Nick Bilton: The journalist who makes
powerful institutions tremble

Nick Bilton is a British-American journalist, author, screenwriter, and filmmaker whose work focuses on the intersection of technology, culture, and power. Born in England, he later moved to the United States and attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Bilton worked at The New York Times from 2003 to 2016, as a design editor in the newsroom and a researcher in the R&D labs, and before leaving served as a technology columnist and lead writer for the Bits blog. In 2016, he left to become a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, where he writes features and columns.

Investigative Impact

Bilton’s investigative reporting has had a major impact on policy, industry, and public accountability. His columns and features for The New York Times and Vanity Fair led to investigations by the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice, and Congress.

FAA Electronics Ban: A series of stories questioning the FAA’s long-standing ban on electronics during flights led to the agency overturning its prohibition on using devices during takeoff and landing.

Twitter Lawsuit: His reporting on Twitter’s deceptive user engagement metrics for a Vanity Fair exposé led to an $800 million class action settlement against the company. When Twitter attempted to compel him to testify, Bilton fought and won a First Amendment lawsuit to protect his sources.

Congressional & Federal Citations: His investigative work has been cited in congressional inquiries, federal investigations, and criminal cases, and his coverage has spanned gun control, privacy, voting, free speech online, the 2016 and 2020 elections, and the intersection of technology and democratic institutions.

Books & Notable Works

Bilton has authored several bestselling books, including Hatching Twitter and American Kingpin, and has directed and produced multiple documentaries such as HBO’s Fake Famous, The Inventor, and Biggest Heist Ever on Netflix.

He has written major profiles on tech titans like Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg, and covered subjects ranging from mob bosses to politicians to dark web drug lords — including in the New York Times-bestselling book American Kingpin, about the hunt for the criminal mastermind behind the Silk Road.

Dwayne Johnson True-Crime Book:
Crown, an imprint under Penguin Random House, has preemptively acquired a new true-life crime book to be co-authored by Dwayne Johnson and Nick Bilton. Johnson and Bilton scoured tens of thousands of pages of court transcripts and federal investigation files never before seen by the public, to tell the story of Wilford “Nappy” Pulawa, Hawaii’s first and only mob boss.

Martin Scorsese Film: In 2025, it was announced that Bilton would write the screenplay for a new Martin Scorsese film, starring Dwayne Johnson, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Emily Blunt, set in Hawaii. Bilton will also produce the film.

AI & Journalism Commentary (2026)

Bilton has recently commented on the dangers of using AI in journalism, noting that when a reporter used ChatGPT to sort interview quotes, the AI also altered and fabricated quotes that went undetected before publication  highlighting that AI does not intuitively adhere to basic journalism ethics.

Nick Bilton remains one of the most influential investigative journalists in American media today, with his work spanning print, documentary, film, and television — consistently holding powerful institutions accountable.