Jeff Horwitz

Jeff Horwitz
Jeff Horwitz looking to his right and speaking while gesturing with his right hand
Jeff Horwitz at Knight Media Forum 2025
Born
Jeffrey Eric Horwitz

1981 (age 44–45)
EducationPomona College (BA)
Columbia University (Fellow)
OccupationJournalist
Known forThe Facebook Files reports
Notable workBroken Code: Inside Facebook and the Fight to Expose Its Toxic Secrets

Jeff Horwitz is an investigative technology reporter for Thomson Reuters and a former reporter for The Wall Street Journal and other publications. A Pulitzer Prize recipient, he was heavily involved in breaking the 2021 Facebook leak, and wrote the book Broken Code: Inside Facebook and the Fight to Expose Its Toxic Secrets. Horwitz's book is the base of a feature film, The Social Reckoning (2026), written and directed by Aaron Sorkin; Horwitz is portrayed in the film by Jeremy Allen White.

Early life

Jeffrey Eric Horwitz was born in 1981, in Alameda County, California, went to The College Preparatory School in Oakland, California and graduated in 1999. He then attended Pomona College, in Claremont, California, graduating in 2003. In 2013, he received a Knight-Bagehot fellowship at Columbia University Journalism School in New York City.

Career

Horwitz was a reporter for Associated Press, American Banker, Legal Times, The San Bernardino Sun and The Washington City Paper.

In 2019, Horwitz became a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in San Francisco.

Horwitz used LinkedIn to message many Facebook employees in the hopes of hearing back from anyone. In early December 2020, on the day that Facebook dissolved its civic integrity team, Frances Haugen contacted Horwitz.

In early December 2020, Horwitz first met Frances Haugen on a hiking trail near the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, California. In 2021, Horwitz published the first piece of The Facebook Files.

Horwitz became a reporter for Reuters in San Francisco.

Personal life

Horwitz lives in Oakland with his wife.

Awards

In 2009, Horwitz won the Overseas Press Club (OPC) Foundation Scholarship in memory of Fred Wiegold, "for the pursuit of academic goals".

In 2021, Horwitz and the Wall Street Journal staff won the George Polk Award for Business Reporting, for "Facebook Files".

In 2022, Jeff Horwitz, Georgia Wells, Deepa Seetharaman, Keach Hagey, Justin Scheck, Newley Purnell, Sam Schechner, and Emily Glazer, won the Gerald Loeb Award for Beat Reporting, for The Wall Street Journal series, The Facebook Files.

In 2024, Jeff Horwitz and Katherine Blunt, for The Dark Side of Meta's Algorithms in The Wall Street Journal won the Gerald Loeb Award for Beat Reporting, in a tie with Reuters.

In 2026, Jeff Horwitz and Engen Tham of Reuters won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting, for reporting on Meta Platforms.

Horwitz has won the Christopher J Welles Memorial Prize (Columbia Journalism School) and the New York Press Club's Gold Keyboard.

Works

References

  1. ↑ Horwitz, Jeff (October 10, 2024). Broken Code: Inside Facebook and the Fight to Expose Its Toxic Secrets. Penguin Random House. ISBN 978-1-80499-577-8.
  2. ↑ Roush, Chris (May 4, 2026). "Reuters wins two Pulitzers; SF Chronicle and Bloomberg also win". Talking Biz News. Retrieved June 13, 2026.
  3. ↑ Gross, Terry (September 23, 2021). "What Leaked Internal Documents Reveal About The Damage Facebook Has Caused". NPR. Retrieved November 30, 2025.
  4. ↑ Symonds, Alexandria (November 11, 2023). "Inside Facebook's Dangerous Battle Between Integrity and Engagement". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023. Retrieved December 1, 2025.
  5. ↑ Gentile, Dan (June 25, 2025). "Another Facebook movie is coming, and it's gonna be dark". SFGate.
  6. ↑ "Jeffrey Eric Horwitz born on July 18, 1981 in Alameda County, California". California Birth Index. Retrieved October 28, 2026.
  7. ↑ The College Preparatory School (February 5, 2024). "Alumni Common Classroom!". Instagram. Retrieved June 13, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Reuters Enterprise team expands with hires of Jeff Horwitz and Gavin Finch". Reuters. May 30, 2025. Retrieved October 25, 2026.
  9. ↑ "Jeff Horwitz and Engen Tham of Reuters". The Pulitzer Prizes. 2026. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
  10. ↑ "Knight-Bagehot Fellows". Columbia Journalism School. Retrieved August 26, 2026.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 "Jeff Horwitz and Engen Tham of Reuters". pulitzer.org | The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved October 28, 2026.
  12. ↑ Stein, Ellin (October 9, 2026). "What's Fact and What's Fiction in The Social Reckoning". Slate (magazine). Retrieved October 28, 2026.
  13. ↑ Horwitz, Jeff; Stecklow, Steve (October 5, 2026). "The real reporter behind 'The Social Reckoning' on what Aaron Sorkin's film gets right — and what it changes". Reuters. Retrieved October 28, 2026.
  14. ↑ Stelter, Brian (October 8, 2021). "How a LinkedIn message paved the way for 'The Facebook Files'". WRAL-TV. CNN Business. Retrieved October 28, 2026.
  15. ↑ Smith, Ben (October 25, 2021). "Inside the Big Facebook Leak". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 25, 2021. Retrieved October 28, 2026.
  16. ↑ Jong-Fast, Molly (October 31, 2021). "How WSJ Reporter Jeff Horwitz Got the Facebook Whistleblower to Talk". The Daily Beast. Retrieved June 13, 2026.
  17. ↑ "The Facebook Files". The Wall Street Journal. September 15, 2021. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved June 13, 2026.
  18. ↑ "20th Conference on Elder Abuse". events.humanitix.com. May 20, 2026. Retrieved October 28, 2026.
  19. ↑ "Jeff Horwitz joins Reuters in the new role of Tech Investigations Reporter". Overseas Press Club Foundation. June 13, 2026. Retrieved August 26, 2026.
  20. ↑ "2009 OPC Winners". OPC Foundation. Retrieved October 28, 2026.
  21. ↑ "Scholar Awards". OPC Foundation. Retrieved October 28, 2026.
  22. ↑ "Past George Polk Award Winners". Long Island University. Retrieved October 28, 2026.
  23. ↑ Daillak, Jonathan (September 30, 2022). "Winners of the 2022 Gerald Loeb Awards Announced by UCLA Anderson at New York City Event" (Press release). UCLA Anderson School of Management. PR Newswire.
  24. ↑ "Historical Winners". Anderson School of Management. UCLA. December 9, 2022. Retrieved October 28, 2026.
  25. ↑ "The Dark Side of Meta's Algorithms". Wall Street Journal. October 11, 2024. Retrieved October 28, 2026.
  26. ↑ "Is Social Media Threatening Democracy?". downtownsf.org | Downtown San Francisco. Retrieved October 28, 2026.