The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google

by Scott Galloway

In the case I’m most familiar with, the New York Times, I saw that editors not only wanted to get the news right; they tried to achieve a balance in the stories they edited. If there was a bunch of news that seemed to appeal to the left—say, Dreamers being deported or big chunks of Antarctica breaking off and melting—they’d try to get some conservative balance, maybe a David Brooks column attacking Obamacare. Now people can argue forever about whether the shrinking ranks of responsible media actually achieve balance and get it “right.” Still, they try. When the editors are debating which stories to feature, they at least consider their mission to inform. Not everything is clicks and dollars. But for Facebook, it is. Sure, the company tries to hide this greed behind an enlightened attitude. But basically it’s the same MO as the other winners in the tech economy, and certainly the rest of the Four—foster a progressive brand among leadership, embrace multiculturalism, run the whole place on renewable energy—but, meanwhile, pursue a Darwinian, rapacious path to profits and ignore the job destruction taking place at your hands every day. Don’t kid yourself: Facebook’s sole mission is to make money. Once the company’s success is measured in clicks and dollars, why favor true stories over false ones? Just hire a few “media watchdog” firms to give you cover. As far as the machine sees it, one click = one click. So, entire editorial operations hatch all over the world to optimize p...

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