Archive: Is Mark Zuckerberg Damaging Society?

With the release of Aaron Sorkin's new film The Social Reckoning, Mark Zuckerberg and the dark side of Facebook are back in the spotlight.
In 2019, Intelligence Squared put Zuckerberg on trial, asking whether Facebook was doing more harm than good. Was the platform connecting billions of people and transforming the world for the better? Or was it undermining democracy, spreading misinformation and fuelling political division?
Seven years later, Facebook is part of Meta, artificial intelligence is transforming social media, and questions about the power and accountability of Silicon Valley's technology giants have become more urgent than ever.
In this debate from the Intelligence Squared archive, Damian Collins and Nina Schick argue that Facebook is damaging society, while former Facebook executive Dex Torricke-Barton and former UK government minister Ed Vaizey defend the company.
As Zuckerberg faces renewed scrutiny, we revisit a debate that asks who should be held responsible for the consequences of social media.

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