The Cambridge Analytica scandal shook political establishments and news audiences alike in 2018. The scandal, which figures prominently in accounts of the “techlash”, has been followed by a substantial reorientation in the attitudes held towards the digital sector. The aim of this chapter is to tell the story of the developing history of the digital backlash as seen through an empirical analysis of the Danish media coverage of Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. While we find that the public’s view of Zuckerberg, Facebook, and the tech industry did change dramatically, we suggest that this was anticipated by a long-term change in the media representation of them in the years before. This challenges the notion of quick and sudden pushback, as implied by the metaphor of a backlash, instead suggesting that the scandal is part of a gradual process of change in public opinion regarding technology companies, their CEOs, and their operations.
Authors
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.48335/9789188855961-2
- OAI
- oai:DiVA.org:norden-13245
- Pages
- 20
- Published in
- Nordicom
- Responsible organisation
- Nordic Council of Ministers, Nordic Information Centre for Media and Communication Research (NORDICOM)
- URN
- urn:nbn:se:norden:org:diva-13245
- Year
- 2024
- pages
- 25-44
Table of Contents
- Techlash or tech change? 1
- Abstract 1
- Introduction 2
- Background 3
- Research design and operationalisation 5
- Findings 7
- The techlash did happen 7
- Developing a story typology for the broader digital backlash 9
- Topics and time 10
- The honeymoon years 12
- Emerging problems 13
- Goodbye Zuckerberg 15
- Concluding discussion 16
- Acknowledgements 18
- References 18
- Endnotes 20
