Zuckerberg’s about-faces

Damian Collins MP | 15th November 2021 | Comment, Magazine
roman-martyniuk-QQhAQHWvTYk-unsplash

Damian Collins enjoys an expert examination of Facebook’s murky relationship with free speech

The “ugly truth” about Facebook was set out in a now infamous internal company memo titled “The Ugly” by senior company executive Andrew “Boz” Bosworth in June 2016. “So we connect people,” Boz wrote. “That can be bad if they make it negative. Maybe it costs someone a life by exposing someone to bullies. Maybe someone dies in a terrorist attack coordinated on our tools. And yet still we connect people. The ugly truth is that we believe in connecting people so deeply that anything that allows us to connect more people more often is de facto good.” After the memo leaked to the media in 2018, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Bosworth both denied that they agreed with its contents or that it reflected the company’s values. Well, they would, wouldn’t they? In An Ugly Truth, however, Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang, both leading reporters on technology and cyber security for the New York Times, challenge that denial and examine the choices Facebook makes between removing harmful content ...

Subscribe to The Mace

Join the member community shaping British politics and stay ahead of what's really happening in the world of politics and public affairs, with expert analysis, breaking news, and insider insights from Westminster and Brussels. The Mace is the leading news source and resource for the government affairs industry, offering required reading and lobby intelligence for professionals.

To see what you are missing out on by not subscribing to The Mace, click here to download our full membership info-pack. This includes having no paywall on op-ed content or profiles/interviews, allowing professional profiles to be read with maximum impact and visibility by government, special advisers, MPs, peers, civil servants, and policy and political decision-makers.



The government wants to make it harder for businesses to say no to WFH – what does this mean for young people?

Lucy Carrier-Pilkington | September 17, 2026

The new government protocol raises concerns about whether young people are getting the necessary exposure they need in their early careers 

The existential threat AI poses for the free press

Lucy Carrier-Pilkington | September 16, 2026

What happens when the technology that could one day threaten humanity begins to destroy the institution responsible for warning us about it?

Death of the British staycation

Mace Magazine | September 15, 2026

The government's new 5% tourism tax is the last thing the UK's hospitality sector needs, says William Cash

The exodus of the super-wealthy: Who pays the price?  

Lucy Carrier-Pilkington | September 8, 2026

As speculation mounts over further tax rises, Britain’s ultra-rich investors and job creators are choosing to take their wealth elsewhere.

The Economic Paradox: Can Britain Afford to Penalise Parenthood?

Robert Richardson | September 8, 2026

In an exclusive op-ed for Mace, hospitality industry leader Robert Richardson sets out why the sector must do more to become accessible to young families.

The Politics of Power 

Simon Francis | September 7, 2026

End Fuel Poverty Coalition coordinator Simon Francis examines the four stories politicians hear about electricity and gas, and argues that the fight over which story shapes the agenda

A “little local difficulty” – Gawain Towler’s Reform Conference Diary

Mace Magazine | September 5, 2026

Seasoned Farage aide-de-camp Gawain Towler reflects on Reform's first ever Business Day at the NEC - and what it's like when a media grenade goes off during the

Farmers have suffered enough this summer — it’s time the government got on side

John Cooper | August 27, 2026

Britain’s farmers have battled repeated heatwaves and droughts, but MP John Cooper says the government’s Family Farm Tax is piling further pressure on an industry that desperately needs

It’s not a popularity contest: The case for protecting Meghan and Harry 

Lucy Carrier-Pilkington | August 25, 2026

You don’t have to like the Sussexes to believe the government has a duty to protect them.

Is money a factor behind Prince Harry’s move back to the UK?

Mace | August 21, 2026

Is there a connection between Prince Harry's share of a £34 million legal bill and his sudden move back to the UK? The Mace follows the money.