IN PICS | 20 Years Of Facebook In 10 Landmarks: A Definitive Timeline

Winklevii Suing Facebook (2004) — In 2004, ConnectU, a startup established by Harvard students Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss along with Divya Narendra, filed a lawsuit against TheFacebook.com, accusing Mark Zuckerberg of breaching a contract. The founders of ConnectU claimed that Zuckerberg had appropriated their idea and passed it off as his own. According to their allegations, Zuckerberg violated an oral agreement in which he committed to developing a social network called HarvardConnection for Harvard students. Seeking assistance in constructing the website, the HarvardConnection founders were unaware that Zuckerberg was concurrently working on TheFacebook, utilizing the same concept. (Image Source: Getty)

News Feed Launch (2006) — Initially, Facebook primarily served as a directory of people's profiles. The landscape shifted with the introduction of News Feed in September 2006, a move that Mark Zuckerberg embraced wholeheartedly. This change sparked outrage among users as their activities became visible to all their friends, making it challenging to maintain privacy. Initially, Facebook justified this by asserting that user information was intended to be shared with friends. The advent of News Feed marked a significant shift in control, transferring it from publishers to the formidable algorithms of Facebook. Subsequently, Zuckerberg issued an apology, acknowledging, We really messed this one up. (Image Source: Getty)

Facebook Launches Ads (2007) — In November 2007, Zuckerberg introduced Facebook Ads and Pages dedicated to brands. Unlike traditional advertising mediums such as television and print, Facebook revolutionized the approach by enabling advertisers to specifically target desired audiences using the extensive user data accumulated over time. Another product, Beacon, was concurrently launched. Through Beacon, businesses provided Facebook with details about their customers' purchases, which Facebook then disseminated to the friends of users. Following a class-action lawsuit settlement, Facebook decided to completely discontinue Beacon in 2009. (Image Source: Getty)

Facebook Launches Like Button (2009) — The company created a currency for the Internet in 2009 when it introduced the Like button. The Like button fed human beings' constant craving for validation by turning every post into a popularity contest. It also became an informal poll test for politicians. Facebook was not the first company to do this but because of its scale, the blue thumbs-up became ubiquitous. (Image Source: Getty)

FTC Investigation Into Facebook's Privacy Settings Concludes With Consent Decree (2011) — Following the FTC's inquiry into 'deceptive privacy practices at Facebook,' the company entered into a consent decree in 2011. As part of the agreement, Facebook committed to refraining from misrepresenting users' privacy and security settings and pledged to obtain consent before implementing changes to those settings. However, in 2018, revelations from the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica exposed that, until mid-2015, Facebook continued to grant developers access to users' friends' data without explicit consent, thereby violating the terms of the consent decree. (Image Source: Getty)

Facebook Changing Its Business Model To Focus On Mobile (2012) — Facebook pivoted its attention from PC operations to smartphones, emphasizing mobile advertising to secure its viability. Commencing in 2012, the company integrated sponsored ads directly into the News Feed. Concurrently, Facebook introduced Custom Audiences, offering advertisers enhanced precision in targeting users. In 2012, less than two years after its inception, Facebook acquired Instagram for a substantial $1 billion. The company subsequently integrated some of Instagram's widely embraced features, such as stories and photo filters, into the primary Facebook app. (Image Source: Getty)

Facebook Announces Changes To Privacy Settings (2015) — In 2014, Facebook revealed that its Graph API would no longer permit developers to retrieve users' friends' data, and subsequently discontinued this functionality in April 2015. This decision sparked criticism from app developers who asserted their dependence on the now-restricted data access. (Image Source: Getty)

Cambridge Analytica (2018) — In March 2018, a worldwide awakening occurred concerning the expansive data trade, underscoring Facebook's significant role as a key contributor. Concerns escalated when preliminary reports exposed that Cambridge Analytica, a consultant involved in Donald Trump's presidential campaign, had covertly collected data from millions of American Facebook users. This was facilitated by Facebook's permissive policies on sharing user data with developers, a policy altered by the social media giant in 2015. Despite the policy revision, many Americans were unable to reclaim their data from entities like Cambridge Analytica that had already obtained it. (Image Source: Getty)

Censoring Messages Critical Of Israel, Supporting Pro-Palestine Movement (2021) — Facebook was accused in 2021 of censoring messages that were critical of Israel and supportive of Palestine. During conflict over the Sheikh Jarrah property dispute in 2021, Facebook was accused of deleting hundreds of posts critical of Israel. (Image Source: Getty)

Facebook Becomes Meta (2021) — Mark Zuckerberg revealed the corporate name of Facebook would undergo a transformation to Meta, as part of a rebranding effort amidst extensive scrutiny of its diverse platforms following the exposure of hundreds of internal documents by a whistleblower. Additionally, in March 2022, Washington, DC Attorney General Karl Racine filed a lawsuit against Meta, accusing the company of allegedly deceiving the public regarding its management of privacy and personal data, particularly in relation to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. (Image Source: Getty)