--- title: "Lord Have Mercy on Facebook as Zuck Goes Back to Tha Old Zuck" description: "A friendlier, mid-pandemic Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly out — and a far more cutthroat \"old school Zuck\" is allegedly back in." date: "2023-02-18" modified: "2023-02-18" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebook-tha-old-zuck" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "facebook" - "mark zuckerberg" - "Meta" - "the digest" --- # Lord Have Mercy on Facebook as Zuck Goes Back to Tha Old Zuck ![A friendlier, mid-pandemic Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly out — and a far more cutthroat "old school Zuck" is allegedly back in.]() *Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO appears at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View Calif. for a 2 hour talk with The Facebook Effect, Author David Kirkpatrick and NPR's Guy Raz. Zuckerberg announced earlier in the day that Facebook surpassed the 500 million active users milestone. (Photo by Kim Kulish/Corbis via Getty Images) \Image: Getty Images\* ## Katana Time There you are, clicking and clacking away at some code, when you feel a sudden chill in the air. Somewhere in the shadows, you hear a noise. Is that... the [sound of a katana]() being unsheathed? Okay, maybe he hasn't broken out the ninja sword in the office just yet. But after allegedly taking a gentler approach to his workforce during the pandemic — a [time of growth]() for the social media giant — an unnamed former Facebook-turned-Meta employee [told *The Wall Street Journal* ]()that the mercurial attitude of its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears to be changing once again. At least for now, as investor pressure continues to mount on the longtime CEO, Pandemic Zuck is out — and a far more cutthroat "old school Zuck," the former employee told the paper, is back in. ## Cost Cutting The former metamate's observations come fresh on the heels of the [firing of 11,000 metamates]() — a number amounting to about 13 percent of its former workforce — back in November. And roughly 10 percent of *remaining* Meta employees were just hit with subpar performance reviews, which per the *WSJ* have sparked fears that Zucko is planning yet another round of layoffs. While firing another major swath of his company would be a pretty big deal, it wouldn't be a terribly surprising move considering some recent Zuckerberg comments. Last June, just a few months prior to the November cuts, the [boar-hunting company overlord]() took the floor in a Facebook town hall to announce that "there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn't be here." And at the beginning of this quarter, while speaking to investors, he additionally declared that this would be Meta's "[year of efficiency]()," part of which presumably means cutting costs. (To that note, the *WSJ* report noted that Meta's also due to cut bonuses.) ## OG Mark For its part, Meta claims the poor reviews are just business as usual. "We've always had a goal-based culture of high performance, and our review process is intended to incentivize long-term thinking and high-quality work," a Meta spokesperson told the *WSJ*, "while helping employees get actionable feedback." In any case: if "OG Mark," as the former employee put it, is back indeed, we would recommend that all in-HQ metamates brush up on their [hand-to-hand]() — and, well, also sword-to-sword — combat. Maybe they can even use the [company's VR headset](). **READ MORE:** [*Facebook Parent Meta Gives Thousands of Workers Subpar Reviews*]() \[*The Wall Street Journal*\] **More on Old School Zuck:** [*Former Employee Accuses Zuckerberg of Brandishing Ninja Sword When He Was Angry with Programmers*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()