Image by wikimedia

Eli Pariser has an aw-shucks wholesomeness born of his upbringing in small-town Maine. He also has a razor-sharp knowledge of the Internet that quickly won him an eight-figure injection of venture capital. He’s even faster at garnering a million online signatures to end an injustice in some far-flung corner of Kansas or Kazakhstan.

At 32, Pariser is already a wise old men of the web. He cut his teeth by launching an online petition against what he saw as a wave of anti-Muslim hysteria after the 9/11 terror attacks. He led the fight against the Iraq war on the then-fresh frontier of the Internet. He turned MoveOn.org into a potent weapon on the left wing of the culture wars.

But Pariser is more than a partisan hack or a savvy hacker. His 2011 book, “The Filter Bubble,” made the crucial point that by tailoring information choices to users’ preferences, search engines and web algorithms push Americans further apart every day.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

In 2013, Pariser co-founded Upworthy.com, which has taken the Internet by storm and is now one of the fastest-growing web sites. It aims to make important content go viral, rather than the usual diet of celebrity skin and gotcha sound bites.

What could be more Jewish than bringing the world together, giving us all tools to make it a better place, and — who knows — maybe making a few dollars one day?

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount