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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg endured a grueling six-hour hearing before the House Financial Services Committee yesterday. It was a tough visit on a number of fronts.
He was there to talk about Project Libra, Facebook’s crypto initiative. But it did not go well, even when the questions stayed on topic, reports Fortune’s Jeff John Roberts:
“More troubling for Facebook is that those committee members who had taken time to understand the mechanics of Project Libra, including Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL) and Juan Vargas (D-CA), expressed concerns about the initiative.
Those concerns fell into two broad buckets: That a new global cryptocurrency could threaten the U.S. dollar, and that Project Libra—billed as an independent consortium of companies and non-profits—is basically an alter-ego for Facebook. As the members noted, several high-profile would-be partners, including Visa and PayPal, have pulled out of Project Libra in recent weeks.”
That Financial Services Committee members would burn valuable time quizzing the Facebook CEO on other issues—like dangerous content on the platform and the company’s lack of diversity—was a pretty clear indication that Libra’s regulatory future was unlikely.
It appears, as the song goes, to be a matter of trust.
In a must
But do not, under any circumstance, miss this exchange from Rep. Joyce Beatty, the chair of the Financial Services Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee. Her questions bode poorly for the company
Beatty, who expertly reclaimed her time (hat tip, Rep. Maxine Waters) when necessary, asked about the company’s dismal diversity stats, an update on their contracting of underrepresented- or women-owned firms, and still unresolved allegations that the platform’s ad system allows housing, employment, and other discrimination.
He didn’t have much to say.
And she specifically asked about their civil rights audit, which seemed to take Zuckerberg by surprise. “Do you know who the firm that you employ for civil rights is?” Beatty asked.
He did not.
Referring to the company’s ongoing “Black people problem,” which includes the reportedly poor treatment of Black Facebook users, she asked, “Do you know what the percentage of African Americans are on Facebook in comparison to majority folks? Do you know what the percentages are?”
He did not.
Beatty, who not only had all the answers to the questions she was asking but had sent the research that supported her points to Zuckerberg and his team in advance, was
“I have a lot of questions I’m going to send to you that I’m not going to be able to get through, and I would like an answer because this is appalling and disgusting to me,” Beatty told Zuckerberg.
Ellen McGirt
Ellen.McGirt@fortune.com
@ellmcgirt
On Point
How racism fueled a $1.2 billion dollar beauty empire "I felt really ugly as a child," Huda Kattan, founder of Huda Beauty, told the crowd in an emotional session at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit on Wednesday. The Iraqi-American said that the relentless racism she faced drove her to become a makeup expert as a young teen. That, combined with subsequent training in finance, gave her the confidence to build a beauty business for everyone. "We grew up in Tennessee; we were the only brown people in the city. There were a lot of times when children made us feel like we were not beautiful."
Fortune
Gender violence should be an issue in the next election This was the other thing that Professor Anita Hill told me in our recent conversation during the MPW Summit. "We have been listening to the presidential debates, and I’ve been trying to keep track and I haven’t heard one question about gender violence posed to the candidates," she said. "That needs to be addressed." She also asked people to follow the hashtag #MeTooVoter, created by Me Too founder Tarana Burke to amplify these kinds of conversations. "We’re not just talking about individual behavior," Hill said. "We are talking about systemic problems that have become embedded in our practices, policies, our contracts, every aspect of our work lives."
Huffington Post
Crumbling infrastructure triggers a reparations debate in Syracuse When "urban renewal" initiatives blasted through a predominately Black community in Syracuse, N.Y.’s south side decades ago, it destroyed the homes and livelihoods of families, many of whose descendants still live nearby. But now that a crumbling highway bridge is being threatened with removal, residents are asking if this is a time for a meaningful discussion about how to bring their community back. "We’re saying that neighborhood that you destroyed was in fact the slums because you made it that way," a lawyer and organizer with the American Civil Liberties Union tells the Washington Post. "So now you have to fix it." But residents also worry if losing the ugly barrier—which on the other side how has upscale housing and new buildings—will mean that they will be displaced once and for all. "If this place gentrifies, those developers are going to charge whatever they want and raise all my property taxes,” says one long-time homeowner. “If they cared about us, they would freeze our taxes to keep things fair."
Washington Post
On Background
Remembering the Sahara and the world through Sanmao’s eyes Overlooked remains one of my favorite series that the New York Times offers, the obituaries of notable people whose deaths were not acknowledged by the times has become a form of journalistic reparations and overdue inclusion. This one celebrates the Taiwanese writer Sanmao, who traveled the world boldly and wrote essays and poems that inspired generations of Chinese and Taiwanese women to consider lives outside the bounds of conservative norms. Although she died in 1991, a new English translation of her work is due soon and her words, brought to life on social media, create millions of impressions. "The fact that she’s been able to endure this long in the Chinese literary imagination is something else," says Mike Fu, an assistant dean at Parson’s School of Design, and the translator of the book.
New York Times
Brokeback revisited? Out magazine’s always delightful advice column takes on an unusual subject: A gay man who grew up on a farm in rural Kansas has decided to return home after a decade out in the world, at college, and at work. But unlike many professionals who make the same decision, he just never had "the big gay experience" away from his conservative hometown. So choosing to go back means he’s risking some harassment (though his family is pretty chill) but now, he’s mostly risking loneliness. "I guess I’m just worried I’m having to choose my dream career and life I enjoy over Being Gay™," not wanting to end up the 60-year-old single creepy man. Columnist John Paul Brammer enlisted the aid of an actual gay Texas cattle rancher who painted a picture of hope. "I think it’s possible to not have to choose between your gay identity and rural life," says Max Kruemcke. Stop worrying about the life you think you’re missing in "Instagay profiles." Instead, "the question is: Is your hometown one of these places where young people are going?"
Out
Should media publish mugshots? It’s not an insignificant question, particularly for local papers like the Times of Northwest Indiana, who gets a much-needed influx of ad revenue due to the popularity of their mugshot galleries that accompany their crime reporting. But the problem, explains Columbia Journalism Review, is that there is no follow up to these stories, and in the many cases where charges are dropped, or worse, police make a mistake, the enduring images can ruin lives. "[S]ome media ethics specialists argue that newsrooms should contextualize such images for readers, articulate the public-service value of disseminating them, and pursue the stories of their subjects after the photos are taken," says Corey Hutchins.
CJR
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