Coldplay ‘kiss cam’ scandal is proof that privacy is dead

A married tech CEO has resigned after a video showing him embracing a colleague at a gig went viral. Olivia Petter asks what the aftermath tells us about the tangled age we live in

- By Olivia Petter

If there's anything we've learnt this weekend, it's that it only takes a few hours for the internet to blow up your entire life. On Wednesday, a couple were caught cuddling on the big screen at a Coldplay gig in Foxborough near Boston. So far, so schmaltzy. But when they realised they were on camera, instead of leaning into the moment, they quickly pulled apart: she turned around, he ducked. “Either they’re having an affair or they’re very shy,” teased Chris Martin, blissfully unaware of the online maelstrom that was about to begin.

By the morning, the couple had been identified by the internet as Andy Byron, the married CEO of AI firm Astronomer, and Kristin Cabot, the company’s head of HR. The firm released a statement confirming that its board of directors had launched a formal investigation, and on Saturday, it was announced that Byron had stepped down. “As stated previously, Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding,” it added. “Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met.”

The surrounding fracas has been deafening. Not only has the short clip of the couple been completely unavoidable to anyone with a smartphone, but “Andy Byron” has become a trending moniker. His name quickly became the most popular trending Google term in the US and, as of yesterday, was still the most popular trend in the last week in the UK. On top of all this, social media sleuths have showcased their dubious prowess: finding the personal social media accounts of both Cabot and Byron’s families, as well as claiming that Byron’s wife has, since the Coldplay concert video, removed his last name from her various profiles.