I think you're right on the money here. I was totally unsurprised at the censorship policy changes, but pretty shocked at the detail that they pulled tampons from the men's room at the Meta offices. Zuck's strategy has always struck me as basically "try not to get yelled at as little as possible", but he really seems to be going out of his way to say fuck you to the progressive employee cohort.
On another note: what do you make of his "Elon-ization" and how it squares with the fact that Elon has basically incinerated the traditional business value of Twitter?
I wonder a bit if he's trying not to go "full Elon" and occupy a safe space where he's "based" enough to keep up with Silicon Valley conventional wisdom and D.C. politics but not *so* based that he runs his still quite profitable advertising business into the ground
My distant impression of Zuckerberg is also that he's one of those nerds who's painfully self-conscious about their own perceived lack of masculinity; it's hard for me not to see all the fighting and grilling and ranching in that light too.
The video of him walking out awkwardly with an entourage at a UFC fight is all the proof you need. He’s desperate to be seen as masculine, but he doesn’t fit in.
Also worth noting in his change of look — he has suddenly amassed a ridiculous collection of luxury watches, from major brands like Patek Philippe to the one he is wearing in this video: a Greubel Forsey Handmade, which costs roughly $1,000,000. Make of that what you will.
I am really curious about how Mosseri is fitting in with this. He’s had the gold chain look for a while, but doesn’t seem to continually reinvent himself in the same way as Zuck. And he is much more the face of Instagram and Threads than Zuck. In his video to “creators” on Wednesday, he seemed stiff and was clearly reading a script.
Not surprised. Zuckerberg, Musk etc are banditos. They have little to do with democracy and more to do with building their wealth at the cost of our freedom.
I wonder how much of this is theater and how much is real. Reading Thiels op-ed in the FT makes it hard to consider him play acting (or sane for that matter). Similarly with Andreesens manifesto, I think he’s gone around the bend. Zuck has always struck me as someone who tries to bend with the winds, and probably also doesn’t believe that other people have actual beliefs (because he doenst have any himself).
Many Jewish people I know, friends and relatives, have become more friendly with pro-Israel right-wingers in the aftermath of oct 7 because of the undertow of antisemitism the left’s reaction (pro-Palestinian activism) brought with it. I think this analysis is correct Max but leaves out that Zuck identifies Jewish and that he might feel personally vulnerable and betrayed by the left as do so many.
I’d take this statement more seriously than most: Kaplan, Clegg’s replacement, is close to Kavanaugh and has resisted misinformation moderation in the company for years; Thiel, whose personal politics this closely represents and upon whom Zuck relied during Trump’s former presidency, sat on Meta’s board for years before leaving it to work more closely with Trump.
Zuck’s public life can be read as one, long, ‘che vuoi?’, and he resents that the billions he spent on content moderation never won him the approval (from government, from the public) it seemingly promised.
They think that they can stroke Trump and come out ahead. Maybe. More likely Trump still screws them over. However, Dems can use the image of Trump pal’ing with these billionaires when they start cutting people’s benefits. Look at that! He took your money and gave it to Musk and Zuck because they didn’t want to pay their taxes!
The reported “glut” of recent computer science graduates is very real and it’s an employers’ job market relative to years past.
This also has an AI angle. Generative AI is greatly enhancing productivity throughout the industry already, and is clutch for early career and non technical employees. You no longer need to be conscientious or skilled to write good code. I used to follow a few TPOT/TCOT type right wing tech twitter guys and they hated “leetcode” problems in interviews (they aren’t that smart), but it doesn’t matter anymore…
I think you're right on the money here. I was totally unsurprised at the censorship policy changes, but pretty shocked at the detail that they pulled tampons from the men's room at the Meta offices. Zuck's strategy has always struck me as basically "try not to get yelled at as little as possible", but he really seems to be going out of his way to say fuck you to the progressive employee cohort.
On another note: what do you make of his "Elon-ization" and how it squares with the fact that Elon has basically incinerated the traditional business value of Twitter?
I wonder a bit if he's trying not to go "full Elon" and occupy a safe space where he's "based" enough to keep up with Silicon Valley conventional wisdom and D.C. politics but not *so* based that he runs his still quite profitable advertising business into the ground
I used to think I would suffer from brain fog for the rest of my life..."𝐛𝐮𝐭" this changed everything.... https://t.co/pHzqu6Pyg8
My distant impression of Zuckerberg is also that he's one of those nerds who's painfully self-conscious about their own perceived lack of masculinity; it's hard for me not to see all the fighting and grilling and ranching in that light too.
The video of him walking out awkwardly with an entourage at a UFC fight is all the proof you need. He’s desperate to be seen as masculine, but he doesn’t fit in.
It's always been Revenge of the Nerds Part IV—shaped up to be the worst, yet most accurate entry in the canon.
“Vice signalling” is amazing
Also worth noting in his change of look — he has suddenly amassed a ridiculous collection of luxury watches, from major brands like Patek Philippe to the one he is wearing in this video: a Greubel Forsey Handmade, which costs roughly $1,000,000. Make of that what you will.
I am really curious about how Mosseri is fitting in with this. He’s had the gold chain look for a while, but doesn’t seem to continually reinvent himself in the same way as Zuck. And he is much more the face of Instagram and Threads than Zuck. In his video to “creators” on Wednesday, he seemed stiff and was clearly reading a script.
Not surprised. Zuckerberg, Musk etc are banditos. They have little to do with democracy and more to do with building their wealth at the cost of our freedom.
Pardon my French but fuck them all.
I don't think "legacy media" qualifies as right-coded slang
Or “virtue signaling” — anyone of any political persuasion can say that one too, right?
Loved the writing in this post, so spot on.
I wonder how much of this is theater and how much is real. Reading Thiels op-ed in the FT makes it hard to consider him play acting (or sane for that matter). Similarly with Andreesens manifesto, I think he’s gone around the bend. Zuck has always struck me as someone who tries to bend with the winds, and probably also doesn’t believe that other people have actual beliefs (because he doenst have any himself).
Any bets on an upcoming divorce?
It’s ALL Virtue Signaling. People will signal any actions they think their audience will see are “virtuous”. It’s people pleasing behavior.
I used to think I would suffer from brain fog for the rest of my life..."𝐛𝐮𝐭" this changed everything.... https://t.co/pHzqu6Pyg8
Many Jewish people I know, friends and relatives, have become more friendly with pro-Israel right-wingers in the aftermath of oct 7 because of the undertow of antisemitism the left’s reaction (pro-Palestinian activism) brought with it. I think this analysis is correct Max but leaves out that Zuck identifies Jewish and that he might feel personally vulnerable and betrayed by the left as do so many.
I’d take this statement more seriously than most: Kaplan, Clegg’s replacement, is close to Kavanaugh and has resisted misinformation moderation in the company for years; Thiel, whose personal politics this closely represents and upon whom Zuck relied during Trump’s former presidency, sat on Meta’s board for years before leaving it to work more closely with Trump.
Zuck’s public life can be read as one, long, ‘che vuoi?’, and he resents that the billions he spent on content moderation never won him the approval (from government, from the public) it seemingly promised.
They think that they can stroke Trump and come out ahead. Maybe. More likely Trump still screws them over. However, Dems can use the image of Trump pal’ing with these billionaires when they start cutting people’s benefits. Look at that! He took your money and gave it to Musk and Zuck because they didn’t want to pay their taxes!
The reported “glut” of recent computer science graduates is very real and it’s an employers’ job market relative to years past.
This also has an AI angle. Generative AI is greatly enhancing productivity throughout the industry already, and is clutch for early career and non technical employees. You no longer need to be conscientious or skilled to write good code. I used to follow a few TPOT/TCOT type right wing tech twitter guys and they hated “leetcode” problems in interviews (they aren’t that smart), but it doesn’t matter anymore…