It's time for Mark Zuckerberg to resign from Meta
After Meta's $18bn settlement over harming children with addictive products, the author argues that the real fix is for Zuckerberg to step down. As a researcher who has studied tech harms for 15 years, she traces his leadership through a history of billion-dollar blunders—from privacy breaches to amplifying hate speech—and notes that his wealth insulates him from fines. She calls on shareholders to push for change.
You just cannot trust Mark Zuckerberg with kids.
- hpjev
Mark Zuckerberg owns the majority of voting shares. It's his company, over which he specifically wanted to retain control. Therefore, calling on the board to reign him in is... Misplaced.
If you think the actions of Meta are wrong and should be prevented, you need to act on the regulatory level, not appeal to the very shareholders who profit off the behaviour.
- foul
Meta should just close. It's like wanting to change CEO for the dioxin factory.
- stasomatic
It's strange that while many parts of the world rely on WhatsApp for essential services, this weak link is almost never in the news. Don't people know that WhatsApp is under Meta? What if he pulls the plug? Is there anything preventing MZ from doing that? I'd sever that dependence first.
We can nope out of FB, IG, but what about WhatsApp?
- primitivesuave
Rather than investigate all the things where investigative journalism could potentially make a difference to real human beings' lives, the Guardian has chosen to pursue a plea for the majority owner of Meta's voting shares (61%) to step down from his position of power. Let us politely ask Sisyphus to stop pushing the boulder instead.
- throw03172019
I’m not sure the next CEO would do any better. The social media craze is built for addiction and that’s their business model. Investors won’t be on board, sadly.
- flippingheck
> through every scandal, Zuckerberg’s net worth has climbed to nearly $200bn, according to Forbes. Fines mean nothing to those with wealth like his, so the first step to safeguard society is to give Meta a fresh start without Zuckerberg’s influence on future products.
What is the author's model of a company?
- ArtTimeInvestor
The CEO is the throughline in a history
of billion-dollar blunders
Since the IPO, he created an annual ROI of 21% for his investors. Taking risks means blunders are part of the way I would say.
For comparison:
He outperformed the Nasdaq 100 which made 18% (plus dividends) in the same time.
And he way outperformed Warren Buffet who made 14% in the same time.
- gps372
Facebook doesn't even listen to countries beyond tier 2 as per their own disclosures - https://www.theverge.com/22743753/facebook-tier-list-countri...
I very much doubt that they listen to countries in tier 1 and 2 also. If not for the fear of US's relatively stronger regulations, don't think Meta would even pay attention to any complaints in US either.
This would not change with the change in leadership in Meta simply because 18Bn is fairly affordable for Meta's scale, but they should be worried about setting the legal precedent (though they denied any wrong doing).
Other countries may not have the same ability to impose penalties owing to their weaker laws also.