Frenkel and Kang faced the challenge of unearthing new and interesting material about one of the most heavily debated communication tools of our modern age. More than 400 interviews later, they’ve produced the ultimate takedown via careful, comprehensive interrogation of every major Facebook scandal. An Ugly Truth provides the kind of satisfaction you might get if you hired a private investigator to track a cheating spouse: It confirms your worst suspicions and then gives you all the dates and details you need to cut through the company’s spin. . . . By weaving all those threads together, and adding new reporting from high-level meetings in Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C., the authors manage to effectively examine the shortcomings in the company’s leadership, structure and accountability. The book connects the internal drama and decision-making at Facebook with what we have all experienced on the outside.” — New York Times Book Review
“Fascinating…. Adds a trove of rich detail that will be important in the ongoing assessment of social media’s impact on society and democracy.” — Washington Post
“There’s so much new reporting in this book, a story we thought we understood fully. It turns out there is much more to it.” — Morning Joe
"A great book. Everybody should read it.” — Kara Swisher
"Fascinating." — People
“A valuable record of what went wrong, when, where, why, specifically in the last five years.” — CNN
“Explosive.... Makes powerful claims about the company’s vast influence and repeated mistakes.” — Today
“Stunning revelations. . . . Damning new details. . . . Fantastic.” — Jake Tapper
“An Ugly Truth build[s] a compelling case that Facebook has grown far past its origins … into a delivery system perfectly suited for the propagation of extremist views and outright untruths…. Frenkel and Kang offer a compelling argument that in the interest of preserving democracy, we must take steps to purge Facebook of outright falsehoods, hate and disinformation now.” — Associated Press
“Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang detail the company’s dawning awareness of the foreign adversaries in their midst. By the time it’s all over, Donald Trump will be president, and Facebook’s halting response triggers an international reckoning over the size and power of technology platforms….The broad outlines of this story are well known…. The value in An Ugly Truth comes from the detail it brings to the Russia investigation as it was experienced by some of its participants at the time…. The book is worth reading for everyone interested in social networks, trust and safety, and cybersecurity. (And, of course, for anyone else like me who is fascinated by Facebook history.)” — Casey Newton, The Verge
"New York Times reporters Frenkel and Kang debut with a paragon of investigative journalism in this insiders’ account of the scandals and toxic culture at social media giant Facebook....A work of impeccable research and relentless reporting." — Publishers Weekly, starred review
“A damning, often shocking portrait of finger-pointing and PR turmoil. . . . This sharp study serves as a convincing, effectively researched and sourced report of how Zuckerberg and Sandberg erected their social media empire with controversial tactics and questionable management styles, all while avoiding a minefield of incriminating investigations and lawsuits. . . . Thorough, high-caliber investigative reporting every social media user should read.” — Kirkus , starred review
“A detailed dismantling of what happened at the highest levels of the company as it pursued a policy of deny, deflect and obfuscate.” — New Statesman
“Takes readers behind the scenes.” — Business Insider, Recommended Read
“In Kang and Frenkel’s lucid account we get to hear the step-by-step details of the energy and incompetence of the world’s biggest influencer and the American government’s utter inability to regulate its grotesque excesses…. [A] meticulous history of Facebook — exactly what you would expect from New York Times reporters with a track record of insight and care.” — The Forward
“Russian hacking, smear campaigns and livestreamed massacres are the price of Mark Zuckerberg’s quest for connectivity, grippingly probed by two New York Times journalists. . . . Better sourced than all of its predecessors in the genre. . . . Splendid.” — The Guardian
“Facebook, eternally mired in controversy, is going through another bad PR cycle due to the release of Sheera Frenkel’s and Cecilia Kang’s book, An Ugly Truth , which documents the company’s long history of allowing disasters like its role in the genocide in Myanmar or its infestation of far-right clickbait to fester in the name of profit.” — Gizmodo
“A hard look at the inner workings of Facebook.” — The Six Fifty
“With Frenkel’s expertise in cybersecurity, Kang’s expertise in technology and regulatory policy, and their deep well of sources, the duo provide a compelling account of Facebook’s years spanning the 2016 and 2020 elections…. The book is as much a feat of storytelling as it is reporting….The detailed anecdotes take readers behind the scenes into Zuckerberg’s conference room known as “Aquarium,” where key decisions shaped the course of the company. The pacing of each chapter guarantees fresh revelations with every turn of the page.” — MIT Technology Review
"A great book. Everybody should read it.
An Ugly Truth build[s] a compelling case that Facebook has grown far past its origins … into a delivery system perfectly suited for the propagation of extremist views and outright untruths…. Frenkel and Kang offer a compelling argument that in the interest of preserving democracy, we must take steps to purge Facebook of outright falsehoods, hate and disinformation now.
Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang detail the company’s dawning awareness of the foreign adversaries in their midst. By the time it’s all over, Donald Trump will be president, and Facebook’s halting response triggers an international reckoning over the size and power of technology platforms….The broad outlines of this story are well known…. The value in An Ugly Truth comes from the detail it brings to the Russia investigation as it was experienced by some of its participants at the time…. The book is worth reading for everyone interested in social networks, trust and safety, and cybersecurity. (And, of course, for anyone else like me who is fascinated by Facebook history.)”
"Fascinating."
Fascinating…. Adds a trove of rich detail that will be important in the ongoing assessment of social media’s impact on society and democracy.”
There’s so much new reporting in this book, a story we thought we understood fully. It turns out there is much more to it.
A valuable record of what went wrong, when, where, why, specifically in the last five years.
Frenkel and Kang faced the challenge of unearthing new and interesting material about one of the most heavily debated communication tools of our modern age. More than 400 interviews later, they’ve produced the ultimate takedown via careful, comprehensive interrogation of every major Facebook scandal. An Ugly Truth provides the kind of satisfaction you might get if you hired a private investigator to track a cheating spouse: It confirms your worst suspicions and then gives you all the dates and details you need to cut through the company’s spin. . . . By weaving all those threads together, and adding new reporting from high-level meetings in Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C., the authors manage to effectively examine the shortcomings in the company’s leadership, structure and accountability. The book connects the internal drama and decision-making at Facebook with what we have all experienced on the outside.”
New York Times Book Review
Explosive.... Makes powerful claims about the company’s vast influence and repeated mistakes.”
Stunning revelations. . . . Damning new details. . . . Fantastic.”
Fascinating…. Adds a trove of rich detail that will be important in the ongoing assessment of social media’s impact on society and democracy.”
Takes readers behind the scenes.
A hard look at the inner workings of Facebook.”
With Frenkel’s expertise in cybersecurity, Kang’s expertise in technology and regulatory policy, and their deep well of sources, the duo provide a compelling account of Facebook’s years spanning the 2016 and 2020 elections…. The book is as much a feat of storytelling as it is reporting….The detailed anecdotes take readers behind the scenes into Zuckerberg’s conference room known as “Aquarium,” where key decisions shaped the course of the company. The pacing of each chapter guarantees fresh revelations with every turn of the page.
A detailed dismantling of what happened at the highest levels of the company as it pursued a policy of deny, deflect and obfuscate.”
Russian hacking, smear campaigns and livestreamed massacres are the price of Mark Zuckerberg’s quest for connectivity, grippingly probed by two New York Times journalists. . . . Better sourced than all of its predecessors in the genre. . . . Splendid.
Facebook, eternally mired in controversy, is going through another bad PR cycle due to the release of Sheera Frenkel’s and Cecilia Kang’s book, An Ugly Truth , which documents the company’s long history of allowing disasters like its role in the genocide in Myanmar or its infestation of far-right clickbait to fester in the name of profit.
In Kang and Frenkel’s lucid account we get to hear the step-by-step details of the energy and incompetence of the world’s biggest influencer and the American government’s utter inability to regulate its grotesque excesses…. [A] meticulous history of Facebook — exactly what you would expect from New York Times reporters with a track record of insight and care.”
The authors read the opening and closing segments; Holter Graham delivers an exceptional performance of the bulk of this audiobook. All three narrators communicate audible respect for this well-documented writing and a measure of alarm about its focus—the irresponsible leadership of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg. The authors say the social app was designed from the start to be addictive and to make money through the sale of users’ private data. They show how the company’s thirst for market dominance and revenue led them to allow enemy-funded election disinformation on the site in 2016 and how Facebook continues to be irresponsible in curating posts. With his virtuoso phrasing skills and vocal panache, Graham’s performance of this chilling book could not be more fitting. T.W. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
The authors read the opening and closing segments; Holter Graham delivers an exceptional performance of the bulk of this audiobook. All three narrators communicate audible respect for this well-documented writing and a measure of alarm about its focus—the irresponsible leadership of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg. The authors say the social app was designed from the start to be addictive and to make money through the sale of users’ private data. They show how the company’s thirst for market dominance and revenue led them to allow enemy-funded election disinformation on the site in 2016 and how Facebook continues to be irresponsible in curating posts. With his virtuoso phrasing skills and vocal panache, Graham’s performance of this chilling book could not be more fitting. T.W. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
★ 2021-08-02
Frenkel and Kang, prizewinning New York Times journalists, chronicle the results of more than 1,000 hours of interviews with more than 400 people involved in this sordid story, including corporate executives, employees, investors, lawmakers, academics, and cultural observers, as well as “never-reported emails, memos, and white papers involving or approved by top executives.” The authors focus primarily on the time between the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, delivering a damning, often shocking portrait of finger-pointing and PR turmoil. Underpinning the narrative are a variety of global scandals involving Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, including the Cambridge Analytica debacle, the Russian cyber-meddling ordeal, and the use of Facebook and other social media to livestream the January Capitol insurrection. Ultimately, the authors assert that many Facebook executives had knowledge of the company’s sketchy ethics but were powerless to create changes to circumvent problems or, as Frenkel and Kang exhaustively attest, to even redirect Zuckerberg’s attention. The authors probe the business relationship between Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, a former Google exec with ruthless advertising instincts and data mining experience. The profile of Sandberg reveals fascinating details about how she employed the most controversial methodologies to surveil and capture “connected” Facebook user data and behavior patterns on the internet in order to maximize ad revenue. Also startling is the meticulous hunting abilities of Sonya Ahuja, the company’s “rat catcher,” who mercilessly rooted out internal harassment complaints and whistleblowers. This sharp study serves as a convincing, effectively researched and sourced report of how Zuckerberg and Sandberg erected their social media empire with controversial tactics and questionable management styles, all while avoiding a minefield of incriminating investigations and lawsuits. Though Zuckerberg and Sandberg initially agreed to participate in the authors’ interviews (if just to deliver their perspective to readers), eventually they expressed “no interest in participating.”
Thorough, high-caliber investigative reporting every social media user should read.
