Monsters of AI: Mark Zuckerberg

Few tech billionaires have enjoyed success as young or as long as Mark Zuckerberg. In 2008, he became the youngest self-made billionaire ever. Just a few years earlier, he called his first users (Harvard student peers) “dumb fucks.” Twenty plus years later, does Zuckerberg think we’re any smarter?

In a 2018 Facebook internal presentation, the company said it's algorithms: "exploit the human brain’s attraction to divisiveness". In 2019, Meta conducted an internal "deactivation" study, exploring the effects of people deactivating Facebook and Instagram. The study showed markedly lower rates of anxiety, depression and loneliness. Meta then halted the study and chose not to make it's results public, later stating that there was bias stemming from "existing media narratives around the company."

It was recently revealed that Meta has a 17x strike policy for sex traffickers reported on their platforms. It's such an unusually high threshold, it begs the question: who exactly is Meta protecting? If that news was not shocking enough, another report shows that Meta expects to earn 10% of its annual revenue from scammers and people selling banned goods. That's $16 billion in revenue from fraudulent advertisers, targeting Meta users, with the aid and blessing of the company.

In the book Careless People, the author (and former Facebook employee) Sarah Wynn-Williams, accuses Facebook of working with the Chinese government to silence critics of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party). Wynn-Williams also accused Facebook of agreeing to develop censorship tools, in hopes of gaining access to China.

Sarah Wynn-Williams testified before Congress in April (2025). Here is an excerpt of her prepared testimony:

“We are engaged in a high-stakes AI arms race against China. And during my time at Meta, company executives lied about what they were doing with the Chinese Communist Party to employees, shareholders, Congress, and the American public.” - Sarah Wynn-Williams

Meta has faced a flurry of fines from EU regulators, from €1.2b for violating GDPR laws to €200m over how much choice Meta gives users to consent to data collection. In 2024, the European Commission fined Meta €797m over its abusive practices benefiting Facebook Marketplace.

In January (2025), Zuckerberg implored Trump to defend American tech companies from EU regulations and fines. Appearing on The Joe Rogan show, Zuckerberg accused the Biden administration of targeting American tech companies and opening the door for the EU to do the same. To Zuckerberg and other tech billionaires, American First means protecting their interests, even while they exploit Americans and break international laws.

“The US government should be defending its companies, not be at the tip of the spear attacking its companies.” - Mark Zuckerberg

If you‘ve read what I've written on Elon Musk, you’ll see similarities between him and Zuckerberg. Reckless, ultra-wealthy tech leaders, facing regulation, lawsuits and investigations from governments (domestic and international), supporting Trump in hopes of making a deal. What could Zuckerberg promise to Trump to gain his favor? Would he offer the same surveillance and censorship tools his company produced for China?

In mid 2024, Zuckerberg showed us a new persona; curly hair, a gold chain and oversized shirts inscribed with weird Latin phrases. A very weird PR blitz followed, praising Zuckerberg for his “glow up”. What were the Latin phrases? One read 'AUT ZUCK AUT NIHIL', a play on the Latin expression 'Aut Caesar, Aut Nihil,' which translates to 'Either a Caesar or nothing.' Some trace this phrase back to Julius Caesar and it seems to be Zuck projecting himself as a ‘powerful ruler’.

The other t-shirt read: "Carthago delenda est" which means "Carthage must be destroyed“, referring to Rome’s greatest rival. In 2011, Zuckerberg used this phrase as an internal rally cry at Facebook to beat Google+. Who is Zuckerberg‘s Carthage in 2025?

Zuckerberg’s obsession with Ancient Rome runs deep. Zuckerberg took so many photos of Augustus Caesar while in Rome, his wife said it was like there were three people on their honeymoon. All three of Zuckerberg's kids' names are inspired by Roman emperors (August, Aurelia and Maxima). In August of last year (2024), Zuckerberg unveiled a Roman style statue of his wife, citing the Roman tradition of building statues to honor their wives.

You might be asking “so what?”. Well, Augustus Caesar was Rome’s first emperor, essentially ending Rome’s 750 year democratic tradition. Augustus was an autocrat, and while Rome outwardly seemed to do well, its common people did not share in this prosperity. Zuckerberg explained his deep interest in an interview with The New Yorker:

"Basically, through a really harsh approach, he established two hundred years of world peace (…) What are the trade-offs in that? On the one hand, world peace is a long-term goal that people talk about today (but) that didn’t come for free, and he had to do certain things."

In so many words, Zuckerberg is publicly rationalizing the potential benefits of an autocracy. Who else in Zuckerberg's circle has authoritarian leanings? There's Peter Thiel, someone who been often cited as being an influential mentor of Zuckerberg's. Not only was Thiel one of Facebook's first investors, he was on the board until fairly recently (2022). Thiel's core philosophy draws from people like Carl Schmitt, a Nazi political theorist and critic of democracy. Schmitt advocated for an authoritarian dictatorship, claiming it could act more decisively.

At Trump’s inauguration, nearly all of big tech are placed in the front row, a symbolic gesture that these autocrats are more important than even the own party’s politicians. It was a display of wealth and power, but also submission, big tech falling over themselves to kiss the ring.

Right after the inauguration, Zuckerberg made a video announcing that Meta would stop fact checking, because apparently "it didn’t work well." Zuckerberg attacked the Biden administration throughout the interview, accusing them of extreme interference and censorship. Zuckerberg pledged to work with President Trump, to "push back on governments around the world" who are supposedly working to suppress free speech.

At a White House dinner attended by several prominent tech leaders, Zuckerberg said that Meta will spend up to $600 billion on AI infrastructure in the U.S. He was later caught on a hot mic, telling Trump "I’m sorry, I wasn’t ready to do our… I wasn’t sure what number you wanted to go with!"

Zuckerberg has always had two faces, the human and the reptile. The human talks about connecting the world, purpose and goodwill to all of humanity. The reptile protects sex traffickers, scammers, fraudsters and exploits teenage minds for profit.

This juggling act of Zuckerberg’s faces alternates between clownish and cringe to malicious and unethical. From targeting teen girls in emotionally vulnerable moments, to rage and shock algorithms and political factions fomenting civil wars. Sun screen covered faces, Benson Boone cosplay, Roman street wear, evasive and awkward court appearances and gross glances at Jeff Bezo’s wife’s bosom.

Despite his lack of charisma (and masculine energy), Zuckerberg is one of the boys. The boys that have evaded regulation, amassed tremendous wealth and avoided any real accountability for their arguably shady business dealings. Guys like Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Sam Altman and Peter Thiel. The same guys making AI, America’s biggest bet ever. Or is making America an autocracy, the real project?