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An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang

“An Ugly History” would be a more apt title. 

While the title “An Ugly Truth” may imply the reveal of a revelation about the behind the scenes of Facebook, it doesn’t offer any information that isn’t already known. It’s more a written history of the controversies that have shaped Facebook into what it is today.

It primarily dives deep into Facebook’s attempts to remain politically neutral, and refusal to regulate its content. How it puts site traffic and user engagement over ethical standards. And in order to achieve the desired traffic and engagement, users newsfeeds are programmed to show more negative content because they invoke a greater reaction. 🤬

Regardless of the nature of the content, if it keeps users on the platform, then the content remains on the platform. Even if it violates the company’s own policies, or is considered too dangerous as it could potentially incite real world violence, the powers that be may deem it too newsworthy to remove from the platform.

A topic I did find particularly interesting was Facebook’s ongoing battles with Washington. Many times throughout its history, Facebook has come under scrutiny from the government for not just its invasion of user’s privacy, but its ability to influence real world events such as elections and wars. But the issue is that Washington is mostly populated by people who are older and less tech savvy. Thus, Facebook has been able to put itself in a position to more easily defend against any potential government-mandated dismantling through the acquisitions of several other companies and platforms, most notably, Instagram and WhatsApp. While each app may look separate, their back-end infrastructures are deeply interdependent, allowing Facebook to claim that any dismantling would be far too complicated. 🤔

If you’re looking for juicy, behind the scenes dirt on Facebook, this is not the book to read. But if you’re interested in learning about the controversial history of Facebook, enjoy.