One of the world’s most pathetic sights is members of congress and respected journalists wringing their hands over Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, pleading with him to be a good person. Some think he holds the fate of the world in his hands. They might be right. Distracted by cat videos during Covid some of us missed the part when he was elected King.
The American Prospect, 8/6/21: “Who’s more Dangerous, Murdoch or Zuckerberg?”. New York Times, 6/4/21: “The Terrible Cost of Mark Zuckerberg’s Naivete”. Media Matters, 5/8/20: “Mark Zuckerberg is a hypocrite and a Trumpist”. And Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez asking: “So you won’t take down lies, or you will take down lies?”
ALLEGED CRIMES OF FACEBOOK
1) Vast amounts of disinformation appear on its pages.
2) Such material is not just “available” but is actively promoted. FB knows what you like and can send additional similar content to keep you engaged. Ads appear too, and as you read and click, money flows from the advertisers to Facebook. This is a successful business model, and the company would prefer that no constraints be placed upon it.
So as a person who controls and represents a large corporation, Mr. Zuckerberg’s behavior is not mysterious or unusual. He wants his company to make as much money as possible, just like every other CEO. Perfectly normal.
Corporations are economic entities, chartered by states to engage in business and make money. UCLA football coach Red Sanders declared “Winning isn’t everything, winning is the only thing.” For a large corporation, it is appropriate and accurate to modify that slogan slightly: “Money isn’t everything, money is the only thing.”
Unlike humans, a corporation with enough money can live indefinitely. Resilient humans can withstand protracted episodes of poverty, but corporations can’t. Unable to earn, borrow or otherwise acquire enough cash, the company quickly and inevitably dies.
Johnson and Johnson has operated continuously since 1886, witnessing the passage of many generations of executives, employees and stockholders. It’s a “mega-cap” company, with around 400 billion dollar stock value. It is just one example of many such long-lived companies. During that same period, countless others ran out of cash and disappeared.
Facebook, though newer, is likewise a mega-cap, pegged at close to a trillion dollars.
Pressure to make money within these huge companies, new or old, is relentless. Its like the forces deep in the Earth that turn carbon into diamonds.
Pressure grows beyond the control of any well-intentioned employee or executive. Sincere individuals might for example write credible, even eloquent corporate values statements, but they only marginally affect the company’s behavior and serve mainly as advertising.
This pressure to make/conserve money is exerted everywhere within the company. Departments are rewarded/penalized for going under/over budget. Employees, not excluding already highly paid executives, clamor for higher salaries. Individual employees may be rewarded for finding ways to make operations less costly. Stockholders demand higher share prices and dividends. Big institutional investors are expert at squeezing for more returns. Negotiating with suppliers and finding new ones never stops. Fights with labor unions, active or aspiring, is ongoing.
How do companies respond to all that pressure? Naturally they will buy as much advertising, and employ as many salespersons as they need to maximize income.
But a rich company can do more. It can fool regulators into ignoring dangers products might pose. It can influence elected representatives with campaign contributions. On leaving their offices, lawmakers are at risk of being trampled by lobbyists.
Companies might sue a country for attempting to enforce its own environmental laws. Waste, toxic or otherwise, will be disposed of in whatever manner is convenient. Paying bribes is not unknown.
Pressed day and night, companies struggle for profit. They will buy out their competitors if they can, and compete if they must. Money is the only thing.
So its fair and accurate to say that these large companies will do whatever they can get away with. For business school graduates, with starry-eyed romantic notions of corporations, and who are now becoming indignant, fix yourself a drink and take a detour to http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com
So there is no mystery. Mr. Z is a textbook executive. You could almost say that he is programmed to act as he does. So don’t freak out about Mr. Z. If you’re going to freak out, do it because there are countless Mr. Z’s acting as he does across numerous industries.
So begging is hopeless. If we want Mr. Zuckerberg, his corporation, or any corporation to behave, you must make them do it. They will not volunteer. If you are serious, then you will not shrink from using the tools available, namely: laws, regulations, courts, fines and jail.
Easier said than done, however, because of “corporate personhood”. Corporations, before the law, are regarded as “persons”, and are thereby entitled to substantially the same rights as individual humans. Laws attempting to limit corporate power have been repeatedly struck down by courts citing this principle.
But corporations had almost no rights in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The founders knew all about corporate power, and left their regulation to the states. The states were up to the task, and did so strictly.
There is a long interesting history about how corporations, wholly artificial economic entities, made by man and not by God, broke through these constraints, and acquired the same rights as people.
Granting corporations human rights is a correctable mistake. The remedy is the proposed 28th constitutional amendment, HJR 48, the “We the People Amendment”, stating that when the constitution mentions people or persons, it applies only to genuine homo sapiens. You and me. The grass-roots organization, Move To Amend, is promoting this legislation and deserves our support. Details at http://www.movetoamend.org.
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