Facebook

January 6, 2020
The social-media behemoth Facebook comes across as an idealistic but also shady, exploitative, and increasingly beleaguered entity in this clear-eyed history. Wired editor-at-large Levy (Hackers) treats Facebook largely as a projection of its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, whom he has covered for many years. His Zuckerberg is a talented entrepreneur whose motto, “move fast and break things,” encapsulates a strategy of rapid software development and innovative products; a corporate predator who buys or crushes rivals; an off-putting nerd given to silent, unblinking stares—underlings call them “Eye of Sauron”—as his mental gears grind; a megalomaniac who used to end meetings by yelling, “Domination!”; and a messiah of digital connectedness (that conveniently lets him monetize information on everyone). Levy had extensive access to Facebook employees and paints a revealing and highly critical portrait of the company as it wrangled with charges that it violated users’ privacy by sharing their data with advertisers and political operatives, and served as a vector for manipulative fake news, pro-Trump Russian propaganda, and hate speech. Levy’s critique of Facebook is broad, but not always convincing: he’s hard-pressed to show concretely how Facebook’s privacy breaches have hurt anyone, and he’s dismissive of Zuckerberg’s free speech concerns about censoring Facebook content. Facebook-phobes will enjoy Levy’s rich account of the company’s creepy doings, but his take on Facebook’s social impact smacks more of anxiety than thoughtful analysis.

January 15, 2020
Wired editor at large and longtime tech reporter Levy (In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives, 2011, etc.) explores the inner workings of the social media giant. While attending Harvard, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg "took a laissez-faire attitude toward classes" while deep within projects such as Course Match, which allowed students to see who was signed up for which classes--good for those seeking candidates for a winning study group, one might say, but also a fine tool for a stalker. Levy explores the morally neutral world that Zuckerberg built with Facebook, an enterprise whose every technological feature disguises means to gather salable data on the user's movements, preferences, political leanings, and the like. Those features, of course, have put Facebook very much in the news as a vehicle for delivering "fake news." As one advertising executive noted, looking at the growth of "ruble-denominated accounts" surrounding the 2016 presidential election, "it was one hundred percent knowable that [the Russians] would use social media in this way." Defending himself in the wake of the massive data mining undertaken by companies such as Cambridge Analytica, Zuckerberg has retreated behind the shield of free expression, though belatedly acknowledging that consumers might not want their private data to be so easily accessed. "For the past twelve years," writes Levy of the choice between more or less privacy, "Zuckerberg had been ranking those values incorrectly." For all his criticisms, the author, who enjoyed free access to Zuckerberg, is less dismissive of Facebook and its intentions than Roger McNamee, whose book Zucked (2019) condemns the company's demonstrated disregard for its users' rights. If changes for the better come, they'll likely be grudging. Levy makes it clear that Zuckerberg believes in the essential benefit to the world of his mission even if he is "the man who some think has done as much destruction to that world as anyone in the business realm." Of considerable interest to followers of technological trends, futurists, and investors.

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 1, 2020
Respected tech writer Levy (In the Plex, 2011) presents the definitive story of Facebook. From Mark Zuckerberg's Harvard dorm room in 2004 to Levy's July 2019 interview with him, Levy takes the reader into a detailed history of the world's biggest social networking company. Given unfettered access to Zuckerberg and the company during the last three years, Levy is able to illustrate how the company developed under the influence of Zuckerberg's acknowledged hypercompetitiveness. Levy notes that the company's original motto, Move fast and break things, could have the addendum, and apologize later. The book is divided into three parts. The first details Facebook's early years, including what really happened at Harvard with the Winklevoss twins and others who had competing ideas for the same concept. The second part follows Facebook's heady days of unprecedented growth. Lastly, Levy considers the recent implications of Facebook's use to influence the 2016 election and the public's loss of trust in the company. This absorbing book will inspire important conversations about big tech and privacy in the twenty-first century.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)