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Mark Zuckerberg’s New Year’s Challenge Shows Facebook Still Doesn’t Get It | Slate

Mark Zuckerberg thinks Facebook users are stupid. At least that’s what I’ve concluded from reading a post on his new year’s “challenge,” in which he resolves to “host a series of public discussions about the future of technology in society.” The challenge itself didn’t force my conclusion, though it seems to be another in a long line of PR stunts meant to make users think Facebook is addressing its missteps. It was one particular question on Zuckerberg’s list that crystalized something for me: Facebook and its CEO are dishonest salesmen, and we’re the uninformed buyers they’re trying to dupe.

“Do we want technology to keep giving more people a voice, or will traditional gatekeepers control what ideas can be expressed?” Zuckerberg asks, as if the greatest challenge to free speech in our lifetime can be boiled down to a simple binary choice. The framing itself is misleading, painting “technology” as an unadulterated societal good that sprinkles people with First Amendment fairy dust at each login.

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Source: Mark Zuckerberg’s new year’s challenge shows Facebook still doesn’t get it.