Obama Warns Zuckerberg. But the warning prompts Mark to run for President.

From “Careless People” by Sarah Wynn Williams

The following excerpt comes from Sarah Wynn Williams’ memoir “Careless People,” which chronicles her time working at Facebook. This passage describes events from November 2016, shortly after Donald Trump’s election victory, when Mark Zuckerberg was attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, Peru. During this trip, former President Barack Obama was conducting one of his final international appearances as president, including a town hall meeting at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru on November 18, 2016.

Obama confronted Zuckerberg, warning that “Facebook is playing a destructive role globally” and needed “serious changes” before the next election. Zuckerberg, “blindsided” and “genuinely hurt,” dismissed the criticism, claiming fake news was “less than one percent” of content and didn’t influence the election outcome. Rather than heeding Obama’s warning, the confrontation ignited a new ambition in Zuckerberg: “if Trump can do it, so could he” — solidifying a vision of himself in “the most powerful job on earth.”

At the pontifical Catholic University of Peru, where Obama was doing a town hall, one of his last international events, Obama and Mark Zuckerberg meet backstage.

Mark is moving quickly silently fuming by the time we crowd back into the van there’s a scramble to fit us all back in, but no one makes the usual, but but but I’m the president of Guatemala. We had prepped him for a meeting that would focus on Obama’s legacy but we ended up with a meeting focused on Marx Fake news.

“He kept going on about fake news and misinformation teams. He doesn’t get it. He got it totally wrong totally out of proportion. He said that Facebook is playing a destructive role globally and I think he actually believes that” Elliot shakes his head sympathetically, not taking it seriously “that’s what he said. I’m not taking these seriously enough Quiz. I told him fake news wasn’t a big thing on Facebook is less than one percent of what’s on the platform that wasn’t fake news that swung the election for Trump and realistically there’s not an easy solution I mean, what does he want me to do Elliott I think would very quickly run into free speech issues with any action we take and you know what Obama focused on incredulously the next election already. I’ve only just lost this one.” Elliott says “yeah he said he was warning me that we need to make serious changes or things are going to get worse in the next presidential race” says “Warning me” he repeats in sense angry that Obama had taken him to Task on the role. Facebook played in the election and beyond fragments of the conversation as if trying to beat them into submission blindsided by Obama criticism and inflamed reiterating again and again Obama as if that’s the solve to the wound, but it seems to me that’s what Obama is mine so freely Under his anger I can tell genuinely hurt. He’s also completely unused to FRANK criticism from anyone more powerful than him there is so few who fit that description anyway chapter 36.

Stay up and what doesn’t who is on the platform and who isn’t which would certainly come in handy for president. I tried to piece together how we got to this point in the less than 48 hours since we set off for Peru what I settle on is this Mark had no intention of running for president when he arrived at the airport without his passport I think he really was blindsided by the accusation that Facebook was responsible for Donald Trump winning the election, and his anger at being blamed was real, but on the flight to Peru, as Elliott painstakingly explained peace by the Trump campaign use Facebook to win convince a decisive role realization was for Front in his mind sharing that bubble bath session with all the Prime Minister and presidents, realizing the extent to which he and his platform truly working Makers and how he would outlast almost everyone there, sort after for selfies by man who run countries he already thought of himself as the most well-known person of our generation in the world, and this experience supercharged that belief Obama’s dressing down provoked, who does he think he is response petulance rather than introspection desire to flex power not contrition as contemplated his future, his legacy and the personal challenge. I think he came to this dark conclusion if Trump can do it. so could he after all not only does Mark have playbook he owns the tools and set the rules and he has something no one else has the ability to control the algorithm with zero transparency or oversight the power to control what Facebook use to throw someone like Trump off Facebook — he already has his personal team maximizing his region engagement or whatever euphemism is appropriate for whatever it is they do I assume that the reason he has four times more followers than Trump and more than any other political leader in the world also he’s loaded. Never asked anyone for a dime goes back to the various states he wants to visit he wants to go to a farm factory at Church a community center. He wants to meet with black leaders opioid addicts Auto workers. He wants fried food in Iowa barbecue in Texas. He wants to go to a rodeo drive some heavy machinery wear a hardhat.

Jet tell us to get ready to land as I take my seat next to Marc and the plane starts to descend Mark asked me what I think I feel my insides tumbling. “I want to tell him this is the beginning of the end for me.” I forward myself into thinking APEC the jet stuff. I feel tumbling. “I want to tell him this is the beginning of the end for me, I fool myself into thinking might be some kind of reckoning. In fact it was the opposite. I’ve seen some hard truth. I can see about Mark and where he’s going. This is the last foreign trip I invent for him the last time I travel with him I’ve spent many years now, flying around the globe and helping him learn how to navigate the world of Prime Minister and presidents. I don’t want this to become who I am. I didn’t sign up for where he is now trying to go. I know I can’t do it anymore.” This trip is one of many moments where Mark could’ve gone a different way could’ve been convinced by a different path, but something else kicked in after all the headlines saying he was in denial about the election being shit on by Obama. he dug in, He’s not built to take criticism like that and genuinely try to understand and fix the problems 2016 election exposed, wield his power responsibly it’s not who he is.

He’s not to take criticism like that and genuinely try to understand and fix the problems 2016 election exposed wheeled his power responsibly it’s not who he is his defiant. He’ll show them and in the middle of all that stage full of the most powerful people in the world and they dote over him like some boy King all of that came together and solidified this new vision of himself and for the most powerful job on earth if Facebook can propel someone into the White House why not him?