What Facebook's 'creepy' hoodie insignia means

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg revealed an odd, Freemason-like symbol inside his sweatshirt. Is Facebook really a cult, after all?

This Facebook company hoodie will sell on eBay for over $4000.
(Image credit: eBay)

"What are you in, some kind of cult?" asked tech reporter Kara Swisher of Mark Zuckerberg, after the Facebook founder removed his hooded sweatshirt at the D8 tech conference last week, revealing an "Illuminati"-type symbol in the lining. The never-before-seen insignia caused quite the sensation, especially since Zuckerberg revealed it while cold-sweating through some tough questions about Facebook's dodgy privacy issues. What can we learn about Facebook from this "mysterious" symbol? (See the much-debated Facebook insignia)

Facebook is still naive about branding: Based on close study, says Alexia Tsotsis in San Francisco Weekly, the diagram appears to depict nothing more ominous than Facebook's 2010 business strategy, albeit with a "slightly off-kilter Star of David in the center" sure to set off conspiracy theorists. Still, while it may just be a "silly" logo, a less "unaware" CEO would have realized that it was bound to "come off as childish and creepy" when revealed this way.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up