Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly overhauled board to assert more control

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly recast his board of directors to cast aside dissenters and consolidate decision-making power at the social media giant. The campaign culminated in the recent departures of two directors from the board and the appointment of a longtime friend of Zuckerberg, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Kenneth Chenault, who was appointed Facebook's first black board member in 2018, left the board in March, reportedly over disagreements with Zuckerberg over the company's governance and political policies. Two weeks later, Facebook announced that Jeffrey Zients, a former economic adviser to President Barack Obama who also joined the board in 2018, would seek re-election. Both had been unhappy for months with the company's executive management and how it handled misinformation on the platform, the Journal reported.

In April 2019, Facebook said longtime independent board members Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and Erskine Bowles would be leaving the board. In October, the company announced the departure of Susan Desmond-Hellmann, the board's lead independent director since June 2015. Both were linked to private comments expressing frustration at how the company was being run, the Journal reported.

Apparently Zuckerberg wants to be the one person who decides what is and what is not "misinformation"

Perhaps Zuckerberg has been given a talking to, about the ramifications of "misinformation policing" with respect to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996:

Section 230 is a part of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which itself is a part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The Communications Decency Act was an attempt to protect children by regulating pornography and obscenity on the Internet, among other things. While the provisions regarding obscenity on the Internet were struck down by the Supreme Court’s decision in Reno v. ACLU, Section 230 has stuck, and remains in place to this day.
The key part of Section 230 is as follows: “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” What that means is that service providers aren’t liable for the things their users say. If someone defamed me on Twitter, thanks to Section 230, I can’t sue Twitter over what was said, because of the “safe harbor” created by the law.
Why is Section 230 important? It helps promote free speech on the internet. As the law stands right now, service providers can’t get sued for what their users say, so they have no incentive to try to limit the speech of their users. However, if the protections provided by Section 230 were not in place, then ISPs, social networks and other places where people can speak their mind on the internet would need to police what their users were saying in order to attempt to minimize the possibility of ,getting sued.

Exercise too much control over what gets posted on Facebook, and, at some point, Facebook might face being considered less of a "provider internet services", and more of a "publisher", and become liable for what gets published on their platform.

It is Zuckerberg's financial assets on the line if that happens, not the board members, and I could see him getting nervous about the possibility of a Trump-appointed judge hearing the case.

What does this mean?

“Two weeks later, Facebook announced that Jeffrey Zients, a former economic adviser to President Barack Obama who also joined the board in 2018, would seek re-election.”

Re-election for what? Is the Facebook board elected? By whom?

Some of the morons who write for CNet are monkeys mashing a keyboard with bananas.

Zuckerberg is a despot. The way he is keeping anti-conservative propaganda on Facebook proves it.

He's not alone. The same can be said for Youtube, Twitter, Google major TV networks save Fox and the majority of our education institutions. The question I ask myself is, what can conservatives do about the monopoly liberals hold over these businesses and institutions?

My Christian thought/response is that the Zuckerberg's of this world and their anti-Christian and anti-conservative views reflect their heart. Jesus is in the heart changing business. When our institutions and businesses are run by dominated by Christians, the respective policies of these institutions and businesses will change.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.