This content has been automatically translated from Ukrainian.
The word "insider" often appears in the news, especially when it comes to politics, large companies, technology, or financial markets. "An insider reported on an upcoming deal," "according to insiders, the company is preparing a new product," "an insider revealed internal documents" — in all these cases, it refers to a person who knows something not from public sources, but due to their position within a certain environment.
However, an insider is not necessarily a secret informant and certainly not necessarily a person who is doing something illegal.
What does the word "insider" mean
Insider is a person who belongs to a certain organization, company, professional or political environment, or has close access to it, and therefore possesses information that is not available to the general public.
The English insider is literally related to the word inside — "within." In the simplest understanding, an insider is a "person from within".
For example, an insider can be:
- an employee of a company who knows about a yet-to-be-announced product;
- a board member who is aware of financial results before they are published;
- a government official familiar with a decision that has not yet been officially announced;
- a participant in the film industry who knows about negotiations for a new movie;
- an employee of a technology company who has access to its internal research.
Merriam-Webster defines insider, in particular, as a person in a position of power or with access to confidential information. In a business context, it is also a person who, due to their position, has special knowledge about the company's affairs.
It is the access to internal information, rather than a specific profession or position, that is the main characteristic of an insider.
Where the term comes from
The word insider was formed in the English language from inside and the suffix -er, which is often used to refer to a person associated with a certain action or position.
According to Online Etymology Dictionary, the word in the sense of "a person who possesses special information due to being inside a certain organization" has been recorded since 1848. Interestingly, it was initially used specifically in relation to the stock market.
This well explains why the concept of "insider" is still particularly important in the financial sphere today. A person inside a company may know about an upcoming acquisition, financial problems, quarterly results, or other events earlier than other investors — and such an advantage already has a quite real monetary value.
The word has transitioned from English to Ukrainian almost without a change in meaning: insider — інсайдер.
Insider in finance
In the financial sphere, this concept has a much more precise meaning than in everyday conversation.
Ukrainian legislation, for example, defines an insider in capital markets as a person who possesses insider information due to a managerial position, ownership of a share in the company, performing professional or contractual duties, or even as a result of improper access to such information.
Insider information itself is, simplified, accurate information that has not yet become public and can significantly influence the price of financial instruments after being disclosed.
At the same time, it is important not to confuse two concepts: being an insider does not in itself mean breaking the law. Company executives, board members, and employees naturally know more about their own company than outsiders. Problems arise when closed information is improperly used or passed on to others, for example, to gain an advantage in trading securities.
One of the most famous examples is associated with the American fund Galleon. Its founder Raj Rajaratnam created a network of contacts through which he received confidential information from people connected with large companies. Among them was Rajat Gupta — a board member of Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble. According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Gupta passed information about the financial results of companies and, in particular, about Berkshire Hathaway's upcoming investment in Goldman Sachs before the public announcement.
This is already an example not just of access to insider information, but of its illegal use.
Insider in politics and journalism
In the news, the word often has a broader and less legal meaning. When journalists talk about "an insider in the government," "a party insider," or "a source close to the negotiations," they refer to a person who is close enough to the events to know what has not yet been officially reported.
One of the most famous historical examples of such a person is Mark Felt, a high-ranking FBI official who was a confidential source for journalists from The Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, under the pseudonym Deep Throat in the 1970s.
Felt had access to information about the Watergate scandal investigation and provided journalists with information and helped verify the direction of their investigation. His identity was publicly confirmed only in 2005 — more than 30 years after the events. The FBI also refers to him as a high-ranking official who provided information about the investigation to the press.
In this case, the word "insider" well describes Felt's position: his value as a source lay precisely in the fact that he was inside the system and had access to information that outsiders did not have.
Insider does not always remain anonymous
Another illustrative example is former Facebook employee Frances Haugen. She worked at the company from 2019, particularly on issues of civic misinformation, and later provided regulators and journalists with a large number of internal Facebook documents.
In October 2021, Haugen openly testified before the U.S. Senate as a whistleblower. During the hearings, internal research and documents of Facebook, to which she had access as an employee of the company, were discussed.
This example shows another important detail: an insider and a whistleblower are not synonyms. A person becomes an insider due to their access to internal information. They become a whistleblower when they report possible violations, dangerous practices, or other socially significant issues. A person can be an insider and reveal nothing to anyone.
What is an inside and how does it differ from an insider
In the Ukrainian internet, alongside the word "insider," the term "inside" is often used.
The difference is simple:
an insider is a person,
an inside is information obtained from a "from within" person or from a non-public source.
For example:
"An insider from the studio reported that the game is in development."
Here, the person is an insider, while the report about the game development is an inside.
However, in media and social networks, the word "inside" is often used to refer to any unverified leak or rumor. Therefore, the phrase "according to insider information" does not itself guarantee that the information is true. The source may be mistaken, have incomplete information, or deliberately convey a version of events that is advantageous to someone.
Is an insider a secret informant
Not necessarily. This is one of the most common misconceptions about the word.
An employee of a company who has access to its future strategy can already be an insider in a broad sense, even if they never tell anyone about it. Similarly, a member of a government team or a leader of a large corporation can be a "political" or "corporate insider" simply due to their position.
An anonymous source, informant, or whistleblower becomes such a person only when they start passing information to others.
That is why the word "insider" is better understood not as a synonym for "someone who leaks secrets," but much more broadly — as a person with internal access to a certain environment and knowledge that outsiders do not have. And what they will do with that knowledge depends on the specific situation.
