Ben Werdmuller

John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford. Previously: @ProPublica, @19thnews, Matter, Elgg.

Every day, I write about tech, democracy, and society at https://werd.io. 

More about me: https://werd.io/about/ 

Tags: #indieweb #opensource #journalism #writing #fiction #blogs #blogging #startups #openweb #web #fediverse #socialweb #ethics #product #writingcommunity #philadelphia #sanfrancisco

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Last Notes

2026-05-28 18:01:45 GMT

"The story of one couple’s long battle with their health insurer — and the little-known tool buried deep in their insurance coverage booklet that helped them finally win." This should not be a thing, but I'm glad my colleagues at @nprofile…wmhr were able to tell this story. https://www.propublica.org/podcast/health-insurance-industry-secret-external-review

2026-04-03 01:11:12 GMT

LinkedIn is using invasive techniques to fingerprint your browser. Together with its understanding of your identity and professional history, it has the ingredients for an incredibly detailed profile. #Technology https://werd.io/linkedin-is-illegally-searching-your-computer/

2026-03-30 17:14:06 GMT

Surf is SO COOL. Go check it out.
#nevent1q…kuew

2026-03-27 13:06:21 GMT

Newsrooms have been slow to care about the open social web - but one of their most important support organizations is paying attention. #Media https://werd.io/why-knight-foundation-invested-in-bluesky/

2026-03-24 13:21:30 GMT

What ICE is doing in US airports today, it will be doing at US polling places in November. These photos aren’t funny or incongruous; they should be giving us nightmares. This has to end now.

2026-03-23 18:52:31 GMT

I'm looking for excellent Svelte / SvelteKit contractors in the US with current availability. If that's you, send me a private reply or email me at [email protected].

2026-03-05 14:23:19 GMT

The BBC is dying. It needs to be preserved - but doing so will require a radical reinvention. #Media https://werd.io/bbc-says-irreversible-trends-mean-it-will-not-survive-without-major-overhaul/

2026-03-04 00:53:01 GMT

If you’re a small, resource-strapped team, for example in a newsroom, how can you figure out what software is feasible for you to build and maintain? I wrote a guide. https://werd.io/can-we-build-the-dog/

2026-02-27 04:58:48 GMT

News and culture is very rapidly being dominated by administration-aligned companies. It's actually astonishing how fast this has happened. And it's not stopping.
Today will be a significant detail in the many, many textbooks that will be written about the era I fear we're still at the start of.

2026-02-26 21:25:54 GMT

Feeling a bit discouraged and self-critical this evening. What's something that's made you feel happy and confident lately?

2026-02-21 16:48:59 GMT

If you're a daily coffee drinker at home, what are your go-to everyday beans? Not the fancy stuff you treat yourself to sometimes, but the stuff you always make sure you have in the house.

2026-02-21 15:35:24 GMT

It’s all well and good to be worried about centralized social media when it’s owned by fascists and there are troops on the streets and peaceful protesters are being kidnapped and killed and we’re about to strike Iran, but next time, can we listen to the people sounding the alarm a little earlier?

2026-02-21 03:09:31 GMT

The detail here about archive dot is and its other domains altering webpages because of a grudge is worth knowing. Not to mention running a DDoS attack, obviously. Yikes. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/wikipedia-bans-archive-today-after-site-executed-ddos-and-altered-web-captures/

2026-01-26 13:53:57 GMT

There's a common thread disparaging people who might move away in this moment. All I'll say is that many of the wave of immigrants who came to the US 80+ years ago are also people who moved away in a moment that's looking more and more similar. People get to do what's right for them to keep their children safe.

2026-01-24 19:29:01 GMT

At this point any lingering belief that this America will live up to its stated norms and values is quaint at best and willful ignorance at worst.

2026-01-18 18:35:38 GMT

I stopped going to Blue Bottle when Nestlé acquired a majority stake, so I’m not sure how I’m still on their list, but it seems like *particularly* bad marketing to be excitedly mailing me about their new cafe in a mall in Skokie, Illinois.

2026-01-15 14:52:22 GMT

"Internal ICE material and testimony from an official obtained by 404 Media provides the clearest link yet between the technological infrastructure Palantir is building for ICE and the agency’s activities on the ground." #Democracy https://werd.io/elite-the-palantir-app-ice-uses-to-find-neighborhoods-to-raid/

2026-01-14 23:06:59 GMT

I published this fictional scenario planning piece about mitigating a hypothetical newsroom raid yesterday. It feels a lot more relevant today. https://werd.io/the-zurich-protocol/

2026-01-13 21:59:55 GMT

Please allow me to share a nightmare with you. https://werd.io/the-zurich-protocol/ #journalism #democracy

2026-01-12 02:27:27 GMT

Astonishing documentary movie about what power is capable of and what journalism can do to liberate. 100% on Rotten Tomatoes; free to stream on Netflix. More than worth your time. Please watch. https://www.netflix.com/title/82145211

2026-01-10 22:29:55 GMT

I don't think it's a coincidence that all of this (worldwide) is happening when most of the people who lived through WWII have just died. We need to do a better job of keeping their memories and ideals alive.

2026-01-08 14:42:10 GMT

"A social media and phone surveillance system ICE bought access to is designed to monitor a city neighborhood or block for mobile phones, track the movements of those devices and their owners over time, and follow them from their places of work to home or other locations." https://www.404media.co/inside-ices-tool-to-monitor-phones-in-entire-neighborhoods/

2026-01-07 19:55:52 GMT

https://propublica.org/tips

2026-01-06 17:56:24 GMT

And if you're not sure where or how: https://getblogging.org/
#nevent1q…knwv

2026-01-06 14:12:29 GMT

I wrote up how I hire engineers: building a team means building a community, which means looking beyond live coding tests to find empathetic collaborators who care about a mission. (PS: I'm hiring!) https://werd.io/how-i-hire-engineers/

2026-01-04 13:50:36 GMT

Following this has meaningfully improved my first few days of the year. So far, so good. https://werd.io/a-2026-checklist/

2026-01-03 18:43:12 GMT

“The reality is that America is in breach of the United Nations charter. It has committed the crime of aggression, which the court at Nuremberg described as the supreme crime, it’s the worst crime of all.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/03/is-there-any-legal-justification-for-the-us-attack-on-venezuela-trump-maduro

2026-01-03 04:21:06 GMT

POSSE is on the front page of Hacker News right now, which I think is kind of delightful. Lots of people discovering the more human, independent approach that the #indieweb advocates.

2025-12-27 21:45:46 GMT

Meanwhile, in my hometown. Here in the US, police / ICE are using facial recognition when they stop someone, but I’m not aware of them just setting up and scanning crowds. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqxqnp27ddno

2025-12-27 03:00:56 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…7vc6 into it!

2025-12-26 02:24:18 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…7vc6 Would love to talk about that!

2025-12-24 17:34:07 GMT

Tim's 2026 predictions are worth paying attention to - and form a great map for following where the open social web is going. #Technology https://werd.io/my-2026-open-social-web-predictions/

2025-12-23 14:08:09 GMT

I started to write a year-end review - but it hasn’t been a normal year. https://werd.io/2025-in-review-an-interesting-year/

2025-12-22 14:57:33 GMT

"Blanche’s directives, while he still owned significant crypto investments, violated the conflicts of interest law and his ethics agreement, legal experts and former federal ethics officials told ProPublica." https://www.propublica.org/article/todd-blanche-crypto-doj-trump

2025-12-20 14:28:48 GMT

"Airbus is preparing to tender a major contract to migrate mission-critical workloads to a digitally sovereign European cloud – but estimates only an 80/20 chance of finding a suitable provider." #Technology https://werd.io/airbus-to-migrate-critical-apps-to-a-sovereign-euro-cloud/

2025-12-19 18:42:11 GMT

We don't need to educate our audiences to fit our needs. We need to educate ourselves to fit our audiences. #Media https://werd.io/lies-we-tell-ourselves/

2025-12-13 14:23:21 GMT

"The Trump administration is providing the names of all air travelers to immigration officials, substantially expanding its use of data sharing to expel people under deportation orders." #Democracy https://werd.io/t-s-a-is-providing-air-passenger-data-to-immigration-agents-for-deportation-effort/

2025-12-12 14:41:57 GMT

We're looking for a mission-driven director of product engineering for our product team at @nprofile…k02x. Our journalists investigate abuses of trust and power in the public interest. This is a way to make a difference. (Must be US-based.) https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/jobs/4623874006?gh_src=0eh7t3h36us

2025-12-12 01:49:53 GMT

"President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday intended to limit state regulation of artificial intelligence." At the same time, states are watering theirs down. #AI https://werd.io/trump-signs-executive-order-to-combat-state-ai-regulation/

2025-12-11 15:18:15 GMT

I'm hiring a Director of Product Engineering for our product team at @nprofile…k02x. If you're an engineering leader in the US who wants to truly make a difference, we're a nonprofit newsroom investigating abuses of trust in the public interest. Please consider joining us. #amhiring #getfedihired https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/jobs/4623874006?gh_src=0eh7t3h36us

2025-12-10 14:33:39 GMT

"All tourists will have to undergo a social media screening before being allowed entry into the US under new plans being considered by the country's border force." #Democracy https://werd.io/us-plans-to-start-checking-all-tourists-social-media/

2025-12-09 13:48:04 GMT

For decades, RSS has been a workhorse that connects systems on the timely web and ensures that publishers can syndicate and grow their reach. Here's why it matters more than ever. https://werd.io/why-rss-matters/

2025-12-02 13:59:06 GMT

This year, @nprofile…k02x reported on ICE splitting up families, the people behind DOGE and their impact, the backroom dealings of Trump and others in his administration, and more. I'm proud to work with these journalists - and they need your support.
As always, I want to prove that the #fediverse is an important source of support for nonprofits like ours. We're here, we're engaged, and we care.
If you have the means, please consider a donation:
https://give.propublica.org/campaign/748664/donate?c_src=ben
#journalism #democracy

2025-12-02 05:11:50 GMT

Donating to @nprofile…k02x supports a newsroom full of investigative journalists intent on bringing about real change through reporting on abuses of power in the public interest. They've done incredible work this year. And if you donate on #GivingNewsDay your donation is matched dollar for dollar. https://give.propublica.org/campaign/748664/donate?c_src=ben #givingtuesday #journalism #democracy

2025-11-27 15:06:54 GMT

What a parade of ridiculous, inflated characters whose platforms are kept moving with fossil fuels
And there’s also a Thanksgiving parade going on, amirite

2025-11-22 23:33:25 GMT

I actually like this a lot. Don’t hire jerks. (I’ll save you a click: she asks the receptionist whether the candidates treated them well. I agree that it speaks volumes.) https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/05/former-netflix-chief-talent-officer-used-this-test-to-weed-out-disastrous-hires.html

2025-11-21 16:47:18 GMT

Seeing a lot of criticism of this. I won't comment on that for now, but I think it would be a valuable exercise to create a version of the linked document for the hypothetical organization people would like to see. https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/rewiring-mozilla-ai-and-web/

2025-11-21 14:48:54 GMT

I wonder what it would look like to create one single donation point that sends money to a mix of Mastodon, SWF, Free Our Feeds, and other non-profit open social web projects.

2025-11-19 14:58:37 GMT

Podcast pitch: Last Week Tonight but about the Internet. Same pointed humor, same sense of outrage, same scripted writing, but specifically about the web, the tech industry, underlying power dynamics and egos.

2025-11-17 18:38:11 GMT

"In hindsight I don't think any reasonable person can say that we're collectively better off. Democracy is losing, and tech is playing an undeniably outsized part in that." #Technology https://werd.io/open-source-power/

2025-11-12 23:10:07 GMT

Some newsrooms speak truth to power. Some speak truth from power.
Some people want to stand up for the vulnerable and work towards a more informed, equitable society. Others want to stand up for the established order and the status quo.
It's pretty obvious which are which.

2025-11-12 20:41:42 GMT

"Does the leadership at my company promote a xenophobic agenda and use the wealth I help them acquire to donate directly to bigoted causes and politicians I find despicable? Yeah, sure. Did I celebrate my last birthday at Drag Brunch? Also yes." https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-work-for-an-evil-company-but-outside-work-im-actually-a-really-good-person

2025-11-12 17:43:11 GMT

"After reviewing coverage from the network and hours of social media videos that preceded Trump’s decision, ProPublica found that Fox’s portrayal of “Portland rioters” routinely instigating violence was misleading."
https://www.propublica.org/article/portland-protests-national-guard-fox-news-coverage?utm_source=ben&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hi-its-ben

2025-11-10 15:28:56 GMT

I upgraded macOS and it clobbered my vscode installation. Completely corrupted. I reinstalled, but maybe it's a good time to switch IDEs? I used to be a big Webstorm fan. What are people loving these days? I don't want an AI IDE.

2025-11-09 14:34:02 GMT

The most racist people imaginable have a cunning plan to undermine the most popularly-elected NYC mayor since 1969. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11/9/republicans-push-to-strip-zohran-mamdani-of-us-citizenship-is-it-possible

2025-11-07 21:08:26 GMT

It's still so weird to me that the idea of universal healthcare is so political here. It's a given in so many other places, and I miss it. And people don't realize how good it is for innovation. You can take so many more risks when your health and well-being aren't tied to a salaried employer.

2025-11-07 20:00:30 GMT

I came back to this talk today - and I've got to admit, I think it's a banger. Lots to say about how mission-driven technology can be successful. https://werd.io/why-the-open-social-web-matters-now/

2025-11-06 14:31:24 GMT

One of my underlying working models for non-profit news is that nobody is in competition with each other. We should all be co-operative. We should be open sourcing code, sharing wins and losses, and doing as much as possible to lift each other up - out in the open so newcomers can benefit too.

2025-11-02 18:46:47 GMT

The pandemic isn't over, and there's still much to fear from the COVID-19 virus. #Health https://werd.io/this-physicist-says-we-dont-take-covid-seriously-enough/

2025-10-31 14:30:21 GMT

There’s no such thing as neutral technology.
Every tool encodes the values of the people who made it — their goals, their blind spots, their priorities.
When organizations adopt tools without asking whose values they’re importing, they take on risk they can’t see.
https://werd.io/theres-no-such-thing-as-neutral-technology/

2025-10-28 15:52:51 GMT

"This bubble is going to pop. Investors will stop setting their money on fire once they realize these models can't replace our labor in the ways they have promised." https://brooklyn.bearblog.dev/ai-futures/

2025-10-21 14:51:06 GMT

I think this is cool: an index of countries based on how much self-sovereign, self-hosted digital technology they use. Are they in control of their own cloud services, or is their tech outsourced? https://dsi.nextcloud.com/

2025-10-21 14:38:35 GMT

Optimism I can get behind:
We can build this!
We can create the best project ever!
We can get to where we need to go!
We will overcome!
Optimism I can't:
Authoritarianism will work out!
It won't be as bad as we think!
People are just paranoid!

2025-10-20 13:08:04 GMT

Hear me out, but maybe it's not superb that most of the internet is hosted on three very large providers?

2025-10-17 13:39:30 GMT

MEP Alexandra Geese argues that Europe needs its own infrastructure, social networks, and software. Rising US authoritarianism means the clock is ticking. #Technology https://werd.io/europe-cant-defend-democracy-on-us-servers/

2025-10-14 02:23:47 GMT

I thought this was brilliant: a great introduction to the problems of The Free Press (and what the CBS acquisition represents), and John Oliver as energized as he's ever been. https://youtu.be/gieTx_P6INQ?si=_mqJ31487lcuaE6w

2025-10-13 16:23:28 GMT

I don't know what happens next, but on the face of it, the ceasefire and the return of captives from both sides feels really good. May there be peace, may the rebuilding be equitable, and may everyone get to live and co-exist in dignity and prosperity.

2025-10-11 20:03:41 GMT

Today I learned that an interview with my great uncle is in the collection of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum:
"Reinald Leidelmeyer describes his experience as a member of the Dutch Resistance in the Hague; details of his arrest; his time in a slave labor camp; and actions that led to his release."
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn85997

2025-10-10 14:18:12 GMT

I'm skeptical of using AI for alt text generation. The tech is not bad at all about describing what's in a picture, but I'm unconvinced that it can tell you what's *important* in a picture. Maybe if you fed in the context around it? But also, a human can write an alt text sentence in a minute or two, so is it really worth it?

2025-10-04 14:23:54 GMT

Microblogging is terrible. It's all context collapse and unbridled id: notifications as conversation. We need more long-form, considered discussion. The internet needs more nuance and structured thought.

2025-09-27 16:45:27 GMT

War ravaged Portland
https://cdn.masto.host/werdsocial/media_attachments/files/115/277/268/389/492/284/original/2bc6ce22a72d01c4.jpeg

2025-09-10 14:18:32 GMT

In a world that faces unprecedented challenges, from a resurgence in global fascism to the fast-developing storm of the climate crisis, we need more technologists to focus on doing good work.
Here's how to take the leap.
https://werd.io/using-technology-skills-for-positive-change/

2025-09-08 14:12:26 GMT

Let's all just be kind to each other and build collaboratively rather than competitively.

2025-09-07 15:51:54 GMT

The world is splitting into nationalist / fascist movements and more progressive / humanist movements.
It's weird to see tech do the same thing. Look at any job board and you can see the fascist-aligned startups and the progressive ones.
The funding, unfortunately, is disproportionately choosing the nationalist path.

2025-09-01 17:44:33 GMT

“The world's biggest academic association of genocide scholars has passed a resolution saying the legal criteria have been met to establish Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, its president said on Monday.” To say so is not to justify the Oct 7 attacks. But genocide is never justifiable.
To those who wonder why Americans are concerned about this war over others: it’s because we’re deeply involved. Our money is paying for this. It’s a part of US foreign policy.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-is-committing-genocide-gaza-scholars-association-says-2025-09-01/

2025-08-25 13:23:37 GMT

"Sixteen of the 50 biggest news websites in the UK are now using a “consent or pay” model to allow users to pay to reject personalised advertising or even avoid ads altogether." It should be illegal. #Media https://werd.io/more-uk-news-publishers-are-adopting-consent-or-pay-advertising-model/

2025-08-24 15:01:14 GMT

Social problems cannot usually be fixed with technical solutions.

2025-08-15 13:43:16 GMT

"Now, nearly two years and more than 250 assassinations later, I can count the names of the living journalists in Gaza I follow on one hand." #Democracy https://werd.io/how-do-we-tell-the-story-of-gazas-murdered-journalists/

2025-08-14 18:49:57 GMT

I'm a huge fan of @nprofile…eznj. The work she does is inspiring - and this is a great interview. https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/08/independent-journalist-molly-white-knows-how-to-follow-the-memecoin/

2025-08-14 15:34:37 GMT

General poll: if you need to keep your sensitive conversations secure, what platforms are you using beyond Signal?

2025-08-12 14:09:21 GMT

I mean, obviously. This is also why so many people in rural America say they're terrified of the cities. There's nothing to actually be terrified of - it's just there are people who don't look like them. https://apnews.com/article/trump-washington-dc-takeover-race-39388597bad7e70085079888fe7fb57b

2025-08-10 00:03:09 GMT

This is really sad to me. I love science fiction. At its heart, it plays with ideas and human implications that are vital for us to understand - and make for really gripping stories. https://tracydurnell.com/2025/08/09/whats-up-with-sci-fi-publishing/

2025-08-07 15:18:21 GMT

Understanding which channel someone reached out to me on, or what kind of media contained an insight I want to go back to (which means remembering which service I saved it to), is becoming a real issue.

2025-08-01 13:15:59 GMT

"In a media landscape dominated by algorithmic feeds that aim to manipulate and extract, sometimes the most radical thing you can do is choose to read what you want, when you want, without anyone watching over your shoulder." #Media https://werd.io/curate-your-own-newspaper-with-rss/

2025-07-30 21:47:36 GMT

I love to cook. Not, like, show-offy chef recipes (although I like to do that too), but everyday meals that come together inside an hour and keep everyone fed. Most nights, I’m the one who cooks.
I have absolutely no idea what to make for dinner tonight and I’ve had a day full of meetings. Pasta? 🤷

2025-07-24 20:47:24 GMT

And now, an executive order that calls for the involuntary institutionalization of the homeless and mentally ill without due process or clear release criteria. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/ending-crime-and-disorder-on-americas-streets/

2025-07-21 22:25:41 GMT

Observation: people who say empathy is overrated generally find it disproportionately difficult to do.

2025-07-15 14:27:01 GMT

This. https://www.wired.com/story/enshittification-of-american-power/

2025-07-07 02:04:27 GMT

This conversation with @nprofile…shcc on Democracy Now! (which is new to me but apparently was recorded in May) is excellent from start to finish. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4hZz9Vd0lY

2025-07-01 15:03:37 GMT

"Grammarly has signed a deal to acquire email efficiency tool Superhuman as part of the company's push to build an artificial intelligence-powered productivity suite." I did not see this coming. #Technology https://werd.io/grammarly-to-acquire-email-startup-superhuman-in-ai-platform-push/

2025-06-28 00:35:45 GMT

I’m beginning to feel like the people who love vibe coding resent software engineers, the people who love making music with AI resent musicians, the people who love AI art resent artists. It’s more than not understanding what good is. It’s active pushback.

2025-06-03 02:08:42 GMT

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@nprofile…d82u @nprofile…eaf5 I really appreciate their work - but it's not quite there yet. The workspaces share sessions, for example, and the keyboard shortcuts aren't fluid in the same way they are in Arc. Stuff like dragging tabs to make split views are also not present.

2025-06-03 02:02:15 GMT

That's what I get for making a proprietary browser a core part of my workflow. Arc is brilliant and I truly love using it - but it's also a dead end. Back to Firefox I (very reluctantly) go. I hope they adopt some of its UX. #Technology https://werd.io/2025/letter-to-arc-members-2025

2025-05-18 23:07:41 GMT

A 4500 word blog post is okay, right? People will read that? 😅

2025-05-08 16:02:04 GMT

I’ve written before about what I’d do if I ran Bluesky or Mastodon. But what if I started from scratch? What would it look like to build a new open social platform - one that's private-by-default, human-centered, and sustainable from day one?
Here’s the blueprint I’d follow: https://werd.io/2025/if-i-started-fresh
#Fediverse #opensource #socialmedia

2025-05-07 14:37:46 GMT

I'm adding a prompt injection to my stuff so that if anyone creates an AI version of me after my death it will have glowing eyes and tell everyone in a booming, otherworldly voice that they're going to hell. #AI https://werd.io/2025/ai-of-dead-arizona-road-rage-victim-addresses-killer-in

2025-05-06 14:17:52 GMT

Excellent. https://alex.party/posts/2025-05-05-the-future-of-web-development-is-ai-get-on-or-get-left-behind/

2025-05-03 00:20:13 GMT

I just told a room full of newsroom execs and investigative journalists, hopefully coherently, to always start with human problems, do not add AI to their workflows uncritically, and to build and use technology according to their values, with a duty of care for their communities. Privileged to do so and grateful for the opportunity.

2025-04-25 13:09:34 GMT

Vibe coding won't have a crater-like impact on tech companies. But it will have one on engineering in all those other companies that rely on code but haven't made technology a core competence.
And then again 5 years later when those companies realize they have a maintenance and security nightmare.

2025-04-18 18:59:43 GMT

Mastodon is a revolution in people-powered social networking. But it needs help to push it past its early adopter community. In the spirit of my previous piece about Bluesky, here's what I would do if I ran the project: https://werd.io/2025/if-i-ran-mastodon #fediverse