Discussion

• @marcatracy Marc Tracy on x

  Forward email sent to provost, cc-ing President: “After giving the matter a great deal of thought over the past several days and weeks, I think that it is best that I resign as Director of the Media Lab and as a Professor and employee of the Institute, effective immediately.”

• @anandwrites Anand Giridharadas on x

  Some time ago, I was asked by Joi Ito, head of MIT's @medialab, to be a juror for its Disobedience Award. I agreed. Now I quit. Thanks to Jeffrey Epstein and the way elite, mostly male networks protect people like him — and each other. Let me explain. https://www.nytimes.com/... …

• @xeni Xeni Jardin on x

  I told the @nytimes everything. So did whistleblowers I was in touch with inside @MIT and @Edge. They printed none of the most damning truths. @joi is on the board of the NYT. THANK GOD FOR @RonanFarrow https://www.newyorker.com/...

• @marcatracy Marc Tracy on x

  JUST IN: Joi Ito resigning from Media Lab, MIT. Story tk.

• @om @om on x

  It takes an article in @newyorker & threat of another one in the @nytimes that leads folks at @medialab to do the right thing. Let's not kid ourselves - the bad behavior isn't going away anytime soon. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @sulliview Margaret Sullivan on x

  Joi Ito should be fired from MIT's Media Lab after taking funding from felon Jeffrey Epstein. My column http://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

• @zittrain Jonathan Zittrain on x

  I was wrong to sign the letter because it backgrounded the injury Epstein wrought, such as referring to accusations rather than a conviction, and because it may have appeared that any support would be unconditional and forever. I'm sorry.

• @ainvvy V Vinay on x

  The “third culture.” The likes of Brockman/Ito/Negroponte and the tech billionaires. MIT has been a disappointment. Wonder what horror stories other universities have. Do read. https://www.theguardian.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...

• @briannawu Brianna Wu on x

  I want to thank @Xeni, who isn't just a great friend, isn't just a great journalist, but who stood against everyone trying to silence her on MIT. Men involved will get most of the credit, but she is the reason this story took hold. Xeni is why there are consequences.

• @jason_pontin Jason Pontin on x

  Within MIT's internal politics this is probably the end of the Lab's privileged status within the Institute. This is *precisely* what the faculty feared when Nicholas and Wiesner convinced President Gray to let them raise their own money from non-standard donors and own their IP.

• @el33th4xor Emin Gn Sirer on x

  Brilliantly written: The MIT Media Lab has long been academia's fanciest glue trap for morally vacuous rich people—people like Jeffrey Epstein. https://slate.com/...

• @bgrueskin Bill Grueskin on x

  While people are focused on whether NYT will kick MIT's Joi Ito off the board, note that he also serves on the boards of: - 2 other public companies - 7 private, for-profit companies - 10 non-profit boards And he's an advisor to 16 other boards. https://joi.ito.com/... https://tw…

• @ecurrencyhodler @ecurrencyhodler on x

  1/What separates @starkness from other founders and leaders in this space is not just her incredible ability to communicate vision, her expertise in P2P technology, and her well rounded background including a JD, it's her character. https://twitter.com/...

• @ericajoy @ericajoy on x

  if i were some institution or person who had also taken epsteins money, i'd try to get out ahead of the investigative reporting, because it's certainly coming for everyone. *staring directly at the tech industry* https://twitter.com/...

• @jkohlmann Joseph Kohlmann on x

  Just saw that he's resigned from @knightfdn via the last paragraph of this updated story: “A spokesman for the Knight Foundation, Andrew Sherry, said on Saturday that Mr. Ito had resigned from its board as well.” https://twitter.com/...

• @mclneuro @mclneuro on x

  Thank you @monaeltahawy and @xeni who have been beacons of decency and forces for good through this crises. They inspire me to be better everyday. I can't wait to reclaim the MIT Media Lab space for those that were harmed. To celebrate the whistleblowers and truth tellers. https:…

• @alexqgb Alex Bowles on x

  How is he *still* a board member - on the AUDIT committee, no less - when the paper is in possession of undisputed evidence that Ito was responsible for serial financial wrongdoing as the Media Lab's director? https://twitter.com/...

• @jayrosen_nyu Jay Rosen on x

  We know a whistleblower gave documents to the Times. We know Ronan Farrow also had those documents and the whistleblower's story. We know the Times didn't publish a story until after the New Yorker did. We know Ito was on the board of the Times. We know there's no public editor. …

• @cindygallop Cindy Gallop on x

  'When @starkness was raising for @lightning in 2015, someone at @medialab offered to invest Mr. Epstein's money. Ms. Stark found a news article & turned it down. “In 5 mins I was able to Google and make a determination that seemed like such a no-brainer.” https://www.nytimes.com/…

• @anandwrites Anand Giridharadas on x

  You know what must be scary? Reporting on a board member of your own news organization in this precarious era in media. Big congrats to @tiffkhsu, @marcatracy, and @eringriffith for their work on this story. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @alicebell Alice Bell on x

  “It's not uncommon for intellectuals to serve as useful idiots to the rich and the powerful, but, under the “third culture”, this reads like a job requirement.” https://www.theguardian.com/ ...

• @epsilontheory Ben Hunt on x

  Phenomenal thread. And this is re: MIT's Media Lab under Joi Ito, who took less than $1m from Jeffrey Epstein. Now do Harvard under @LHSummers, who took at least 30x that much from Epstein, including $$ for his wife's poetry foundation. No, I am not making this up. https://twitte…

• @_karenhao Karen Hao on x

  Confirmed: he has resigned from our board as well.

• @sdkstl Staci D Kramer on x

  Want to be really clear about this: Joi Ito didn't resign after reports of his financial ties with JE. He resigned after new reports that he covered up funding from Epstein and that he used Epstein to raise money. https://twitter.com/...

• @kvox @kvox on x

  Just ~12 hours after @RonanFarrow story. https://twitter.com/...

• @zedshaw Zed on x

  Yes, I think we should totally shut down any tech and science operation that received money from Epstein...after we burn every art museum to the ground—art still inside—that took money from the Sacklers who condemned millions to death and addiction: https://www.theguardian.com/ .…

• @zevshalev Zev Shalev on x

  The New York Times has had some glaring lapses in judgement in the last few years. If this is true @nytimes has as much to answer for as #MIT. @NarativLive https://twitter.com/...

• @jnmulholland John Mulholland on x

  Brilliant from @evgenymorozov on the Epstein scandal at MIT: ‘shows the moral bankruptcy of techno elites’ https://www.theguardian.com/ ...

• @bramsonboudreau @bramsonboudreau on x

  Effective immediately, Joichi Ito has resigned from the Board of MIT Technology Review. @techreview

• @nytimes @nytimes on x

  Joichi Ito has resigned from The New York Times Company board, effective immediately, the company said on Saturday http://nyti.ms/34y1ZSz

• @bznotes Bilal Zuberi on x

  This is likely the biggest repercussion that will affect the MIT Media Lab, and all its faculty. https://twitter.com/...

• @dicktofel Richard Tofel on x

  Ito alleging that Farrow's reporting is inaccurate without specifying why makes it particularly imperative that orgs like @knightfdn and $NYT insist that he justify this attack on what looks like important journalism or resign affiliations with them today

• @bgrueskin Bill Grueskin on x

  “Full of factual errors” - without any detail or justification - is academia-speak for “Fake News” And Ito's conduct and constant obfuscations make him more like Trump than he has the self-awareness to understand. https://www.nytimes.com/... pic.twitter.com/X0TevIfb0W

• @cshirky Clay Shirky on x

  Just in case you thought there might be any appetite for introspection or tightening of standards @MIT, in the wake of the Ito/Epstein revelations. (desJardins is an MIT trustee.) https://twitter.com/...

• @glennf Glenn Fleishman on x

  He didn't really do that. He said there were, and provided no examples, which is exactly what people do when they have no specifics to provide about what's not factual, but want to introduced FUD.

• @cshirky Clay Shirky on x

  I mean, the fact that he was going to the New York Times with “There are factual errors in the Ronan Farrow report” suggests how little he's internalized the idea that his behavior was wrong from the beginning...

• @felixsalmon Felix Salmon on x

  Joi Ito is the first big-name Friend of Jeffrey to be held meaningfully accountable. But by falling on his sword, has he saved Leon Black and Bill Gates? https://www.axios.com/...

• @nicole_cliffe Nicole Cliffe on x

  Update: Ito's resigned. Not just as head of the lab, also as a professor.

• @sdkstl Staci D Kramer on x

  The truth MIT doesn't want to hear: “MIT should send a strong message by showing Ito the door of the Media Lab, which specializes in technology with a social-justice bent and prides itself on exploring ethical questions.” - @Sulliview http://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

• @anandwrites Anand Giridharadas on x

  Good. Now quit the @nytimes board. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @matthew_d_green Matthew Green on x

  It sounds like someone is resigning over this Epstein nonsense at MIT, so everything is fixed and we can all go back to enjoying the same broken system.

• @cshirky Clay Shirky on x

  Joi could have resigned without allowing a lot of his students and friends to stake their reputations on defending him, but the one common thread in Joi's dealings with Epstein is that he has only done the right thing after he's been caught. https://twitter.com/...

• @glichfield Gideon Lichfield on x

  I think I also need to address @techreview's relationships here. We are owned by @MIT, but editorially independent. @Joi sits on our board, whose other members are also MIT officers. https://www.technologyreview.com/ ...

• @glichfield Gideon Lichfield on x

  This obviously raises a lot of questions about @Joi, but also about @MIT's “processes and principles”. How are they enforced? What latitude do faculty have to ignore them? Is money from a “disqualified” donor still allowed in some circumstances?

• @glichfield Gideon Lichfield on x

  We (@techreview) already asked @MIT to tell us the guidelines on what sources of money/donors are and aren't acceptable, and how the review process works. We'll now be asking for this list of “disqualified” donors too.

• @vivian Vivian Schiller on x

  I'm seeing the conversation about Ito veer off course a bit this morning. Don't get me wrong - Ito MUST go, but I'm seeing some false conclusion being drawn 1) about MIT @medialab and 2) how philanthropy works, or at least how it's supposed to work. 1/

• @anandwrites Anand Giridharadas on x

  These are among the emails I asked Joi Ito and Reid Hoffman and others to make public. They pushed me off. I guess I should have just gone to @RonanFarrow first.

• @anandwrites Anand Giridharadas on x

  Um, so here's a question. Why did @BillGates, the world's chief philanthropist, use Jeffrey Epstein as a conduit for donations, according to @RonanFarrow's piece? https://www.newyorker.com/...

• @nicole_cliffe Nicole Cliffe on x

  So, Ito has to resign, Cohen has to resign, and I have a LOT OF QUESTIONS FOR BILL GATES. https://twitter.com/...

• @jason_pontin Jason Pontin on x

  I'm a skeptical about how much “directing” Epstein did. Joi and Nicholas et al have contacts with Gates and all major private and institutional donor. And Epstein always exaggerated his connections and influence. But to be clear, this Farrow piece is a catastrophe for the Lab.

• @bgrueskin Bill Grueskin on x

  Holy crap. “In 2014, Joi Ito wrote to Jeffrey Epstein soliciting a cash infusion, asking, “Could you re-up/top-off with another $100K?” Epstein replied, “yes.” Forwarding the response to a staff member, Ito wrote, “Make sure this gets accounted for as anonymous.” ...

• @anandwrites Anand Giridharadas on x

  I have asked @Joi and @reidhoffman and members of the Disobedience Award jury by email if @RonanFarrow bombshell changes any of their minds about anything. No word yet. https://twitter.com/...

• @joycecaroloates Joyce Carol Oates on x

  if you have Ronan Farrow on the case, no need for a pit bull. https://twitter.com/...

• @mimirocah1 Mimi Rocah on x

  More enablers. Glad they're getting called out. Don't stop. That's what will minimize pathetic men like Epstein & Nassar. When institutions are ashamed to enable them. https://twitter.com/...

• @anandwrites Anand Giridharadas on x

  Dear @Joi, After this report from @RonanFarrow, detailing your complicity with Epstein, it's over. I always found you nice. You've mentored many of my friends. But unless you want to drag MIT and @nytimes down with you, find the dignity to resign. https://www.newyorker.com/...

• @kreissdaniel Daniel Kreiss on x

  This is what moral bankruptcy looks like. The scope and scale of the deliberate deceit is breathtaking. Ito should be forced off every board he sits on, especially those of grantmaking and journalism institutions. https://twitter.com/...

• @evgenymorozov Evgeny Morozov on x

  A dream start-up would have Joi Ito responsible for ethics, Reid Hoffman for disobedience, Peter Thiel for compassion, and Nicholas Negroponte for humility.

• @qellbell @qellbell on x

  In October, 2014, Media Lab received $2M donation from Bill Gates; Ito wrote in an internal email, “This is a $2M gift from Bill Gates directed by Jeffrey Epstein.” Cohen replied, “For gift recording purposes, we will not B mentioning Jeffrey's name as the impetus for this gift h…

• @mattblaze Matt Blaze on x

  This piece from @RonanFarrow adds devastating detail to what was already a devastating story. MIT needs to face up to this, and now. https://twitter.com/...

• @sivavaid Siva Vaidhyanathan on x

  This new @RonanFarrow report should erase any doubt that @Joi has no business running @medialab and @MIT must do a complete, independent examination of Epstein's involvement. In addition, all those people who endorsed Joi staying on should reconsider. https://twitter.com/...

• @rohded David Rohde on x

  The effort to conceal the lab's contact with Epstein was so widely known that some staff in the office of the lab's director, @Joi, referred to Epstein as Voldemort or “he who must not be named.” @ronanfarrow https://www.newyorker.com/...

• @rohded David Rohde on x

  Jeffrey Epstein was marked as “disqualified” in MIT's official donor database, but its Media Lab continued to accept donations from him and avoided disclosing the full extent of his contributions. @ronanfarrow https://www.newyorker.com/...

• @michaelluo Michael Luo on x

  Ito wrote in an internal e-mail, “This is a $2M gift from Bill Gates directed by Jeffrey Epstein.” Cohen replied, “For gift recording purposes, we will not be mentioning Jeffrey's name as the impetus for this gift.” https://www.newyorker.com/...