The evidence against
Facebook is piling up even before Zukerberg appears before any formal hearing
or investigation. The CEO and the company have already issued a mea culpa, but
still mostly insisted it had no malice or intentional wrongdoing.
An internal memo
written by Facebook vice Present Andrew Bosworth, however, may prove that to be
untrue. “Boz”, as he is infamously known, cites how Facebook’s unchecked zeal
for growth could even end up getting someone end but that the work that it does
is pretty much in line with.
Facebook’s spirit and
mission of connecting people. “It’s for the greater good” or “the end justifies
the means” are phrases often used to explain or excuse actions that turn out to
be unpopular or controversial.
In this case, that
end was connecting people, the very essence of Facebook. To that end, Bosworth that
everything the company does, like questionable contact importing practices,
subtle (and confusing) language, and more are justified.
That memo, which
would have been read by all executives and, later on, Facebook employees,
implies that Facebook what very much aware it was doing something wrong enough
to have to justify it as something for the better good.
In fact, Bosworth
would have made them also very much aware of the risks involved in what they
do, which could lead to fatalities.
That memo was made in
2016, a day after a Chicago man’s was streamed on Facebook live.
Since then, other
deaths have also been blamed on or at least attributed to Facebook’s goal to
connect people no matter what. Some present and former Facebook employees
characterize the memo as “typical Boz”, explaining how the veep was known to be
polarizing figure in the company.
That, ironically,
also seems to excuse his disagreeable behavior, as if it were part of his
nature and cannot be helped. Almost like how the memo suggests that Facebook’s
nature is to connect people and that it cannot be helped if it does questionable
things towards that goal.
Other executives,
including Zukerber, explain that this was simply Bosworth’s strategy to
encourage discussion and debate, inciting strong emotions to get the wheel
rolling.
It doesn’t, however,
reflect the beliefs of the company or the people running it. The memo, however,
does at least prove that those executives knew what was at stake and won’t be
able to claim ignorance in the matter.
