Why Mark Zuckerberg Should Step Down as Facebook CEO

A shift in the role of CEO Mark Zuckerberg might help address “the crisis of trust” Facebook is caught up in. Photo: Manu Fernandez / Associated Press 2016

By Owen Thomas

Nine years ago, I called on Mark Zuckerberg to resign as Facebook’s CEO, after a string of internal and external missteps that, as I wrote in Valleywag, “would have led to any normal CEO’s firing.”

Perhaps my timing was off, given the 1.8 billion users and the $450 billion in value Facebook has accrued under Zuckerberg’s leadership since then. Fine: Call me an early adopter. But might now be the right time to consider a change at the top?

I’m not alone in asking the question. Two journalists, on a conference call Wednesday with Zuckerberg to discuss the Cambridge Analytica scandal, asked about his role as Facebook’s supreme leader — both chairman and CEO, as well as unimpeachable founder.

The argument for Zuckerberg is his history: He has fallen on his face, time and time again, and picked himself back up. From the first protests over News Feed — too much sharing! — to Beacon — too much sharing! — to Timeline — too much sharing! — Zuckerberg has always bounced back, rallying his troops to amass new records for users, sharing more than ever before. No one over-cares if Facebook gets you to over-share.

And it is impossible to overstate the veneration Silicon Valley has for founders. He (and it’s still far too often “he”) who created the…