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NEW YORK (AP) — Sunday marks exactly 20 years since Facebook was founded, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. As we approach Facebook’s 20th anniversary, take a look at some of the key dates that explain the social media platform’s impact today. Virtual Era:
Feb. 4, 2004: Zuckerberg, his roommates Chris Hughes and Dustin Moskovitz, and their friend Eduardo Saverin launch Facebook, an online directory for linking other people to college, from Zuckerberg’s dorm room at Harvard.
2003 – Zuckerberg creates Facemash at Harvard, an online site that combines photographs of Harvard academics and allows users to vote on who is more attractive. The photographs were taken from a domain of Harvard’s computer network. Harvard forces Zuckerberg to shut down the site.
November 2003: Harvard seniors Cameron, Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra Zuckerberg paint on their ConnectU website.
February 4, 2004: Zuckerberg, his roommates Chris Hughes and Dustin Moskovitz, and their friend Eduardo Saverin launch Facebook, an online directory to link others to the university, from Zuckerberg’s dorm room at Harvard.
March 2004: Facebook expands to Stanford, Columbia, and Yale.
May 2004 – ConnectU launches and contains many of the same features as Facebook.
September 2004: The Winklevosses and Narendra file a lawsuit against Zuckerberg, alleging he stole the concept from Facebook.
September 2005: Facebook expands to top schools.
September 2006: Facebook is open to ages 13 and up.
2008 – Twins Winklevoss and Narendra settle their lawsuit against Zuckerberg.
September 2010: Zuckerberg donates $100 million to the public formula in Newark, New Jersey.
October 1, 2010: “The Social Network” is launched. The film is a fiction from the early days of Facebook.
December 2010: Zuckerberg the Giving Pledge, a public pledge to donate most of his wealth to philanthropic causes.
2010 – Zuckerberg is named Time’s Person of the Year.
April 2011: A U. S. appeals court rejects the Winklevosses’ attempt to revoke their previous agreement with Facebook. The Winklevosses argued that their $65 million settlement wasn’t enough because Facebook misrepresented the company’s stock price.
November 29, 2011: The Federal Trade Commission announces it has reached a settlement with Facebook after filing an eight-count complaint alleging that the company made misleading statements about privacy on the social network and disclosed user data to advertisers. Zuckerberg posts a message on Facebook acknowledging that the company made “several mistakes. “In his message, he pledged to implement privacy controls.
May 18, 2012 – Facebook IPO – opens at $42. 05 and closes at $38. 23.
May 23, 2012 – Three Facebook shareholders file a lawsuit in federal court against Zuckerberg, insurer Morgan Stanley and others, alleging they hid financial information at Facebook before the IPO.
October 4, 2012: Zuckerberg announces that Facebook has surpassed one billion monthly active users.
December 2012: Zuckerberg announces that he has donated 18 million Facebook shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
Oct. 14, 2014: Zuckerberg announces he will donate $25 million to the Centers for Disease Control and Ebola Foundation.
Feb. 6, 2015: Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donate $75 million to San Francisco General Hospital. In the past, Chan worked there during his pediatric residency.
February 2015: Real estate developer Mircea Voskerician files a lawsuit against Zuckerberg for the rights to assets he sold him at a deeply discounted price, alleging that Zuckerberg agreed to offer him networking opportunities. Zuckerberg claims that Voskerician is “extortion” measures. Then the case was resolved.
May 4, 2015 – His family’s charitable organization and others invest $100 million in AltSchool, a chain of schools that is technology-focused and claims to offer a more individualized education.
Nov. 19, 2015: Zuckerberg announces that he and his wife will donate $20 million to Education Super Highway, a nonprofit that helps public schools acquire high-speed Internet at an affordable price.
December 1, 2015: Zuckerberg and Chan pledge to donate 99% of their Facebook shares (about $45 billion) during their lifetime to promote equality and human potential.
March 16, 2018: Facebook announces the suspension of a knowledge company called Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) and its subsidiary Cambridge Analytica, which provided virtual access to voters to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. In a statement, the social network’s vice president and deputy general counsel suggested Cambridge Analytica collected user data through a third-party app, violating the company’s policies that protect people’s data. The data was collected through Aleksandr Kogan, a Russian-American psychology professor who created a Facebook app and asked about 270,000 volunteers to take a personality questionnaire. The volunteers agreed to share their profile information with Kogan for educational purposes. When Facebook became aware of the breach in 2015, the company removed the app and asked Cambridge Analytica to certify that it had deleted the collected data.
March 17, 2018: A joint investigation by the New York Times and London’s Observer shows that Cambridge Analytica received the knowledge of 50 million U. S. Facebook users through Kogan’s app. Cambridge Analytica covered the costs of creating the app and used the data to create a political ad targeting Trump, according to the investigation. At least some knowledge was not removed as requested on Facebook in 2015, the newspapers report.
March 21, 2018 – During an interview on CNN, Zuckerberg says, “I’m so sorry this happened,” acknowledging that Facebook made mistakes and deserved to have responded more forcefully to the security of user data. He also says his company is preparing to combat any potential interference in the 2018 midterm elections. Earlier today, Zuckerberg posted a message on Facebook with a timeline of the events leading up to the Cambridge Analytica leak.
March 27, 2018 – CNN reports that Zuckerberg has agreed to testify on Capitol Hill regarding the Cambridge Analytica leak. He turns down a request to appear before British lawmakers, offering to send two senior executives in his place.
April 10-11, 2018 – Zuckerberg testifies on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers press the CEO on the Cambridge Analytica scandal, censoring conservative voices and self-regulation.
Dec. 18, 2018: The New York Times reports that Facebook has presented corporations with more knowledge about its users than it has admitted. Despite Zuckerberg’s assurances that other people “have full control” over who sees his content, the Times reported that documents and interviews with 50 former Facebook employees imply that the company has provided user data to other companies.
March 6, 2019: Zuckerberg releases a report detailing his vision for how to make the service more secure, touting a renewed commitment to privacy. He says the company aims to create a service that is the virtual equivalent of a living room, moving away from Facebook. Its origin is a virtual “public square”. Zuckerberg also announced plans to integrate WhatsApp and Instagram with Facebook for more streamlined messaging. Critics have said that the integration of the facilities can truly compromise privacy and further cement Facebook’s market power.
September 18-20, 2019: Zuckerberg travels to Washington, DC to discuss knowledge privacy. Zuckerberg meets with Trump, senators and lawmakers amid accusations of anti-conservative bias.
March 27, 2020 – Zuckerberg and Chan announce they have donated $25 million to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to assist with researching treatments for COVID-19.
April 20, 2020 – In the Washington Post, Zuckerberg announces the launch of Facebook’s “opt-in” symptom survey app. Built in partnership with the Carnegie Mellon University, the survey will be used to track the spread of Covid-19.
July 29, 2020 – Zuckerberg, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook and the CEO of Google’s parent company Sundar Pichai all testify before a House subcommittee on anti-trust to address concerns that their businesses may be harming competition.
March 25, 2021 – Zuckerberg, Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey speak through members of Congress about their platforms’ efforts to curb baseless claims of voter fraud and vaccine skepticism.
October 28, 2021 – Zuckerberg announces Facebook is changing its corporate name to “Meta,” as a rebranding move amid wide-ranging scrutiny of its various platforms after a whistleblower leaked hundreds of internal documents.
May 23, 2022 – Washington, D. C. , Attorney General Karl Racine is suing Zuckerberg, accusing the Facebook co-founder of misleading the public about the company’s handling of privacy and knowledge in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
May 5, 2023: Zuckerberg wins two medals at a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu held in Woodside, California.
January 31, 2024 – At a Senate hearing on the dangers posed by social media products to young people, Zuckerberg apologizes to attending families who say their children were harmed through social media.
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