´Inside Facebook´s Battle for Domination´

 

I often complain that there are so many non-fiction books, many of them dedicated to current phenomena, such as far right outburst and the wave of conspirationist theories. Many of them do have relevant information and share interesting details, probably less known to the wider public. However, what is unfortunately missing from many of those accounts is the courage of taking a stance, of reaching conclusions, of making clear statements. 

An Ugly Truth. Inside Facebook´s Battle for Domination by Sheera Frankel and Cecilia Kang, a NYT bestseller, is a poignant testimony about a project that outperformed even its most optimistic expectations. From a network aimed at connecting friends, it reached a country-like following and an equally impressive budget. The nation Facebook, which meanwhile added to its empire the very popular messenging system of WhatsApp and the predominantly photo app Instagram, has market dominance nowadays. 

Its dilemma, as outlined by the authors, both tech writers at NYT: connecting people while taking advantage of them. The costs of an expansion without limits are paid by the users whose information are often used for political purposes or for market researches without their will. Indeed, the users do have their dilemma too: of being out or in a popular social network, helping them to be in touch with relatives and friends while the network is abusing the information shared. 

From many respects, the Golem-esque Facebook redefined completely the social media landscape. If it haven´t existed someone should have need to invent it. Facebook redefined the way in which we connect, made possible a shift in terms of our relationship with the others as well as how we set up our story. However, it could not exist by itself, and the trade-oriented interests not only turned prevalent, but endangered values as democracy and freedom of speech.

Maybe Mark Zuckerberg was so naive to believe that by offering all the possible options on the table, people will rationally chose the best ones. Maybe he couldn´t care less. Maybe there is the millennial indifference of having it all without making any choice. Which is largely irresponsible and at least the episodes involving Facebook during Trump administrations were a counter-example strong enough to outline the dangers of this informational danger. ISIS recruitment projects and extreme right movements, alongside with charitable initiatives and cute cat photos. Hard to make a choice? Is it so hard to say ´no´ and simply ban those entities who should be out of public sight?

The book uses a lot of inside sources - to Sandberg and Zuckerberg´s horror - without getting lost into the sea of details and trivia. It follows a direction of research, therefore the information is organised along those lines. 

Indeed, truth can be ugly, but not openly declare it in its nakedness and uglyness is even uglier.