I believe in the potential for corporations to do social good, and potentially - collectively - for them to tip the balance positively in the current global struggle to fashion a viable future. In my quarter-century-plus of corporate campaigning I have seen a good few corporations change profoundly for the better. I have been hoping for more than two years to see the same thing happen at Facebook….

1. Why I have finally quit
Facebook and deleted
all the data they hold
about me
And invite all the people
I am connected with
to join me
A chronology in pictures
and charts

2. Editorial note:
I believe in the potential for corporations to do
social good, and potentially - collectively - for them
to tip the balance positively in the current global
struggle to fashion a viable future. In my quarter-
century-plus of corporate campaigning I have seen
a good few corporations change profoundly for the
better. I have been hoping for more than two years
to see the same thing happen at Facebook….

3. The backdrop

4. 7th Jan
2016
July
2016
“Even in some of the richest and most politically stable regions of the
world, it seems as though democracy is in a state of serious disrepair.”
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
65+ 45 - 64
Europe
2010-12
35 - 44 25 - 34 16 - 24
USA
2011
USA
1995
Europe
1995-97
Source: World Values Surveys
Foa & Mounck 2016
Significant minorities oppose democracy in the
USA & Europe …and the numbers are growing
Percentage of the
population viewing
“having a democratic
political system” as a
“bad” or “very bad”
way to “run this
country” is rising
on both sides of
the Atlantic.

5. 7th Jan
2016
The younger you are in the USA and Europe,
the less you are likely to care about democracy
July
2016
Highest: more than 70% in Europeans born in the 1930s.
Lowest: little more than 30% in Americans born in the 1980s.
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30% by birth cohort
1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
Europe
USA
The percent of the
population who deem it
“essential” (10 on a 10
point scale) to live in a
country governed
democratically is falling on
both sides of the Atlantic
Source: World Values Surveys
Foa & Mounk 2016

6. % in USA responding that it
would be “good” or “very
good” to have “a strong leader”
who “doesn’t have to bother
with parliament and elections”:
1995: <20%
2010: >34%
7th Jan
2016
July
2016
Upper income
respondents
Lower and middle
income
respondents
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
1995 2000 20102005
Rising support for illiberal politics is growing fastest
among the rich elite in the USA
Most strong in young & rich (born since 1970): Those believing that it
would be a “good” thing for the army to take over: 1995 6%, 2016 35%
Source: World Values Surveys
Foa & Mounk 2016

7. The chronology

8. 7th Jan
2016
9th Nov
2016
Donald Trump wins the US presidency

9. 7th Jan
2016
9th Nov
2016
“Trump’s win signals open season for
Russia’s political hackers”

10. 7th Jan
2016
11th Nov
2016
Mark Zuckerberg: The idea that fake news on
Facebook affected the US election is “crazy”
“I think the idea that fake news on Facebook -- it's a very small amount
of the content -- to think it influenced the election in any way is a pretty
crazy idea. …Voters make decisions based on their lived experience.”

11. 7th Jan
2016
26th Dec
2016
“2016: The Mainstream Media Melted Down
as Fake News Festered”
The evidence begins slowly to emerge of lying by bad actors at scale on
Facebook and other social media. It swamped mainstream coverage.

12. 7th Jan
2016
6th Jan
2017
The CIA, NSA, and FBI jointly report that Vladimir
Putin ordered an operation to get Trump elected
In an unprecedented report, the three assess with “high confidence”
that Russian military intelligence was behind anonymous hacking of
prominent Democrats and the relaying of the stolen data to WikiLeaks.

13. 7th Jan
2016
6th Feb
2017
100 Silicon Valley firms file opposition to Trump's
exec order banning travel from 7 Muslim countries
including:

14. 7th Jan
2016
14th Feb
2017
“The Rise of the Weaponized AI Propaganda
Machine”: How Cambridge Analytica wins elections
• Big data surveillance
meets computational
pyschology
• Automated
engagement scripts
that prey on your
emotions
• A propaganda
network to accelerate
ideas in minutes
• A bot Gestapo to
police public debate
Reporting by Scout shows how researchers are able to use Facebook
“likes” to produce deep voter profiles …and CA has huge FB datasets.

15. 7th Jan
2016
8th Jan
2017
Hundreds of artificial intelligence (AI) practitioners
draft 23 principles for use: the Asilomar Principles
Principle 23 Common Good: Superintelligence should only be
developed in the service of widely shared ethical ideals, and for the
benefit of all humanity rather than one state or organization
Principle 17 Non-subversion: The power conferred by control of highly
advanced AI systems should respect and improve, rather than subvert,
the social and civic processes on which the health of society depends.

16. 7th Jan
2016
17th July
2017
Elon Musk shares the concerns about AI: believes it
is an “existential threat” and needs to be regulated
“By the time we are reactive in AI regulation, it’ll be too late.
AI is a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilisation.”

17. Zuckerberg dismisses Musk’s concerns about AI
as “pretty irresponsible”
7th Jan
2016
25 July
2017
“I have pretty strong opinions on this. I think people who are naysayers
….I just, I don’t understand it.”

18. 7th Jan
2016
16th Feb
2017
“Mark Zuckerberg’s Answer to a World Divided by
Facebook Is More Facebook”
“He might be in denial, because a lot of the rest of us are”: Nikki Usher,
Professor of new media and technology, George Washington University

19. A new dimension in American politics emerges
in Charlottesville
7th Jan
2016
12th Aug
2017
Violence on the streets of a kind not seen since the Vietnam war. A far-
right terrorist murders an anti-fascist by driving a car into a crowd.

20. 7th Jan
2016
16th Aug
2017
Tech giants denounce and expel neo-Nazis
This and other responses to opinion in workforces and the customer
base around this time show that Big Tech can and does react /change.

21. Mark Zuckerberg: I regret ridiculing fears over
Facebook's effect on election
7th Jan
2016
28th Sep
2017
The company admits to $100k in advertising revenue from a Russia-
based organisation promoting racial divisions favouring Trump.

22. “Our minds can be hijacked”: tech insiders warn that
a smartphone dystopia threatens democracy
7th Jan
2016
5th Oct
2017
“It is very common for humans to develop things with the best of
intentions that have unintended, negative consequences”:
Justin Rosenstein, creator of the Facebook 'like' button.

23. Trump digital director tells CBS ‘60 Minutes’
that Facebook helped win the White House
7th Jan
2016
9th Oct
2017
Facebook provided employees embedded in the Trump campaign’s
digital office to teach use of microtargeted personal ads. The same was
offered to the Clinton campaign, but they refused.
Brad Parscale, self taught Texan coder,
founder of Giles-Parscale

24. Polemic takes aim at surveillance capitalism
and absence of its regulation
7th Jan
2016
12th Oct
2017
“Their algorithms have pressed
us into conformity and laid waste
to privacy… few have grasped the
sheer scale of the threat”
“Sophia”
National correspondent, The Atlantic
Needed: A Data Protection
Authority to regulate use of data
cf Federal Communications
Commission and the airwaves

25. “It is time for antitrust regulators to start
blocking deals”
7th Jan
2016
27th Oct
2017
But: “We are a long way from having reason to break up the tech
giants.” At this point, that is a hotly debated contention.
Editorial
$19 bn

26. US Congress releases ads paid for by Russian agents
and seen by 150 million Americans
7th Jan
2016
1st Nov
2017
They include these:

27. Russian hacking went far beyond US election,
hitlist of 4,760 g-mail accounts reveals
7th Jan
2016
2nd Nov
2017
Breadth of players targeted in accidentally acquired list only
makes sense if hackers are Kremlin connected.
95% of hacking took place in Moscow office hours.

28. Ex-Facebook president Sean Parker: the site
is made “to exploit human vulnerability”
7th Jan
2016
9th Nov
2017
“We understood this ….and we did it anyway.”
“God knows what it is doing to our childrens’ brains”

29. Facebook must drop its silence on Russian
interference in UK, say MPs
7th Jan
2016
16th Nov
2017
Facebook breaking its silence on Russian interference in the US election
….on the eve of Congressional hearings, 22 September 2017.

30. American tech guru Vivek Wadhwa likens Silicon
Valley to the colonial British East India Company
7th Jan
2016
16th Nov
2017
“lacks ethics, morals
and is obsessed with
making money”
“India should put restrictions as
regulations on Facebook, Google and
others. Put up barriers. Regulate the
heck out of Amazon. Have a policy to
support local startups. India has to
build its own ecosystem.”

31. Join fight against “titans of technology”, UK union
chief urges Catholics in a speech in the Vatican
7th Jan
2016
24th Nov
2017
“lacks ethics, morals
and is obsessed with
making money”
Frances O’Grady
General Secretary
UK Trades Unions Congress

32. Facebook and Google share prices as yet unaffected
by burgeoning concerns about disinformation
7th Jan
2016
27th Nov
2017
Zuckerberg warned in early November that the cost of defending against
people manipulating the platform would hit profits. Result?

33. “How the Populist Right Is Redrawing the Map
of Europe”
7th Jan
2016
11th Dec
2017
“A rising tide of anti-immigrant and populist sentiment that is sweeping
aside or weakening mainstream party politics across the continent”.

34. Former Facebook executive: social media is
“ripping society apart”
7th Jan
2016
12th Dec
2017
Facebook’s VP for user growth until 2011, feels “tremendous guilt”
about social media “destroying how society works.”

35. George Soros: Facebook and Google are a “menace”
to society and must be regulated
7th Jan
2016
26th Jan
2018
He fears merger of their surveillance with that of states, leading to
“a web of totalitarian control the likes of which not even
Aldous Huxley or George Orwell could have imagined.”

36. Former Google and Facebook workers launch
campaign to fight tech addiction
7th Jan
2016
5th Feb
2018
Brainchild of the Center for Humane Technology, led by former Google
designer Tristan Harris & former Facebook advisor Roger McNamee.

37. Bill Gates warns Silicon Valley of
technology’s dangerous potential
7th Jan
2016
15th Feb
2018
“There’s always the question how much technology is empowering a
small group of people to cause damage.”

38. “Only the EU can break Facebook and Google's
dominance”: George Soros
7th Jan
2016
15th Feb
2018
Reasons: “more far sighted” social policies, stronger privacy & data
protection laws, tighter monopoly laws, “no problem giants” of its own.
Margrethe Vestager
EU Competition Commissioner

39. Facebook ordered to stop collecting user data
by Belgian court, or face fines of up to €100m
7th Jan
2016
16th Feb
2018
A battle which began in 2015, with evidence Facebook’s tracking of all
visitors without explicit consent used cookies breaching EU law.

40. Defending against the slide to populism requires
endless engagement ….and attention to root causes
7th Jan
2016
5th Mar
2018
“Since it usually takes years for
authoritarian strong men to consolidate
their power”, much will depend on the
savvy of opposition parties….
“Whenever a populist ruler oversteps
the bounds of his rightful authority,
they must pour into the streets—loudly
and in large numbers”
Defenders “must ensure that liberal
democracy once again lives up to the
expectations of its citizens”.

41. Mark Zuckerberg has a “rat-catching” team to keep
a lid on leakers, even of internal cultural discussions
7th Jan
2016
16th Mar
2018
An employee tells the Guardian about these “secret police”:
“It’s horrifying how much they know ….they’ll squash you like a bug”.

42. 50m Facebook profiles harvested unlawfully by
Cambridge Analytica, Whistleblower tells Guardian
7th Jan
2016
17th Mar
2018
Christopher Wylie says Steve Bannon used CA for “microtargeted” FB
ads during Trump campaign. CA CEO lied to UK MPs about FB data use.

43. Christopher Wylie explains formative role in creating
a “cultural weapon”, & how it was done
7th Jan
2016
17th Mar
2018
“We exploited Facebook to harvest millions of profiles. And built
models to exploit that and target their inner demons.”

44. Cambridge Analytica CEO captured selling tactics,
beyond microtargeting, for swinging elections
7th Jan
2016
19th Mar
2018
Alexander Nix: “These are things that don’t necessarily
need to be true as long as they’re believed.”

45. Edward Snowden: Facebook is a surveillance
company rebranded as social media
7th Jan
2016
19th Mar
2018
“They are not victims. They are accomplices.”

46. Second Cambridge Analytica whistleblower makes
firm’s blueprint for Trump victory public
7th Jan
2016
23rd Mar
2018
Brittany Kaiser says CEO Nix lied about doing no work on Brexit data.
That oil billionaires funded CA rigging of Nigerian election. And and.

47. Brexit whistleblower says Vote Leave broke law
on spending limits, and destroyed evidence.
7th Jan
2016
24th Mar
2018
They funneled £650k to Cambridge Analytica creation AIQ for dark arts
ads. He gives files to the Electoral Commission & police.
Shahmir Sanni
Secretary & Treasurer,
BeLeave

48. Apple's Cook slams Zuckerberg and Facebook's
business model, calling for regulation
7th Jan
2016
28th Mar
2018
Apple could make a “ton of money” but “We’re not going to traffic in
your personal life. Privacy to us is a human right, a civil liberty.”
“I wouldn’t be in
his position”

49. Facebook logged SMS texts and phone calls
without explicitly notifying users
7th Jan
2016
29th Mar
2018
FB claims that “uploading this information has always been opt-in only”.
But the Guardian finds it wasn’t, for a whole year, before 2016.

50. Facebook improperly shared data of 87m people
with Cambridge Analytica, company now says
7th Jan
2016
4th Apr
2018
This is 37m more than reported earlier. It also admits that data of most
of its 2 billion users could have been accessed improperly.

51. “Why Zuckerberg’s 14-Year Apology Tour Hasn’t
Fixed Facebook”
7th Jan
2016
6th Apr
2018
Zeynep Tufekci: “Facebook's CEO's constant apologies aren't a promise
to do better. They're a symptom of a profound crisis of accountability.”

52. Facebook suspends data firm hired by Vote Leave
over alleged Cambridge Analytica ties
7th Jan
2016
7th Apr
2018
FB says AggregateIQ “may be affiliated with SCL and may, as a result,
have improperly received FB user data.”

53. UK and US lawyers launch a joint class action
against Facebook and Cambridge Analytica
7th Jan
2016
10th Apr
2018
US Stored Communications Act involves a minimum $1,000 penalty for
any violation found by a court, meaning FB could face $70bn damages.

54. “Congress tried to crack Zuckerberg – but Facebook
still has all the power”
7th Jan
2016
10th Apr
2018
“Zuckerberg may not want us to know where he slept last night, but his
company sure as hell knows where the rest of us are sleeping.”

55. Zuckerberg evasive on tracking, browsing, profiling,
& need to change business model to protect privacy
7th Jan
2016
11th Apr
2018
Congressman Frank Pallone: “Our laws are not working” …”we need
“comprehensive privacy and data protection legislation.”
Congresswoman reads
long list of Zuckerberg’s
apologies, starting in 2003,
as evidence that self
regulation can never work

56. In Congress, Zuckerberg dodged questions on whether he would apply
GDPR to Americans, promising GDPR “controls” not “protections.”
Facebook moves 1.5bn users out of reach
of new European privacy law
7th Jan
2016
19th Apr
2018

57. Vince Cable: Facebook should divest itself of Instagram and WhatsApp
as a condition for EU operation, creating 2 new social media networks.
Former UK Secretary of State for Business calls for
break-up of Google, Facebook and Amazon
7th Jan
2016
19th Apr
2018

58. JP Morgan used Palantir and their data-mining in
secret surveillance of employees
7th Jan
2016
19th Apr
2018
19th April 2018
Palantir has also worked for Cambridge Analytica, the CIA, and and.
Founder Peter Thiel is on the board of Facebook. A Trump funder, he has
said “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”

59. Amanda Taub & Max Fisher on role of fake news: “Facebook’s newsfeed
played a central role in nearly every step from rumor to killing.”
“Where Countries Are Tinderboxes and Facebook
Is a Match”
7th Jan
2016
21st Apr
2018
Buddhist mob
burns a Muslim
- owned shop
in Sri Lanka,
March 2018

60. Jason Calacanis will offer seven “purpose-driven teams” $100,000 each,
aiming to build a billion-user platform that protects privacy.
Tech investment pioneer launches competition to
find and fund a social network to replace Facebook
7th Jan
2016
24th Apr
2018
Jason Calacanis
criticizing
Facebook’s
privacy policy on
YouTube in 2009

61. Aeisha Mastagni: “Who is it that holds Mr Zuckerberg to account?” One
share should equal one vote. “Facebook, it is time to act like an adult.”
“Facebook’s dual-class share structure is akin to a
dictatorship”: Calstrs portfolio manager in the FT
7th Jan
2016
10th May
2018

62. At least a dozen U.S.-designated terror groups use Facebook, Bloomberg
discovers, and when banned soon reappear with slight modifications.
“Terrorists Are Still Recruiting on Facebook, Despite
Zuckerberg’s Reassurances”
7th Jan
2016
10th May
2018

63. Schroepfer told MPs that targeted ads had not been used by Russian
agencies. New evidence released by US Congress shows it was.
Facebook mislead UK Parliament over Russian
interference in Brexit vote, MPs say
7th Jan
2016
12th May
2018
Masayoshi Son, Softbank founder and CEO Mike Schroepfer, Facebook CTO

64. “You Broke Democracy”, a plane-towed banner reads. But no sign of
investors voting with their capital. And still MZ has absolute control.
Zuckerberg and his board suffer a barrage from
investors and protestors at Facebook’s AGM
7th Jan
2016
31st May
2018

65. 71% of US 13-17 year olds used FB in 2015, 51% today. Analyst: this
demographic shift is a “greater existential threat” than privacy concerns.
Teens are abandoning Facebook in dramatic
numbers, a Pew Research Center poll finds
7th Jan
2016
1st Jun
2018

66. New Facebook revelation: data shared with four
Chinese consumer-device makers, including Huawei
7th Jan
2016
6th Jun
2018
Ren Zhengfei, ex Chinese Army,
Huawei founder and CEO
New questions arise. Has data gone to Chinese servers? Have back
doors been created for Chinese hacking? And users were not told….

67. Democracy has regressed in multiple countries
since 2007, and liberal democracy especially
7th Jan
2016
12th Jun
2018
In 1941 there were only a dozen democracies; by 2000 only 8 states had
never held a serious election. But since the financial crisis of 2007-08….

68. UK democracy under threat, says electoral
regulator, calling on government for urgent reform
7th Jan
2016
26th Jun
2018
Recommendations include: no spending by foreign organisations and
individuals, transparency on who pays for online ads, ++

69. “Trial runs for fascism are in full flow”: Trump has
“an acute understanding of test marketing”
7th Jan
2016
26th Jun
2018
e.g. Incarcerating infants is a test of tolerance of brutality in the c.40% of
the population a dictator need onside: Fintan O’Toole in the Irish Times.
Sign on the wall of a
detention centre for
children separated
from their parents, as
shown on NBC News

70. Facebook patents a system that can use your
phone's microphone to monitor TV habits
7th Jan
2016
29th Jun
2018
An audio fingerprint embedded in TV shows or ads, inaudible to human
ears, would trigger the phone to turn on the microphone and record.

71. 7th Jan
2016
3rd July
2018
Investigation, previously limited to Cambridge Analytica, now widens,
including FB’s 2011 undertakings and Zuckerberg testimony to Congress.
SEC joins FBI, Justice Department & Federal Trade
Commission in probing Facebook data breaches
X
Who knows howmany

72. 7th Jan
2016
3rd July
2018
Nike, Spotify, Snap, UPS and dating app Hinge
among those given special rights to access.
Facebook confesses another false disclosure: it gave
61 companies access to user data blocked to most

73. 7th Jan
2016
11th July
2018
And starts a criminal prosecution against Cambridge Analytica parent
SCL Elections, accusing it of failing properly to deal with a data request.
UK Information Commissioner fines Facebook the
maximum possible over a data scandal ....£500k
Elizabeth Denham, Information Commissioner

74. 7th Jan
2016
13th July
2018
11-count 29-page indictment “lays out Russia's alleged efforts in the
excruciating detail & specificity that has become the Mueller hallmark.”
On eve of Trump / Putin meeting, US DoJ indicts 12
Russian spies for hacking attack on 2016 US election

75. 7th Jan
2016
17th July
2018
Moderator tells undercover reporter policy is to keep pages up because
“they have a lot of followers so they’re generating a lot of revenue.”
Facebook protected far-right activists even after
rule breaches: Channel 4 investigation
…yet another apology

76. 7th Jan
2016
19th July
2018
Zuckerberg says Facebook will not ban Holocaust
deniers and other extreme conspiracy theorists
His statement of “clarification”: “Our goal with fake news
is not to prevent anyone from saying something untrue,
but to stop fake news and misinformation spreading.”
Facebook:
go ahead and
use our platform
to “debate”
what happened
in here

77. 7th Jan
2016
20th July
2018
“How can Facebook stop climate misinformation
when its ‘fact-checkers’ are deniers?”
Joe Romm gives examples on ThinkProgress of Zuckerberg confirming
that deniers will be allowed to “fact check” for the platform.

78. 7th Jan
2016
20th July
2018
In the last 2 months 20 people have been set on by mobs and murdered
after being falsely accused of child abduction on the app.
WhatsApp tiny anti-hate step: message forwarding
limited to 20, and 5 in India after mob lynchings

79. 32 pages and accounts removed for “co-ordinated inauthentic
behaviour”. Intelligence experts blame the Kremlin.
7th Jan
2016
31st July
2018
Facebook uncovers disinformation campaign aiming
to influence US midterm elections

80. >1,000 posts attacking the Rohingya and other Muslims uncovered. FB
has failed to fix a problem Zuckerberg promised to fix 4 months ago.
7th Jan
2016
15th Aug
2018
“Why Facebook is losing the war on hate speech in
Myanmar”: a bombshell Reuters investigation

81. Facebook and Twitter chiefs testify as Congress
mulls regulation
7th Jan
2016
5th Sep
2018
Senator Mark Warner: “I’m sceptical that ..you’ll be able to truly address
this challenge on your own. I believe Congress is going to have to act.”

82. Tim Berners-Lee launches a radical plan to
decentralise the WWW, so that users own their data
7th Jan
2016
29th Sep
2018
“We are not talking to Facebook and Google about whether or not to
introduce a complete change where all their business models are
completely upended overnight. We are not asking their permission.”

83. 7th Jan
2016
14th Nov
2018
“Delay, Deny and Deflect”: NYT investigation finds
this is how Facebook’s leadership reacts to crises
50 past & present FB staff & congressional players are interviewed. Mark
Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg (COO) emerge guilty of systemic failings
on Russian election meddling, data sharing, & hate mongering.

84. 7th Jan
2016
19th Nov
2018
Free market is not working in protecting privacy,
and regulation of Big Tech is “inevitable”: Tim Cook
This in interview before further scandal this week: Facebook used a PR
agency to smear critics, NYT reports. Zuckerberg professes ignorance.

85. 7th Jan
2016
27th Nov
2018
Facebook was warned of apparent Russian data
trawl in 2014, international parliamentarians told
Facebook’s representative, Richard Allan, confirms a leak of this
damning evidence to UK MP Damien Collins. Allan’s bosses told nobody.

86. 7th Jan
2016
6th Dec
2018
Leaked Facebook e-mails show ruthless commercial
focus, counter to public interest, led from the top
So Zuckerberg wrote in a 2012 email about the possibility that
developers would build applications that used data about Facebook
users and their friends, but not provide any data back to FB.
“That may be
good for the
world, but it’s
not good for
us…”

87. 7th Jan
2016
7th Dec
2018
French Yellow Vests protestors are organizing in
huge Facebook groups, and on Twitter
Many of the most visible accounts tweeting about the Yellow Vests
have a hard-right or far-right political positioning, Bloomberg reports.

88. After being alerted that
Tommy Robinson was
using Facebook as
though he was a charity,
FB removed the donate
button.
In all my reading about
this company, I have only
rarely encountered
examples of them doing
anything proactively.
7th Jan
2016
7th Dec
2018
A British fascist activist raises “several hundred
thousands pounds ” online incl. via a Facebook page
A Guardian investigation finds that the anti-Muslim hatemonger is
financially and logistically supported by far-right US and Australian think
tanks, US tech billionaire Robert Shillman, and hundreds of Russian
trolls. Robinson has >1 million Facebook followers.

89. 7th Jan
2016
8th Dec
2018
I delete my Facebook account and all personal data
they hold, concluding they are beyond reform
I urge all colleagues, friends and esteemed contacts who care about the
future of liberal democracy to do the same.