Other

BBC World Service News Internet

Magazines & Reviews

News

In-depth reporting on the world of social media

In-depth reporting on the world of social media.

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

Trending: ‘I invested in Facebook … now I am ashamed’

Factual

Roger McNamee

29/03/2019 GMT

‘I invested in Facebook … now I am ashamed’

BBC World Service - Trending, ‘I invested in Facebook … now I am ashamed’

An early investor in the world’s largest social network says the company has lost its way

Roger McNamee was a Facebook fan and an advisor to Mark Zuckerberg. Now he says he’s sad about the way the company is being run and the impact that it’s having on the world.

Zuckerberg first sought out his advice, McNamee says, in 2006, shortly after Yahoo was making a $1bn bid to buy the social media company. 
McNamee, a veteran Silicon Valley investor, says he saw Facebook’s potential and urged the young entrepreneur to stay independent. 
But a decade later, he saw hyper-partisan posts poisoning politics online, and during the late stages of the US presidential election in 2016 he turned from a Facebook booster to a Facebook critic. 

Roger McNamee recently stopped into a studio to talk to us about his new book, Zucked, and he told us that Facebook, Google and other tech companies have serious flaws which require drastic and swift action. 

Presenter: Mike Wendling
Producer: Edward Main

(Photo: Roger McNamee. Credit: Rick Smolan)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Trending

‘I invested in Facebook … now I am ashamed’

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service News Internet

About BBC World Service