Image - Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang
Past Event

Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination

Flawed. Furtive. Facebook. In the nearly two decades of the social media platform’s existence, it has both soared into worldwide popularity and plummeted into the depths of conspiracy peddling and hate-mongering. Is this the fate of any globally devoured site, or is it due to miscalculations in programming, or is it the consequence of decisions made at the top by the site’s infamous leaders?

Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang, authors of the book An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination, argue that Facebook is doing exactly what it was created to do. From abusing user data and empowering political corruption to creating echo chambers of misinformation, they say Facebook is in the midst of a reckoning—and Frenkel and Kang are in front row seats. Their work, built on intimate connections to the industry and insiders, is a call for accountability from the site’s two mogul leaders who have time and time again shown their willingness to turn a blind eye.

At INFORUM Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang will disentangle the many narratives that shroud Facebook and its leaders in mystery. By unpacking the years of manipulation they say Facebook has baked into its platform, they argue that there’s no time like the present to understand the pitfalls the behemoth succumbed to and to prevent history from repeating itself.

Notes

This is a free-for-members program. Members: Click on the "Buy Tickets" button above to order your tickets, and select the members link on the left side of the page. Your username is the email you used to sign up as a member. You can also request a password reset if needed. Discount will automatically be applied at checkout.

This is an online-only program; please pre-register to receive a link to the live-stream program. We welcome donations made during the registration process to support the production of our online programming.

Copies of The Ugly Truth are available for purchase at check-out (domestic U.S. addresses only). 

Photo by Beowulf Sheehan.

August 4, 2021

United States

Speakers
Image - Sheera Frenkel

Sheera Frenkel

Cybersecurity Correspondent, The New York Times; Co-author, An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination

Image - Cecilia Kang

Cecilia Kang

Technology and Regulatory Policy Correspondent, The New York Times; Co-author, An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination

Image - Emily Chang

Emily Chang

Anchor and Executive Producer, Bloomberg Technology; Author, Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley