cnn
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Here's a look at the life of Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Meta.
Birthdate: May 14, 1984
Place of birth: Dobbs Ferry, New York
Birth name: Mark Elliot Zuckerberg
Father: Edward Zuckerberg, dentist
Mother: Karen (Kempner) Zuckerberg, psychiatrist
Marriage: Priscilla Chan (May 19, 2012-present)
Children: Aurelia, Agosto and Máxima
Education: Attended Harvard University, 2002-2004
He is red-green color blind.
Captain of his high school fencing team.
In high school, he co-created a program called Synapse that recommended music.
2003 – He creates Facemash at Harvard, a website that combines photos of Harvard students and has users vote on who is most attractive. The photographs were taken from a protected area of Harvard's computer network. Harvard forces Zuckerberg to shut down the site.
November 2003 – Harvard seniors Cameron, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra recruit Zuckerberg to work 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 for connecting people in college, 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 suit against Zuckerberg, alleging that he stole their idea for Facebook.
September 2005 – Facebook expands to high schools.
September 2006 – Facebook is open to anyone over 13 years old.
2008 – Twins Winklevoss and Narendra settle their lawsuit against Zuckerberg.
September 2010 – Zuckerberg donates $100 million to Newark, New Jersey public school system.
October 1, 2010 – “The Social Network” premieres. The film is a fictional version of how Facebook started.
December 2010 – He signs the Giving Pledge, a public commitment to donate the majority of his wealth to philanthropic causes.
2010 – She is named Time's Person of the Year.
April 2011 – A U.S. appeals court rejects the Winklevos' attempt to void their previous agreement with Facebook. The Winklevosses argued that their $65 million settlement was not enough because Facebook misrepresented the value of the company's stock.
November 29, 2011 – The Federal Trade Commission announces that it has reached a settlement with Facebook after filing an eight-count complaint alleging that the company made misleading claims about privacy on the social network and disclosed user information to advertisers. Zuckerberg posts a message on Facebook acknowledging that the company made “a lot of mistakes.” In the post, he promises to improve privacy controls.
May 18, 2012 – Facebook IPO: Trading opens at $42.05 and closes at $38.23.
May 23, 2012 – Three Facebook shareholders file suit in federal court against Zuckerberg, insurer Morgan Stanley and others, alleging they withheld crucial financial information about Facebook before the IPO.
October 4, 2012 – Announces that Facebook has surpassed one billion monthly active users.
December 2012 – Announces that it has donated 18 million Facebook shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
October 14, 2014 – Announces that he will donate $25 million to the Centers for Disease Control Foundation to combat Ebola.
February 6, 2015 – Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donate $75 million to San Francisco General Hospital. Chan previously worked there during her pediatric residency.
February 2015 – Real estate developer Mircea Voskerician files a lawsuit against Zuckerberg over property rights he sold to her at a deep discount, alleging that Zuckerberg agreed to provide her with networking opportunities. Zuckerberg claims Voskerician is using “extortionate” measures. The lawsuit is later resolved.
May 4, 2015 – His family's charity and others are investing $100 million in AltSchool, a chain of schools focused on technology and aiming to offer a more individualized education.
November 19, 2015 – Zuckerberg announces that he and his wife will donate $20 million to Education Super Highway, a nonprofit that helps public schools purchase affordable high-speed Internet access.
December 1, 2015 – Zuckerberg and Chan pledge to donate 99% of their Facebook shares (worth approximately $45 billion) during their lifetime to promote equality and human potential.
March 16, 2018 – Facebook announces that it will suspend a data company called Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) and its subsidiary Cambridge Analytica, which provided Donald Trump's presidential campaign with digital voter outreach services. In a statement, the social network's vice president and deputy general counsel says Cambridge Analytica collected user data through a third-party application, violating the company's policies that protect people's information. The data was collected by Aleksandr Kogan, a Russian-American psychology professor who created a Facebook app and got around 270,000 volunteers to take a personality questionnaire. Volunteers gave their consent to share information from their profiles with Kogan for academic purposes. Kogan then handed over the data to Camridge Analytica. When Facebook learned 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 the London Observer reveals that Cambridge Analytica obtained data on 50 million American Facebook users through Kogan's application. Cambridge Analytica covered the costs of creating the app and used the information to create political advertising targeting Trump, according to the investigation. At least some of the data was not deleted as Facebook requested in 2015, the newspaper reports.
March 21, 2018 – During an interview on CNN, Zuckerberg says “I'm very sorry this happened,” acknowledging that Facebook made mistakes and should have responded more firmly to protect user data. He also says his company is preparing to combat possible meddling in the 2018 midterm elections. Earlier in the day, Zuckerberg posted a message on Facebook with a timeline of the events that led to the leak of Cambridge Analytica.
March 27, 2018 – CNN reports that Zuckerberg agreed to testify on Capitol Hill about the Cambridge Analytica leak. He rejects a request to appear before British lawmakers and offers to send two senior executives in his place.
April 10-11, 2018 – Zuckerberg testifies on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers press CEO over Cambridge Analytica scandal, censoring conservative voices and self-regulation.
December 18, 2018 – The New York Times reports that Facebook offered companies more data on its users than it admitted. Despite Zuckerberg's assurances that people “have complete control” over who sees their content, the Times reported that documents and interviews with 50 former Facebook employees indicate the company gave other companies access to user data. .
March 6, 2019 – Zuckerberg releases statement detailing his vision for making the service more secure, touting a renewed commitment to privacy. He says the company aims to create a service that is the digital equivalent of a living room, moving away from Facebook's origins as a virtual “town square.” Zuckerberg also announces his intention to integrate WhatsApp and Instagram with Facebook for more agile messaging. Critics have said that integrating the services could actually compromise privacy and further cement Facebook's power in the market.
September 18-20, 2019 – Zuckerberg travels to Washington, DC to discuss data privacy. Zuckerberg meets with Trump, senators and lawmakers amid accusations of anti-conservative bias.
March 27, 2020 – Zuckerberg and Chan announce that they have donated $25 million to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help research treatments for COVID-19.
April 20, 2020 – In the Washington Post, Zuckerberg announces the launch of Facebook's “opt-in” symptom survey app. Created in collaboration with 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 Google parent CEO Sundar Pichai testify before a House antitrust subcommittee to address concerns that their businesses may be harming competition.
March 25, 2021 – Members of Congress are grilling Zuckerberg, Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey about their platforms' efforts to curb baseless claims of voter fraud and vaccine skepticism.
October 28, 2021 – Zuckerberg announces that Facebook will change its corporate name to “Meta” in a rebranding move amid widespread 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 personal data in connection with the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
May 5, 2023 – Zuckerberg wins two medals at a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament held in Woodside, California.
January 31, 2024 – During a Senate hearing on the risks social media products pose to young people, Zuckerberg apologizes to families in the audience who say their children have been harmed by social media.
