Understood: Who Broke the Internet? – Details, episodes & analysis
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Understood: Who Broke the Internet?
CBC
News
Frequency: 1 episode/28d. Total Eps: 31
<p>Host Cory Doctorow coined the word "enshittification" to describe the state of the modern internet: a broken down, decaying place, once full of promise, now overrun with intrusive ads, hateful trolls, aggressive algorithms, zero privacy, and AI-generated slop, with every billionaire tech titan in a race to the bottom to bleed their users and their customers alike.</p><p><br></p><p>It can feel like it was inevitable — but it didn't have to be this way.The modern internet is the result of decisions made by powerful people, at key moments in history, despite repeated warnings about where it would lead.</p><p><br></p><p>In <strong>Understood: Who Broke the Internet?</strong>, Doctorow traces the downward spiral from the heady days of '90s tech-optimism through to today's rotten "enshitternet." You'll meet everyone from visionaries to villains to regular people just trying to survive in today's online world. And you'll discover who broke the internet — and, more importantly, a plan to fix it. </p><p><br></p><p>Know more, now. Understood is an anthology podcast that takes you out of the daily news cycle and inside the events, people, and cultural moments you want to know more about. Over a handful of episodes, each season unfolds as a story, hosted by a well-connected reporter, and rooted in journalism you can trust. Driven by insight and fueled by curiosity…The stories of our time: Understood.</p><p><br></p><p>Season 1 - The Naked Emperor: the rise and fall of bitcoin king Sam Bankman-Fried.</p><p>Season 2 - The Pornhub Empire: the story of how a Montreal-founded company came to dominate the adult industry.</p><p>Season 3 - Modi’s India: how one man rose from poverty to the peak of political power.</p><p>Season 4 - Céline: the surprising cultural, political and business alchemy that created a superstar.</p><p>Season 5 - Who Broke the Internet? The internet sucks now, and it happened on purpose.</p>
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31/07/2025#1🇨🇦 Canada - news
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30/07/2025#5
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Introducing Céline: Understood
Season 4
mardi 8 octobre 2024 • Duration 02:56
<p>Céline Dion is having a moment. It’s not her first. And millions of fans are hoping it won’t be her last. While Céline’s international stardom seems obvious now, it was all so unlikely. This four-part series hosted by Céline expert Thomas Leblanc explores the surprising cultural, political and business alchemy that created one of the most enduring superstars the planet has ever seen. Four episodes releasing weekly starting on Tuesday, October 15, 2024.</p>
BONUS: Modi’s weak win
Season 3
mercredi 5 juin 2024 • Duration 18:10
<p>Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have narrowly won a third term, but without a majority government, his grip on power appears weaker than ever. On this bonus episode of Modi’s India: Understood, host Salimah Shivji and producer Joyita Sengupta talk about the surprising results of the Indian election. </p><p><br></p><p>Access the transcript for this episode <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/transcript-modi-s-india-bonus-episode-1.7312610" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>here</strong></a>.</p>
The Pornhub Empire Episode 1: Free porn for everyone
Season 2 · Episode 1
lundi 11 mars 2024 • Duration 27:01
<p>How did a handful of competitive foosball players in Montreal create the world’s largest online porn site? And what do a picturesque Dutch cabin, thousands of pornographic VHS tapes, and the subprime mortgage crisis have to do with it?</p><p><br></p><p>This is episode 1 of The Pornhub Empire: Understood. Hosted by Samantha Cole.</p><p><br></p><p>Full transcript <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/transcript-the-pornhub-empire-episode-1-1.7121533" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
Introducing: The Pornhub Empire
Season 2
jeudi 22 février 2024 • Duration 02:12
<p>Pornhub — that site you only access on your browser’s incognito mode? It gets way more views than Netflix. But because of the sheepishness and stigma around porn, it’s treated as if it’s fringe, instead of what it really is: one of Canada’s largest cultural exports.</p><p><br></p><p>In The Pornhub Empire: Understood, hear the story of how a Montreal-founded company came to dominate the adult industry — only to have its reputation obliterated in a massive scandal — and where it stands today.</p><p><br></p><p>The Pornhub Empire is a new season of Understood, from the CBC. Four episodes, starting March 11.</p>
Bonus: Click Here from Recorded Future News
mercredi 21 février 2024 • Duration 28:14
<p>A former American IRS investigator responsible for some of the earliest dark market takedowns has been in Nigerian custody since February. Neither Nigerian nor the US authorities seem to be distinguishing Tigran Gambaryan from Binance, the company where he works. The Click Here podcast from Recorded Future News is a bi-weekly tech news podcast and this episode features Jacob Silverman, the host of The Naked Emperor: Understood to help dive into this story. More episodes of Click Here are available at: <a href="https://therecord.media/podcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://therecord.media/podcast</a></p>
The Naked Emperor BONUS | Guilty: The fall of Sam Bankman-Fried
Season 1
lundi 6 novembre 2023 • Duration 26:44
<p>A jury has found FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried guilty on seven counts, from conspiracy to fraud, following the collapse of his crypto exchange last year. Speaking with Front Burner host Daemon Fairless, Jacob Silverman walks us through Bankman-Fried’s trial and explains what the verdict means for FTX customers and the cryptocurrency industry.</p>
The Naked Emperor BONUS: The Trial of Sam Bankman-Fried
Season 1
lundi 2 octobre 2023 • Duration 25:57
<p>Today we bring you a bonus episode of The Naked Emperor. As Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial kicks off in New York, host Jacob Silverman is back to bring you up to speed on the latest. What’s happened at the courthouse in the lead-up to the trial? And what’s expected in the weeks to come? Joining Jacob is Zeke Faux, an investigative reporter at Bloomberg, and the author of “Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall.”</p>
The Naked Emperor BONUS: Binance and its CEO sued in major crypto case
Season 1
jeudi 8 juin 2023 • Duration 23:44
<p>Jacob Silverman sits down on CBC's Front Burner podcast to discuss how the biggest crypto exchange in the world is being sued by an American regulator accusing Binance and its billionaire founder of breaking a string of laws and misusing investor funds. Changpeng Zhao and his company say they will fight back "vigorously."</p>
The Naked Emperor Episode 4: It Takes a Village
Season 1 · Episode 4
lundi 3 avril 2023 • Duration 34:12
<p>Sam Bankman-Fried couldn’t have marketed FTX to the masses on his own. He had help – from the institutional investors who brought in the big bucks, to the celebrity endorsers who told the public that FTX was “a safe and easy way to get into crypto.” One FTX brand ambassador was Kevin O’Leary, from the reality show Shark Tank. Host Jacob Silverman questions O’Leary about his due diligence before accepting the multimillion dollar endorsement deal. We also hear from everyday investors and hopeful beneficiaries of SBF’s charitable largesse and learn how their hopes were dashed on the rocks of alleged fraud. Zooming out, we learn that a lot of people may be responsible for what happened to FTX and that the losses, especially in a big alleged financial fraud scheme, can reverberate widely. Fourteen years into the crypto experiment, we survey the damage and the successes, and ask what we can learn from the disaster that Sam Bankman-Fried left in his wake. For transcripts of this series, please visit <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/the-naked-emperor-transcripts-listen-1.6784363" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
The Naked Emperor Episode 3: Busted
Season 1 · Episode 3
lundi 27 mars 2023 • Duration 32:06
<p>In the weeks after FTX filed for bankruptcy Sam stuck to his story: he did not commit fraud. FTX’s post-collapse CEO claimed the company had been a managerial and financial disaster, writing that he had never seen “such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information.” In response to his cratering public image, Sam Bankman-Fried talked. A lot. He exhibited an almost reckless desire to tell his side of things, insisting he could explain – and vindicate – himself. It was an exceptionally bizarre move for someone who had lost not just his personal fortune, but potentially the funds of millions of customers. Even as U.S. prosecutors filed charges, and his former friends turned on him, SBF was unwavering. With the legal odds against him, why would SBF risk so much by refusing to shut up? Update: Since this episode was published, U.S. prosecutors have added a new charge against Sam Bankman-Fried, accusing him of conspiring to bribe one or more Chinese government officials. The charge has not been proven in court. For transcripts of this series, please visit <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/the-naked-emperor-transcripts-listen-1.6784363" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
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