Editor’s note: In light of Aron D’Souza’s emphasis on transparency and accountability, we are presenting the complete transcript of our discussion, held on April 14, 2026. This transcript has undergone minor editing for improved clarity and conciseness.
Aron D’Souza: I gained significant insights from our conversation last week. It raises a compelling intellectual question: if one possessed unlimited resources, how would you redesign journalism—or more broadly, truth-telling—to elevate the quality of our society?
Rebecca: Let’s begin with the fundamentals. What is the name of the company you’re launching? What is its financial backing, who are your investors, and what specific problem does it aim to solve?
Aron: Allow me to start by defining the problem. According to Gallup, in 1970, public trust in courts, scientists, and journalists was remarkably similar, with 70% to 80% of Americans trusting these institutions. Today, trust in courts remains largely unchanged, and while scientists have seen a slight decrease post-COVID pandemic, trust in journalism has plummeted from 70% to just 30% over five decades. This precipitous decline is the core issue I am addressing. The company we are establishing is called Objection. It leverages artificial intelligence alongside human investigators to fact-check any form of public reporting, effectively creating the first comprehensive accountability system for journalism. This initiative is informed by my experience leading the Gawker lawsuit for Peter Thiel, a process that took 10 years and $10 million for Hulk Hogan to achieve justice—a timeframe and cost prohibitive for most individuals. My aim is to build a system that grants everyone access to justice, fact-finding, and truth, far more affordably and efficiently. We have successfully raised a multi-million dollar seed round, with investments from Peter Thiel, Balaji Srinivasan, and other venture capitalists.
Rebecca: So, you are launching this week?
Aron: We are scheduled to launch tomorrow.
Rebecca: Is this, then, a platform that empowers individuals to object to published reporting?
Aron: Yes. The initial consideration is philosophical: what constitutes truth? I contend that truth is not merely a feeling or a "vibe"; it is a rigorous process. Society possesses two highly effective processes for truth-finding: the adversarial court system and the scientific method. Adversarial courts involve a plaintiff and a defendant presenting often conflicting narratives, with extensive evidence adjudicated by an impartial judge. The scientific method, conversely, relies on the repeatability of experiments. For instance, if an objective journalist were to report on the launch of Objection, another objective journalist should ideally produce an almost identical account. These are highly trusted methods for uncovering truth, offering valuable frameworks for reimagining how we pursue truth. Ultimately, this represents society’s most formidable challenge. A civilization cannot endure without a shared understanding of truth, and currently, we lack an agreed-upon system for finding it. I am endeavoring to build one.
Rebecca: Why is this not simply a better-funded, AI-powered iteration of Pravda? Elon Musk, in 2018, embarked on a Twitter tirade after receiving negative coverage about Tesla, expressing a desire to construct a reputation system specifically for disciplining critics.
Aron: To my knowledge, he never actually built such a system.
Rebecca: Right, so this feels quite similar.
Aron: The critique regarding the involvement of billionaires in this project is noteworthy, yet nearly every media outlet is owned by a billionaire. Your own publication, for instance, was owned by Apollo Global Management, led by Leon Black, who has his own controversial history. (Disclaimer: TechCrunch is no longer owned by Apollo.) The typical response to such concerns is the separation of editorial and advertising responsibilities. I believe a similar argument applies here: there is a clear distinction between my investors and the software we are developing.
Rebecca: That was not my question. My question was: this bears a strong resemblance to Pravda, and you are actually implementing it.
Aron: Musk’s Pravda was never actualized. His Twitter commentary, however, was intellectually intriguing because a fundamental principle of journalism is holding power accountable. But who, then, holds journalism accountable? Government oversight would be universally uncomfortable, potentially leading to a Chinese Communist Party-style apparatus. Therefore, what constitutes an effective, private-sector-driven approach? The crucial distinction—as Musk’s Pravda never published white papers and its methodology remains unclear—is that we are building a trustless system. I draw an analogy between Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia. Britannica relied on stringent editorial standards, featuring articles by esteemed professors from Oxford and Cambridge, a distinguished editorial board, and a rigorous publication process. Wikipedia adopted a radically different philosophy: trust the software, not the people. By enabling widespread contributions, a Nature report demonstrated—within a few years—that Wikipedia was comparable in accuracy to Britannica (Fact check: The Nature report found that Wikipedia was approximately as accurate as Britannica, not that it had fewer errors). Our system requires no trust in me or my investors. It demands trust in a process that is fully documented on our website, with all technical white papers available for download.
Rebecca: You advocate trusting the system, yet the system itself is designed and governed by individuals, including you. What basis can foster trust in this system?
Aron: One should examine the technology and the process itself. We don’t distrust Wikipedia because we distrust Jimmy Wales as an individual.
Rebecca: No, but I am not familiar with Jimmy Wales. I am, however, aware of Peter Thiel and Balaji Srinivasan. Peter Thiel financed a lawsuit that resulted in the bankruptcy of a media company, and you spearheaded that lawsuit. Why should journalists place trust in a system backed by him to be neutral?
Aron: Would you characterize the accountability brought upon Gawker as negative—they published an unauthorized sex tape, and a free and independent jury in Pinellas County—
Rebecca: That was not my question. I will answer yours if you answer mine.
Aron: Alright—please reiterate the question for me.
Rebecca: Why should journalists trust a system supported by Peter Thiel and managed by the individual responsible for the downfall of a media company? Balaji Srinivasan is also notably anti-institution and pro-network-states. This doesn't suggest neutral infrastructure; it appears to originate from actors with a history of antagonism toward the press.
Aron: I view it as a history of healthy skepticism. Furthermore, existing fact-checking institutions, such as ProPublica, have not proven particularly effective. Substantial funding has been directed towards fact-checking, especially on social media, over the past decade.
Rebecca: What leads you to conclude they haven’t performed well? PolitiFact and ProPublica exist; I don't believe they are routinely publishing inaccuracies or misinformation.
Aron: If their efforts were truly effective, the decline in media trust would have ceased.
Rebecca: I must respectfully disagree. I believe the drop in media trust doesn't automatically imply a lack of truth in news reporting. The core issue is perception, a perception often manipulated by powerful individuals with
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