A recently surfaced message from Mark Zuckerberg, sent to a friend shortly after Facebook’s inception, has come to light.
Today, Facebook, under Meta’s umbrella, boasts an astounding 3.07 billion monthly active users, maintaining its status as the leading social media platform worldwide.
This user base far surpasses that of other platforms like WhatsApp, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
However, it might be surprising to know that Facebook was not always the massive force it is today.
The platform was initiated in 2004 by Zuckerberg and four other Harvard students, and it quickly gained significant traction.
In that same February, Zuckerberg shared insights about his new website with the Harvard Crimson, as concerns arose about the personal information required by the site.
“There are pretty intensive privacy options,” Zuckerberg assured. “People have very good control over who can see their information.”
In the early days of Facebook’s online presence, Zuckerberg discussed the platform with a friend.
There was significant unease about user privacy and whether Facebook could be trusted with personal information.
Given it was a novel idea at the time, such concerns were understandable.
Amid this apprehension, a conversation between Zuckerberg and a friend over instant messenger was leaked and later reported by Silicon Valley Insider.
The conversation unfolded as follows:
Zuckerberg: yea so if you ever need info about anyone at harvard
Zuckerberg: just ask
Zuckerberg: i have over 4000 emails, pictures, addresses, sns
Friend: what!? how’d you manage that one?
Zuckerberg: people just submitted it
Zuckerberg: i don’t know why
Zuckerberg: they ‘trust me’
Zuckerberg: dumb f***s
Jim Breyer, a Facebook board member from 2005 to 2013, discussed the impact of the leaked messages with The New Yorker.
He commented: “Based on everything I saw in 2006, and after having a great deal of time with Mark, my confidence in him as C.E.O. of Facebook was in no way shaken.
“He is a brilliant individual who, like all of us, has made mistakes.”
Addressing the leak, Zuckerberg expressed his regret to the outlet, stating he ‘absolutely’ wished he hadn’t sent those messages.
He continued: “If you’re going to go on to build a service that is influential and that a lot of people rely on, then you need to be mature, right?
“I think I’ve grown and learned a lot.”