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Facebook

Facebook, previously TheFacebook, is an American online social media and social networking service owned by Meta Platforms.

History

TheFacebook was officially launched on February 4, 2004, the same day the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) cancelled a similar project called LifeLog.[1][2][3]

Peter Thiel was an early investor in TheFacebook, giving the startup $500,000 in 2004. He joined the company's board the following year.[4] Sean Parker became the company's founding president in the summer of 2004.[5] The website dropped the "The" in its name, becoming simply "Facebook" in 2005. Parker departed the company in 2005 after being arrested for cocaine possession.[5:1]

In 2011, Facebook hired election lawyer Marc Elias at Perkins Coie to help the company obtain an exemption to requirements that it disclose the source of funding for political advertisements.[6]

On December 19, 2013, Zuckerberg announced a donation of 18 million Facebook shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation totalling $990 million.[7] The donation was recognized on December 31, 2013, as the largest charitable gift on public record for that year.[8]

On March 25, 2014, Facebook announced its acquisition of Oculus VR, a virtual reality company, for approximately $2 billion.[9]

In March 2018, whistleblower Christopher Wylie testified that Palantir Technologies worked with Cambridge Analytica to analyze data harvested from Facebook profiles.[10]

Launching "misinformation" and "disinformation" programs

On May 17, 2018, Facebook announced it had partnered with the Atlantic Council “to strengthen [its] election integrity efforts around the world.”[11] An accompanying press release stated that Facebook would ”use the Atlantic Council’s Digital Research Unit Monitoring Missions during elections and other highly sensitive moments,” allowing Facebook “to focus on a particular geographic area — monitoring for misinformation and foreign interference and also working to help educate citizens as well as civil society.”[12] Graham Brookie, head of the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) admitted that “some within our community may view this partnership with skepticism.”[13]

In response, Elliot Gabriel of MintPress News wrote, “with its leadership comprised of retired military officers, former policymakers, and top figures from the U.S. National Security State and Western business elites, the Atlantic Council’s role policing the social network should be viewed as a virtual takeover of Facebook by the imperialist state and the council’s extensive list of ultra-wealthy and corporate donors.”[14]

Facebook was a sponsor of Interaction 19, a conference on interactive design which took place from February 3-8, 2019, in Seattle, Washington.[15]

In April 2019, Facebook revealed it had removed "hundreds of pages and accounts that it said were working together to spread misleading content or spam ahead of elections in India," including pages linked to the Pakistan Armed Forces and the Indian National Congress.[16]

In May 2019, co-founder Chris Hughes wrote an op-ed in The New York Times calling for the separation of Facebook proper from its acquired subsidiaries, Instagram and WhatsApp.[17]

Facebook was a founding member of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), launched by the World Federation of Advertisers in June 2019 to "address harmful and misleading media environments; and to develop and deliver against a concrete set of actions, processes and protocols for protecting brands."[18] That same month, Facebook attended the Trusted News Summit organized by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which addressed concerns regarding online misinformation surrounding the 2019 Indian general election.[19] This led to the launched of the Trusted News Initiative (TNI), with Facebook as a member.[20]

COVID-19

At the end of February 2020, Facebook launched a request for proposals "to support independent research" on "dealing with layered challenges ranging from election interference to a global pandemic."[21]

Facebook partnered with the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) to launch a $1 million "fact-checking" program to combat so-called "COVID-19 related misinformation." This Coronavirus Fact-Checking Grants program was announced on March 17, 2020.[22] An additional $1 million was subsequently announced for further applicants.[23]

On March 27, 2020, Facebook was named as part of the Trusted News Initiative's renewed efforts to tackle misinformation around the declared COVID-19 pandemic. Through this arrangement, TNI members would "alert each other to disinformation about Coronavirus so that content can be reviewed promptly by platforms, whilst publishers ensure they don’t unwittingly republish disinformation."[20:1]

On June 16, 2020, the Facebook Journalism Project announced the launch of the Facebook-Canadian Press News Fellowship in partnership with The Canadian Press. The fellowship would provide $1 million to eight journalists "to cover pressing issues in local communities across Canada" in light of the declared pandemic.[24]

COVID-19 vaccine propaganda and censorship

On August 7, 2020, Facebook announced the winners of its "request for proposals on misinformation and polarization." A notable recipient was Heidi Larson, director of the Vaccine Confidence Project (VCP), for a project titled "The contagion of misinformation."[25][26]

Facebook provided funding for the Community COVID Coalition, a public-private partnership launched by the CDC Foundation on September 23, 2020. The purpose of the project was "to support outreach and education for state communication efforts for the COVID-19 response," focused initially on communications around contact tracing,[27] with later efforts to promote COVID-19 vaccines.[28]

During the 2020 United States presidential election cycle, the Progressive Turnout Project paid Facebook $11,480,573, making it the organization's largest single vendor in terms of expenditures.[29]

On February 5, 2021, Canada's chief public health officer Theresa Tam disclosed that the Government of Canada was collaborating with Facebook to conduct behavioural experiments on Canadians through the Privy Council Office's "nudge unit," the Impact Canada Initiative, to manipulate more people into accepting a COVID-19 vaccine.[30]

Twenty days later, Facebook was named as a partner in the COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative, a program launched by the Ad Council, COVID Collaborative and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the purpose of "helping the public feel confident and prepared to get vaccinated once a vaccine is available to them."[31]

The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) briefed the United States Office of the Surgeon General and its senior advisor Eric Waldo on its March 2021 publication about the "Disinformation Dozen", after which the federal government applied pressure on Facebook to ramp up censorship of information about the COVID-19 pandemic the Biden administration opposed.[32][33] Facebook also partnered with the HHS COVID-19 Public Education Campaign, through which the administration purchased advertisements “to increase confidence in COVID-19 vaccines and reinforce basic prevention measures.”[34]

Facebook participated in the This Is Our Shot campaign, "a national, grassroots movement aimed at replacing vaccine hesitancy with vaccine confidence" in Canada, which launched April 28, 2021.[35][36]

On June 9, 2021, Facebook announced the launch of the Alliance for Advancing Health Online, an initiative "to advance public understanding of how social media and behavioral sciences can be leveraged to improve the health of communities around the world." Facebook pledged $20 million to the project, "which will initially focus on addressing vaccine hesitancy and vaccine equity among underserved communities."[37]

In October 2021, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would be changing its corporate name and branding to Meta in order to fully embrace the company's direction towards implementing the Metaverse.[38]

On November 10, 2021, Facebook users reported difficulties sharing a report published a week prior by the British Medical Journal (BMJ).[39] Written by investigative journalist Paul D. Thacker, the report detailed Brook Jackson's whistleblower lawsuit against Ventavia Research Group and Pfizer over data integrity and oversight issues she observed while working on the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial.[40] Lead Stories published a "fact check" of the report, apparently resulting in Facebook's decision to suppress it that same day.[41]

Chad Prather, a candidate for Texas Governor, filed a lawsuit on February 24, 2022 against Facebook and Meta alleging that Governor Greg Abbott had an undisclosed relationship with Facebook. Prather's Facebook account was suspended 8 days before the election date.[42]

2024 United States presidential election

On May 13, 2024, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his super PAC, American Values 2024, filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against Meta Platforms, Facebook, Zuckerberg and ten unnamed defendants after the social media platform censored a film called Who Is Bobby Kennedy, released May 3.[43][44]

In an August 26, 2024, letter to Representative Jim Jordan, Zuckerberg admitted that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Biden administration had put pressure on Facebook to censor and remove content related to the declared COVID-19 pandemic, as well as discussions about Biden family corruption. Zuckerberg described the pressure as improper, and vowed to push back against any such government censorship efforts in the future.[45]

Organization

Facebook has been a client of Burson-Marsteller,[46] Crestview Strategy,[47] Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher,[48] the Glover Park Group,[49] Harbinger Strategies,[50] Hardpin Media,[51] MicroStrategy,[52] Perkins Coie[6:1] and Speakers' Spotlight.[53]

Personnel

According to a MintPress News investigation, a notable number of Facebook staff members are graduates of the King's College London Department of War Studies.[54]

Name Position Notes
Mark Zuckerberg Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer[55] Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Harvard University, The Giving Pledge
Chris Hughes Co-Founder[56] General Catalyst, Democracy Alliance, Obama for America, Economic Security Project, Jumo
Andrew McCollum Co-Founder[57] Philo, Wirehog, JobSpice, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Flybridge Capital Partners
Dustin Moskovitz Co-Founder[58] Asana, Open Philanthropy, Good Ventures
Eduardo Saverin Co-Founder[59] B Capital
Sean Parker Founding President (2004-2005)[5:2] Napster, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, ACT for NIH
David Fischer Chief Revenue Officer[60] Ad Council, Google, Office of the Secretary of the Treasury, Lawrence Summers, U.S. News & World Report, Forum of Young Global Leaders, Aspen Institute, Alterra Mountain Company
Sheryl Sandberg Chief Operating Officer (2008-2022)[61] Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, World Bank, LeanIn.Org, Sandberg Goldberg Bernthal Family Foundation, Google, Lawrence Summers, Office of the Secretary of the Treasury, McKinsey & Company
Susan Desmond-Hellmann Director (2013-2019)[62] COVID-19 Technology Task Force, Pfizer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Resilience, Bristol-Myers Squibb
Michael Matthews Director (2016-2021)[63] Bay Area Council, KMM Strategies, Rasky Partners, LSG Strategies, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)
Peter Thiel Director (2005-2022)[4:1] Palantir Technologies, Founders Fund, Bilderberg Group, PayPal, Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI)
Jeff Zients Director (2018-2020)[64] White House COVID-19 Response Team, Cranemere, Biden-Harris Transition Team, Global Leaders for Tomorrow, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), National Economic Council (NEC), Executive Office of the President of the United States
Ramnik Arora Product Lead (former)[65] FTX Ventures, Novi, FTX, Goldman Sachs
Caitlin Baker Global Director of Strategic Response Policy (former)[66] Office of the Secretary of Defense, Google, United States National Security Council (NSC), Joe Biden
Leland Bickers Contracts, Purchases, and Agreements Manager (former)[67] Potomac Strategy Group, Austin City Council
Ben Blumenrose Design Lead and Manager (former)[68] Designer Fund, Varien, CBS, BIG Interactive
Max Burns Public Policy Communications Specialist (2010-2012)[69] Third Degree Strategies, Glover Park Group, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Change.org
Chris Kelly Chief Privacy Officer (former)[70] Progressive Policy Institute, Democratic Party, United States Domestic Policy Council (DPC)
Yann LeCun Chief Artificial Intelligence Scientist[71] Deep Genomics, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, NYU Center for Data Science, AT&T Bell Laboratories
Joe Lockhart Head of Corporate, Policy, and International Communications (2011-2012)[72] Glover Park Group, White House Office of the Press Secretary, National Football League (NFL)
Erin Marie Saltman Head of Counterterrorism Policy (former)[73] PopShift, Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), Quilliam Foundation
Nishad Singh Software Engineer (former)[74] Alameda Research, FTX, Future Fund
Mike Verdu Vice President of AR/VR Content (2019-2021)[75] Oculus VR, Netflix, Playful.AI, Electronic Arts (EA), TapZen, Zynga, Atari, Paragon Systems, American Systems

Subsidiaries and initiatives

  • Causes
  • Coronavirus Fact-Checking Grants
  • Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR)
  • Facebook-Canadian Press News Fellowship
  • Facebook Financial
  • Facebook Journalism Project
  • Facebook Payments

Investors

Individuals and companies who have provided investment funding to Facebook include:

Partners

Current and former partners of Facebook include:

Facebook was listed in the Countering Disinformation Guide's "Database of Information Interventions".[97]

Memberships

Facebook is a member of:

Activities

Facebook has provided funding to:

  1. History.com Editors. (2019, October 24). Facebook launches. HISTORY. https://web.archive.org/web/20250428112339/https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/february-4/facebook-launches-mark-zuckerberg ↩︎

  2. Pentagon Kills LifeLog Project. (2004, February 4). WIRED. https://web.archive.org/web/20160202002802/http://www.wired.com/2004/02/pentagon-kills-lifelog-project/ ↩︎

  3. Hill, G. (2024, January 29). Facebook, a computing pioneer, a secret government program, and a strange coincidence. WHYY. http://archive.today/2024.09.03-145405/https://whyy.org/segments/facebook-a-computing-pioneer-a-secret-government-program-and-a-strange-coincidence/ ↩︎

  4. Feiner, L., & Levy, A. (2022, February 7). Peter Thiel to step down from board of Facebook parent Meta. CNBC. https://web.archive.org/web/20240812095203/https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/07/peter-thiel-to-step-down-from-facebook-board.html ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  5. Kirkpatrick, D., & Karlsson, J. (2010, September 6). With a Little Help From His Friends. Vanity Fair. https://web.archive.org/web/20150121060241/http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/10/sean-parker-201010 ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  6. Vogel, K. P., & Kang, C. (2017, October 19). Senators Demand Online Ad Disclosures as Tech Lobby Mobilizes. The New York Times. http://archive.today/2018.06.05-205819/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/us/politics/facebook-google-russia-meddling-disclosure.html ↩︎ ↩︎

  7. Bailey, B. (2013, December 19). Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg makes $1 billion donation. The Mercury News. http://archive.today/2020.09.16-162910/https://www.mercurynews.com/2013/12/19/facebooks-mark-zuckerberg-makes-1-billion-donation/ ↩︎

  8. Wagner, K. (2014, January 3). Zuckerberg’s Other Billion-Dollar Idea: 2013’s Biggest Charitable Gift. Mashable. https://web.archive.org/web/20221128075500/https://mashable.com/archive/zuckerberg-charitable-donation-2013 ↩︎

  9. Crawford, D., & Bounds, T. (2014, March 25). Facebook to Acquire Oculus. Meta. http://archive.today/2022.12.03-202014/https://about.fb.com/news/2014/03/facebook-to-acquire-oculus/ ↩︎

  10. Kharpal, A. (2018, March 27). Palantir worked with Cambridge Analytica on the Facebook data it acquired, whistleblower alleges. CNBC. http://archive.today/2020.07.19-140047/https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/27/palantir-worked-with-cambridge-analytica-on-the-facebook-data-whistleblower.html ↩︎

  11. Meta [@Meta]. (2018, May 17). “We’re proud to partner with @AtlanticCouncil to strengthen our election integrity efforts around the world. We’ll work with experts from their Digital Research Labs to share real-time insights and ideas to better fight abuse on our platform.” [Tweet]. Twitter. http://archive.today/2022.01.19-174429/https://twitter.com/Meta/status/997107024558264320 ↩︎

  12. Harbath, K. (2018, May 17). Announcing New Election Partnership With the Atlantic Council. Facebook. http://archive.today/2020.07.01-095336/https://about.fb.com/news/2018/05/announcing-new-election-partnership-with-the-atlantic-council/ ↩︎

  13. Vanian, J. (2018, May 17). Facebook Partners With the Atlantic Council to Fight Election Propaganda. Fortune. https://web.archive.org/web/20180518012113/https://fortune.com/2018/05/17/facebook-atlantic-council-election-propaghanda/ ↩︎

  14. Gabriel, E. (2018, May 22). Facebook Partners with Hawkish Atlantic Council, a NATO Lobby Group, to “Protect Democracy.” MintPress News. http://archive.today/2020.05.01-182759/https://www.mintpressnews.com/facebook-partners-hawkish-atlantic-council-nato-lobby-group-protect-democracy/242289/ ↩︎

  15. Interaction 19 – 3-8 February 2019 • Seattle, WA. Interaction 19. Retrieved July 21, 2025, from http://archive.today/2025.07.21-201057/https://interaction19.ixda.org/ ↩︎

  16. Purnell, N. (2019, April 1). Facebook Removes Hundreds of Fake Accounts Ahead of India Elections. Wall Street Journal. https://web.archive.org/web/20190402025115/https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-removes-hundreds-of-fake-accounts-ahead-of-indian-elections-11554129628 ↩︎

  17. Hughes, C. (2019, May 9). Opinion | It’s Time to Break Up Facebook. The New York Times. http://archive.today/2022.01.04-214259/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/09/opinion/sunday/chris-hughes-facebook-zuckerberg.html ↩︎

  18. Global Alliance for Responsible Media launches to address digital safety. (2019, June 18). World Federation of Advertisers. http://archive.today/2020.07.07-063655/https://wfanet.org/knowledge/item/2019/06/18/Global-Alliance-for-Responsible-Media-launches-to-address-digital-safety ↩︎ ↩︎

  19. New collaboration steps up fight against disinformation. (2019, September 27). BBC. https://web.archive.org/web/20231015182650/https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2019/disinformation ↩︎

  20. Media Centre. (2020, March 27). Trusted News Initiative announces plans to tackle harmful Coronavirus disinformation. BBC. https://web.archive.org/web/20231015182634/https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/latestnews/2020/coronavirus-trusted-news ↩︎ ↩︎

  21. Grant, K. (2020, August 7). Announcing the winners of Facebook’s request for proposals on misinformation and polarization. Meta Research. https://web.archive.org/web/20220213104318/https://research.facebook.com/blog/2020/08/announcing-the-winners-of-facebooks-request-for-proposals-on-misinformation-and-polarization/ ↩︎

  22. International Fact-Checking Network. (2020, March 17). Flash grants of up to $50K are now available for fact-checkers fighting coronavirus misinformation. Poynter. http://archive.today/2020.11.01-090451/https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2020/flash-grants-of-up-to-50k-are-now-available-for-fact-checkers-fighting-coronavirus-misinformation/ ↩︎

  23. International Fact-Checking Network. (2020, April 2). The Coronavirus Fact-Checking Grants will support 13 projects on its 1st round: More than half a million dollars is being distributed. Poynter. http://archive.today/2020.12.14-222635/https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2020/the-coronavirus-fact-checking-grants-will-support-13-projects-on-its-1st-round-more-than-half-a-million-dollars-is-being-distributed/ ↩︎

  24. Dinsdale, M., & Chan, K. (2020, June 16). Announcing the Facebook-Canadian Press News Fellowship. Facebook. https://web.archive.org/web/20211122112500/https://www.facebook.com/journalismproject/facebook-canadian-press-news-fellowship ↩︎

  25. Facebook research award on misinformation and polarization. Vaccine Confidence Project. Retrieved July 22, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220722215329/https://vaccine-confidence.squarespace.com/research-feed/facebook-research-award-on-misinformation-and-polarization ↩︎ ↩︎

  26. LSHTM wins two awards for research into expanding vaccine access and combatting. (2020, August 14). London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. https://web.archive.org/web/20200922051934/https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/news/2020/lshtm-wins-two-awards-research-expanding-vaccine-access-and-combatting ↩︎

  27. Tolchinsky, A. (2020, September 23). CDC Foundation and Partners Launch New Coalition to Strengthen Outreach and Education for the COVID-19 Response. CDC Foundation. https://web.archive.org/web/20221006073138/https://www.cdcfoundation.org/pr/2020/Community-COVID-Coalition ↩︎

  28. Home. Community COVID Coalition. Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20221006065553/https://covidcoalition.org/ ↩︎

  29. Federal Election Commission. (2021, March 22). Progressive Turnout Project PAC Expenditures - 2020. OpenSecrets. https://web.archive.org/web/20230724173741/https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/progressive-turnout-project/C00580068/expenditures/2020 ↩︎

  30. Delacourt, S. (2021, February 21). “The nudge unit”: Ottawa’s behavioural-science team investigates how Canadians feel about vaccines, public health and who to trust. The Star Vancouver. http://archive.today/2021.06.21-034312/https://www.thestar.com/politics/political-opinion/2021/02/21/the-nudge-unit-ottawas-behavioural-science-team-investigates-how-canadians-feel-about-vaccines-public-health-and-who-to-trust.html ↩︎

  31. Fisher, E. (2021, February 25). The Ad Council and COVID Collaborative Reveal “It’s Up To You” Campaigns to Educate Millions of Americans about COVID-19 Vaccines. Ad Council. https://web.archive.org/web/20210225154750/https://www.adcouncil.org/press-releases/the-ad-council-and-covid-collaborative-reveal-its-up-to-you-campaigns-to-educate-millions-of-americans-about-covid-19-vaccines ↩︎

  32. Doughty, T. A. (2023). State of Missouri, et al v. Joseph R. Biden Jr., et al - Memorandum Ruling on Request for Preliminary Injunction (p. 30). United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Monroe Division. https://web.archive.org/web/20230822214105/https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/judge-doughty-first-amendment-ruling.pdf ↩︎

  33. Marks, D. (2023, August 17). Thought Police. Report from Planet Earth; Substack. https://web.archive.org/web/20230820091416/https://reportfromplanetearth.substack.com/p/thought-police ↩︎

  34. Media Partners. (2022, June 10). HHS COVID-19 Public Education Campaign. https://web.archive.org/web/20221015182408/https://wecandothis.hhs.gov/media-partners ↩︎

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  36. “This is Our Shot” Rallies Canadians to Get Vaccinated Against COVID-19. (2021, April 28). This Is Our Shot Canada. https://web.archive.org/web/20230714200244/https://thisisourshot.ca/this-is-our-shot-rallies-canadians-to-get-vaccinated-against-covid-19/ ↩︎

  37. Jin, K.-X. (2021, June 10). Facebook and Leading Health Organizations Form Alliance for Advancing Health Online. Facebook. http://archive.today/2021.07.04-012159/https://about.fb.com/news/2021/06/facebook-leading-health-organizations-form-alliance-for-advancing-health-online/ ↩︎ ↩︎

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Further reading

How One Spook-Run London College Department Is Training the World’s Social Media Managers
Kremlin propaganda is real, but its reach is decidedly minor in comparison to the massive disinformation campaigns being launched by the Western national security state. And as Alan Macloed reveals, London’s Department of War Studies is a key part of that information war.
MintPress NewsAlan Macleod
Examining Effective Altruism: Part II
The Social Network, revisionist history, Chris Hughes, LifeLog
White Rose IntelligenceLiam Sturgess