Two journalists from The New York Times invite the reader behind the scenes to present the true face of one of the greatest success stories of our time, Facebook.
The giant company, which set a new foundation for the way people communicate, was found to trade in users' personal data, and its algorithms accelerate and even consciously amplify misleading, hateful and exclusionary voices for profit. The developers were instructed to pay what it costs, but chain the users to the platform, because every flicker of their attention can be monetized, which is the primary concern, even if it is hate speech, the spread of conspiracy theories or just the dialogue results in the formation of incapable opinion bubbles. While consumers and lawmakers were preoccupied with privacy vulnerabilities and the alarmingly rapid spread of fake news, Facebook became the world's most greedy data-mining machine, generating staggering extra profits and defending its dominance with aggressive lobbying.
In their unique investigative work, Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang uncover the complex political games within the company, mapping the network of alliances and rivalries to shed light on the fatal contradictions within the tech giant.