On the anniversary of the launch of Facebook 15 years ago today, eternal frat bro Mark Zuckerberg says his empire will spend more on safety and security in 2019 than the total amount of revenue his company had on hand at the date of its IPO. Zuck also takes the opportunity to complain about Facebook's critics in the free press, which Facebook seems to be hell-bent on crushing.
Here's Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook post.
And below, journalists and observers calling him on his utter bullshit.
This is madness.
Mark Zuckerberg, his company credibly accused of compromising multiple democratic elections and abetting ethnic violence, dismisses criticism as people emphasizing the negative.
Again, he needs to resign.https://t.co/lIvOw2c70s pic.twitter.com/rPUAVFOSU3
— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) February 4, 2019
Zuckerberg's TL;DR argument—"Facebook destroyed traditional news, so traditional news is now targeting Facebook"—evidences such a simple worldview.
Reporters scrutinize FB because its our job to question power. And when you have 2.7 billion users, you have the power!
— Ryan Mac (@RMac18) February 4, 2019
This paragraph of Zuckerberg’s 15-year anniversary post is getting a lot of attention as seeming dismissive of legitimate criticism of Facebook raised by traditional institutions — problems $fb has since copped to & wouldn’t have without outside pressure. https://t.co/4XVCTcyG8c pic.twitter.com/nCcQ8JPU9X
— Deepa Seetharaman (@dseetharaman) February 4, 2019
Zuckerberg also continues a talking point that we've seen in speeches from Sheryl Sandberg that "some people" resisting change will "overly emphasize the negative."
This is... wild. Dismissing valid criticisms (i.e. Myanmar) as noise from people resistant to change is gross. pic.twitter.com/nlEjPNxGEu
— Ryan Mac (@RMac18) February 4, 2019
Facebook is now making critical decisions on issues ranging from content moderation to what qualifies as disinformation. I know they've formed outside councils and partnered with fact checkers, but ultimately, this is a company controlled by one person.
— Sheera Frenkel (@sheeraf) February 4, 2019
Man, who is literally accountable to no one because he maintains voting control of his company, says his company is working to make society more accountable to people. pic.twitter.com/kFdyb1StET
— Ryan Mac (@RMac18) February 4, 2019
