Facebook expects up to $5 billion FTC fine over privacy

$5 billion is about one month's revenue for Facebook.

The True Face of Zuckerberg slowly revealed with Photoshop

In this video, titled "Removing MARK ZUCKERBERG'S Plastic Surgery" in ironic reference to a genre of mean-spirited celebrity photoshopping, the Facebook founder's true face is finally revealed by PhotoshopSurgeon on YouTube. Read the rest

There is a federal criminal investigation into Facebook's data-sharing deals

The Eastern District of New York empaneled a Grand Jury into the dirty data dealings of Facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook's horrible year was pretty good, actually

In a year-in-review post, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg said on Friday he is “proud of the progress we've made.”

Yes, he really is that deluded. Read the rest

Mark Zuckerberg and his empire of oily rags

Surveillance capitalism sucks: it improves the scattershot, low-performance success-rate of untargeted advertising (well below 1 percent) and doubles or triples it (to well below 1 percent!). Read the rest

A Bad Lip Reading of Mark Zuckerberg testifying to Congress

It makes me very happy that the "Bad Lip Reading" folks took Zuck's recent testimony footage and made this gem of a video. Read the rest

Dave Pell on "The Flight of the Zuckerberg"

The inimitable Dave Pell, managing editor of the Internet, shares 20 quick (and brilliant) insights about the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal. Here are a few:

2. Facebook is constantly urging you to share your immediate thoughts and reactions to every life event. We were a couple days into the company’s biggest challenge before Facebook’s creator shared any of his thoughts on the matter. There’s probably a lesson in that...

11. You read the stories about Cambridge Analytica and you think, Damn, these guys are total geniuses who can control our minds. You watch the undercover video of the Cambridge Analytica execs and you think, Damn, these guys are seriously some clown-ass schmucks. Like always, believe what you see...

12. If Facebook really manipulates our thoughts, they must want us to be really pissed at Facebook...

19. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. The only privacy policy that matters is your own.

"The Flight of the Zuckerberg" (via NextDraft) Read the rest

Facebook hired a pollster to track Zuck's public image, but he quit because working for Facebook filled him with shame

Tavis McGinn came to a job interview at Facebook to do the kind of work he'd done at Google, using analytics to help advertisers refine their campaigns; instead he was offered a job as Zuck's personal pollster, tracking the CEO's approval rating in fine-grained detail as he toured America and the world. Read the rest

VERIFIED Mark Zuckerberg defends Facebook's association with Peter Thiel

Update: According to The Verge, Facebook has verified the authenticity of the screenshot below.

In what appears to be an internal Facebook post, Zuckerberg defends his company's ongoing association with Peter Thiel -- Facebook investor/board member and major donor to white-supremacist/pro-rape presidential candidate Donald Trump. Read the rest