Just in case you thought Mark Zuckerberg understood this. seriousness of role As the head of a Big Tech mega-conglomerate whose applications serve as essential communications infrastructure for nearly half the world, he’s now doing his best to dissuade you from that generous notion.

It’s not just his public statements, “I’m done apologizing“ humiliation human creations that he regularly steals educate him highly valuable artificial intelligence practices, photos of gold chains and exercise regimes, raves Caesar And Roman sack of Carthageand Donald Trump’s “soul” Post-assassination attempt (you know, the same Donald Trump who was once kicked out of Facebook after inciting a coup attempt). This also has to do with the way he and his minions run things at every major app operating under the Big Tech mega-conglomerate known as Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Meta AI).

news publishers and people agencies Facebook, Instagram and Threads continuously labeled Threads that were treating links and posts from legitimate sources as spam and accidentally restricting their accounts are now apparently blocking Links to stories about Trump’s highly newsworthy pro-Hitler comments restrictive accounts People who share such articles also lock other accounts to mention Digitally punishing journalists for sharing news.

whether or not them While the blocks were accidental, as Meta spokespeople claimed, this one certainly wasn’t, and it’s completely foreign at that: On Monday, Threads and Instagram launched the respective accounts. famous celebrity flight tracker this already existed Banned from Twitter (Meta’s communications director assured me that the Facebook account will say goodbye soon, too.) As with Twitter, Meta appears to have justified its suspensions on misleading grounds, arguing that the accounts were doxxing:private information” Even though they re-released information that was already publicly available by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Speaking of deliberate suppression, Meta’s hostility towards the dissemination of news and ““political” content in its applications and permanent, widespread Despite this stance, the use of these applications for political organization discussed quite a lot this election cycle. But your bosses inconsistent, inconsistent Adherence to this stance has increased to the point of exclusive use of words such as: vote you will have posts buried by algorithm violently.

And yes, inconsistent And inconsistent In light of a recent study, which adjectives are correct here? Report from The Intercept It revealed how Meta’s Israel policy chief Jordana Cutler deliberately pushed for censorship of pro-Palestinian student groups on Instagram by falsely framing them as blacklisted organizations. Meta denies this and calls the reporting “dangerous and irresponsible.” However, this is certainly consistent with past explanations. Facebook Documents and other leaked documents in which Meta administrators consistently refuse to suspend India-based accounts that violate their policies on incitement to violence and hate speech. They have also bowed to pressure from the Indian government to remove posts and accounts that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s right-wing administration does not care about.

Meanwhile, other disinformation tends to spread freely, even during periods of heightened crises and emergencies. For example, created by artificial intelligence pictures, videos and conspiracy posts everywhere on social media Even as news organizations and public institutions that tried to debunk these dangerous lies found themselves algorithmically blocked in the wake of hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Meta certainly wasn’t trying to fill the void, given how much he had. retreated old content moderation policiesand proceeded to lay off people working on it information verification And surveillance. Even Zuck admitted to congressional Republicans: regrets Dispelling misinformation about COVID-19 (though certainly I have not censored this content very effectivelylike everyone else who comes across plandemic conspiracy movie can testify).

Even while deprioritizing Meta’s inner world election security effortsstops fund broader election security initiatives Under pressure from GOP and continuing personal phone calls As for Trump, he doesn’t actually trust the Republicans who keep sending him out hard letters and blaming him equip the system Against Trump.

However, if truth is no longer a priority for Meta, AI certainly is. rapidly increasing energy needs Operating all these data centers and network training operations has encouraged the company to: Restarting closed coal power plants and to a large extent increase overall electricity consumption. That’s why all but backtracking We talk about emissions reductions and climate change mitigation targets just so users can post more fake, dangerously misleading images and videos.

There’s certainly a lot to consider, and there’s no shortage of thinking about what’s behind Zuckerberg’s stance against any form of accountability for maintaining a fair, functioning social media ecosystem (at least not accountable to anyone other than Republicans). Is he still sane after nearly a decade of on-and-off scandal? Russian psychiatric operations with Cambridge Analytica to Facebook Articles to inertia Trump’s “looting and shooting” rhetoric Facebook’s role enabling genocidal violence Against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar? In general, so many users, fairly or unfairly, blame him For the erosion of the common perception of truth and reality among the masses? Is he disgusted with the public? I don’t share his clearly misguided opinion That the metaverse is the future? Is that so and so? many other CEOs in technology and mediaAre you following the examples of gruff, authoritarian leadership modeled by Elon Musk? “prime beef“Is Hawaiian ranching doing something to his personality?

Frankly, I think all of this points to something much simpler. Yes, all the scandals in the past have undeniably angered Zuckerberg and led him to decide that this is it. just easier Negative to agree with problems of more serious importance than doing this. But these were PR bluster, and in the end he and his business got off pretty easily. But the upheavals he’s had to deal with in recent years are much more serious and could lead to real, significant, visible changes in his company – especially he did not provoke.

Republican anger towards Zuck is so high these days that even Trump threatened to put him in jail manager for life and at this point everyone knows It’s not a threat to be taken lightly. Should the man regain power? Near-universal anger at Zuckerberg for the harm Facebook and Instagram are doing to young people has sparked Meta numerous lawsuitsAt both the civilian and government levels this may change everything about the way these applications work, especially regarding addictive algorithms Keeping users connected, largely on purpose preying on their most violent, fanatical, or suicidal impulses.

In the European Union, strict technology regulations imposed in the 27-nation bloc have repeatedly led to fines privacy And antitrust In addition to violations restrictions on data collection Those holding Meta back large-scale AI rollout Across the Atlantic (this is particularly problematic for Meta, as these AI projects win the kind of investments it uses to delegate to its metadatabase). Back in the U.S., Meta is fighting a lawsuit in which the Federal Trade Commission is trying to delay accountability decisions. questions constitutionality enabled the agency to be fully placed in the league of Big Tech giants. Amazon and SpaceX And major cryptocurrency companiesThose who similarly question the constitutional legitimacy of other regulatory bodies.

When combined with meta Industry leading government lobbying effortsIt seems pretty obvious what Zuckerberg is aiming for: a strict blockade against anyone who tries to tell him what to do. Think about it. If you’ve been the ruler of a world-dominating social media apparatus for nearly 20 years, will you bow so freely when governments finally come together and try to tell you how you can run things better? With antitrust in vogue globally and facing a resurgent, new aggressive regulatory apparatus under current Democratic president Joe Biden, you don’t want to find yourself in a position where you could lose even the slightest influence. The raw power and autonomy you’ve amassed for yourself over the years. So why not do what you can to appease the people on the other side of the aisle?