A former speechwriter for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has disputed his recent comments on the company’s early vision, claiming he always believed it could become a world-beating entity.
Speaking to New York Magazine, Kate Losse shot down an idea repeatedly presented by Zuckerberg: that during Facebook’s humble beginnings in a Harvard dorm room, he never actually thought it could morph into a platform of global influence.
Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook out of his Harvard University dorm room in 2004. During his Senate testimony, he made sure everyone remembered. https://t.co/UZIdh9Z6wO pic.twitter.com/5ZuQ5oroGC
— CNN (@CNN) April 11, 2018
“I have to say that when I heard the comment that he made, I was like, ‘Huh? What? What are you talking about?’” Losse said.
“That line was odd to me because it was like one of the strangest things that I’ve heard him say.”
Losse, who worked at the company until 2011, also told Vox that Zuckerberg was working to instil a culture of total domination as far back as 2005.
“But whenever I had any doubts I would think, ‘Facebook has to be much bigger than it is now before ‘domination’ is anything to be afraid of,’” Losse said.
“And with that, I would throw myself back into the work of growing Facebook. That was our shared passion as a company: Scale first, ask questions later.”
As we’ve all discovered, those delayed ‘questions’ are pretty bloody serious. From Facebook’s loosey-goosey handling of user data and its resultant exploitation by political operatives, to broader questions about how Facebook has negatively altered society, Zuckerberg stands accused of wild recklessness.
Losse also recalled some vital questions she never asked Zuckerberg during her tenure.
“If we were to achieve our goal, why should the world trust Facebook or Zuckerberg to shape and manage this new global meta-society?,” she said.
“Could Zuckerberg, who wields considerable power over Facebook’s share structure, develop the self-awareness and responsibility to manage it?”
The answers to those questions will be seen in the near future, as Facebook – and Zuckerberg – faces the most serious period of scrutiny in its entire existence.
