If you’re not terrified about Facebook, you haven’t been paying attention | Carole Cadwalladr

Facebook and America are now indivisible, says the Observer journalist who broke the Cambridge Analytica scandal - and the world is a sicker place for it

• John Naughton on how Facebook could stop Biden's progress to the White House
• Q&A with Facebook whistleblower Yael Eisenstat
• Q&A with early Facebook investor Roger McNamee

In 2016, we didn't know. We were innocent. We still believed social media connected us and that connections were good. That technology equalled progress. And progress equalled better.

Four years on, we know too much. And yet, it turns out, we understand nothing. We know social media is a bin fire and that the world is burning. But it's like the pandemic. We understand in outline how bad things could get. But we remain hopelessly human. Relentlessly optimistic. Of course, we believe there'll be a vaccine. Because there has to be, doesn't there?