How did he become so successful and what is the controversy over Facebook? Mark Zuckerberg became the youngest self made billionaire after his creation of TheFacebook.com that was later renamed to Facebook.
Although Facebook was created in 2008 it first began with a website called Facemash. Facemash was a website where guys at his school could rate the girls on attractiveness. The platform first gained popularity in the Harvard Crimson Newspaper. Zuckerberg first began working with Eduardo Saverin, on his idea for Facebook, a platform that allowed people to connect with people they could see in real life.
You may have watched the movie “The Social Network”, a fictional movie about the development of the platform. Eduardo Saverin has reported that there are fictional scenes in the movie but his overall review is quite vague. In the movie, Eduardo Saverin spent thousands on the foundation of Facebook only to get scammed by Zuckerburg. Although it is unclear how much of this is actually true, Eduardo’s shares were reportedly diluted and after taking Zuckerburg to court the two split ties. Eduardo is currently the co-founder of Facebook with a 5% stake in the company. It is unlikely to find out more about the situation due to the fact that he has signed a non-disclosure agreement and he holds a significant portion of the company. The two stopped conversing back in 2004, after reaching an agreement and Eduardo has not worked on the platform since. Today, he is the 4th youngest billionaire.
Zuckerburg has also been taken to court by Harvard seniors, Divya Navendra and Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. The three took him to court claiming that he had stolen the idea of their website the HarvardConnection. Messages of the seniors and Mark Zuckerburg have been leaked where it indeed shows that Zuckerburg planned to mislead the seniors. The twins gained 160 million dollars and a partial ownership of the company after multiple trials. In the end, they brought forth proof, giving them an additional 100 million and continuing funds. Today, the two twins are Olympic rowing athletes and competed in the Beijing Olympics where they were awarded 6th place.
Sean Parker, the first president of Facebook was arrested for drug possession in 2005 but was not charged. He was forced to resign from his position but continued to help with the development of Facebook with Zuckerberg. He currently holds 4% of shares in Facebook.
Although some details behind the creation of Facebook remain unknown, there is definitely enough evidence to support the malicious tactics that were used in its creation.
Related Stories:
https://www.britannica.com/money/Sean-Parker
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-us-election
Take Action:
https://www.facebook.com/login.php/
https://www.charitycomms.org.uk/resources-to-help-navigate-the-facebook-boycott
