The following text is an excerpt from the book.
On March 17, 2018, the world changed. Just a day before, hardly anyone had heard of Cambridge Analytica. But when a consultancy denounced the company’s tactics, the news began to trend around the world.
It was the theme of the morning CNN. Jeff Zucker, CEO of the network at the time, was sitting in a swivel chair at the head of a large oval table, waiting for his news manager. At 9 am, they were gathered around him, in order of importance, going over the day’s headlines. Facebook was at the forefront.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal was gaining steam, but Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and co-founder of Facebook, and Sheryl Sandberg, the company’s chief operating officer, were nowhere to be found.
Public outrage snowballed, and all the reporters desperately tried to preempt the questions, but no one had answers. In the midst of the frenzy, Jeff asked a question that would reach me in minutes: “Is Laurie Segall in this?”
There was a whole race to get to Zuckerberg and Sandberg
Like any other journalist, I began to look in my calendar. Calling again and again, I walked through the press room outside Jeff’s office, next to the set where a live show was being recorded. I was hunched over my laptop in any free seat I could find. When news came fast, I liked to move with it; walking during calls, sitting at desks and empty corners of newsrooms to take notes.
The rumors kept happening. Multiple sources whispered that there were internal discussions at Facebook and growing resentment in the company’s ranks. Employees complained that Mark and Sheryl were protected by their own filters; that his people and the people of his people cared more about their image than that of those they served. Even Facebook managers were resentful.
Where were their leaders at such a crucial moment? The scandal was not dying down; it was exploding.
Mark Zuckerberg would end up speaking, and when he did, it was with me
When we arrived at the Facebook campus, I was already a professional. We were ushered into one of the newer buildings, through a lobby with colorful graffiti splattered on the high concrete walls. We signed in, received our badges, and walked past walls displaying positive messages, such as “Empathy.” The signs that said “Move fast and break things” they had long since disappeared.
Move fast and break things (Move fast and break things) was a slogan used by the company in its early days, alluding to being innovative at all costs. Now, that philosophy has changed.
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Despite the chaos outside—despite the whirlwind of media, users, and politicians demanding an explanation—there was a strange calm inside. The people behind Facebook clung to us like shadows as we walked between rows of open desks and whiteboards.
We stopped in a nondescript conference room, and in one corner I saw a small device that looked remarkably like a tape recorder. The slogan was loud and clear: nothing we did was private.
Our team spent an hour and a half getting ready. We were told that Mark was very picky about the chair he sat in, which made sense. He wanted to feel comfortable in what was possibly one of the most awkward moments in the company’s history. I was just delighted that we could sit down and talk with him.
When it was finally time to start the interview, the temperature in the room had dropped ten degrees. I should have remembered my experience in Chicago, which I had dubbed the “refrigerator interview.” Now I regretted my tank top.
While trying to relax Mark entered the room
The energy was different from our first time together. That meeting had been a carefully crafted PR story dedicated to highlighting the power of Facebook groups and the community they were creating. We were surrounded by members of groups that had met on Facebook and had gathered in a summit. But that energy had long since disappeared. Now there were few people and many explanations to give.
“Hello!” he said, walking in and approaching our team. He seemed less reserved than the last time we met, and he spoke more freely. But I could sense his nerves; at this moment, he seemed surprisingly vulnerable. After Meagan, the makeup artist, applied a bit of foundation, we sat down to start the interview.
Within seconds, Mark stopped, asked for a minute, and abruptly left, followed by his assistants.
I froze, shuffling my notes and motioning for Jack to gather information, while we waited for an update.
I could hear the clock count down CNN ticking in my head. Our hitherto non-existent story was being promoted for later airing on the Anderson Cooper show, with the countdown clock officially counting down the minutes. Was the interview still going on? After 10 minutes, the managers came back with an update.
“Do you mind if we change rooms?” one asked. “It’s not cold enough here. Mark would prefer the room a little cooler.”
We had to start the interview to get airtime. If moving to Siberia was the key to getting immediate answers to the questions he had scribbled, we would move.
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We hurriedly settled into the new, colder room, and this time the preparation time seemed only 20 minutes. There were no chairs, just a small sofa. I took a seat on one side, and finally Mark came back and sat next to me, knee to knee.
“Are you sure you want to be that close?” I joked. But the smiles were gone. We were all ready to do it.
We started the countdown to make sure our microphones were working properly. Zuckerberg. Count to five.
“One Two Three Four Five”.
Segall.
“Five four three two one”.
And we started filming.
“Mark, what happened? What went wrong?” I asked.
He stared at me for a second or so, and then blurted out his scripted response
“I’m so sorry for what happened”he said, making sure the apology came first. She went on to explain the details of what went wrong and how Cambridge Analytica took advantage of outdated practices.
It took a minute, but we found the rhythm.
“Do we have to regulate Facebook?” I asked..
“I’m not sure it shouldn’t be regulated,” he replied.
I asked him if he would testify before the US Congress. She dodged the question, saying that there were people more qualified to answer certain types of questions. I challenged him, emphasizing that people wanted him, the creator of Facebook, to appear. He didn’t commit, but he left the door open.
As we approached our allotted 20 minutes, Facebook officials tried to interrupt us, but Mark continued. We keep talking for another ten minutes, and then another 10 more. When it seemed that he had nothing left to say, I asked him one last question: Would you like to build a kinder Facebook for your children?
Mark let out a sigh. Something almost imperceptible changed in his eyes. Maybe it was the end of the interview and the importance of this particular moment, and what it meant for the future of his company. Perhaps it was the mention of his sons. I looked closer.
had started to cry
“Having children changes a lot of things,” he said.
“Like what?” I asked, avoiding eye contact with his PR people, who had long since passed by and were now ready to pounce.
“I used to think that the most important thing, by far, was to have the biggest positive impact on the whole world. Now, all I care about is building something my daughters will grow up to be proud of.”
“Do you feel like you’re doing that?” I asked. The question floated, hovering over the carnage of electoral manipulation, data collection, the growing concern about the effect of technology on our mental health, on the general health of society.
“I know”. She spoke slowly, measuring each word. “We’re committed to doing this right for the people.”
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There I was, sitting across from an engineer who had built the largest social network imaginable; that he was able to do it by seeing the world in nuts and bolts, in ones and zeros. Empathy and a deep understanding of human beings weren’t necessarily part of that equation.
He had started his company when he was just a boy, long before he had children of his own, long before his daughters messed up his own internal algorithms. The idea was to connect the world – for money, or power, or social good – but his blind spot seemed to be his own inability to connect.
He was guided by optimism and a fair amount of arrogance, along with a filter that had surrounded him for most of his adult life. The company had become a giant and now its business model, its role in society and the intentions of its executives were being questioned.
Perhaps the most interesting thing for me was how human Mark was.
We had officially entered a new era in which our tech giants, the ones who had been gods in the boom years, were being forced back into the stratosphere, down to earth. The interview was a dance, but the moment was one that he knew would cause ripples in the future, transforming the narrative of not just Facebook’s impact on society, but technology in general.
As we sat knee to knee, I thanked Mark for his time, and then he left. The 20-minute interview had lasted 40.
The images were transmitted to the press room of the CNN at lightning speed and, minutes later, the interview aired on Anderson.
The report was picked up around the world
Almost immediately, newspapers published op-eds about the power and influence of Facebook. Thinking heads weighed in on the role of technology in protecting user privacy, and Twitter erupted with people parsing Zuckerberg’s words.
It was the first time he had said that Facebook maybe, just maybe, should be regulated.
When, hours later, I went live on Anderson to offer my own views, I was accompanied by a group of men. They dissected my interview, leaving me little time to share my thoughts.
But I smiled.
At the end of the day, no matter how many guys yelled at me, I was the one who had gotten Mark Zuckerberg.
Del libro “Special Characters: My Adventures with Tech’s Titans and Misfits” de Laurie Segall. Copyright © 2022 por Laurie Segall. Reimpreso con permiso de Dey Street Books, un sello de HarperCollins Publishers.
Meta has not responded to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Laurie Segall is the founder and CEO of Dot Dot Dot, a news and entertainment company. Previously, she was a senior technology correspondent at CNN.
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