---
[ IMPORTANT READS ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads)
# America's Overdue to Unfriend Mark Zuckerberg
June 14 2021
Written by Joel kotkin.
[](https://www.addtoany.com/share)
BIG TECH TALK-Many have understandably applauded [Facebook’s decision to ban former President Donald Trump from the site for the next two years](https://www.thedailybeast.com/facebook-suspends-donald-trump-for-two-years), but the ability of a company [to decide who should be in the public square](https://www.thedailybeast.com/facebook-says-trump-cant-go-back-to-shtposting-yet), which the social network has effectively become, raises troubling questions about [the future of our tattered democracy](https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-tech-oligarchs-are-going-to-destroy-democracy-unless-we-stop-them).
The decision was announced by Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom who’s now the vice president of global affairs at the social network, but there’s no question that the final call here belonged to Facebook’s co-founder, chairman, CEO, and controlling stockholder.
Not long ago, Mark Zuckerberg was [a kind of folk hero to many Americans](https://www.thedailybeast.com/mark-zuckerberg-makes-triumphant-return-to-harvard-where-facebook-began), a nerd who made billions with an idea developed at a Harvard dorm. He was [a firm believer in free speech as recently as 2019](https://www.thedailybeast.com/mark-zuckerberg-is-making-me-rethink-my-free-speech-absolutism), even to the point of offending the progressive cognoscenti. All that has changed, along with the political currents.
His free speech views faded when they became a threat, rather than a boon, to his bottom line. Now, rather than being seen the way he wants to be, as an open-minded entrepreneur and even a potential presidential candidate, Zuckerberg finally stands exposed as a leading member of the new techno-aristocracy manipulating the world and shaping our society to fit their own world view, while getting ever richer in the process.
This ascendency offers little for most Americans, even as Americans have provided so much to Zuckerberg and his ilk as tech has become [ever more concentrated](https://www.investmentbank.barclays.com/content/dam/barclaysmicrosites/ibpublic/documents/our-insights/MarketPower/Barclays-ImpactSeries5-MarketPower_final_2.4MB.pdf) and monopolistic, putting a lie to the heroic myth of “a guy and a garage.” Since 2019, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have added more than two and a half *trillion* dollars to their valuation, including [record-breaking profits](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/31/business/dealbook/tech-earnings-economy.html) in 2020 as the pandemic shut down much of the in-person economy, while workers and consumers have faced stagnant incomes and purchasing power.
This is, as the left of center [*American Prospect*](https://prospect.org/health/big-tech-new-predatory-capitalism/) put it, “predatory capitalism.”
This accrual of power relies on having influence in Washington. Quasi-monopolies like Facebook could never have grown into such behemoths if not for the willingness of regulators, in both parties, to let them buy potential competitors like Instagram, Oculus, and WhatsApp. Taking a proactive approach, Zuckerberg put several fingers on the scales to assure [the defeat of the less controllable Trump](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/10/29/greenwald_deep_state_silicon_valley_media_in_full_union_with_the_democratic_party_to_stop_trump.html) by financing [Election Day operations](https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2021/05/26/how_zuckerberg_millions_paid_for_progressives_to_work_with_2020_vote_officials_nationwide_778300.html) in many critical states through an obscure Chicago based front group, the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which used its Facebook windfall to [fund election offices](https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/center-for-tech-and-civic-life/), and staffers, around the country.
Facebook itself, along with Twitter, also de-platformed the *New York Post*, America’s oldest newspaper, to keep information about Hunter Biden’s laptop from circulating. And both sites booted Trump himself, a stance that horrified those like [German Chancellor Angela Merkel](https://nypost.com/2021/01/12/merkel-world-leaders-speak-out-against-trumps-twitter-ban/) and Russian dissident Alexei Navalny who have lived under autocratic regimes.
Read the rest of this piece at [Daily Beast](https://www.thedailybeast.com/americas-overdue-to-unfriend-mark-zuckerberg).
(Joel Kotkin is the author of [*The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class*](https://www.amazon.com/Coming-Neo-Feudalism-Warning-Global-Middle/dp/1641770945/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2TP1Y6WOZ8CEQ&dchild=1&keywords=the+coming+of+neo-feudalism&qid=1586795467&sprefix=the+coming+of+neo+%2Caps%2C150&sr=8-1). He is the Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University and Executive Director for Urban Reform Institute. Learn more at [joelkotkin.com](http://joelkotkin.com) and follow him on Twitter [@joelkotkin](https://twitter.com/joelkotkin).)
Homepage photo: Anthony Qunitano, via [Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/quintanomedia/47721889752/) under [CC 2.0 License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/).
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/115 "Brian Goldsmith Vertical R. Col")
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/107 "LA DWP | Save $4K, Green | Priority Ad")
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/114 "McKinney Campaign")
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/82 "LA DWP #2 (Power Savers)")
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/98 "Donna Tryfman - HS1-1")
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/97 "Home - LA DWP #2 (Pay Water Bill Help)")
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/111 "David DeJute Campaign")
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/112 "Anna Reitano Vertical R. Col")
## Get The News In Your Email Inbox Mondays & Thursdays
Email
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/113 "Rhonda Haymon campaign")
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/110 "Something You Should Know")
---
## Featured CityWatch Stories
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/election-2024/33624-prosecutor-democrat-city-attorney-mckinney-makes-his-case-to-los-angeles-voters)
### [Prosecutor, Democrat, City Attorney? McKinney Makes His Case to Los Angeles Voters](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/election-2024/33624-prosecutor-democrat-city-attorney-mckinney-makes-his-case-to-los-angeles-voters)
ELECTION 2026 - The race for LA City Attorney has been laced with political accusations and allegations that when close…
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/la-watchdog/33544-the-la-watchdogs-2026-voters-guide-2)
### [The LA Watchdog’s 2026 Voter Guide](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/la-watchdog/33544-the-la-watchdogs-2026-voters-guide-2)
LA WATCHDOG - My recommendations are influenced by the need for truly balanced budgets, fiscal responsibility, long ter…
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/los-angeles/33626-the-fools-blame-game)
### [The Fools’ Blame Game](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/los-angeles/33626-the-fools-blame-game)
THE VIEW FROM HERE - Angelenos do not use elections to plot a wiser course of conduct for Los Angeles, but rather they…
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/los-angeles/33619-california-film-tax-credits-arent-enough-the-guilds-need-to-change-too)
### [California Film Tax Credits Aren’t Enough. The Guilds Need to Change Too.](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/los-angeles/33619-california-film-tax-credits-arent-enough-the-guilds-need-to-change-too)
LONNIE’S VIEW - California used to be the center of the movie and television universe. If you wanted to make movies, yo…
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/voices/33648-heres-what-zionisms-got-to-do-with-it)
### [Here’s What Zionism’s Got To Do With It](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/voices/33648-heres-what-zionisms-got-to-do-with-it)
ICAN - The anonymous website “BHUSD Watch” recently published a long, detailed article about the current BHUSD board an…
---
## [ IMPORTANT READS ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads)
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33661-living-in-los-angeles-with-education-debt-what-financial-priorities-matter)### [Living in Los Angeles With Education Debt: What Financial Priorities Matter?](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33661-living-in-los-angeles-with-education-debt-what-financial-priorities-matter)
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33633-what-a-vaginal-microbiome-test-reveals-about-your-overall-health)### [What a Vaginal Microbiome Test Reveals About Your Overall Health](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33633-what-a-vaginal-microbiome-test-reveals-about-your-overall-health)
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33563-tenant-lawsuits-offer-rare-glimpse-into-an-l-a-landlords-cash-for-keys-operation)### [Tenant Lawsuits Offer Rare Glimpse Into an L.A. Landlord’s ‘Cash for Keys’ Operation](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33563-tenant-lawsuits-offer-rare-glimpse-into-an-l-a-landlords-cash-for-keys-operation)
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33571-stop-comparing-october-7-to-the-holocaust)### [Stop Comparing October 7 to the Holocaust](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33571-stop-comparing-october-7-to-the-holocaust)
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33521-making-the-case-against-the-times)### [Making The Case Against the Times](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33521-making-the-case-against-the-times)