You Break It, You Buy It: The Naiveté of Social Engineering in Tech – And How to Fix It

Facebook’s mission statement promises to “give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together” (Zuckerberg, 2017a Zuckerberg, M. (2017a). Bringing the world closer together. Retrieved from
https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/bringing-the-world-closer-together/10154944663901634/
[Google Scholar] ), and in his commencement speech to the Harvard class of 2017, CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg spoke about his dream, even in college, of connecting the whole world (Zuckerberg, 2017b Zuckerberg, M. (2017b). Mark Zuckerberg‘s commencement address at Harvard. Retrieved from

Mark Zuckerberg’s Commencement address at Harvard

[Google Scholar] ). What becomes increasingly clear with each revelatory news story, is that Zuckerberg – and the leaders and engineers and designers at other tech firms like Google and Twitter – failed to see how an engineering mindset applied to achieve social goals could wreak havoc on society and democracy.