Mark Zuckerberg reveals his ’20-year mistake’

“One of the things that I look back on and regret is I think we accepted other people’s view of some of the things that they were asserting that we were doing wrong, or were responsible for, that I don’t actually think we were,” the Meta chief said, according to Casey Newton’s Platformer.

A recording of the full interview hasn’t been released.

“When it’s a political problem … sometimes there are people who are operating in good faith who are identifying a problem and want something to be fixed, and there are people who are just looking for someone to blame,” he continued, according to Newton.

Meta has frequently faced criticism, including over Facebook’s role in fueling an ethnic cleansing in Myanmar; the Cambridge Analytica scandal; the proliferation of misinformation and foreign influence campaigns on Facebook around elections; and the mental health of minors who use social media.

Zuckerberg has testified — and apologized — before Congress multiple times.

“Honestly, I think we should have been firmer about and clearer about which of the things we actually felt like we had a part in and which ones we didn’t,” Zuckerberg said at the podcast event, according to Newton. “And my guess is if the IPO was a year-and-a-half mistake, I think that the political miscalculation was a 20-year mistake.”

Zuckerberg said that as a result, Meta has a ways to go in rehabilitating its image. “I think it’s going to take another 10 years or so for us to fully work through that cycle before our brand is back to the place that it maybe could have been if I hadn’t messed that up in the first place,” he added.

Early this year, in his eighth appearance before Congress — this time for a hearing on children’s safety online — Zuckerberg was grilled by a Senate committee before GOP Sen. Josh Hawley urged him to face families in attendance whose kids had been harmed on social media.

Zuckerberg stood and told the families, “No one should have to go through the things that your families have suffered, and this is why we invested so much.” Families held photos of their children in the air as Zuckerberg spoke.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zuckerberg has revamped his image in the past couple of years, switching up his style, getting fit, and being more personal in his social-media posts — with a hearty dose of self-deprecating humor and memes. He’s also feuded with Elon Musk and has said he doesn’t plan to be as involved publicly with politics this election cycle or to endorse a candidate.

“Being awkward and getting negative feedback on how I came across definitely made me more careful and scripted,” Zuckerberg said in a post on Threads in July. “Still not my best thing, but getting a bit more comfortable just being me as I get older.”

As the Facebook cofounder enters his 40s and reflects on his decades at the helm of Facebook, one thing is increasingly clear: Zuckerberg is in his unapologetic era.