Mark Zuckerberg Retires from Facebook in 2018-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Mark Zuckerberg has announced that he’s retiring as president and CEO of Facebook in 2018.
The Truth:
Mark Zuckerberg has not announced his retirement from Facebook. That rumor has surfaced multiple times over the years, with the most recent one surfacing in January 2018.
A satirical website called Media Mass ran a story under the headline, “Mark Zuckerberg to announce shock retirement from business?” Similar version of the report immediately went viral, but they’re not based in truth.
The domain for Media Mass is registered in China. And the site’s “About” page states that it attempts to use “satire satire to expose with humour, exaggeration and ridicule the contemporary mass production and mass consumption that we observe.”
But Media Mass isn’t the only site that has spread false rumors about Mark Zuckerberg is retiring. The website Get Inc News published a bogus report in March 2017 that claimed Zuckerberg would retire by year’s end. That version claimed that Zuckerberg was retiring because he wanted to “connect people, not tear them apart.”
Neither of those reports cite credible sources, and neither are based in reality.
What Are Mark Zuckerberg’s Plans in 2018
Bogus reports about Mark Zuckerberg’s retirement got at least one thing right. Zuckerberg has apologized for the impact his social media platform has had on society, and he’s talked openly about his plans to correct it.
Zuckerberg penned an open letter about his disgust over how foreign actors had used Facebook to influence public opinions, reports that it had negative impacts on people’s mental health, and allegations of harassment among users. But, rather than announcing his retirement, Zuckerberg announced a plan to address those challenges:
My personal challenge for 2018 is to focus on fixing these important issues. We won’t prevent all mistakes or abuse, but we currently make too many errors enforcing our policies and preventing misuse of our tools. If we’re successful this year then we’ll end 2018 on a much better trajectory.
It’s not clear exactly what steps Zuckerberg plans to take. In a follow-up statement, however, Zuckerberg indicated that Facebook users could expect to see changes in content that appears in their news feed. News feeds will feature more content from family members, friends and community groups — and less from media organizations, businesses, brands and other groups:
Now, I want to be clear: by making these changes, I expect the time people spend on Facebook and some measures of engagement will go down. But I also expect the time you do spend on Facebook will be more valuable. And if we do the right thing, I believe that will be good for our community and our business over the long term too.
It appears that Zuckerberg’s openness about his disappointment in Facebook’s impact on society has fueled false reports that he’s retiring. That’s not the case, however. As Zuckerberg’s public comments indicate, he has big plans for Facebook in 2018.