Zuckerberg's New Mission for Facebook: Bringing the World Closer
SAN JOSE, CA - APRIL 18: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address at Facebook's F8 Developer Conference on April 18, 2017 in San Jose, California. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivered the opening keynote at the F8 Developer Conference that runs through April 19.
Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesFacebook is no longer just about "connecting the world." Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has written a new mission statement: to "give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.''
Zuckerberg has been rethinking Facebook's role, reacting to the rise of isolationism and nationalism, and the decline of membership in local community groups around the world. Connecting people on Facebook, which Zuckerberg says is now "very close" to having 2 billion users, was supposed to make it easier to create bonds across cultures and ideologies. Instead, government elections of the last couple years have shown deep polarization -- and Facebook has been wrapped up in the debate, criticized because its platform has played a role in the spread of misleading news and extremist ideology.
"Our mission of connecting people, that was not supposed to be controversial," Zuckerberg said in an interview with Bloomberg. "So now the question is, why is that a controversial thing, and how do you rebuild that?"