Mar 26, 2018 - Technology

Why Mark Zuckerberg won't be fired

Dan Primack, author of Pro Rata

Photo Illustration: Sarah Grillo / Axios

"Fire Mark Zuckerberg" has become a rallying cry for the #DeleteFacebook crowd, as controversy continues to swirl over revelations that 50 million users had their personal data improperly accessed by a Trump-linked analytics firm.

Reality check: Zuck isn't going anywhere.

For starters, Zuckerberg has so much voting stock that the board can't technically fire him, even if it wants to (which it doesn't).
He could always step down under internal pressure, but it's hard to imagine he'd do so given his longstanding emphasis on founder control. And, again, this isn't like the situation at Uber where board members think they've been misled.
Second, there is no obvious successor. The rest of his co-founders are long gone, and number two Sheryl Sandberg would seem to have just as much culpability for what's gone wrong.

But there is one place Mark Zuckerberg is almost certain to go, whether he wants to or not: Capitol Hill.

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Updated 4 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

Global: Total confirmed cases as of 10 p.m. ET: 12,009,301 — Total deaths: 548,799 — Total recoveries — 6,561,969 — Map.
U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 10 p.m. ET: 3,053,328 — Total deaths: 132,256 — Total recoveries: 953,420 — Total tested: 37,532,612 — Map.
Public health: Houston mayor cancels Republican convention over coronavirus concerns — Deaths are rising in hotspots — Déjà vu sets in as testing issues rise and PPE dwindles.
Travel: United warns employees it may furlough 45% of U.S. workforce — How the pandemic changed mobility habits, by state.
Education: New York City schools will not fully reopen in fall — Harvard and MIT sue Trump administration over rule barring foreign students from online classes.
🎧 Podcast: A misinformation "infodemic" is here.

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7 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

Photo: Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

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8 hours ago - Health

Fighting the coronavirus infodemic

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

An "infodemic" of misinformation and disinformation has helped cripple the response to the novel coronavirus.

Why it matters: High-powered social media accelerates the spread of lies and political polarization that motivates people to believe them. Unless the public health sphere can effectively counter misinformation, not even an effective vaccine may be enough to end the pandemic.

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