Last week, a series of stories by Wall Street Journal gave yet more evidence of the broken policies, technology, and management at Facebook. The company is selective in how its rules apply to users, letting celebrities and politicians get away with violations such as hate speech. It rolled out new algorithms that rewarded outrage and anger, and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg shot down attempts to address these because it could reduce the amount of time people spent on the service.
Last week, a series of stories by Wall Street Journal gave yet more evidence of the broken policies, technology, and management at Facebook. The company is selective in how its rules apply to users, letting celebrities and politicians get away with violations such as hate speech. It rolled out new algorithms that rewarded outrage and anger, and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg shot down attempts to address these because it could reduce the amount of time people spent on the service. It dragged its feet in tackling abuse even when it realised that drug cartels and human traffickers were using Facebook for their goals. Its other main product, Instagram, has turned into a source of significant mental harm for a sizable part of its population (teenagers), the company’s own research found. Even when it tried to help by wanting to encourage vaccine use, Facebook failed.
Increasingly, Facebook and its products have been upheld as examples of harmful technology. It began five years ago when the abuse was so formidable that it influenced an election in the United States and a referendum in the United Kingdom. In tech, five years is long enough for not one but several generational shifts. And yet, the harms from Facebook have kept coming: January 6, when hordes of misinformed Americans turned against their own institutions, was only the latest.
The company has repeatedly demonstrated a knack for making the wrong choice when faced with hard decisions. WSJ’s recent reporting now makes it clear the problem begins at the top. Mr Zuckerberg, whose vision for social media began with a website meant to rate the appearance of women, famously said: Move fast and break things. It is increasingly clear that his company has broken many important things, and it is beyond its ability to fix them.
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