Angry over critical coverage, tech figures discuss hitting back against journalists, on Twitter and invite-only Clubhouse, leading to harassment of NYT's Lorenz

In leaked audio from an invite-only app, venture capitalists pondered everything they think is wrong with journalism.

VICE 2020-07-03 Jason Koebler

Context & Ripple Effects

This story lands mid-arc in the widening rupture between prominent Silicon Valley figures and the press covering them: the same week, the New Yorker was dissecting the deeper rift through the Slate Star Codex–New York Times standoff, framing a Valley increasingly convinced its critics were hostile rather than merely wrong.

The leaked Clubhouse audio shows venture capitalists moving that grievance from op-ed complaints into coordination — discussing how to hit back at journalists on Twitter and the invite-only app — with New York Times reporter Taylor Lorenz harassed in the aftermath. The episode foreshadowed the open war documented a year later between a16z partners, Balaji Srinivasan, and the journalists who cover them, per New York Magazine's account of the online battle.

First-order effects

Taylor Lorenz becomes an immediate casualty, with the leaked VC conversation linked directly to harassment directed at her on Twitter.
The participants' private critiques of journalism go public via the leak, forcing named venture capitalists to answer for what was framed as coordinated pushback against reporters.

Second-order effects

Rather than repairing press relationships, Andreessen Horowitz builds around the press, launching its own opinion section publishing outside contributors within six months — capital funding owned media instead of courting independent coverage.
Invite-only apps like Clubhouse take reputational damage as venues where powerful figures coordinate off the record, raising the cost of 'private room' discourse for other tech elites.

Third-order effects

If the pattern holds, the industry's most resourced actors systematically replace press engagement with self-owned publishing channels, leaving independent journalists facing both coordinated audience pressure and shrinking access to their subjects.

The trend: Silicon Valley's relationship with the press is shifting from adversarial engagement to bypassing independent media altogether through owned channels and coordinated audience pressure.

Discussion

@taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x
Woke up today to ppl trying to reset my passwords and hack into my accounts, vicious, disgusting threats. Apparently a bunch of VCs, tech ppl etc spent all night bashing me in Clubhouse. @pdavison is this the community you sought to cultivate? How do you plan on addressing this?
@can @can on x
Someone on Clubhouse just said “why does press have a right to investigate private companies, let the market decide, I don't understand who gives them that right”
@taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x
.@balajis has been ranting about me by name for months now. He has tweeted speculation on my salary, bashed my education, my writing, my career, and worse. I've tried to reach out to him privately. Today, he declined my call once again. Honestly asking, how should I handle this? …
@suhail @suhail on x
.@stephkorey the CEO of Away, $1.4B luggage startup, reflects on why woman are specifically being targeted in various media outlets & how the business model is built that way to incentivize it. Coherent & great to hear her balanced perspective in a world prone to cancel culture. …
@paulg Paul Graham on x
Journalists used to have a monopoly on the news. This power bred restraint; whatever their private feelings, they avoided overt personal attacks. Now this power and the consequent restraint are both evaporating. Now they're just Twitter users.
@taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x
Steph Korey, the disgraced former CEO of Away luggage company, is ranting on IG stories about the media. Her posts are incoherent and it's dissapointing to see a woman who ran a luggage brand perpetuate falsehoods like this abt an industry she clearly has 0 understanding of https…
@hunterwalk @hunterwalk on x
She doesn't talk about it, but i will. @TaylorLorenz covered Charlottesville Unite the Right, livestreamed the horrific car assault & got punched while doing so. Have “state of media” discussions if you want, but don't call her a ‘styles’ reporter or soft. She's harder than you.
@balajis Balaji S. Srinivasan on x
Kara Swisher still hasn't run a formal retraction for Recode's dangerously false reporting on COVID-19. Since their business model does not incentivize truth, the public will have to do it. $1000 #Bitcoin bounty for the first person who can get them to correct the record. https:/…
@backlon Dieter Bohn on x
This is a @TaylorLorenz appreciation post. Post your appreciation here.
@rmac18 @rmac18 on x
Those reporters are so awful. All they want to do is write stories about *wait I'm getting new developments in my ear piece* “protecting vulnerable people”. https://twitter.com/...
@balajis Balaji S. Srinivasan on x
Taylor Lorenz: - Attacks a female CEO out of the blue - Made a factual error (@stephkorey is still Away CEO!) - Violated NYT social media guidelines - Then omits her own attack & plays victim ( https://archive.is/rU1Oa) This is how it works. These “journalists” are sociopaths. ht…
@jason @jason on x
Sadly, my advice to founders has to remain: do not talk to the NYTimes. If they are doing a story on tech it is 95%+ chance it will be unfairly negative w/a link-baiting headline For now, start a podcast, blog, & build up your twitter. Hopefully, the NYT will become fair again. h…
@balajis Balaji S. Srinivasan on x
The only objection journalists like @jason_koebler have to “surveillance capitalism” is that they want to be the monopoly providers! This is the same guy who outed Naomi Wu (@RealSexyCyborg), by the way. https://twitter.com/...
@jwherrman John Herrman on x
from an inch outside this pocket of vc it's plain as day what they're doing. it's exhausting and transparent. @TaylorLorenz is a great reporter. they're treating her like they wish they could treat lots of people. they just think they have permission, for SOME REASON
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
teamtaylor here and I have some skills in dealing these folks who are impugning her. How may I help? https://twitter.com/...
@rabois Keith Rabois on x
This explains everything wrong w NYT tech coverage. Tech companies only succeed when they *delight* millions or satisfy 100s of customers. https://t.co/trKCLLIvIb
@caseynewton Casey Newton on x
Is Clubhouse the first social startup to self-immolate over a content moderation crisis before leaving closed beta
@bhorowitz Ben Horowitz on x
@TaylorLorenz @balajis Don't @ me. My name is Paul and that's between y'all. I don't host the Clubhouse panels. That's @FeliciaHorowitz, but I really don't think you want those problems.
@jeffdean Jeff Dean on x
I don't know anything about Clubhouse, but attacking people, threatening them & trying to hack into their accounts because you disagree with something they wrote (?) is ridiculous, unconscionable behavior and the perpetrators should stop immediately & examine their life choices. …
@avichal Avichal Garg on x
The fall of the @nytimes summarized in a tweet ~25 years ago: John Burns teaches the world about the horrors of the Bosnian war Today: A style reporter attacks the founder of a $1B tech company built on social media for not understanding social media; reporter friends pile on htt…
@jason_koebler Jason Koebler on x
Gamergate is happening again in Silicon Valley https://www.vice.com/...
@taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x
Someone leaked an hour of audio from Clubhouse last night where Balajis, Felicia Horowitz, and others were talking ahout the media. It's disgusting what these people will say when they think no one is listening. https://www.vice.com/...
@jbarro Josh Barro on x
I assume one employee who was especially unhappy was Stuart Haselden, who was not supposed to have to share the CEO job with her. https://twitter.com/...
@elcush Ellen Cushing on x
Furious that this even needs to be said, because it's obvious if you read even a word of hers, but: I was @TaylorLorenz's editor at The Atlantic. She's uncompromisingly fair and thorough, and she doesn't deserve any of this.
@kimmaicutler Kim-Mai Cutler on x
@balajis I'm very disappointed right now. I think you are a better and smarter person than this.
@hshaban Hamza Shaban on x
Motherboard gets leaked audio: “The call shows how Silicon Valley millionaires, who have been coddled by the press and lauded as disruptors, fundamentally misunderstand the role of journalism the moment it turns a critical eye to their industry” https://www.vice.com/...
@realsexycyborg @realsexycyborg on x
As usual, when it's a White girl being mildly inconvenienced suddenly all the tech journalists form Voltron🙄 When an actual woman in tech gets dragged into detention? Defunded, deplatformed? Not so much. https://twitter.com/...
@nicoleperlroth Nicole Perlroth on x
Twitter user here. I've covered 3 male-dominated communities for more than a decade: infosec, natsec and Silicon Valley. But I've never seen more entitlement, disdain for accountability and mansplaining than in venture capital. See: the past 24 hours of VC Twitter. https://twitte…
@edbott Ed Bott on x
@bhorowitz @TaylorLorenz @balajis @FeliciaHorowitz Hey don't take this the wrong way Ben but maybe you should jump in a fucking volcano or something. Or, as an alternative, apologize and do the right thing.
@sandofsky Ben Sandofsky on x
In the last few years, journalists have done important work exposing bad behavior in tech. A lot of people in the VC scene are responding with anti-journalist rhetoric. https://twitter.com/...
@blakersdozen Blake Montgomery on x
Tbt to “yesteryear” when journalism was fair and truthful and William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer were such well-known exaggerators that everyone believed they started a war with Cuba for content https://twitter.com/...
@espiers Elizabeth Spiers on x
One of the dumbest things about this is how it utterly misunderstands media in general, but particularly the history of media and how newspapers worked pre-Internet. Lotta tech people in this thread demonstrating that they never read any of these fabled “print newspapers.” https:…
@a_w_gordon Aaron W. Gordon on x
The shit the VC bros are saying now is arguably worse than the shit that they're mad the media reported on to begin with, but they lack the introspection to realize that. https://www.vice.com/...
@blader Siqi Chen on x
.@TaylorLorenz I like you and respect your work, but leaving out the rest of that screenshot where its clear that @balajis is simply repeating the same words you wrote to bash a woman CEO, is exactly illustrative of his larger point. https://twitter.com/...
@mat Mat Honan on x
Clearly one industry VCs do not understand much about is the media business: https://www.vice.com/...
@revrrlewis Bobby Lewis on x
a bunch of venture capital babies, cloistered away in an invite-only social media site where they can pretend to be better than we common poors, are harassing @TaylorLorenz due to their being Offended at tepid criticism of a (shitty) luggage CEO's insta. https://www.vice.com/...
@kateclarktweets Kate Clark on x
I spent time on Clubhouse when it launched & haven't really logged on much since. The convos were (for me) a little boring & it's a time suck. It's disappointing how quickly it seems to have spiraled into a center for hate & harassment. I'm logging back on & know, I'm listening!
@emilybell Emily Bell on x
...a few weeks ago a Silicon Valley-based journalist was talking about the impending ‘culture war’ between technology companies and other media...maybe this is what they mean https://twitter.com/...
@dhh @dhh on x
How do you cancel your Clubhouse account? I was invited to talk about Apple and monopolies, and that was (mostly) a fine conversation. But I have no interest in staying in that place, yet all I see is a Log Out option, no “Cancel Account” option?
@robinwauters Robin Wauters on x
I can only hope this results in massive mirror-looking behaviour from all involved, but who am I kidding https://twitter.com/...
@susanthesquark Susan Fowler on x
The abuse that @TaylorLorenz is getting is disturbing. First of all, she's an incredible journalist and deserves none of this. But also, she doesn't write the pieces that the tech elite are angry about. So it doesn't really seem to be about that. It seems personal and creepy.
@cityofthetown Tom Dotan on x
There's not enough medium posts and clubhouse chats in the world that would make them as happy a single positive story in NYT, WSJ, Bloomberg The Information etc. It's why the pitch us. We're a part of their business plan. More critically, we feed their ego.
@balajis Balaji S. Srinivasan on x
Wow, great scoop! Possibly illegal recording of @FeliciaHorowitz, @rolandsmartin, @NaithanJones, and me quotes us verbatim as standing up for founders who are harassed by NYT journalists for clicks. Check it: https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@peterrojas Peter Rojas on x
The funny thing about all this is that if @TaylorLorenz decided to be a VC she would run circles around so many of the investors out there. I know that multiple funds have tried (and failed) to hire her.
@campuscodi Catalin Cimpanu on x
So, let me get this right. A bunch of self-entitled and self-labeled geniuses with years of experience in the dog-eat-dog Silicon Valley world, VC rivalries, and press leaks actually thought this insanely obtuse conversation wasn't going to leak? 🙃 https://twitter.com/...
@jbouie B-Boy Bouiebaisse on x
these people are the biggest, blubbering babies i've ever seen https://www.vice.com/...
@karagoldin Kara Goldin on x
Leaders lead. @hunterwalk you just went up about 17x in my book. We all make mistakes but the shitshow that went on yesterday was just horrifying. It's like we forgot what we teach our children. Kindness does win. On all accounts. 🙏🏼🥰 https://twitter.com/...
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
You think I kid about the victim mentality of the richest and most powerful people in the world who control so much of our society. This is a feature, not a bug: VICE - Silicon Valley Elite Discuss Journalists Having Too Much Power in Private App https://www.vice.com/...
@sm Sara Mauskopf on x
Wait @bhorowitz is @pdavison? Come to think of it I have never seen them in the same clubhouse room... https://twitter.com/...
@nycsouthpaw Southpaw on x
I hate to see a friend of mine, a kind and insightful reporter who is asking for help to rein in a powerful VC investor's abusive behavior toward her, treated like this. https://twitter.com/...
@seldo Laurie Voss on x
VCs: “We're woke! We care! Look at our stats!” Woman: “I am being harassed by your friend” VCs: “Don't @ me” https://twitter.com/...
@juiceboxca Jack Appleby on x
Imagine starting an audio chat room just to criticize a human being. What a bizarrely evil act from people who'll beg for press coverage when they need it, then claim media shouldnt exist when it's inconvenient to them. https://twitter.com/...
@jdegoes John A De Goes on x
#CancelCulture may be new, but trying to defeat your personal enemy by inflaming a mob is an ancient con. I admire @bhorowitz's instant recognition of this dynamic in the spat between @TaylorLorenz & @balajis, and his polite but firm refusal to play this NYT journalist's game. ht…
@katiebowill Katie Bo Williams on x
Taylor and I were colleagues at the time. I was impressed by her badassery then and I'm still impressed now. Y'all leave @TaylorLorenz alone. https://twitter.com/...
@balajis Balaji S. Srinivasan on x
Oh, by the way, NYT just tried to doxx Scott Alexander last week. That's why many tech people are boycotting them. Employees of media corporations will often distort you if you talk to them. Just go direct if you have something to say. https://twitter.com/...
@ruskin147 Rory Cellan-Jones on x
Watching how US tech/VC has responded to even mildly negative coverage has reminded me of the pain I've caused poor UK PRs when I've put challenging questions to their US bosses. For years Silicon Valley CEOs just got used to hero worship and were shocked when it was withheld htt…
@taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x
This was just one hour of what was actually recorded in just one room of the app. Think of what else these people have been on Clubhouse saying and what they're saying behind closed doors. The audio is shocking and everyone should listen https://www.vice.com/...
@anthony Anthony DeRosa on x
Most people I know are in awe of @TaylorLorenz's ability to grok a beat that didn't even exist until she mostly created it and now everyone's trying to catch up. On top of that, her work ethic is off the charts. https://twitter.com/...
@evanchill Evan Hill on x
Tech has been extremely successful at convincing the public that it is unlike every other industry that came before and its top profiteers unlike any other businesspeople who came before. It'd probably be better and healthier to just start treating it like oil or finance imho. ht…
@chillmage @chillmage on x
Tech leaders have boasted for years about how disruption has destroyed traditional journalism and then when they happen not to like the journalism of the moment they say journalism is too powerful. Can't have it both ways https://twitter.com/...
@maxwelltani Max Tani on x
great point. in the old days, journalists were never tweeting. now, they tweet all the time. why is that? https://twitter.com/...
@micsolana Mike Solana on x
do i work for one of the most powerful media institutions on the planet? yes. do i have 200 thousand twitter followers? also yes. but please remember responding to personal attacks i've made on a public forum is harassment.
@loganbartlett Logan Bartlett on x
I'm furious about this Clubhouse leak. We all must now suffer through even more of this tech vs. media Twitter bs.
@wongmjane Jane Manchun Wong on x
Clubhouse is in a bit of paradox — if they opened up the app, the community abuse might scale, which the app is yet to be prepared for; if they kept it invite-only, it will grow as an echo chamber https://twitter.com/...
@fmanjoo Farhad Manjoo on x
The extra crazy thing about this stupid story is I really can't think of a reporter whose work more often shows the positive, zany, unexpected and hopeful effects of tech than @TaylorLorenz — like the whole dumb idea on this call that she epitomizes “anti-tech media” is insane
@jamesrbuk James Ball on x
This is a fantastic thread on the toxic and changing relationship between journalism and tech. https://twitter.com/...
@rationalwiki @rationalwiki on x
this is why @balajis is being so obnoxious to journalists lately, particularly female ones, that people are noticing it's organised of course, he's not very bright, so even the super rich guys turn out to be as competent as gamergate mk 1 https://twitter.com/...
@harrymccracken Harry McCracken on x
Don't torment @TaylorLorenz unless your goal is to make yourself look terrible. And not even then, actually. https://twitter.com/...
@mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on x
Not weighing in on tech press v. tech insiders because I already did, 50 years ago — er, 5 months ago, which feels like 50 years ago. The song remains the same. https://500ish.com/...
@sallyshin Sally Shin on x
It's really disappointing to hear the platform has overnight become such a place. As for bashing on tech journalists and the role of the profession, remember that some of the top VCs today came from our industry.
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
Clubhouse seems to be the country club of social networks: an exclusive safe space for the rich and powerful to pal around and feel superior and talk shit about the rest of us without having to worry that we might talk back.
@alex @alex on x
Taylor is good at her job! https://twitter.com/...
@danprimack Dan Primack on x
Since some have asked via DM... I'm not on @clubhouse. I asked a few times to be let in, but to no avail. I'm sure there are some wonderful conversations in there. But it does make me a bit curious when reporters are intentionally excluded from otherwise public conversations.
@oneunderscore__ Ben Collins on x
Taylor is an excellent reporter and good person. That some uber rich people think they are victims because she accurately and fairly reports on their industry is a sign of a much deeper rot in venture capital. A lot easier to harass a female reporter than to look inward, though. …
@fmanjoo Farhad Manjoo on x
the campaign of harassment by rich guys against @TaylorLorenz is as unsurprising as it is disgusting — she's one of the best and most original reporters covering tech there is, and the clubhouse (literally that's where they hang out) can't abide https://twitter.com/...
@taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x
What You Do Is Who You Are https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@joshelman Josh Elman on x
I can feel the temperatures and tempers rising everywhere as the weather heats up and everyone is still stuck in some form of quarantine limbo. I hope this July 4 long weekend is a chance for everyone to cool off and put the arguments down for a moment. And maybe watch Hamilton.
@nitashatiku Nitasha Tiku on x
tbh getting relentlessly swarmed by VC twitter were two of my absolute lowest days on the internet. I hope tech gatekeepers backing social platforms have a sophisticated enough understanding of online harassment to appreciate that what's happening 2 @TaylorLorenz is unacceptable
@taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x
They make accounts like this on Twitter and insta all the time and I have to spend so much effort reporting and removing them. Just a little taste of what it's like being a female tech reporter https://twitter.com/...

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