7 Weird and Utterly Fascinating Facts About Mark Zuckerberg. Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer Recently, Mark Zuckerberg changed the name of Facebook, the company he founded, to Meta and introduced a virtual-reality world called the “metaverse,” which he described as “the next chapter for the internet.”
It’s the company’s latest attempt to further digitize human interaction, by creating a world where you can act as a cartoon hologram of yourself. “Within the metaverse, you’re going to be able to hang out, play games with friends, work, create, and more,” Zuckerberg said on an earnings call. “You’re basically going to be able to do everything that you can on the internet today as well as some things that don’t make sense on the internet today, like dancing.” This idea is perfectly dystopian for the time we’re living in but also antisocial and just plain strange.
About a decade ago, Zuckerberg went through a phase in which he ate meat only from animals he had killed himself, as one does. Kara Swisher on Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Papers. Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Erin Scott/REUTERS When Vietnam’s communist rulers gave Facebook an ultimatum to censor anti-government posts earlier this year or leave the country, Mark Zuckerberg personally made the call to appease them.
It’s among the damning revelations about the company to emerge from whistleblowers in recent weeks, most of them contained in the so-called Facebook Papers. The trove shows how Facebook knowingly amplified anger and misinformation about the platform and the company’s engineers chillingly identified ways to manipulate the behavior of its 3.5 billion users, meaning about half the planet’s population may ultimately be swayed by the whims of one man. No journalist may know Zuckerberg better than Kara Swisher. In 2010, she and the former Wall Street Journal technology columnist Walt Mossberg made him literally sweat over questions about user privacy. The first time you met Zuckerberg, you guys took a walk together. Zuckerberg Announces Fantasy World Where Facebook Is Not a Horrible Company. Moments before announcing Facebook is changing its name to "Meta" and detailing the company's “metaverse” plans during a Facebook Connect presentation on Thursday, Mark Zuckerberg said “some people will say this isn’t a time to focus on the future,” referring to the massive, ongoing scandal plaguing his company relating to the myriad ways Facebook has made the world worse.
“I believe technology can make our lives better. The future will be built by those willing to stand up and say this is the future we want.” The future Zuckerberg went on to pitch was a delusional fever dream cribbed most obviously from dystopian science fiction and misleading or outright fabricated virtual reality product pitches from the last decade. These presentations had the familiar vibe of an overly-ambitious video game reveal. ‘Oops,’ Said Faceberg (Part Infinity) “I’ll be back” Guys, the callous Yutes of Today are abandoning Facebook in droves: [E]arlierEarlier this year, a researcher at Facebook shared some alarming statistics with colleagues.Teenage users of the Facebook app in the US had declined by 13 percent since 2019 and were projected to drop 45 percent over the next two years, driving an overall decline in daily users in the company’s most lucrative ad market.
Young adults between the ages of 20 and 30 were expected to decline by 4 percent during the same timeframe. Making matters worse, the younger a user was, the less on average they regularly engaged with the app. Facebook whistleblower documents detail deep look at Facebook. Facebook plans to change company name to focus on the metaverse. Facebook is planning to change its company name next week to reflect its focus on building the metaverse, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.
The coming name change, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to talk about at the company’s annual Connect conference on October 28th, but could unveil sooner, is meant to signal the tech giant’s ambition to be known for more than social media and all the ills that entail. The rebrand would likely position the blue Facebook app as one of many products under a parent company overseeing groups like Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and more. Mark Zuckerberg Vows Employees Responsible For Facebook Outage Will Be Bullied To Suicide. MENLO PARK, CA—Following a systems issue that saw the company’s websites and apps go down worldwide for hours, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg vowed Tuesday that the employees responsible for the outage will be bullied to suicide.
“We take these kinds of disruptions seriously, and rest assured we will do everything in our power to viciously berate any personnel involved in this outage about their sexual orientation, intelligence, and appearance until they’re driven to take their own lives,” said Zuckerberg, adding that company executives had already begun a preliminary investigation into several potential culprits and the kinds of attacks on their personality, family, and beliefs that would most efficiently drive them to despair and suicidal ideation. “At this point, we’re still narrowing down which of the fat shitheads who work for us did this, but rest assured that those stupid assholes will never, ever know peace. In Major Disaster For Humanity, Facebook Comes Back Online. Here's The '60 Minutes' Interview That Mark Zuckerberg Doesn't Want You To See. 372b91 5161b452eff04e14bccbb7b7f33b40ab.
Why everyone is mad at Mark Zuckerberg - Raw Story - Celebrating 17 Years of Independent Journalism. It's been a rough week for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Ire against the 37-year-old Harvard dropout and his social media platform has been one of the rare points of bipartisan agreement on Capitol Hill this week as revelation after revelation about Facebook's pitfalls continues to trickle out, many from a series of internal documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal. Lawmakers are now calling for Zuckerberg to testify in front of Congress, in particular about a number of internal reports cited by the Journal that determined Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, had a marked negative impact on young women. Researchers for the company reportedly found in March of 2020 that "32% of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse.
" In another study, Facebook found that more than 40% of teenage Instagram users in the U.S. and U.K. reported feeling "unattractive", and said the feeling began on the app. A group of Democrats, including Sen. Roger Waters Epic Two-Word Response To Mark Zuckerberg: 'F*ck You' Said Roger Waters, “(It’s an) insidious movement of them to take over absolutely everything.”
Well not the classic Pink Floyd song, if Waters has anything to say about it. Source: National Post Pink Floyd star Roger Waters has rejected an offer from Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg for the use of his classic track Another Brick in the Wall Part II.The rocker has made it clear he’s not a fan of the Facebook co-founder and even the lure of a lucrative deal didn’t sway Waters.Speaking at an event linked to a campaign to free WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Waters opened up about the offer from Zuckerberg, who he called “one of the most powerful idiots in the world”, revealing the Facebook boss wanted to use his 1979 song in a film to promote Instagram. “So it’s a missive from Mark Zuckerberg to me,” Waters said.
“Arrived this morning, with an offer of a huge, huge amount of money, and the answer is, ‘F–k you! How Facebook Failed To Prevent Stop The Steal. BuzzFeed News; Google Earth Last month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in front of a House of Representatives committee that his company had done its part “to secure the integrity of the election.”
While the social network did not catch everything, the billionaire chief executive said, Facebook had “made our services inhospitable to those who might do harm” in the lead-up to the Jan. 6 insurrection. Less than a week after his appearance, however, an internal company report reached a far different conclusion: Facebook failed to stop a highly influential movement from using its platform to delegitimize the election, encourage violence, and help incite the Capitol riot. House Energy and Commerce Committee via AP Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, March 25, 2021. “Do you care enough about the fate of the nation to ensure that your product is not used to coordinate and overthrow the government?” The Growth of Stop the Steal. The New Normal “Reality” Police. CJ Hopkins So, according to Facebook and the Atlantic Council, I am now a “dangerous individual,” you know, like a “terrorist,” or a “serial murderer,” or “human trafficker,” or some other kind of “criminal.”
Or I’ve been praising “dangerous individuals,” or disseminating their symbols, or otherwise attempting to “sow dissension” and cause “offline harm.” Actually, I’m not really clear what I’m guilty of, but I’m definitely some sort of horrible person you want absolutely nothing to do with, whose columns you do not want to read, whose books you do not want to purchase, and the sharing of whose Facebook posts might get your account immediately suspended. Or, at the very least, you’ll be issued this warning: Now, hold on, don’t click away just yet. ‘Oops,’ Said Faceberg (Part Infinity) So lifelike. There’s a cautionary tale in this story: Facebook has created a ”playbook” to help its employees rebut criticism that the company’s products fuel political polarization and social division.The document, which cites a range of academic studies but does not include recent data from the company’s own research teams, was posted to Facebook’s internal Workplace discussion forum by Chief Product Officer Chris Cox and Pratiti Raychoudhury, vice president of research, earlier this week.
During a Thursday webinar for employees, Cox said the document would “equip all of you to go home and have dinner” with friends and family and explain why public perceptions of Facebook are wrong. “Sure, we may be a dumpster fire, but you’re our employee and you will defend us,” they didn’t write. “Or else!” Facebook Pulls “Culture Fit” Card on Black Applicant With Ph.D. A Black woman passed over for a job at Facebook told federal regulators that even though she was exceptionally qualified for the position, she was rushed through interviews with entirely white staffers, told she wouldn’t like the job, and advised that the company wanted a strong “culture fit,” according to a complaint to the U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission provided to The Intercept. The woman joins three others who have recently complained to the EEOC about anti-Black racism at Facebook. The agency has begun conducting a “systemic” probe of Facebook, looking into whether the company’s own policies further discrimination, Reuters reported earlier this month. The complaint comes as evidence piles up that large Silicon Valley companies are not diversifying their predominantly white and Asian work forces quickly enough, particularly within high-paying technical and managerial roles. Oops, Said Faceberg (Part Infinity) As everyone probably already knows, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Q-Georgeduh) posted an anti-trans sign outside her office, which is directly across the hall from Rep.
Joel Kaplan’s Policy Team Sways Big Facebook Decisions Like Alex Jones Ban. In April 2019, Facebook was preparing to ban one of the internet’s most notorious spreaders of misinformation and hate, Infowars founder Alex Jones. Then CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally intervened. Jones had gained infamy for claiming that the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre was a “giant hoax,” and that the teenage survivors of the 2018 Parkland shooting were “crisis actors.” But Facebook had found that he was also relentlessly spreading hate against various groups, including Muslims and trans people. That behavior qualified him for expulsion from the social network under the company's policies for "dangerous individuals and organizations," which required Facebook to also remove any content that expressed “praise or support” for them.
Facebook Blocks All Sharing of News in Australia. Photo: Bertrand Guay/AFP via Getty Images Facebook took an unprecedented step on Wednesday by blocking all news articles from being shared in Australia after a new law was proposed there that would require online platforms to pay news sources for displaying and linking to their work.
As a result, when any of the nation’s estimated 11.4 million Facebook users go to the page of a news outlet, they see an empty feed. The action taken Wednesday is a major escalation between the big online platforms like Facebook and Google and the Australian government as the nation attempts to “address the bargaining-power imbalances with digital platforms and media companies,” as Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg said earlier in February. And while Google also took an aggressive stance when the proposal was first introduced in December, the company announced Wednesday that it had reached a revenue-sharing agreement with the Australian giant News Corp. to continue to show its news items in searches.
Facebook's 'Oversight Board' overturns 4 cases in first rulings. Facebook's Oversight Board on Thursday issued its first round of decisions, overturning several decisions by the company to remove posts for violating policies on hate speech, violence and other issues. New York AG leads 48-state antitrust lawsuit against Facebook. ‘Oops,’ Said Faceberg (Part Infinity) Mark Zuckerberg Announces Virtual Roundtable With American Hate Groups To Better Understand How They Work. Here's what Facebook employees are saying about Zuckerberg's decision not to remove Trump's threats of violence. “If we fail the test case here, history will not judge us kindly.” Facebook Contractors Forced to Work in Office Despite Coronavirus Threat. Like other tech firms scrambling in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, Facebook is encouraging staff worldwide to work from home, part of a so-called social distancing strategy to slow the new coronavirus’s spread.
But some in the social network’s army of contract workers, already often treated like second-class employees, have complained that they have no such luxury and are being asked to choose between their jobs and their health. Discussions from Facebook’s internal employee forum reviewed by The Intercept reveal a state of confusion, fear, and resentment, with many precariously employed hourly contract workers stating that, contrary to statements to them from Facebook, they are barred by their actual employers from working from home, despite the technical feasibility and clear public health benefits of doing so. News That Will Drive You To Drink.
Happy Hour News Briefs. Facebook plans its own currency for 2 billion-plus users. DEVELOPING... Documents Show Facebook Knowingly Took Money From Unwitting Children. Facebook Allowed Corporate Partners to Access Private Messages. Facebook Was Never Really For You. Newly public documents paint picture of Facebook's ruthlessness - Axios. Facebook Wielded Data to Reward, Punish Rivals, Emails Show.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg Facebook Inc. wielded user data like a bargaining chip, providing access when that sharing might encourage people to spend more time on the social network -- and imposing strict limits on partners in cases where it saw a potential competitive threat, emails show. A trove of internal correspondence, published online Wednesday by U.K. lawmakers, provides a look into the ways Facebook executives, including Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, treated information posted by users like a commodity that could be harnessed in service of business goals.
Nearly 250 Pages of Devastating Internal Facebook Documents Posted Online By UK Parliament. Parliament seizes cache of Facebook internal papers. Oops, Cont. Face berg: Oops, Redux. Interrogating Zuckerberg: A Congressional Bad Lip Reading. 30+ Hilarious Ways The Internet Trolled Mark Zuckerberg Testifying Before Congress. Boy billionaire Mark Zuckerberg struggles to play the grown-up. Mark Zuckerberg's Senate Hearing Exposed Him as Reckless Billionaire Capitalist.
Theonion. Just Some Really Good Tweets About Mark Zuckerberg Testifying Before Congress. Senator shuts down Mark Zuckerberg as he offers platitudes for Facebook's role in Myanmar genocide. Gizmodo. A lonely planet full of isolated unhappy souls: One man’s potent takedown of ‘antisocial’ media. What can we learn from Facebook’s annual Bullshit Report?
Facebook: ‘We Will Make Our Product Worse, You Will Be Upset, And Then You Will Live With It’