
Ask HN: Mark Zuckerberg presidency? - neofrommatrix
What does the Hacker News crowd think of the possibility of a Mark Zuckerberg presidency?
======
pfraze
I'm extremely concerned about the ethics around converting Facebook into an
election machine. Three issues concern me:

1\. Using the platform to push his campaign

2\. Using the platform to suppress opposition press and views

3\. Using the data analytics to gain an unfair advantage

Whichever party is on the receiving end of that candidacy has all rights to be
pissed and somewhat concerned. It's not a fair advantage. Last saturday, my
s/o got a push notification to watch Zuckerberg have a "drive about chat" with
the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, so it's already happening.

See also: [http://www.nature.com/news/facebook-experiment-boosts-us-
vot...](http://www.nature.com/news/facebook-experiment-boosts-us-voter-
turnout-1.11401)

EDIT: This thread got modded off the FP.

~~~
jamesrcole
I think the only reasonable option, if he was to make a run, would be for him
to completely separate himself from Facebook.

~~~
pfraze
Do you think that would make a big enough difference? I think he'd still have
access.

~~~
jamesrcole
Honestly I don't know

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jacquesm
I'd love it if he would run and would lose. That way all the dirt about
Facebook would finally come to light. I'm sure that more than one FB employee
would feel honor bound to make sure the degree of transparency would go up a
couple of notches. Two birds with one stone: no MZ as president and Facebook
possibly mortally wounded.

~~~
nojvek
Facebook would become the world's biggest propaganda machine. I'm 100% sure it
would give rise to an alternate social network if Zuckerberg went full
democratic.

The way he was trying to push free Internet in Africa and India, I'd be very
worried. He would do more damage than trump.

I really don't want Billionaires and wives of presidents leading the country.
Just sends the wrong message.

~~~
jacquesm
> I really don't want Billionaires and wives of presidents leading the
> country.

How about their daughters and inlaws?

------
zoner
I was banned from Facebook for 2 weeks just for posting my opinion in a closed
group. Imagine what would that mean in real life. NO!

------
jamesmp98
NSA Director sounds like a more fitting position.

------
bluejekyll
I don't understand why so many people are enamored with the idea of successful
business people becoming President.

The jobs are very different, unless the company they built is truly
democratic. As President, you do not rule from the position of CEO, where what
you say is truth and must be followed (except in the case of the military).
The Companies board, generally less than 20 people, are the only ones who
regularly keep you in check, and those generally are only interested in you
increasing or maintaining profits.

As President your board is more like Congress. That's 25x the size of the
current board. Congress actually passes the laws, which means you need to
convince them to do what you want; opposite of a traditional corporate board.
And congress really only does what their constituents want, b/c the house
faces elections every two years. So really you need to convince their voters
that what you're trying to convince them to do is right so that congress feels
like they can actually do it.

This takes very different types of leaders in, IMO. Zuckerberg for, better or
worse, has been successful at leading a company in a direction where he has
nearly sole control. That doesn't translate directly to President, let alone a
successful one, and on top of _that_ he'd actually need to get elected, which
would surprise me...

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neaanopri
Nononononono he might make me vote third party if he wins the nomination. Fuck
Zuckerberg. You don't build something like Facebook and get a fucking reward
for it!

~~~
ryanwaggoner
Actually, it seems pretty clear that you get tens of billions of rewards for
it...

------
Overtonwindow
Nope. I will empty my life savings into the campaign account of whoever is
running opposite. I don't care who it is. I do not want Mark Zuckerberg
running anything, let alone this country. Something about the guy just screams
sleaze.

------
gorbachev
Bored billionaires should find other avenues to not be bored. He should take
cues from Richard Branson.

------
rm_-rf_slash
Zuckerberg 2020 would mean four more years of Donald Trump.

"You have no choice but to vote for me" was essentially the unspoken message
of the Clinton campaign. After four years of Trump, that will be the message
for anybody running against him. A lot of people distrust him for more right
reasons than I could count.

Mark, if you are reading this, don't hold this nation hostage to feed your
ego. We want a qualified public servant, not an endless cascade of
billionaires who think they know better than the people whose lives are public
policy, not selling private information for a buck.

We don't want you. We won't have you.

------
rm_-rf_slash
If the Democratic machine chose Mark Zuckerburg as presidential nominee, I
would vote Republican or third party for the first time in my life.

For someone with so much information about each of us, he is astoundingly
tone-deaf when it comes to public criticism of Facebook and it's profound
negative side effects, whether it's fake news, Facebook Live streaming of
murders, or simply the effect that social media has on a brain developed for
survival on the savannah.

Mark Zuckerberg knows too much about us. And yet, he understands surprisingly
little.

------
MicroBerto
The resistance to this would be so strong it would make 2016 look like a walk
in the park.

This is not a well-liked person from nearly _any_ community. It will be
entertaining to watch if nothing else.

------
mandeepj
There are so many signs that are leading to his possible bid for presidency.
Otherwise why would he ask his staff to find out a democratic family who voted
for #45.

1 - [http://wgntv.com/2017/04/30/ohio-family-surprised-when-
mark-...](http://wgntv.com/2017/04/30/ohio-family-surprised-when-mark-
zuckerberg-comes-to-dinner/)

------
gremlinsinc
As a stout Bernie Sanders supporter, who wrote him in rather than stoop to
voting for CLinton who cheated to win (IMHO) -- if Mark ran-- and got the
nomination I would again write in Sanders ( for me, I'm tired of the elite
class ruling), and while I admire Mark from a business level, and what he's
accomplished at such a young age, and think he'd not be horrible as president
-- I'm of the belief that neoliberalism is out, and egalitarianism is in. Had
he come out in major support of Sanders, or switches and adopts his platform
and is sincere, I might change my mind -- but there's a shift from
neoliberalism and Nationalism/Egalitarianism are the two ways it could go.

We can go back to FDR and the new deal, or we can go like Mussolini and
fascism. So far we're headed to fascism, but I think Trump is just proof that
we're tired of the old, and desperate for something new, when he fails it'll
be time for the progressive wing of the democrats to come in and clean things
up..

------
mod
Why are we even entertaining this question? Like, why Zuck vs...whoever else?

Did he say he'd run or something?

~~~
jamesrcole
Two reasons I've heard given are that: this year he's had the stated goal of
visiting all the states in the US (seemingly with a large focus on meeting
"everyday people"), and that he's publicly changed his view on religion to be
more positive about it.

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lostmsu
PHP dev as a president? No way!

~~~
ryanwaggoner
Literal lol.

Seriously though, it'd be interesting to have any kind of programmer /
engineer / etc as President. Have we ever had that?

~~~
self_assembly
Herbert Hoover was a mining engineer for a while. This is a rather unfortunate
example.

I can't remember any names, but I know other countries have a had a better go
of it. Specifically I'm thinking of an Eastern Asian country but I really
can't remember who and what country.

~~~
altern8tif
I presume you're referring to Lee Hsien Loong, the Prime Minister of
Singapore?

[https://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2015/05/prime...](https://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2015/05/prime-minister-of-singapore-shares-his-c-code-for-sudoku-
solver/)

------
funkyy
Depending on which country. He could have become a president of some poor,
maybe African or Asian state and use his knowledge and funds to help it. If
you are talking about US president, then no, definitely no.

------
gorbachev
Last time I heard him speak publicly he was so utterly horrible at it that
there's no way he'll succeed in political campaigning.

------
libeclipse
Please no.

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ddingus
No.

Second this:

I'm extremely concerned about the ethics around converting Facebook into an
election machine. Three issues concern me: 1\. Using the platform to push his
campaign 2\. Using the platform to suppress opposition press and views 3\.
Using the data analytics to gain an unfair advantage

So far, I've not seen much from him that I find compelling.

------
tangent128
Do I think he _should_ be considered as President? No, running a corporate
empire and surveillance network (no matter how benignly or maliciously
exploited) does not involve the same skills and temperament that are desirable
in leading an open and democratic society.

Do I think he _could_ be considered? Yes. The past two years have proven that
any qualification for office not explicitly coded in law is void. And "he
built Facebook" is an appealing argument to the heuristic that all impressive
accomplishments indicate the same type of merit.

------
bobbytherobot
Are there other possibilities besides the presidency?

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cafard
I am hoping that the current administration cures the country of its belief in
the power of amateurism.

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gallerdude
I think it'd be interesting - I mean, yeah, Zuck gives me the heebie jeebies,
nut it'd at least be entertaining to watch. Hopefully he'd have some
interesting tech ideas to move things forward. Whether that'd be happen or not
would have to be seen, but if nothing else, the process would be entertaining.

~~~
aerodeck
> entertaining to watch

that's the kind attitude that got us to where we are now.

~~~
libeclipse
Exactly. We all wanted Trump to run because it would be funny.

Damn.

~~~
douche
[http://southpark.cc.com/clips/4g55v8/maple-
fever](http://southpark.cc.com/clips/4g55v8/maple-fever)

South Park was remarkably prescient.

------
mnm1
No better time to abstain from voting as I assume the opponent would be even
worse.

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eximius
I think the very asking, and responding, to this question is dangerous. We
should not entertain the possibility because the mere presence of the idea in
the public consciousness is to his benefit.

------
coding123
"Sorry folks, it looks like during the re-election campaign we accidentally
marked everyone's vote for me as public. We'll get this fixed soon."

------
MikkoFinell
Thank god he's not charismatic enough to pull something like that off. Whereas
Trump is merely a boasting incompetent idiot, Zuckerberg is actually truly
evil.

~~~
o_____________o
[citation needed]

------
adamnemecek
how delightfully dystopian

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mulletbum
He can't run anyway can he? Isn't 35 the age limit?

~~~
jfoster
Next election is 2020. The speculation is based on a few things he's done
along with the fact that, for the first time, he will be old enough to run.

------
cmdrfred
Zuck: People just voted for me.

Zuck: I don't know why.

Zuck: They "trust me"

Zuck: Dumb fucks.

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liopleurodon
No

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theklub
Please no.

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ryanSrich
Horrifying. There's really nothing else to say. It's absolutely horrifying.

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ejcx
The amount of negativity in this thread about Zuckerberg as president is
pretty astounding.

2020 Trump vs Zuck I would wager a bet that this thread would be filled with
different opinions.

~~~
rm_-rf_slash
Trump won because millions of voters despised the "you have no choice but to
vote for me" they saw in Hillary Clinton.

You don't think it can't happen twice?

~~~
nojvek
I sometimes feel people worship billionaires like Gods so I wouldn't be
surprised to see a large following.

I also believe the HN crowd sometimes gets into a bubble. There's a large part
of America that thinks very differently and I have little idea how they make
their decisions. If Zuckerberg has this figured out then I wouldn't be
surprised to see him win.

------
lz400
So much negativity in the comments. I don't think he'd be ready for the
presidency but if we starts a public service career based on decent opinions
and policies, augmented by his wealth and reach so he doesn't need to sell out
to campaign financiers, couldn't a good thing come out of it? I don't think
having been successful with Facebook is enough to bury him _already_ , same
way is not enough to vote for him yet, he needs to make his case. Presidency
would be too hasty of course, he'd need to put 10-15 years of public service
first I'd say, if he wants to capitalize on his fame to launch a marketing bid
at the office then no.

