(Wall Street Journal) The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing to force more transparency from big private companies, as regulators grow concerned about the lack of oversight of the private fundraising that has fueled their rise. Private capital markets have become an increasingly popular way for companies to raise money in the U.S. in recent…

(Techcrunch) Chalk another one up for decentralized enforcement: France’s data protection watchdog has slapped headline-grabbing fines on Facebook and Google for failing to respect local (and pan-EU) cookie consent rules. Today, the CNIL said it’s fined Google €150M (~$170M) and Facebook €60M (~$68M) for breaching French law, following investigations of how they present tracking choices…

(HBR) The complex challenges the world faces today — climate change, the energy transition, and growing inequality just to name a few — have forced large, incumbent companies to take action, reinventing their business models in some cases or radically re-engineering their products, services, and operations in others. These actions are crucial to securing a…

(Time) Today marks the one-year anniversary of the 2021 insurrection, when thousands of protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol to dispute the election of President Joe Biden. They injured at least 140 officers, planted pipe bombs and vandalized lawmakers’ offices. Their actions ended in five deaths and tested the mettle of American democracy. Crucially, they organized…

(The Washington Post) Up until now, the so-called techlash that ushered in historic scrutiny of Silicon Valley companies has been mostly toothless, producing few new rules in the United States to rein in their conduct.  But 2022 may finally be the year that policymakers turn their fiery tech rhetoric into significant regulation of the industry…

(Techcrunch) Last week, in response to a Black entrepreneur who said VCs are racist, venture capitalist and entrepreneur Joe Lonsdale attributed disparities in venture capital investing to “average black culture.” “A real view: average black culture needs to step it up and stop having as many kids born out of wedlock (statistical indicator of underperformance)…

(The Atlantic) During a lecture in my Modern Political Economy class this fall, I explained—as I have to many students over the course of four decades in academia—that capitalism’s adaptation to globalization and technological change had produced gains for all of society. I went on to say that capitalism has been an engine of wealth…

(New York Times) Brandon Silverman’s last day at Facebook was Oct. 8, and like many others who have sold their companies to a Silicon Valley giant, had their shares vest and departed, he planned to take a year off to spend time with his children and figure out what to do next. He had been…

(BBC) A former TikTok moderator is suing the company, claiming it failed to protect her mental health after “constant” exposure to traumatic video content. Candie Frazier says she reviewed videos that featured “extreme and graphic violence” for up to 12 hours a day.She says she suffers from “significant psychological trauma”, including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic…

(Medium) It’s hard to believe that just over a year ago, the seeds of VentureESG were yet to be planted. Initially, we even had trouble finding people in the venture capital world who knew what ESG was, let alone those who were actively engaging with it, in any meaningful manner. The typical response when we…