Facebooks networks include WhatsApp and Instagram, and it has managed to pull more than half of the whole lot of us into using at least one of them. While most companies would be totally thrilled to have a user base larger than any nation on Earth, its important to remember that Zuckerberg isnt even halfway to his goal of connecting everyone.
But that notion lets him off the hook for properly policing the thing hes created because the internet has no master.
Over the last two years, the company has faced more public outrage and political pressure than in its entire history, and its delivered a commensurate volume of apologies in turn. These days, Facebook is best known for losing control of millions of users data, getting hacked, surveilling kids who are arguably too young to truly consent to such a thing, and being an exceptional tool for disseminating political propaganda.
But before it was contending with Russian trolls, stood accused of facilitating housing discrimination, and reportedly advertising illicit opioids, there was the fear that Facebook would take over the internet.
Around the same time that Facebook started to look like a legitimate threat to the internet, there was a lot of optimism about the power of social networks as an organizational force. The Arab Spring and Occupy movements showed the world that these networks could be used for powerful grassroots organizations.He has a long way to go before he consumes every corner of the web like a flip-flop-wearing Galactus, but hes making a lot of progress.
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