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Silicon Valley giants like Facebook, Twitter and Uber have for some time been subjects of books, movies and long exposés—and now it's YouTube's turn, with a new book deal for Bloomberg journalist Mark Bergen's "Like, Comment, Subscribe."
Why it matters: “It’s a technical and cultural story that hasn’t been told in its entirety yet,” says Bergen when asked why he chose that particular star in Alphabet-Google’s constellation.
- He adds that people are increasingly interested in understand the technologies that are deeply shaping their internet lives — making YouTube and its video recommendation algorithm prime subjects to dive into.
- YouTube, like its peers, is wrestling with questions of free speech and governance of the internet.
- YouTube is also a potential target of the growing antitrust probes into Big Tech, a topic Bergen says will be a "fun question" to explore through his reporting. (Though he adds he doesn't believe breaking YouTube off from Alphabet-Google would ever happen.)
The big picture: Bergen’s book is the latest in a long list of projects in the last year or so chronicling the tech industry’s bad behavior and reckoning with the dark side of its influence.
- Others whose stories have become subjects of books include Uber, WeWork, Instagram, Tesla, and Facebook.
- Bergen's book, which will be published by Viking, has no release date yet.
Go deeper: Silicon Valley, get ready for your closeup