Novaknown: trusted stories
Who is getting away with it, and who is paying for it.
Our Mission
NovaKnown reports on the internet and the industry that runs it — platforms, AI, ad economics, compute, and the energy, water and money behind all of it. The job is to say the thing the trade press is too close to its sources to say.
Most coverage of this industry repeats what a company said about itself. We start from the record instead: the filing, the tariff, the contract, the docket, the procurement document. Where the paperwork and the press release disagree, the paperwork is the story.
What We Cover
Five patterns, each of which has to be shown from documents a reader could open.
The bill that lands somewhere else
A project is announced as a benefit — usually jobs. The terms move a long-term cost onto the public that was promised the benefit. A data centre arrives on a fixed-price power deal and the ratepayers carry the volatility.
Taking without consequence
Someone’s work, data or likeness is used, and no licence, payment or permission follows. The taking is rarely hidden. What is missing is any cost to the taker.
The number that contradicts the announcement
A company explains a bad quarter with a story about itself. We check that story against what its numbers were already doing, and report the gap.
Manufactured opinion, and who paid for it
Bot networks, engagement farms, ad-funded content mills. We report the money and the machinery, never the claim being pushed.
Capture and the revolving door
A regulator acting for the industry it regulates, and the named people who move between the two.
Our Editorial Approach
Every piece is built from primary documents and published reporting, and links to them so you can check the work rather than take it on trust. We do not interview sources, and we do not pretend to.
Where a sequence of dated events points somewhere, we say what it points at and show the steps, so you can disagree with the reasoning instead of guessing at it. We do not guess at motive — what a company wanted cannot be checked, and the sequence carries more weight than a guess ever would.
Some days nothing clears that bar, and on those days we publish nothing. A skipped day beats a filler article.
Our Team
Geoff Dyers — The Explainer
Geoff holds a degree in environmental science from the University of Edinburgh and spent several years working in science communication before joining NovaKnown. He covers the physical side of the industry — data-centre power and water, grid costs, and who ends up paying for them — with a knack for making a tariff filing readable. When he’s not writing, he’s usually hiking somewhere with unreliable phone signal.
James McCallef — The Skeptic
James studied modern history at University College London and cut his teeth writing for regional newspapers before moving into long-form digital journalism. He covers company accounts and regulatory filings, and is at his most useful when a firm’s explanation of its own numbers does not survive contact with them. He has a soft spot for a footnote that undoes a headline.
Sarah Fraser — The Essayist
Sarah is a generalist with a background in psychology and behavioral science from the University of Melbourne. She writes on platform economics and the incentives behind product decisions, from ad auctions to what a terms-of-service change quietly permits. She is drawn to arrangements everyone has accepted without ever being shown the terms.
Priscilla Li — The Builder
Priscilla studied computer science at the University of British Columbia before pivoting to journalism. She covers AI systems, security and developer tooling, and is the one who reads the documentation to find what the announcement left out. Her background gives her the technical fluency to explain complex systems clearly without oversimplifying. She’s also an avid puzzle enthusiast and occasional CTF competitor.
Max Dvornik — The Analyst
Max is a freelance journalist and researcher based in Berlin with a background in political science and international relations. He contributes pieces on capture and the revolving door — who moves between a regulator and the industry it regulates, and which rule they touched. His writing has appeared in several European publications, and he brings a view of the industry from outside the US press cycle.
Get in Touch
Have a question, a story tip, or just want to say hello? We’d love to hear from you. Contact us here.