Casey Newton

Casey Newton is an American technology journalist best known for creating the Platformer newsletter. He previously worked as a senior editor at The Verge.

Career

Newton had been covering the Arizona State Legislature for The Arizona Republic, with an interest in technology as a hobby. Kristen Go, a former coworker at The Arizona Republic, invited him to work at the San Francisco Chronicle to cover tech companies and new technology. Later, he was a blogger and senior writer for CNET until 2013. Afterward, between 2013 and 2020, he covered Silicon Valley at The Verge and became a senior editor. During his time at The Verge, he wrote a daily newsletter called The Interface. His reporting on the effects of content moderation on workers has led to a contracting company cutting ties with Facebook.

''Platformer''

In 2020, Newton left to publish his own newsletter, Platformer, on Substack. with the paid subscription costing per month. Substack incentivized authors with advances, which Newton turned down, but accepted healthcare stipends., Platformer had 170,000 subscribers to the free edition. In January 2024, Newton decided to move Platformer off Substack to Ghost, in response to Substack's policies and handling of pro-Nazi publications on its platform.

''Hard Fork''

In late 2022, Newton began a weekly technology news podcast for the New York Times, called Hard Fork, co-hosting with Kevin Roose. Roose, in 2021, praised Newton with having "opinions hold sway among social media executives".

Personal life

Newton was born on June 19, 1980, and grew up in La Habra, California. He attended Sonora High School, where he served as a student board member and president of the debate club. He graduated from Northwestern University in 2002 with a Bachelor of Journalism.
He is gay and lives in San Francisco.