On with Kara Swisher

Latest Episodes:

Conservative or Liberal? This Prosecutor Refuses to Be Put in a Box Feb 06, 2023

Show notes

From Donald Trump to George Floyd and Tyre Nichols, the last five years have changed our national conversation about public safety and policing. That’s particularly true in San Francisco, where progressive prosecutor Chesa Boudin lost his seat in a heated recall election last year, and today’s guest — SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkins — stepped into the powerful role. In the months since she assumed office, the Black and Latina DA has spoken of the city’s “lawlessness,” revoked plea deals, allowed more teenagers to be prosecuted as adults and pushed for more policing of drug dealing. Her critics say she’s too conservative for the notoriously liberal city. She says she’s creating consequences for those who break the law.

As Kara tells Jenkins, “Only in a city like San Francisco could they call you a conservative.”

You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema.

Or email us! on@voxmedia.com

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The Big Business of Online Dating (Land of the Giants) Feb 02, 2023

Show notes

Today, Nayeema sits down with dating industry veteran Lakshmi Rengarajan and journalist Sangeeta Singh-Kurtz before we play you an episode of the podcast they host — Land of the Giants: Dating Games. In conversation, the three explore the business of online dating, the incentive apps have to keep users swiping and the power the people who run and build these dating services have in shaping our love lives.

Kara and Nayeema will be back on Monday with a fresh episode of On with Kara Swisher. Until then, find them on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema.

Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, The League. If you’ve ever wondered why using these different dating apps feels similar, it may be because they’re all owned by Match Group, the company that helped start online dating in the 90s, and now owns two-thirds of the dating app market. Today, Match is a dating app conglomerate with millions of users and over 45 brands around the world. That’s billions of dollars worth of swipes and subscriptions. But does paying for what Match Group calls “superpowers” — things like Hinge’s ‘roses’ and Tinder’s ‘super likes’ — get users any closer to connecting with real-life people?

• Hosted by Sangeeta Singh-Kurtz (@sangeetaskurtz) and Lakshmi Rengarajan (@Shmi_So_Far)

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Mark Zuckerberg: Oops!...I Did It Again Jan 30, 2023

Show notes

When Meta announced Donald Trump would be allowed back on Facebook and Instagram, it wasn’t the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg who made the decision. He punted. So why is an executive who holds such control hiding from the power he has amassed? Kara has some ideas — she’s covered Mark from the jump, seen him sweat through interviews and gotten Mark to say things he probably wishes he hadn’t. So today, we then turn the tables and Kara Swisher is On with Nayeema Raza.

Together, Nayeema and Kara unpack an oral history of a company that, for far too long, hid behind the idea of being a small start-up and used that excuse to shamelessly make — and shamelessly repeat — costly mistakes. They journey through the first days of Facebook, examine how the company has navigated controversies from Cambridge Analytica to the Trump decision… and get a sense of why Kara will probably never get to interview Mark again.

You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema.

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Has the Silicon Valley Bubble Burst? A Conversation w Jessica Lessin & William Cohan Jan 26, 2023

Show notes

Rapid-fire layoffs, activist investors at the gate and tumbling stock prices — tech has had a bad year. But Kara tells Nayeema she’s seen it all before and that the industry, if not all its captains, will survive this shake-up, too. In the panel interview, Kara is joined by two other journalists: Jessica Lessin, founder and CEO of The Information, a scoop-laden tech news platform covering Silicon Valley, and William Cohan, a former M&A banker and a founding partner at Puck, another excellent source for scoops.

They tackle what’s behind the long decline, and recent rally, of tech stocks, and when and how the Valley will bounce back. Then they zoom in on what Meta, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple and Netflix will need to zoom in on to survive the storm. And Jessica offers a theory: the time is ripe for a changing of the old tech guard. Sorry, Elon — it may be time to step aside.

You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema.

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Biden’s Antitrust Advisor Left the White House. Here’s His Exit Interview Jan 23, 2023

Show notes

In his first extensive interview since he stepped down as the Special Assistant to the President for Technology and Competition Policy on the National Economic Council, Tim Wu shares what he learned in the West Wing. We find out who holds most sway with the President, how Lina Khan undid any perception that there is any antitrust exception for “nice guys,” and get Wu’s predictions on lawsuits against Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft. Also: Kara presses him on why Biden — who campaigned on getting rid of Section 230 and hinted at breaking up Big Tech — hasn’t been able to make much headway when it comes to regulating Silicon Valley.

Before the interview, Kara and Nayeema look at exits, from Jacinda Ardern, the former prime minister of New Zealand, to Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings. And among all the exits, they also discuss one possible return: Meta’s looming decision regarding Donald Trump’s Facebook account.

You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter at @karaswisher and @nayeema.

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Intelligence Squared: Swisher and Scaramucci Debate If Elon Is Killing Twitter Jan 20, 2023

Show notes

Today, we're sharing an episode of the podcast Intelligence Squared, which provides a forum for balanced debate where people disagree — but talk about it.

It’s Kara Swisher vs. Anthony Scaramucci. And the question is: Is Elon Musk Killing Twitter?

Shockingly, Kara argues, "yes."

You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter at @karaswisher and @nayeema.

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Inside the Prince Harry Book Blitz and What It Means for the Monarchy Jan 19, 2023

Show notes

He was King Charles’s Communications Chief for almost a decade. She wrote the book on Charles (literally). Our guests today – Patrick Harverson and Catherine Mayer – are two insiders who take us beyond the media spectacle and into the inner workings of both the Crown and the British media. They consider whether the revelations inside Prince Harry’s best-selling book “Spare” will shake-up a stodgy palace. They discuss the unquenching hunger of the tabloid machine, debate the resilience of the monarchy – and examine whether the response to this royal controversy hints at a deeper culture war brewing in Britain. Finally, they unpack an emotion that permeates Harry’s pages: grief.

Kara and Nayeema taped this episode in London where they were joined by Brooke Hammerling, a strategic communications expert and Kara’s go-to source for all things royal. Before and after the interview, the trio looks at how people on both sides of the pond are responding to the book’s many revelations. And Brooke shares why a tell-all … may not have been the best strategy for Harry and Meghan.

You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter at @karaswisher and @nayeema.

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Ian Bremmer on Putin, Xi…and Elon Musk Jan 16, 2023

Show notes

Kara and Nayeema are taping from Europe this week, so today we decided to tackle all things international with Ian Bremmer, the president of Eurasia Group and the man Fortune 500 CEOs seek out to make sense of political risk and exposure. In the interview, Ian projects the Top Risks for 2023 -- from a rogue Russia to a global energy crunch.

He breaks down recent developments in Brazil, Ukraine, Iran and China. We double click on the risk of disinformation, divisive social media and other “weapons of mass disruption” rampant in a digital age. And Bremmer makes a bold comparison between CEOs in Silicon Valley and autocrats abroad saying: “Xi Jinping increasingly rules China the way that Putin rules Russia, the way that the Supreme Leader rules Iran, the way that Mark and Elon rule their companies.”

You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter at @karaswisher and @nayeema.

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What’s Next for GOP & Trump – w/Charlie Sykes & Manu Raju Jan 12, 2023

Show notes

The dust from last week’s once-in-a-century, marathon voting session in the House has settled, and Kevin McCarthy is finally Speaker of the House — for now. But what’s next? We talk to Manu Raju, CNN’s Chief Congressional Correspondent, and Charlie Sykes, a former conservative talk radio host and a founder of The Bulwark, to make sense of it all.

They run through some of the colorful personalities in the House Republican Conference, unpack how the Republican Party unraveled and discuss the opportunity for the Democrats to emerge as unified party. And, of course, they make predictions about Trump, Biden and more in 2024.

You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema.

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Are You “Dying of Politeness”? Geena Davis Explains. Jan 09, 2023

Show notes

Geena Davis became a breakout star in Hollywood, with an Oscar under her belt and starring roles in hit films like “A League of Their Own” and “Thelma & Louise.” Yet even all that success didn’t always protect her from feeling small in Hollywood. In this episode, we visit her memoir, “Dying of Politeness,” and Davis opens up about moments in her life and career when she felt too polite to speak up. Decades later, many of these moments remain raw.

Before and after the episode, Kara and Nayeema reflect on their own personal experiences, talk about the tax that women pay and discuss how Hollywood, Silicon Valley and other powerful industries have changed — and how they haven’t.

You can find Kara Swisher and Nayeema Raza on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema.

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