Mark Zuckerberg might truly believe that it’s not a normal corporation but emails about its ruthless business practices tell the real story to its users
The spell has been weakening for a while, but last week it finally broke: Facebook is just a company, like the rest. We’ve suspected it for a while, thanks in part to the reporting of Carole Cadwalladr in the Observer. Already this year it was unforgivably slow to acknowledge its role in the Rohingya genocide, was issued the maximum fine available by the UK’s information commissioner for not looking after user data, and hired a rightwing opposition research group to look into George Soros, after the financier turned philanthropist had loudly criticised it.
Each episode was accompanied by the usual apologies and we’ll-do-betters. But last week’s scandal – an email cache released by the tenacious digital, culture, media and sport committee – is different. It revealed the inner workings of a calculating corporate hellbent on growth and crushing competition. The most damning exchange was between Justin Osofsky, a Facebook VP, and Mark Zuckerberg himself. Osofsky proposed limiting the access of Vine – a potential rival – to certain Facebook data after it had released a new feature. “Yup, go for it,” replied the boss. You might not have noticed, but Vine doesn’t exist any more.
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