Former CEO & Founder, Buzzfeed
BuzzFeed CEO We can build a better internet
BuzzFeed CEO We can build a better internet
Brian Stelter sits down with Jonah Peretti, the CEO of BuzzFeed, to discuss the internet's "dumpster fire" problems, Mark Zuckerberg's privacy memo, and recent layoffs at BuzzFeed and other digital media companies. Peretti says people should join the "fight" for a better internet.
About Jonah Peretti
Jonah Peretti, co-founder and former CEO of BuzzFeed, announced in May 2026 that he had agreed to sell 52% of the company to Byron Allen for $120 million. Peretti described the deal as a "life raft" for BuzzFeed, which was losing money and at risk of shutting down. He will take on a new role as president of BuzzFeed AI, while Allen will become CEO of BuzzFeed. Peretti said he was "very excited" about the deal and that it would provide liquidity and resources for the company, adding that he would have the opportunity to spend more time on AI, "the thing that I'm most passionate about." Reflecting on BuzzFeed's history, Peretti said the "original sin of digital media" was betting that Facebook would pay for content, which he noted was "accurate" but "short-lived." He also stated that the company "missed the window" to go public via SPAC without debt, instead completing a Complex acquisition that left BuzzFeed with debt when the SPAC market cooled. Peretti characterized Facebook's decision to discontinue content payments as "a huge blind spot that the tech industry has."
Transcript (9 segments)
✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
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Interviewer0:00
Jonah Peretti, the CEO of BuzzFeed, says the Internet is at a crossroads right now in his annual strategy memo. A member of staff probably said there's a flaming dumpster fire on one side dividing people, but on the other side of the road, it's a source of joy and truth and cat videos bringing people together. So Peretti has some thoughts about how to put out the fire and make more room for the cats and the joy. I spoke with him at the South by Southwest Conference this weekend.
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Jonah Peretti0:25
I think there's been times when people have had just exuberant love for the Internet. A few years ago, there was a lot more love for the Internet, all these amazing things you could share with your friends, learning about the world, connecting with other people. And then there's times when people think the Internet is a mess, and you see content by anti-vaxxers and racists and hate and online flame wars and trolls. There's a lot more focus on that right now. For a lot of reasons, part of it is some of the shifts we've had in our culture in the last year or couple of years. But I think it's important to remember what is good about the Internet, and it's important to fight for that, and to realize that we have a choice in the matter, and we can actually work together to build a better Internet.
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Interviewer1:10
Has the pendulum swung too far in the direction of people focusing on all the damage that can be done online?
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Jonah Peretti1:16
I think that part of what you have to do is put the dumpster fire out. So paying attention to all the problems of the Internet is important because then you can fix the problems. But you can't just focus on getting rid of the bad content. You also have to figure out ways to build an ecosystem where really great content can thrive. You need to do both of those at once.
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Interviewer1:33
In the press, sometimes there's a focus on digital media struggles and all these companies have had layoffs. What does the fact of the recent BuzzFeed layoffs tell us about your business? What does it mean about your business?
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Jonah Peretti1:45
I think the biggest thing it means is that the industry is shifting from a period where there was a lot of venture funding and investment from strategics in digital media, when the focus was growth: can you grow bigger than your competitors in the digital space? I think we did a good job outrunning everyone and getting bigger than them, being the leading digital media company. I think we've seen a shift now towards more austerity because the focus now is not can you outrun everyone, it's can you outlast everyone. The digital media companies are starting to be run like real businesses.
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Interviewer2:20
Where do you see this going? Let's take the thought that yes, the platforms are going to clean up this mess. What do you want to do to help take advantage of that?
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Jonah Peretti2:28
I know Mark Zuckerberg wrote this memo recently, a privacy memo. I think that what you're seeing in that memo and also in the broader industry is that the platforms have gotten themselves into this position where they're kind of in between being a phone company and a media company. Nobody would tell AT&T you should moderate racist conversations or hateful things said over the phone. It's a communication, it's the First Amendment right, it should be protected. And then a media company wouldn't put anti-vaxxer content or content that is inappropriate. So if you're the phone company or a media company, you don't have these problems. If you're this weird hybrid between the two, it creates all these problems. We ended up spending billions of dollars hiring moderators and trying to deal with the fact that you're not quite a communications company, you're not quite a media company, you're in between, and you're getting attacked on both sides. You're getting attacked for censoring and not doing freedom of speech, and you're getting attacked for not having quality content.
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Interviewer3:35
Complicated indeed. You can hear the rest of my conversation with Peretti on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or your podcast purveyor of choice.