Zuckerberg Continues His Colonialization of Native Hawaiian Land

Mark Zuckerburg has continued his colonialist buying spree in Hawaii, buying almost 600 acres on Kauai for $53 million.  Known as the “Lepeuli ahupua’a,” the property houses several “reef, sea, avian, flora and historical collections in their unaltered native habitat.

The deal, which closed on March 19, according to deeds first reported by Pacific Business News, comprises three parcels, including the remote northern waterfront known as Larsen’s Beach. The road to the beach was not included in the sale-- so the public still has access, unless something else changes. Zuckerberg’s other Hawaii property also fronts a public beach, but it’s accessible only by a single labyrinthine road.

Hawaiians have taken issue with Zuckerberg’s stewardship of his island properties. After the Facebook CEO bought his first Hawaiian estate back in 2015 (a 700-acre property also on Kauai) he ran into problems with the many families who owned smaller parcels within the compound. These residents were “kamaaina families,” or Hawaiian descendants who had inherited the land without a formal deed or will.

After his 2015 land grab, Zuckerberg filed several lawsuits aimed at evicting the families by forcing them to sell their land at a public auction.  He was forced to drop the lawsuits after public outrage and later tried to apologize with an op-ed in the island’s newspaper. But it was later discovered that he had hired a retired professor named Carlos Andrade to continue the battle on his behalf, using a shell corporation owned by Zuckerberg to file separate lawsuits.  Zuckerberg issued a non-denial denial of his involvement in Andrade’s lawsuits, issuing a statement that said, “Mark is not suing native Hawaiians."  The statement didn't deny that Zukerberg was funding Andrade's lawsuits, nor did it clarify what Zuckerberg considered "native Hawaiians."  After a long struggle with existing residents, Andrade gained control over four of the kamaaina properties for $2.2 million.

Zuckerberg's continued land acquisitions have continued to anger local Hawaiians and onlookers elsewhere. “This is the face of neocolonialism,” University of Hawaii professor Kapua Sproat told The Guardian at the time. A Change.org petition titled “Stop Mark Zuckerberg from Colonizing Kauai,” started last summer, has collected more than one million signatures to date.  Zuckerberg claims that he has no current plans for eviction at the new property (which is leased to an operation called "Paradise Ranch")-- but that doesn't mean that he won't change his mind tomorrow and initiate eviction proceedings.