iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ziggy West @ziggywest.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Journalism needs your help to survive. We specifically need help building awareness and getting this issue in front of foundations and large media funders - so please share!

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Ziggy West @ziggywest.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The changes at Google have come at a time when most news orgs are still struggling to find stability from the changes at Facebook.

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Ziggy West @ziggywest.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

It’s a warning that the decisions we make now will determine whether we have a free press and a functioning democracy in the years to come. It’s about Truthout’s survival but it’s also about the survival of the fourth and fifth estates as we know them.

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Ziggy West @ziggywest.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This week we published the second in a series of op-eds about the direct impact that Google’s ongoing transformation into an AI-summary engine is having on journalism. This isn’t the usual call for help you get from nonprofits.

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Ziggy West @ziggywest.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

For the last few years the strategy has been more about mitigating the traffic and revenue loss from Facebook than about growth. I don’t know of a single newsroom that hasn’t spent the last few years mitigating losses. I know many newsrooms that have sunsetted or made painful cuts.

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Ziggy West @ziggywest.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

We were amongst the first to warn of the impact these algorithmic changes would have on journalism but struggled to get broader support. Our readers stepped up as much as they could and we tightened our belts where possible.

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Ziggy West @ziggywest.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The last few years have not been easy. When Mark Zuckerberg sacrificed Facebook to ads and AI slop for revenue for his Metaverse and AI projects we lost 40% of our traffic overnight.

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Ziggy West @ziggywest.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

We were the first online-only news org to unionize and have industry-leading benefits, including staff sabbaticals, unlimited sick days, 20 weeks of parental leave and 5% 401k, 529 and student loan matches.

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Ziggy West @ziggywest.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

80% of our $3 million+ budget comes from donations from readers, 8,000 of whom give monthly. Our average donation is under $20. The remaining 20% of our revenue comes from a handful of foundations and large donors who care about our work.

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Ziggy West @ziggywest.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

We don't have a gazillionaire owner, gazillionaire former owner, gazillionaire shadow owner or the relatives of gazillionaires on our board.

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Ziggy West @ziggywest.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

For 25 years, Truthout has painstakingly built and maintained one of the most enviable traffic-centered business models in the journalism industry. We publish 365 days a year and every single article is free for anyone to read, without ads or a paywall.

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Ziggy West @ziggywest.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Trump's UFC Freedom 250 showed us what Zuckerberg’s million dollar donation to Trump’s inauguration and Facebook’s suppression or journalism bought him. Product placement and some personal rebranding ahead of The Social Reckoning movie release.

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Ziggy West @ziggywest.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

"Whether Facebook and Google are capitulating to Trump due to fear of economic retribution, shared politics, or a desire to increase their stock prices or keep up with technology, the impact is devastating for journalism and democracy."

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Ziggy West @ziggywest.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

In our recent Truthout op-ed about Google's increasing use of AI summaries in search and the destructive impact it will have on journalism, @mayaschenwar.bsky.social, @neginowl.bsky.social and I questioned big tech's motivations and wrote about the indisputable outcome:

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Ziggy West @ziggywest.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

At one point Joe Rogan declared “Mark Zuckerberg and Meta are doing so much for people.”

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Ziggy West @ziggywest.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Half of the event was ads for betting sites, crypto. Starlink, AI and the Navy. One of the fighters left the ring after winning, walked into the crowd and shook Mark Zuckerberg’s hand. Paramount+ had an embedded Threads box on the screen and ran Meta glasses ads throughout.

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Ziggy West @ziggywest.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

I watched some of Trump’s UFC Freedom 250 as opposition research on Sunday. What a sad, bizarre world, saturated with hate and nationalism. It also exposed some of the reasons why Meta and other social media and tech companies have gone all in on supporting Trump this term.

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Reposted by Ziggy West

Truthout @truthout.org · 05/11/2025

Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayoral race on Tuesday, marking a historic win for the left over a high-powered, moneyed coalition of establishment forces that came together in hopes of defeating him.