I think FB disliked his map because it showed how poor the connections between areas where. FB's map pretends that all areas are equal and focuses on the global nature of their network.
I don't think your reading into the situation deep enough. FB changed their robots.txt file becaue they reolized they wanted to keep that information private. But, what caused them to want to make it private?
Well the reality is: Looking at the network of US cities, it's been remarkable to see how groups of them form clusters, with strong connections locally but few contacts outside the cluster.
vs this PR peice that says:
It's not just a pretty picture, it's a reaffirmation of the impact we have in connecting people, even across oceans and borders.
PS: Visualizing data is like photography. Instead of starting with a blank canvas, you manipulate the lens used to present the data from a certain angle. aka, To make something with the right look takes not just data but the correct manipulations of that data.
