
Reporter at The Arizona Republic (covered Arizona State Legislature)
Covered state government and the Arizona State Legislature; spent roughly six and a half years covering Arizona politics and local beats before moving to San Francisco.
Moved to San Francisco; joined San Francisco Chronicle (tech reporter)
Invited by former coworker Kristen Go to join the San Francisco Chronicle to cover technology and Silicon Valley companies.
Joined CNET as blogger and senior writer (end date 2013)
Worked as a blogger and senior writer at CNET prior to moving to The Verge (Wikipedia: worked at CNET until 2013).
Joined The Verge (Silicon Valley editor / senior editor)
Moved to The Verge to cover Silicon Valley; later became a senior editor and its main platforms reporter.
Launched The Interface newsletter at The Verge
Authored a daily newsletter called The Interface covering social platforms and the intersection of tech and society (gained a strong following among industry insiders).
Reporting on content moderation's human costs (investigations)
Published investigative reporting into how content moderation affects workers, including PTSD claims; reporting had downstream business and policy impacts.
Reporting led to contracting company cutting ties with Facebook
Investigative pieces on the effects of content moderation led a contracting company to end its relationship with Facebook (reported consequence of Newton's reporting).
Platformer explored membership products (podcasts, community threads)
From launch Newton planned complementary products (subscriber-only podcasts, community discussions) to expand revenue beyond subscriptions.
Set Platformer paid subscription price at $10/month
Platformer on Substack offered a paid tier costing USD $10 per month.
Declined Substack advance; accepted Substack healthcare stipends
Newton publicly declined Substack's typical author advances but accepted the platform's offered healthcare stipends.
Finalist for National Magazine Award (Ellie) for reporting on moderation
Named a finalist (2020) for a National Magazine Award / Ellie for investigative reporting about content moderation that contributed to outcomes for moderators.
Considered and planned Platformer as a 'tiny media company' with a small team
From the outset Newton signaled he intended Platformer to be a small 'Scooby gang' newsroom—multiple people but not a traditional newsroom—and explored ways to expand (bundles, reporters, podcasts, community).
Argued for the independent-journalist/subscription model publicly
Published commentary and interviews (e.g., NYT, New Yorker) reflecting on leaving mainstream outlets to pursue a paid newsletter model and advising other journalists.
Left The Verge to launch Platformer on Substack
Departed The Verge to publish an independent daily newsletter, Platformer, on Substack (Platformer launch tied to Sept–Oct 2020 timeframe).
Public launch / early Platformer subscribers
In early weeks after launch Platformer reported roughly 30,000 free subscribers and nearly 1,000 paid subscribers (Voices.Media interview Oct 12, 2020).
Praised by NYT columnist Kevin Roose
Kevin Roose (NYT) praised Newton, saying his opinions hold sway among social media executives (NYT citation Jan 7, 2021).
Experimented with a jobs board for Platformer (brief)
Platformer briefly tested a jobs board but discontinued it for lack of interest (mentioned in 2023 anniversary post; experiment took place prior year).
Zoë Schiffer joined Platformer as managing editor
Zoë Schiffer joined Platformer as managing editor and contributed scoops that drove readership growth; (Platformer credits Zoë for significant reporting).
Platformer scooped Twitter day-one layoffs during Musk takeover
Platformer published definitive day-one reporting of Twitter’s mass layoffs and other scoops about Elon Musk’s takeover that attracted many readers, including Twitter employees.
Began hosting Converge podcast / other Converge work referenced
At The Verge Newton previously hosted the Converge podcast; Platformer later leveraged podcasting as a complementary product.
Started Hard Fork podcast for The New York Times (launch late 2022)
In late 2022 Newton began co-hosting the weekly NYT technology podcast Hard Fork with Kevin Roose.
Publicly referenced being gay on Twitter
Tweeted referencing a NOH8 profile picture from 2009, noting personal detail; Newton is openly gay and lives in San Francisco.
Announced plan to experiment with ads in newsletter
Platformer publicly announced plans to cautiously experiment with inserting one ad into the free weekly edition to build an ad business to support additional journalists.
Platformer named ONA finalist (breaking news & excellence in tech reporting)
Platformer was named a finalist by the Online News Association in categories including breaking news and excellence in tech reporting.
Lindsey Choo joined Platformer (part-time)
Newton announced Lindsey Choo joined Platformer in a part-time role to help summarize daily stories, freeing time for reporting and other projects.
Platformer third anniversary: 155,355 free subscribers
On Platformer's third birthday Newton reported growth to 155,355 free subscribers (three-year retrospective post published Sept 18, 2023).
Listed as speaking/engagement talent (Leigh Bureau profile)
Featured as a speaker available for events on topics including AI, social media, technology and democracy (speaker representation/profile on Leigh Bureau).
Platformer had ~170,000 free subscribers (Jan 2024)
Public reporting in January 2024 noted Platformer had approximately 170,000 free subscribers at the time of the move off Substack.
Moved Platformer off Substack to Ghost
In January 2024 Newton moved Platformer from Substack to Ghost in response to Substack's handling of extremist / pro-Nazi publications and platform policy concerns.
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