An Ugly Truth

Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination

by ,

Hardcover, 352 pages

Published July 13, 2021 by Harper.

ISBN:
978-0-06-296067-2
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(8 reviews)

New York Times reporters Frenkel and Kang debut with a paragon of investigative journalism in this insiders’ account of the scandals and toxic culture at social media giant Facebook. Compiling interviews with former and current employees as well as investors, regulators, and lawmakers, the authors offer an unvarnished view of the company’s callous business practices, most notably the exploitation of users’ data, their “merciless” overthrows of competitors, and the “powerful monopoly” that resulted. They recap headline-grabbing events such as the discovery of Russian hackers’ use of the platform and the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Less familiar (and more riveting) anecdotes include a contract employee leaking a memo to the press, who was then caught by Facebook’s “rat catcher,” Sonya Ahuja, and fired, and former vice president of global communications Elliot Schrage threatening a representative from Common Sense Media who was concerned about protecting children from the potential harms of social media. …

3 editions

reviewed An Ugly Truth by Cecilia Kang

Facebook, how could you?

The 2021 book that brought together several NYTimes stories and more. Written by two NYTimes reporters, this categorizes many of the company's questionable decisions (and indecisions) through it's existence. With an obvious "must grow" mentality, this drove many of the responses.

Kind of sad. A good management lesson for any aspiring or existing people manager.

reviewed An Ugly Truth by Cecilia Kang

The book on facebook

I read a sample of the just-published book that Meta is suing to block and it's not my cup of tea (a first-hand account written in the present tense like a YA novel which works for me in the Hunger Games but little else), but this book written by two NYT reporteres is all you need - it's got everything, including genocide, and doesn't just talk about Zuckerberg (let's not forget Sheryl "Lean In" Sandberg). X formerly known as twitter is more gleefully evil, but Meta formerly known as facebook has probably done more damage and killed more people.

reviewed An Ugly Truth by Cecilia Kang

democracy dies in Mark-ness

This is an excellent takedown of Facebook, going hard on how the company created its own disinformation nightmare by treating extremist hate speech as “important political content.” Outstandingly written and devastating, it also sheds light on the epically gross working relationship between Zuck and Sheryl. If you can tolerate 300+ pages about some of the worst people in the world but want more ammunition against the selective applications of “intellectual freedom,” pick it up.

reviewed Facebook. L'inchiesta finale. by Cecilia Kang

Review of "Facebook. L'inchiesta finale." on 'Goodreads'

Ma che inquietudine. Il libro parla della storia di Facebook e arriva all'inizio del 2021. Parla di come viene gestita la privacy degli utenti e come sono usate le informazioni interne.
La traduzione è ottima e il libro scorre. Anche se l'angoscia e la rabbia sono monotone crescenti.

reviewed An Ugly Truth by Cecilia Kang

None

A lot of the books about big tech are typically written by experts in one field or another, while this actually takes a moment to step back and provide an exhaustive view of the entirety of Facebook's history and its series of scandals. That gives you a top-down view to a tech company in which the leaders herald interaction above all else, stating that it "creates a better world" while at best, failing to understand the world beyond their bubble and at worst, cynically driving the worst interactions solely for the way in which it helps the bottom line.

The writing here is organized well, with each chapter providing a clear and well-written data point that can be independently worth another book unto itself. I'd say this is a great read for folks interested in learning a bit about the world we live in, the tools we use to facilitate …

reviewed An Ugly Truth by Cecilia Kang

Review of 'An Ugly Truth' on 'Goodreads'

More to say about this later ... but first pass reaction: not only an insider view of FB's rise in the social media space, but also a reminder of just how many scandals FB has been involved in over the last 10-15 years as, the company outgrew its initial 'mission' and struggled to understand how easily bad actors could manipulate their system.

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