SHATTERED TRUST
Is Facebook too big to fail?
Welcome to the surveillance state, where Facebook has more power in our lives than repressive regimes do — and we gave away all this personal data for free. But there was a growing backlash against social media even before the latest scandal over data harvesting
After the privacy invasion scandal highlighted by the Cambridge Analytica revelations, the one unspoken question seems to be: when will Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg resign? Or be charged? After all, Uber’s bad-boy founder Travis Kalanick was forced by his investors to resign as CEO of the world’s most valuable start-up for a string of embarrassing scandals that, frankly, pale when compared to what has been uncovered about Facebook — not just last month, but in the past few years. The difference is that Zuckerberg, who has built the largest social network in the world, with 2.2bn monthly active users, has also built himself an unassailable moat against such interference. He controls 60% of the company’s voting stock.Last week Zuckerberg, who has embarked on a charm offensive with the media, held a conference call to which the Financial Mail was invited. Asked about investor concerns about corporate governance and if the board had discussed whether he should step down as chairman, he ...
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