If Facebook were a religion, it would be the world’s largest faith, with just under a third of the planet, 2.4 billion people, tied into a network controlled largely by one man. It’s a business, of course, with a business model that makes much of its money by channeling tidings of sludge around, often to great harm.
After helping give us Donald Trump as president and mass killings in places where a lie can dash around the world before truth puts on its pants, Facebook has lately been playacting as a good citizen. Which is to say, it’s courting lawmakers and regulators in a bid to remain the world’s most powerful gatekeeper of information.