Google was an active collaborator with the state, on not just intelligence gathering but on soft-power influence-pushing (according to that article).
Maybe they have lost some influence in the current administration (maybe not), but Facebook has by all appearances been eager to take their place.
The US government can’t be seen openly wielding large internet companies for its interests. But any modern state needs to. And so it does it within the paradigm of the West: public denial, private understandings.
The difference between China/Wechat and US/FB/Google is one is out in the open, and the other is covered by a fig leaf.
Maybe they have lost some influence in the current administration (maybe not), but Facebook has by all appearances been eager to take their place.
The US government can’t be seen openly wielding large internet companies for its interests. But any modern state needs to. And so it does it within the paradigm of the West: public denial, private understandings.
The difference between China/Wechat and US/FB/Google is one is out in the open, and the other is covered by a fig leaf.