BuzzFeed seeks to counter right-wing vibe shift

BuzzFeed is considering building its own social media platform to compete with the big players and better distribute its content — and offer an alternative to the rightward, masculine drift of American public culture. In a Slack message last week shared with Semafor, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti said that the company wanted to avoid being at the whim of major tech platforms that have long been the distributor of BuzzFeed’s content.

“It’s clear we can’t rely on the platforms to create a positive environment for content creators like us. I’m beginning to think we need to create our own social media platform to give our audience a place on the internet that reflects their values,” he wrote. “It would be a challenging project but I think there is a huge opening right now that someone needs to fill. Why not us?”

The BuzzFeed founder told staff that he hoped to position the company as an alternative for people who felt alienated by the cultural drift of the country and among tech founders. Peretti suggested that Meta’s recent decision to stop algorithmically suppressing political and news content could be beneficial for political content on BuzzFeed-owned HuffPost. “Big role for us to play as the underdog publisher keeping truth and joy alive, especially for women who are left out of this vibe shift to ‘masculine energy’ from Trump, Musk, Zuck, Rogan, et al.”

Peretti’s musings on Buzzfeed and the future of HuffPost come at a difficult moment for that outlet. As Semafor previously reported, the longtime liberal blog announced in recent weeks that it would be laying off employees and encouraging buyouts for longtime staff. The publication’s editor-in-chief announced in an email that she would be laying herself off to save it from more substantial job cuts.