One of the Best Technology Books of 2020--Financial Times****
"Levy's all-access Facebook reflects the reputational swan dive of its
subject. . . . The result is evenhanded and devastating."--*San
Francisco Chronicle
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"[Levy's] evenhanded conclusions are still damning."--*Reason
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"[He] doesn't shy from asking the tough questions."--*The Washington
Post
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"Reminds you the HBO show Silicon Valley did not have to reach far for
its satire."--NPR.org
The definitive history, packed with untold stories, of one of
America's most controversial and powerful companies: Facebook
As a college sophomore, Mark Zuckerberg created a simple website to
serve as a campus social network.
Today, Facebook is nearly unrecognizable from its first, modest
iteration. In light of recent controversies surrounding
election-influencing "fake news" accounts, the handling of its users'
personal data, and growing discontent with the actions of its founder
and CEO--who has enormous power over what the world sees and says--never
has a company been more central to the national conversation.
Millions of words have been written about Facebook, but no one has told
the complete story, documenting its ascendancy and missteps. There is no
denying the power and omnipresence of Facebook in American daily life,
or the imperative of this book to document the unchecked power and
shocking techniques of the company, from growing at all costs to
outmaneuvering its biggest rivals to acquire WhatsApp and Instagram, to
developing a platform so addictive even some of its own are now
beginning to realize its dangers.
Based on hundreds of interviews from inside and outside Facebook, Levy's
sweeping narrative of incredible entrepreneurial success and failure
digs deep into the whole story of the company that has changed the world
and reaped the consequences.
