Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has just published a 5,700 word "letter" on his profile, where he asserts that Facebook represents one of history's "great leaps." Though he covers a number of topics, what's most interesting is how he positions Facebook as a force for political change in the coming years. His goals are lofty, sometimes even grandiose. That's not the problem.
The problem is a fundamental contradiction built into the way he hopes to create what he calls a "global community" by essentially gerrymandering the Internet.
Facebook for politicians
Zuckerberg begins by claiming we're in an historic moment similar to "our great leaps from tribes to cities to nations." Then he adds that we need social media to "reach the next level." That next level is some kind of ill-defined global community which will come into being by using Facebook as a platform. In recent years, he says, the ideal of global community has become controversial. Though he never uses the word "nationalism," that's clearly what's on his mind.
https://arstechnica.com/staff/2017/02/op-ed-mark-zuckerbergs-manifesto-is-a-political-trainwreck/
