What we’ve learned from 20 years of Facebook

Posted under: Web Technology
Date: 2024-02-16
What we’ve learned from 20 years of Facebook

Twenty years ago last Sunday, Mark Zuckerberg launched “The Facebook,” an online directory designed to let his fellow Harvard students search for each other by interest, house, or class. The article reflects on significant events in Facebook's history, highlighting controversies and negative impacts associated with the platform. It mentions various pivotal moments, including the launch of the News Feed, the Rohingya massacre in Myanmar, the Korryn Gaines standoff, and the Cambridge Analytica scandal. However, it argues that Facebook's worst day was March 15, 2019, when a mass shooter livestreamed his attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. This event underscored the platform's struggles with content moderation and its potential for spreading violence. The article emphasizes that such incidents reveal inherent flaws in Facebook's design and moderation policies, challenging its idealized vision of fostering authentic and unfiltered sharing.

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