Careless People
Here's a look inside Meta and it's not very flattering.
This book is the ultimate manifestation of the Striesand effect. If Meta hadn't tried to silence the author, I probably would have never read it. I'm glad I did. It was entertaining and insightful. It didn't really present anything new, in the sense that I always thought that people running Meta were at the very least callous and aloof about the negative impacts they were having on the world. This book just kind of confirms that. If you take everything bad you ever thought about Facebook and multiply that by 10 you are probably getting close to the truth.
What I found interesting from the book is that it doesn't seem to be due to direct malice just complete indifference, self-gaslighting, and greed. They aren't outright trying to be evil or make the world a worse place. They are just so consumed with their own growth in wealth and power that they seem to not care at all what rules they break, who they step on, or what harm they cause. It's like nothing exists to them outside their own little sphere.
I view this book as a bit of a warning. The author went in with good intentions. However, starting from very early on in the book there were a lot of red flags. She kind of just waved them away and kept thinking "Oh I must have misunderstood or Oh they'll come around." They never did. I kept thinking to myself "Well I would have quit right there." However, she didn't. Armchair quarterbacking is easy and she made her own decisions. Definitely some self-gaslighting going on there. Eventually, she did come around and realize the magnitude of it all. The warning I take away from it is, don't ignore the red flags.
The worst part of the whole book came at the end. In the very last chapter, the author makes it clear that it didn't have to be this way. All the execs had plenty of opportunities to do the right thing and change the course of the company. Instead, they put profits and power over people. It's sad really. There was a time when Facebook enabled people to reconnect with long-lost relatives and friends and was a force for good in the world. Unfortunately, that was squandered due to their carelessness.
If you want all the details you'll have to read the book. However, there is a great much more detailed review by Corey Doctorow here:
https://x.com/doctorow/status/1915042909608698024
