By Felicity Duncan
The New York Times published a damning expose of Facebook last week, laying bare management issues that led to Facebook’s Russian manipulation problems and the company’s use of Bell-Pottinger-style propaganda attack tactics. The article makes for disturbing reading, highlighting how much power we’ve given to a platform that we have no control over.
In the wake of the Times expose, Facebook has been facing major media backlash and the threat of congressional investigations. Lawmakers are lining up to condemn its behaviour and the company has been forced to distance itself from the PR agency it hired to attack its detractors. It’s a sordid situation that has prompted some shareholders to call for Zuckerberg to step down as chair (while continuing as CEO) to install some independent oversight of the business. If it keeps going this way, Facebook cannot hope to dodge additional regulation and government oversight.
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In Premium today, you can listen to the latest episode of The Editor’s Desk – Alec Hogg and I talk about the latest Brexit news and dig into the recent fall in the value of Bitcoin. You can also find out why The Economist says that capitalism is failing us and read about the next big thing in tech.
