
Mark Zuckerberg Once Considered Deleting All Your Facebook Friends
In a shocking revelation, it has come to light that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg once entertained the idea of deleting all Facebook friends in an effort to boost the social network’s cultural relevance. This unprecedented strategy was proposed by Zuckerberg as far back as 2022, but was ultimately rejected due to concerns from other top executives.
According to evidence presented during the U.S. government’s antitrust trial against Meta, Zuckerberg suggested that wiping everyone’s friend graphs and having them start again could be a viable solution to Facebook’s declining significance in the social networking space. The plan was meant to encourage users to reconnect with the platform as they rebuild their social connections.
Notably, this idea was met with resistance from within the company, particularly by Tom Alison, the head of Facebook at the time. It appears that the strategy was ultimately not pursued and instead, other alternatives were explored to revitalize the platform’s growth.
In recent weeks, Facebook has made a concerted effort to reconnect with its roots by rebranding the Friends tab to prioritize friend requests and only friends’ content, including posts, reels, stories, and birthdays. The move is seen as an attempt to return Facebook to its early days of popularity.
Zuckerberg himself acknowledged that there are opportunities for Facebook to reclaim its position in the market during Meta’s Q4 2024 earnings call, stating his desire to make Facebook “way more culturally influential than it is today.” He added that this would involve a return to the platform’s original use case, implying a renewed focus on friends-based social interactions.
The revelation has sparked widespread debate and raised questions about Zuckerberg’s willingness to drastically alter the fundamental nature of Facebook.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/15/mark-zuckerberg-once-considered-deleting-all-your-facebook-friends/