The news media are ganging up on Facebook. Why?

There are two underlying reasons: (1) Because they now can, based on AI and database management software and cooperative news consortiums that can take advantage of this software to analyze millions of emails and documents. (2) Because Zuckerberg is on the autism spectrum and has no concept of empathy.

Several years ago news organizations around the world created the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) to investigate a global tax avoidance scheme based on 11.5 million leaked documents (2.6 terabytes of data). A single news organization such as The New York Times or the Wall Street Journal would probably take at least a year to analyze this much data, even with sophisticated software. However, a global network of 280 journalists in over 100 media organizations spanning more than 100 countries, including the United States, Australia, France, Spain, Hungary, Serbia, Belgium, and Ireland was able to scope out the leaked data and publish investigative articles that were labeled the Panama Papers.

The Panama Papers, when they were published in 2016 by such newspapers in the U.S. as the Washington Post, not only created a sensation but also resulted in the prosecution of Jan Marsalek, who is still a person of interest to a number of European governments due to his revealed links with Russian intelligence and international financial fraudsters David and Josh Baazov. Also, Iceland’s Prime Minister resigned as a result of revelations about offshore accounts detailed in The Panama Papers.

This October the ICIJ struck again with the Pandora Papers. A leak of 11.9 million documents to the ICIJ exposed the secret offshore accounts of 35 world leaders, including current and former presidents, prime ministers, and heads of state as well as more than 100 billionaires, celebrities, and business leaders.

Also, this October, Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager who shared company documents, led a meticulous media rollout of Facebook internal emails that demonstrated that Facebook executives and, of course, Mark Zuckerberg, knew that their products (Facebook and Instagram) were toxic and harming people worldwide. Led by the Wall Street Journal in a series of articles titled The Facebook Files, Haugen’s whistleblowing certified what we knew all along — that Facebook is dishonest, hypocritical, dangerous, and, most of all, greedy.

Why, many people might ask, does Mark Zuckerberg, who is worth $116.2 billion dollars, put revenue growth above the well-being of Facebook’s over 3 billion users? Isn’t he rich enough?

He doesn’t seem to think so. He’s on the autism spectrum (what until the DSM Fifth Edition was published in 2013 was known as Asperger’s syndrome) and has no sense of empathy. He can’t read emotions in others or empathize with them.

One of the symptoms of those on the high-functioning autism spectrum is that they often have impaired social skills. They are sometimes unable to form friendships, especially with their peers, and may find it difficult to act in a socially appropriate manner. Many instead befriend animals, and they find it especially challenging to have conversations with people they don’t know (i.e. U.S. Senators).

In a recent Sway podcast titled “Is Mark Zuckerberg a Man Without Principles?”, host Kara Swisher interviewed her long-time mentor, Walt Mossberg, the former technology columnist for the Wall Street Journal. In the podcast Swisher asked Mossberg about Zuckerberg and Facebook:

“I think the company is fundamentally unethical.” And, drawing on his experience covering controversial leaders, including Steve Jobs and Bill Gates (as he calls them, “the old guard”), Mossberg says the Facebook C.E.O. is still an aberration: “In my encounters with Mark Zuckerberg, I’ve never been able to discover any principles.”

Mossberg talks about several interesting encounters with both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. He indicates that even though he had disagreements with both entrepreneurs as they tried to get favorable coverage in his influential column on technology and that even though they were highly competitive, they both had a conscience, both had principles — a red line that they wouldn’t cross.

Mossberg says that he thinks of the Big Five tech companies( Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Facebook), that Facebook is the most poorly managed. He tells a story about when Zuckerberg visited him in his Washington, DC office. Walt says he talked to Zuckerberg about privacy, but that it was like “ships passing in the night.” Mossberg kept talking about privacy and Zuckerberg had no idea what he was talking about.

Zuckerberg, as Facebook’s CEO and majority shareholder of FB’s voting stock, has complete control of the company, its policies, and its practices. Therefore, if he doesn’t want to change, if he wants the company to continue to be unprincipled and greedy, nothing can stop him short of massive government regulation, which is probably coming in some form or another.

However, what can be done until the government acts? Public opinion. Public opinion and approbation can damage the company’s reputation enough to, perhaps, get Zuckerberg’s attention, especially if FB’s stock continues its decline.

So, yes, the news media is ganging up on Facebook, and good for them. Keep it up.