Robert Scoble #

Introduction #

Robert Scoble, the American tech evangelist and blogger behind the Scobleizer blog, became a target of renewed public scrutiny on September 13, 2026, when Oculus founder Palmer Luckey accused him of DMing Anduril to pitch paid promotional posts at $2,000 per X post — and asked how many companies want an endorsement from “sex offenders,” a reference to the 2017 sexual-assault and harassment allegations. The post drew more than 10,000 likes within hours. Scoble’s account responded the same evening: “It was my team that sent it.” The episode revived a decade-old controversy in which Scoble left his consulting firm, was removed from a VR industry board, and denied the conduct on the grounds that harassment requires power over the accusers.

Background Information #

Scoble, born in Piscataway, New Jersey in 1965, built one of the earliest and most influential technology blogs, Scobleizer, during his tenure as a technical evangelist at Microsoft. He left Microsoft in 2006 for PodTech.net, joined Fast Company in 2008, then Rackspace in 2009. In 2016 he became an entrepreneur in residence at UploadVR and co-founded the mixed-reality consulting firm Transformation Group with Shel Israel.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

Allegations. The claims in this section are allegations reported by BuzzFeed, Business Insider, TechCrunch, and USA Today in October 2017, plus statements by Palmer Luckey on X in December 2024 and September 2026. They were never admitted by Robert Scoble, never criminally charged, and never adjudicated in court. Scoble denies them, arguing he had no power over the women involved.

The original wave broke on October 20, 2017, when BuzzFeed alleged that in February 2010 Scoble sexually assaulted Michelle Greer, a former Rackspace coworker, and Quinn Norton, a technology journalist. Greer told BuzzFeed she remembered “seeing him with two drinks in his hand” when “Scoble sits across from me and starts touching my leg,” and that days later a producer told her, “I’m so sorry, my employees will never touch you again.” Norton wrote in a Medium post that at a Foo Camp gathering in the early 2010s, “I felt one hand on my breast and his arm reaching around and grabbing my butt,” and that he also groped and kissed a woman too drunk to consent. Business Insider reported three women had accused him of harassment between 2009 and 2014; TechCrunch added that NASA analyst Sarah Seitz said he asked to have an affair with her.

Scoble apologized on Facebook — he had “damaged the trust many people had in me” — and told USA Today he had done “things that are really, really hurtful to the women and I feel ashamed by that,” but did not remember the Foo Camp incidents. Days later he deleted the apology and published a 2,400-word post proclaiming his innocence while announcing his new company, LightPitch. Its centerpiece: “If I were guilty of all the things said about me I would still not be in a position to have sexually harassed anyone. I don’t have employees, I don’t cut checks for investment. None of the women who came forward were ever in a position where I could make or break their careers. Sexual Harassment requires that I have such power.”

Norton pushed back: “A well-known man in a male-dominated field always has the power to harm women with influence, as well as harassment.” HR consultant Judy Lindenberger added that hostile-environment harassment “has nothing to do with power.”

Nine years later, the old accusations resurfaced in a new fight. On December 15, 2024, Luckey posted that Scoble had “directly lobbied my boss and his friends to fire me explicitly for supporting Donald Trump, publicly encouraged the tech industry to blacklist me,” and spread what he called fake stories about Oculus Touch. “The cherry on top is the way he accused me of misogyny and then goes on to sexually assault women and excuse it away with ‘None of the women who came forward were ever in a position where I could make or break their careers. Sexual Harassment requires that I have such power.’” On September 13, 2026, Luckey quoted that post: “Robert Scoble just DM’d me to pitch why Anduril should join the other AI companies paying him to shill for them. He is charging $2,000 per X post, more for videos/blogs/astroturfing. I would share screencaps, but he deleted the message. What a Sunday.” His follow-up: “To be clear, I don’t believe he intended to do this. It is more likely some sort of mistake, maybe having one of his bots use his account… How many companies want endorsement from sex offenders?” Another user said Scoble’s team had pitched him too, claiming Elon Musk and Scoble were buddies, and emailing after an Elon like: “hey you should pay us look Elon liked Robert’s tweet.”

Public Reaction and Consequences #

In 2017 the consequences were immediate if modest. The VR/AR Association (VRARA) formally removed Scoble from its Board of Advisors: “Our organization does not condone harassment of any kind.” Scoble resigned from Transformation Group, and partner Shel Israel said he would cancel all public activities for the rest of the year while he attended AA and consulted a psychiatrist. No criminal charges followed, and no civil suit was reported.

In September 2026 the reaction was mostly online: the main post gathered more than 10,000 likes and his “sex offenders” follow-up drew 1,439, while Scoble’s account acknowledged the pitch was sent by his team rather than himself, without addressing the 2017 allegations.

Current Status #

As of September 2026, Scoble remains active on X with roughly 604,000 followers, posting video interviews and a weekly AI newsletter. In the thread he replied: “I don’t get into fights anymore with Palmer. He just keeps going after me for various reasons. That’s okay. My team made a mistake; I’ll own it.” No employer, platform, or institution has acted, and the deleted DM means no screenshot of the offer is public.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

The 2017 scandal cost Scoble his role at Transformation Group and his seat on the VRARA board, and his legalistic framing of harassment drew wider criticism than the original reports had. He kept blogging and speaking, but the “make or break their careers” quote became a recurring citation whenever his conduct toward women was raised again — most recently verbatim in Luckey’s December 2024 post and the September 2026 thread. The 2026 exchange did not end his career, but it reframed him as a paid shill whose team cold-pitches founders, compounding a reputation damaged nine years earlier.