Facebook late celebrated its 20th anniversary, simultaneously crossing the border of 3 billion active users per month. He began as a website to measure the beauty of female students, then became a platform available exclusively to the Ivy League college to yet turn into a technological giant – the 3rd most visited website in the world.
The stormy beginnings of the service active lawsuits against Mark Zuckerberg and multimillion court settlements with erstwhile colleagues and associates. It was this period that became the storyline of a Hollywood hit. The Social Network of 2010. The film's creators David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin showed Zuckerberg rather critically, but at the same time strengthened his asocial but superb hacker image. This was the first incarnation of “Zuck”
I'm not a lizard.
In the second decade of the 21st century Zuckerberg became a hero of countless memes due to his robotic kind of being. During 1 interview he even passed the CAPTCHA test, protecting websites from bots (he succeeded). Stiffness in speech and behaviour did not give him sympathy, but found a way to increase his image – he began to support LGBT+ rights, opposed Islamophobia, and supported Black Lives Matter.
In 2015, he and his wife founded the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, declaring in interviews that 99 percent of the common property would be donated to charity. However, the legal structure of the foundation was designed to reduce transparency, let profitable investments and finance politicians. Moreover, all the shares grants provided by Zuckerberg The meths stay under full control of him and his wife.
But Mark Zuckerberg's “left-wing” is in the past. present it clearly identifies itself as a libertarian, which in American realities means de facto supporting the far right in the name of minimizing regulations that can limit the accumulation of capital by the richest. He publically expressed remorse for Facebook's policy of "censoring" content regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, while blaming most of the blame on Biden's administration.
Rebranding Zuck is visible to the bare eye, though he hasn't shown up in a red hat yet. alternatively of a short hairstyle on an android, he now has fashionable curls. He replaced the grey sweatshirt with oversize t-shirts with subtitles. He wears gold chains, like he's inspired by Kendall Roy in the era. L to the OG. Training MMA. On social media, he is eager to boast about his athletic figure and ability to effectively overthrow his opponents. In conversation with Joe Rogan, he was divorcing on the advantages of a culture celebrating aggression. He donated $1 million to the inauguration of Donald Trump. Following Elon Musk's trail, he moved Facebook moderators from California to Texas to “avoid bias”, and following a musk pattern X replaced professional fact-checking (implemented after Trump's win in 2016) with social notes created by users. These are movements that not only fit perfectly into the current political climate, but besides service large business.
Despite efforts to enter the trend of broligarchy set by Musk, Americans look at Zuckerberg little favorably than his richer friend. Democrats resent his recently discovered right-wingness, Republicans don't buy the change. Zuck himself changes positions from day to day: inactive in January he claimed that DEI programs at Chan Zuckerberg Initiative would stay unchanged, in February he withdrew from it. In the end, he is guided by the same thought which directs the actions of Musko and which is implemented by the Trump administration: unlimited power for the wealthiest of this world.
The national Trade Commission (FTC), 46 U.S. states, Guam and territory of Colombia accuse Meta of practices aimed at obtaining a monopoly, purchasing WhatsApp and Instagram as an effort to strangle competition. The FTC filed a complaint against Meta's anticompetitive treatments during Trump's first word erstwhile Zuckerberg was not with him yet along the way, and retained her during Biden's presidency. It is in Zuck's interest, of course, that the recently appointed FTC authorities search a favourable settlement. His last increased activity in sucking up to Trump is not accidental – the process is due to begin on 14 April.
Ineffective moderation, large profits
The Muslim cultural group Rohingya, inhabiting the area of present-day Myanmar, is frequently referred to as 1 of the most persecuted minorities in the world. After the coup d'état in the 1960s, on a wave of nationalist ideology promoted by the ruling military junta, Rohingya was systematically deprived of political rights. They were deprived of citizenship, restricted freedom of movement, closed access to many professions, education and wellness care. The situation deteriorated dramatically in 2012, erstwhile there was a riot and clash between Rohingya and mainly Buddhist citizens of Myanmar. Over 1 100 1000 Muslims were then sent to concentration camps.
At the same time, the country's democratisation has led to the abolition of restrictions on net access, and Facebook has gained large popularity, becoming the main origin of information for most Myanmarns. In view of the tense social situation, however, he rapidly turned into a tool to spread hatred towards Rohingy. highly nationalist Buddhist groups, especially Ma Ba Tha (Association for the Protection of Races and Religion), actively fueled hostility towards Muslims. Even the National League for Democracy (NLD), which temporarily took over as a consequence of reforms, ran a run to slander Rohingya. The authoritative profile of Aung San Suu Kyi – NLD leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner – was utilized to fuel anti-Islamic sentiments.
Calls were common to kill members of the community, the word “Kwa Kalar” (Muslim dog) was used. The same phrase was utilized by the military in 2017, committing crimes against Rohingy. Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of Myanmar's armed forces, announced on Facebook further “successes”, and below the military posted posts about “a threat from Muslim dogs”. As a consequence of their actions, tens of thousands of people have been murdered, and the number of raped and tortured is hard to estimate. Myanmar authorities utilized Facebook to whitewash their actions, for example claiming that there were no civilians among the victims.
The run on the platform was planned to maximize propaganda coverage. This facilitated algorithms, conducive to the spread of hateful and dehumanizing content, while creating information bubbles. That's not all – Meta collected money straight from the Myanmar army and organization Ma Ba Tha for promoting their content.
Long before the 2017 events, human rights activists, media and even Meta workers spoke about it.
Hundreds of villages were burned during the cleansing. For this reason, about 80 percent of Rohingya, more than 700 000 people, fled to neighboring Bangladesh. Kutupalong exile camp there became the largest in the world: over an area of 13 km2 There's 686,000 Rohingya surviving today. Prosecutor of the global Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing – now, as a consequence of the coup, not only the head of the armed forces, but besides the Prime Minister of Myanmar and the president of that country. The dictator is charged with crimes against humanity. It's about a man who paid Zuckerberg to advance his business by 2021. Facebook has fulfilled its contract with its adherence.
Zuckerberg himself, faced with overwhelming evidence linking Meta's activities to the genocide in Myanmar, only in 2018 did he declare in the U.S. legislature that Meta would hire more reviewers of content utilizing Burmese language. At the time there were a full of 5 – against 18 million active Facebook users in Myanmar.
Similarly, Meta is dismissive of the full Global South. Former employees explicitly talk about the division into “important” and “important” countries in company policy. Zuckerberg wants Facebook's expansion to decision forward as rapidly as possible and cover as many areas as possible – including those affected by local conflicts and peculiarly susceptible to human rights violations.
Zuckerberg apologizes, but the problem doesn't disappear.
Even in the precedence markets of Facebook, it is not free from serious deficiencies. After the attack on Capitol on January 6, 2021, reports spoke of at least 650 000 posts questioning the legality of the U.S. presidential election results – and only during the period from the day of the vote to the attack itself. Many of these content fueled the atmosphere of danger and called for extremist action. As a result, 9 people died, nearly 200 were injured, and 1 and a half 1000 rioters were convicted.
Journalism investigation revealed that the teams liable for removing hatred content were disbanded shortly after the November 2020 election. This weakened the pre-existing control mechanisms. Moreover, the moderation of content in Facebook groups rests mainly on volunteers (who do not receive wages) and imperfect automated tools. All you request is simply a purposeful typo so the algorithm doesn't admit a harmful post.
In 2018, Zuckerberg apologized for enabling Cambridge Analytics's political advisory firm to collect data of 87 million Facebook users, which were then utilized to support Donald Trump's campaign. This case sparked an global scandal, revealing how illegally obtained information could have been utilized to accurately profile voters and manipulate their opinions through targeted propaganda content.
Cambridge Analytics besides played a key function in the British brexite referendum, providing advanced data analysis and microtargeting tools. Supporters of leaving the European Union utilized its services to influence voters more effectively through personalised advertising based on their emotions, fears and worldview. Many of these campaigns were based on misinformation, including false claims that backing for the European Union could alternatively go to the British wellness protection of the NHS.
However, Cambridge Analytics was not limited to the West. In Kenya, the company collaborated with president Uhuru Kenyatty's camp during the 2013 and 2017 elections, utilizing aggressive propaganda campaigns to divide society and discredit political opponents. In Nigeria, however, according to reports from erstwhile employees, the company utilized even more controversial methods, including attempts to intimidate voters utilizing materials defaming their clients' political rivals.
The Cambridge Analytics scandal has revealed a immense problem with the usage of Facebook users' data for political purposes. Although the company was officially closed in 2018, the methods it developed proceed to be applied by another entities around the world. Moreover, fresh examples of Facebook's usage to manipulate public opinion have emerged in the following years – among others, by Russian troll farms interfering with US elections or disinformation campaigns conducted by authoritarian regimes. All of this shows that the problem that Zuckerberg promised to solve then did not vanish – on the contrary, it became even more sophisticated and harder to detect.
Business before responsibility
Zuckerberg wants us to believe that the current problems with content moderation were due to chaos and shortsightedness. In fact, Meta is not a neutral arbiter, but a player in whose interest it is to make as much commitment as possible – and this guarantees controversial content, including disinformation and hatred speech. investigation clearly indicates that false and utmost content is spreading online multiple times faster than neutral information. They frequently hit minorities that do not have tools to effectively defend against hatred and violence.
The highest punishment always imposed on the corp was $5 billion – so much the national Trade Commission of the United States had to pay Meta for violating the privacy of users in the Cambridge Analytics affair. Additionally, the company had to pay $101 million for failing to comply with its safety obligation. For Zuckerberg, this was only an image blow – Meta's yearly gross in 2024 amounted to over $134 billion. No wonder he is doing everything to guarantee that the April antitrust trial with the FTC ends similarly: a symbolic punishment he can impose on the costs. It's like an average citizen was charged a ten-dollar fine for a massive crime.
Zuckerberg, like another technology billionaires, has no real consequences for the damaging actions of his company. In 2023, Google paid $391.5 million in penalties for violating the privacy rules of users, and Amazon $887 million for violating individual data protection regulations in Europe. Elon Musk has many controversy over marketplace manipulation and breach of regulations on working conditions in his companies. What? Nothing. In 2008, bankers liable for the global financial crisis not only avoided prison, but many received immense bonuses. Meanwhile, a average Facebook user can be permanently banned for publishing uncomfortable content, and whistleblowers revealing the abuse of these corporations frequently lose their jobs and are subject to legal processes to intimidate them.
If the law had worked as it should, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos would not have spent time on luxury yachts and residences for hundreds of millions of dollars – but for purposes alongside another white collars who committed large-scale fraud. Instead, governments inactive treat them as untouchable players whose companies are "too large to fall" – even if they destabilize democracies in the meantime, spread disinformation and destruct the lives of millions.
Mark Zuckerberg late spent $260 million on a Hawaiian residence equipped with an underground bunker. The property is huge, self-sufficient and guarded like Fort Knox. Zuckerberg and his household have at their disposal 6.5 km2 a paradise island – precisely as there are 350,000 people in 1 exile camp in Bangladesh who had to flee Myanmar.
