by MICHAEL HILTZIK
Mark Zuckerberg’s cluelessness shows how socially dangerous Facebook has become.
The problem with giant corporations sometimes isn’t simply that they’re too big, but that their sense of their social impact is too small.
Exhibit A: Facebook.
The giant social media firm’s co-founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, on Tuesday convened a 90-minute video town hall for its employees.
His goal chiefly was to address internal angst about his decision not to take down, flag or otherwise moderate recent postings by President Trump that appeared to threaten the use of official violence against protesters of police racism and brutality.
Trump cited a line attributed to Miami Police Chief Walter Headley in 1967 during the civil rights movement, plainly alluding to a violent police response to disorder: “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
If employees or any other observers of Facebook history expected Zuckerberg to defend his action by wrapping himself in the principle of freedom of expression, offering a convoluted explanation of how he arrived at his decision, and conceding that he might have stumbled a bit in the process but would do better in the future, they were not disappointed.
“I do think that expression and voice is … a thing that routinely needs to be stood up for,” Zuckerberg said.
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