We are only beginning to grapple with the rise of Big Tech.

In October 2017, all three levels of government joined Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., to announce plans to create a smart city on 12 acres of Toronto’s eastern waterfront called the Quayside.

For the next eight months, the coverage of Sidewalk Toronto was celebratory and reactive. That was until The Logic, an innovation-focused online media platform, launched, in June 2018. Two days later, reporter Amanda Roth published her first story on the project, revealing that several Sidewalk Labs-affiliated companies stood to benefit from the Waterfront project and that they had already begun lobbying government officials extensively to do so. Her reporting resulted in strong blowback from the company’s public relations firm, who demanded retractions.  But, The Logic was not intimidated.

Roth, Schwartz, Hemmadi and Craig went on to publish more than a dozen exclusive stories on the Sidewalk Toronto project over the next five months including: the firings of key personnel, internal concerns over the handling of data privacy, and the land value of the real estate involved. Of particular note, The Logic became the first news organization in recent history to confirm a provincial auditor-general audit in the midst of the investigation.

The Logic’s stories all relied on the key tenets of outstanding reporting: the slow and delicate cultivation of confidential sources, including several brave whistleblowers; the tedious work of poring over corporate filings, real-estate holdings and access-to-information requests; the rapid response and initiative needed in breaking-news coverage; and finally, the dogged determination to get a story published when faced with intimidation, questions over credibility by crisis management firms, and hostility.

The Logic’s reporting has informed the public about critical issues surrounding Big Tech in Canada—including data privacy, intellectual property and governance, along with the larger social, economic and cognitive forces at play. They compelled increased attention and scrutiny from public officials, especially the rare value-for-money audit examining the use of public funds. As Toronto grapples with the costs and benefits of prime waterfront land in the hands of private development, The Logic’s exclusive and relentless reporting has brought greater accountability to the process and they continue to pressure Sidewalk Toronto for greater transparency.