ZUCKERBERG MUST GO

It's very simple. Facebook is way too powerful to be run by a jerk like Mark Zuckerberg.

While Zuckerberg has shown himself to be capable of creating a financial juggernaut, he has simultaneously shown himself to be utterly inadequate to handle the responsibilities of managing an organization with the power and influence of Facebook. Or even understanding what the responsibilities are.

The ease with which Russian operatives manipulated the Facebook platform and the cavalier way in which Facebook reacted to the Cambridge fiasco have only two possible explanations. Facebook is either negligent or stupid. In light of the stakes, either of these is sufficient grounds for giving Z his walking papers.

If we have sensible representatives in Washington they will be looking into Zuckerberg's personal role in the scandals facing Facebook. What did he know and when did he know it? What did he do about it?

  - The indictments handed down by the Justice Department give us plausible reasons to believe that crimes were committed on the "buy" side in the Russian disinformation caper. The question is, were crimes also committed on the "sell" side?

   - In 2016, when a Columbia University researcher was trying to examine Russian links to Facebook activity, why did Facebook delete thousands of potentially relevant posts?

  - As for Cambridge, the blasé way they handled the knowledge that tens of millions of files had wound up in the hands of unauthorized people is beyond comprehension. Why did it take them so long to acknowledge that the personal private information of 87 million people were compromised?

   - Why is it that it took until this week for Zuckerberg to divulge the mind-blowing fact that
it is likely that most of Facebook's 2 billion users have had their personal data scraped by crooks? When did he know this?

Facebook's history of fabrication and deception is unprecedented and unacceptable. Even in the context of the tech industry -- an industry famous for its willingness to play fast and loose with ethics and integrity -- Zuckerberg is considered shady. He has zero credibility.

Facebook's initial statements about any issue always turn out to be bullshit. Truth is something that must be squeezed out of them.

- How many people does it reach? Bullshit.
- How many phony accounts does it have? Bullshit.
- How much time do people spend watching Facebook videos? Bullshit.
- How many Americans received Russian-backed disinformation from Facebook? Bullshit.

They never get it right the first time. For a company whose core competency is the advanced use of data, it's remarkable how bad they are at counting.

The absence of probity and maturity that Facebook has displayed has been baked into the company's DNA by Zuckerberg's arrogance, and will remain there as long as his vapid philosophies define their culture...

    "Move fast and break things"

    "Young people are just smarter"

These are the pronouncements of an infantile narcissist. You can draw a straight line from this nonsense to the current headlines.

Anticipating Zuckerberg's appearance before Congress, Facebook has been scrambling all week to clean up years of dirty laundry.

In the latest revelation of their duplicity, it was divulged this week that for years they have been secretly deleting messages on their Messenger platform from Zuckerberg and other FB execs for fear that their messages would be hacked and reveal damaging private conversations. This option was not available to you and me. Apparently, privacy is a very important issue -- when it's theirs.

We used to be able to dismiss Zuckerberg and his wolf pack as greedy, silly brats with no perspective and no ethical compass. But he is far more dangerous than that. 

Zuckerberg needs to be replaced as CEO. They should give him some bullshit title miles away from company operations. Facebook shareholders and board won't remove him because their only concerns are financial (remember, he still owns most of the shares.) There needs to be external pressure. But this is highly unlikely.

The only groups with the power to exert such pressure are regulators and us -- the marketing industry. We're his benefactors. We're his money machine.

The likelihood of regulators or Congress doing anything? Close to zero. They'll huff, puff, preen and blow hot air.

The likelihood of the marketing industry doing anything? The square root of diddly.

PS: Let's not lose perspective. Sticking band-aids on Facebook will not solve the big problem. The big problem is ad tech, online tracking, and surveillance marketing. Until we put sensible limits on this stuff nothing will change.

An accountant by trade, his influence on the direction of the ad industry has been unprecedented and, in my opinion, almost wholly negative. The reason the ad business has turned into the corporate monkey house it is can be substantially attributed to a handful of financial wise guys and holding company hotshots of which Sorrell is the high priest.

Regardless of my personal feelings, even over-fed CEOs are entitled to due process. Let's not get the pitchforks out quite yet.

Well, who'd a thunk there are thousands of 'em? According to a message I received from LinkedIn this week, they have filled 4,991 Chief Aggravation Officer jobs recently. I never dreamed there were so many lucrative career opportunities in being a pain in the ass. All it ever yielded me were hostile glares and threatening emails.

Well, anyway...if there are any companies out there searching for a really experienced and motivated Chief Aggravation Officer, I'm your man. Just two things -- I "work" from home and I don't fly coach.

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