The ceo is well aware of the impact his firm is having on society. His focus on propagating addictive misinformation is strategic. They make money selling ads to eyeballs.

If they have more eyeballs clicking around to see more misinformation they make more money.

There is nothing surprising that a guy who put “I’m CEO B1tch” on his business card would care less about destabilizing democratic governments than making himself rich.

He’s been spending time learning mandarin. Probably a good investment of time if people try to tar and feather him Boston tea party style should he succeed in the destruction of the American republic for profit.

>There is nothing surprising that a guy who put “I’m CEO B1tch”...

I've commented on this before around HN, but worth repeating: people do change over ~20 years.

If I were judged by the shit I did in high school or my 20's, and assumed I was the same person I would be fucked. (I'm guessing many on these threads would empathize.) It just reeks of pseudo-cancel culture BS where one mistake will follow you for your entire life.

people generally tend to change when they experience the negative consequences of their action, not just willy nilly.

He hasn't just made one mistake, he keeps making the same mistakes. Merely a few years ago he ridiculed the notion that Facebook could have an influence on elections. Not only did that statement show that he hadn't learned, he also obviously thinks we're all idiots.

> people generally tend to change when they experience the negative consequences of their action, not just willy nilly.

I think you're discounting the effect of lived experience and natural maturity that comes with age. People and their perspectives do change in their own - not just because they made a mistake that impacted them negatively.

What you said makes perfect sense but I still refuse to use a platform whose founder called people “dumb fucks” for trusting him and using the platform.

Of course they do. But is there any evidence Zuckerberg did?

People don't change unless they are contrite, and there is zero evidence that Zuckerberg feels any contrition about much of what hes said and done.

Based on Mark's actions and announcements over the years, from Internet.org to his "The next decade" speech where he said they're building a network for all local businesses to "better connect with their communities," it's clear that Mark's One True Goal is that all digital information flow through Facebook, so that it can be analyzed, collated, and advertised against.

Mark wants every part of human society, from birthday wishes to buying a car to finding a local barber to political debates, to operate through Facebook's servers.

The real question is why - is it just about the money for him? Does Mark dream of being a trillionaire before Bezos? Or is it about control? Does Mark want to be The Guy Who Knows Everything?

How is Facebook different from Twitter or Reddit? I personally think Reddit is extremely dangerous because on the surface many subreddits appear lighthearted, but are actually gateways to extreme views.

/r/ActualPublicFreakouts promises some snarky laughs but is pushing the viewpoint that black people are inherently violent. And that is being heavily pushed by Reddit via the popular posts view.

This is like asking how an ocean is different from a swimming pool.

It's the scale!

Reddit has 330 million users, which is nothing to sneeze at.

We always had an ill-informed citizenry, but now they each have a megaphone.

> Instead of a well-informed citizenry, we've got an ill-informed one.

Facebook have made it easier than ever to create a disinformed citizenry.