No More Apologies: Inside Facebook's Push to Defend Its Image

Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive, has signed off on an effort to show users pro-Facebook stories and to distance himself from scandals.Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, in Paris in 2019.Credit…Nicolas Messyasz/Hans Lucas, via Re​duxSept. 21, 2021, 5:30 p.m. ETMark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, signed off last month on a new initiative code-named Project Amplify.The effort, which was hatched at an internal meeting in January, had a specific purpose: to use Facebook’s News Feed, the site’s most important digital real estate, to show people positive stories about the social network.The idea was that pushing pro-Facebook news items — some of them written by the company — would improve its image in the eyes of its users, three people with knowledge of the effort said. But the move was sensitive because Facebook had not previously positioned the News Feed as a place where it burnished its own reputation. Several executives at the meeting were shocked by the proposal, one attendee said.Project Amplify punctuated a series of decisions that Facebook has made this year to aggressively reshape its image. Since that January meeting, the company has begun a multipronged effort to change its narrative by distancing Mr. Zuckerberg from scandals, reducing outsiders’ access…
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