ABSTRACT
The word democracy barely features in Mark Zuckerberg’s notorious 5,737-word 2017 ‘manifesto’. Democracy demands more than efforts to safeguard the security of elections: it demands support for democratic institutions. In January 2017, the several US intelligence agencies concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a campaign in 2016 to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and harm her electability. Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement in early 2019 that Facebook would in future focus more on private communications via encrypted apps and participation in groups poses further worrying challenges for the rule of law, democracy, human rights and counter-terrorism. Facebook lacks a normative view of democracy, is prepared to make political accommodations in the interest of its business and offers a platform for those opposed to the kind of liberal democracy which brought Facebook into being.
