You're spot on that it's a bit ridiculous. It's intentional however and it's going to get a lot worse yet. Over the next few years the press will start using increasingly violent-sounding, negative, stark headlines against Facebook. Associated headline words will shift toward aggressive tones.
It's a portrait. They do the same thing to most dominant companies once they grow out of the up-and-coming phase. Amazon for example is starting to get deluged by such press coverage; Google has been the subject of it for years; and of course Microsoft went through a solid decade or more of it. Once upon a time, Walmart was portrayed as a cute & fuzzy hayseed retailer just looking to save the good 'ol consumer a buck or two.