In fact, as early as after the Content Capital vs YouTube case officially came to an end, the content capital companies had all opened their own official accounts on YouTube according to the terms of the settlement.
Then, in the past, what content capital posted on YouTube was either trailers for their own films and TV series, giant posters for their own merchandise, the release schedules for their works in the new year, or lists of their various events.
Because every year, they had to pay YouTube a large amount of advertising fees, so if they didn't post anything, how would YouTube promote them?
The current YouTube didn't have pre-roll ads yet.
But today, August 10, 2007, Time Warner released a global statement on its official account.
The content of the video was very short, but its weight was extremely heavy, because the entire video appeared in the form of a press conference, and the person appearing on camera was even the head of Time Warner Group's legal and public affairs department.
The specific content could be summarized like this:
"Today, after receiving a report from our company, the Federal Bureau of Investigation successfully destroyed a criminal organization that had long used illegal methods to infringe upon our company's intellectual property rights. This organization forged a non-profit shell and systematically misappropriated our company's core content, creating derivative works based on classic works including, but not limited to, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and The Matrix."
"On this basis, they organized and premeditated the establishment of fake official fan communities on the Facebook platform. Through methods such as illegally distributing pirated content and fabricating associations with our company, they absorbed users. Their actions have constituted malicious infringement of our company's copyrights and reputation."
"However, the worrying matter does not stop there. Since Facebook is an online platform built around real information, when criminal organizations establish communities on Facebook, they can easily obtain the specific information of targeted members of the public. Then, these criminal organizations may very likely use this real information to carry out other illegal acts, such as fraud."
"Because our company has always been committed to protecting the rights and interests of consumers, our company hereby issues the following statement and appeal today:"
"1. Our company has not opened any fan groups related to Time Warner or its films and television series on Facebook. If you have joined such groups, our company advises you to leave them immediately and unfriend the group administrators."
"2. If you discover a suspected infringing organization or have already become a victim of such illegal communities, please immediately contact our legal team through our official channels, or call the police directly."
"3. In the future, when receiving information from our company, please recognize Time Warner's official channels. Our official channels include the Warner Bros. official website, the HBO official website, the DC Comics official website, CNN, and our official YouTube account."
"Finally, thank you for your support of Time Warner and for your commitment to the cause of justice."
The three-minute video finished playing very quickly. But the shock it brought to the world was no less than the Tsar Bomba detonated by the Soviet Union back then!
When people who were embracing a pleasant holiday learned that right now, on the second-hottest social platform in the world, there was actually an organization suspected of fraud, everyone, and I mean everyone, fucking exploded on the spot and spiraled into the heavens!
"Oh! My! God! The Warner fan groups on Facebook are actually fake? This, this can't be possible, right?"
"Oh! Shit! I joined so many groups on Facebook! A Harry Potter fan group, a Matrix fan group, a Pirates of the Caribbean fan group, a Transformers fan group, I'm in all of them! So! Does this mean I've already become the target of a fraud ring? Does the fraud ring know all my information?"
"Oh! Damn! Are you a stupid pig? The one saying it never officially joined Facebook is Time Warner! And Pirates of the Caribbean belongs to Disney! Transformers belongs to DreamWorks and Paramount! So the problematic ones should be the Harry Potter and Matrix fan groups! You really are an idiot!"
"But Disney, DreamWorks, Paramount, and those companies still haven't officially announced that they've joined Facebook either! So can you guarantee that all those groups are real? That they weren't created by criminal organizations?"
"Exactly! Since Time Warner has already issued a public statement, and the FBI has already arrested people, that proves this matter might really be very, very big! You have to know, decades ago, when there was a nuclear leak, no company spoke out like this! So this time, it might turn out to be an enormous major incident!"
"I think so too! And tonight after dinner, I already heard about the FBI arresting people on CNN!"
"Right, right, right! I heard it too! I think the channel I had on was CBS!"
"Ah! I know about this too! I heard similar news on ABC as well! But if I remember correctly, in the ABC news I heard, the host seemed to say that the illegal groups on Facebook were created by Facebook itself? But now, Time Warner's meaning seems to be that those groups were created by unknown third parties? What is going on?"
"Oh! This matter is very simple! Because the FBI hasn't closed the case yet! So when big companies issue statements, their wording must be careful, otherwise they'll face lawsuits! But news media doesn't have this restriction, because when reporting news, news organizations can cite third-party sources. And what does what a third party says have to do with me?"
"So, what you mean is that the groups on Facebook have no problem?"
"No! What I mean is that the Facebook platform itself has huge problems!"
"What? Why?"
"The reason is simple! Time Warner already said it in their statement! Facebook is a platform built around real information! Once a criminal organization enters this kind of platform, the people targeted by them have no way to resist! Also, Facebook is now crazily using illegal methods to attract new users! So, in the future, what if they themselves break the law?"
"Hiss, oh! Shit! Is the matter really this serious?"
"I think the person above is right! The internet is a virtual world! Isabella only asks winners for real information when she gives away phones! And what she publicly announces is only the winners' online accounts! Finally, whether the winners are willing to post prize-winning videos is their own business! But what about Facebook? It asks us for real information from the very beginning!"
"Damn!!! No way!!! I'm deleting Facebook! I don't want to get entangled with this kind of demon software!"
"Motherfucker! I'm deleting it too!"
"Can someone teach me how to delete Facebook? I don't know how!"
"…"
In the future, many entrepreneurs loved to put brand building and brand value on their lips when giving speeches, as if, as long as this thing called "brand" was done well, and consumers became friends of the brand and developed feelings for it, the brand could stand forever in the long river of history.
As for this—
Bullshit!
The greatest meaning of things like brand building and brand value was to harvest leeks! Because there were no consumers in this world who would embrace a single brand forever! The influence of every brand on the market depended on whether the products under it were strong or not!
There were even a pile of real-life examples. In the early twenty-first century, when Motorola and Nokia divided the world between them, their brand values were both over ten billion dollars.
But when Steve Jobs took the iPhone out of his pocket, which consumer would still care whether Motorola's "M" or Nokia's "NOKIA" looked cooler?
In the second decade of the twenty-first century, Nike was selling like crazy in mainland China. But when Nike felt that it had enough influence in the mainland market and could kick out distributors to monopolize all the benefits, the moment Nike announced direct sales, Nike's sales exploded directly!
Its revenue, which kept plunging wildly, forced Nike in 2024 to invite back Elliott Hill, who had stepped down as CEO due to retirement! And after returning to Nike, the first thing Elliott Hill did was abandon direct sales and rebuild relationships with distributors, relying on the distributors' offline advantages to help promote Nike, because he firmly believed that consumers had no loyalty to brands at all.
If a company wanted to enjoy a brand premium, it could only make its products strong enough.
Otherwise, no matter how much luxury brands spent on ads, once the economy fluctuated even slightly, they could only embrace death.
When Motorola, Nokia, and Nike had already used their own lives again and again to prove that brand value was the most ridiculous lie in the world, purely a tool for raising stock prices, Facebook, which hadn't even fully formed a brand, had sat at the same table as fraud?
Then the wave of account cancellations naturally appeared.
Because no one wanted to be scammed. Because no one wanted to lose money.
And this—
"Boss! The customer service department's phones have already been blown up! All the calls are asking how to cancel accounts!"
"Stabilize the users! Tell them we're fine!"
"…"
"Boss! Our servers are already on the verge of overload! More than one hundred thousand users are already trying to cancel their accounts!!"
"Shut down the cancellation channel! Use technology to block user loss!"
"…"
"Boss! A blogger on YouTube posted a video about how to file a complaint against us with the Federal Communications Commission!!!"
"Call YouTube! Demand that they take the video down!"
"…"
"Boss! A blogger on YouTube is digging up our dirt! Someone dug up Facemash! They're saying you were stealing public information back in 2003! There are also bloggers on YouTube talking about your case with Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra! How do we solve this????"
"W, what?"
The moment the word Facemash appeared, Mark Zuckerberg, who had been half-dead in his boss's chair, immediately clenched both fists.
Because this thing was Facebook's predecessor, a website inside Harvard University for rating women's appearances.
As for why the women at Harvard University were willing to have people judge them? That was naturally because he, Mark Zuckerberg, had deliberately crawled Harvard University's online directory and stolen their information.
Back then, Harvard University's Administrative Board had already clearly defined his behavior: it violated federal computer security regulations and infringed on others' portrait rights and personal privacy.
Harvard didn't expel him because he was religious, and his whole family belonged to Reform Judaism. He survived by playing the race discrimination card!
As for his case with Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra? That was Facebook's plagiarism case.
The idea for Facebook came from Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra. And he, Mark Zuckerberg? He was only the tool who wrote the website for these people. But after hearing an excellent idea, he cast those people aside and went off to work alone.
And now, those three people were suing him and demanding compensation for their losses.
Because Facebook had too many dark histories to count, and because all of Facebook's dark histories had left records on the internet, at this moment, those dirty old matters were being dug up again?
This—
"Shut down the servers."
"Shut down our servers."
Just as Mark Zuckerberg was lost in thought, Sean Parker and Peter Thiel suddenly walked into his office and said to the secretary waiting for orders, "After the servers are shut down, wait outside. Don't come in."
The calm words carried endless coldness, making Mark Zuckerberg's secretary nod repeatedly before decisively slipping away.
As the office door closed, the powerless Mark Zuckerberg also moved his eyes and looked toward Peter Thiel and the others. At that moment, he, leaning against the boss's chair, looked like a fish about to die of thirst.
That figure, as though his three souls had already left and his seven spirits had already vanished, made the two of them take a deep breath. They exchanged a look.
In the end, Peter Thiel spoke. "Rest well. In six hours, we have a meeting."
Although Peter Thiel didn't say anything, Peter Thiel had already said everything.
Because Mark Zuckerberg smelled death.
And his judgment wasn't wrong.
Six hours later, in the early hours of August 11, 2007, Facebook's conference room was filled with investors.
After seeing Mark Zuckerberg enter, Facebook's second-largest shareholder, James Breyer, clenched his right hand into a fist, knocked on the table, and asked with a cold expression, "Mark, how do you plan to repay the money?"
Thud.
James Breyer's words made Mark Zuckerberg's legs go weak, and he collapsed to the floor.
To be honest, at this point, as long as someone was normal, they could all see that there was no longer any need to save Facebook. Because after Isabella played the two cards of traditional media and new media one after another, Facebook's reputation might still be washed clean, but the cost of building a new one was clearly far, far lower than the cost of whitewashing this one.
So, the investors' entrance meant that Facebook had officially died.
As for when it would be buried? That depended on when the American judicial system would judge them.
Mm.
When Isabella's first move was nuclear annihilation, what crime had Facebook committed? That was simply a matter of her lips touching.
Not convinced? Whoever wasn't convinced could go down.
Since Isabella's operation wasn't rare in the corporate game, or rather, in the eyes of true Brahmins, her methods were actually still too gentle, because Isabella had at least followed procedure this time.
If the Brahmins were the ones doing this—
Ever heard of a helicopter breaking apart midair?
Ever heard of someone shooting themselves in the chest with a shotgun and then hanging themselves?
Many people thought that doing dirty work required caution, and that important people had to remain dignified. This was actually a misunderstanding. Because by treating every person who dared to harbor evil toward you with cruelty, you could obtain the greatest kindness in the world.
But even if outsiders, those who understood the field, all felt that Isabella's methods were somewhat gentle, her speedrunning method when pressing Facebook to death still attracted everyone's attention. As for the reason—
"Tell me, isn't this girl called Isabella Haywood a little too strong?"
"When she controls both traditional media and new media—"
"Doesn't that mean she can achieve a substantive monopoly over global public opinion?"
While Mark Zuckerberg was being surrounded by investors, Washington was also brightly lit.
At this moment, George W. Bush who would leave office next year was listening to the FBI director's report. When he learned that Isabella could directly control three of the world's top media groups, a playful smile immediately appeared on his face.
"Mm, George, you're right. Right now, she can decide what kind of voices the people of the world hear."
Robert Mueller nodded in agreement, then asked, "So, should we legislate to stop it?"
"Why stop it?"
George W. Bush smiled and began shaking his leg. "We're all on the same side, so why stop it?"
"The Simon family had an excellent relationship with my maternal grandfather, and now their people control Time Warner? They have never criticized my actions! So why should I dismantle their power?"
"Not to mention, isn't Isabella only a few years away from being ennobled?"
"If she can keep holding Google and Disney, making her a duchess or marchioness would be a little exaggerated, but carving out a piece of land for her, making her a countess, and letting her move all her assets into that territory to step outside Britain's judicial system is still possible."
As mentioned before, the "dear grandfather" of George W. Bush currently living in the White House had a very good relationship with the father of Time Warner's soon-to-take-office chairman. So, someone raised up by Time Warner achieving a substantive monopoly over world public opinion? Wasn't that just their own people holding power?
A few emotional remarks, a comment about the waves of the Yangtze pushing the waves before them, and that was enough!
As for restriction? Had their brains short-circuited? Who would turn their nose up at having too much power?
Of course, Robert Mueller fully understood George W. Bush's situation. The reason he knowingly asked anyway was mainly because he'd lent out power. Only after the top leader said he didn't care could the whole matter fully pass.
Mm.
Although his family had power and influence, the family's power and one's own power were two different concepts, right?
And the reason Robert Mueller could enter politics was because he was friends with Ronald Reagan. Back then, after Ronald Reagan rose to power, he quickly promoted him and sent him to Massachusetts to serve as a federal prosecutor. It was also because of this that after George W. Bush's father rose to power, he continued using him and sent him to the Department of Justice as a minister.
By the time George W. Bush rose to power, he was now the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He had served from 2001 until now.
It felt great~
Since everyone had always cooperated with perfect tacit understanding, then now, if he lent out power, no matter what, he had to inform the other side.
Right?
And since the other side didn't care, then the matter was considered over.
The one living in the White House didn't care how much power Isabella held. As for the others—
Honestly, those who could see the level of "public opinion monopoly," saying they all didn't care about Isabella's behavior would be false. But saying that every single person cared about Isabella's behavior would also be nonsense.
This wasn't only because the internet was an emerging industry, and global public opinion monopoly was a new thing. When Isabella hadn't infringed on other people's actual interests, had the royal family behind her, and could maneuver smoothly around the local lords, only the North American Brahmins whose brains had broken would rashly make a move and try to seize everything by force.
It was also because most Brahmin families kept private soldiers. What they believed in was that physical force could destroy everything.
So, unless Isabella suddenly pulled an intercontinental missile capable of flying 12,000 kilometers, no matter how well she cultivated magic, it was still just magic.
One had to know that a few years later, Harry would tell Ron that a handgun was much more useful than a wand.
But the fact that the Brahmins didn't care didn't mean Marvel chairman Isaac Perlmutter didn't care.
After learning that Isabella had directly nuked Facebook with lightning speed, Lehman, who had received his request for help, directly told him that if Isabella really wanted to hit him, then his best choice was to kneel down and kowtow to Isabella.
Because—
"Isaac, I can tell you very frankly that even we at Lehman don't want to face Isabella right now."
"I can even give you two reasons!"
"First, when a person pursues nuclear annihilation at every moment, no one is willing to trade punches with them."
"Second, our situation at Lehman isn't good right now either. We're facing a very serious debt problem! If the news about subprime mortgages is stabbed out by the media, Isabella only needs to use the same offensive she used against Facebook on us, and Lehman will declare bankruptcy directly, just like Facebook!"
"So,"
"If you really feel that Isabella wants to kill you, then I advise you to fly directly to London now, and then, kowtow until she's satisfied."
"If necessary—"
"Personally, I think you can give Marvel to her."
"I know that the money you've earned over these years is only a little over five billion. If you give Marvel to her, then there won't be much money left in your pocket. But being alive! Being alive is more important than anything else! Isn't it?"
Lehman's attitude made Isaac Perlmutter's hands and feet turn ice cold! At that moment, he felt as though he'd smelled loneliness!
Because Lehman seemed to have abandoned him?
Because if he wanted to survive now, he could only pray that Isabella wouldn't kill him?
As for this—
Isabella had no time to bother with this idiot right now.
At this moment, she was enjoying a beautiful weekend.