Comment by xbmcuser
1 year ago
I don't know why but Facebook is the one tech company that I just can't have a good opinion about. I like and dislike Google, Microsoft, Apple, NvidiA, AMD, Intel and the rest for different things but I just hate Facebook. I closed my facebook account about 10-11 years back put a filter to keep facebook out of my search results. And I have to say it works I rarely see anything about Facebook on my Google news feeds etc. I still use WhatsApp though as that is the biggest communication app outside China in Asia
Probably a combination of
- they’ve had a long history of trying to undermine privacy to extend profits. From stuff like in the article, to tracking pixels, alleged ghost accounts, and fighting anything that hampers tracking. Of the companies you listed, only Google has any crossover, but doesn’t come anywhere near as close.
- they’re irresponsible with the effects of their algorithm to amplify hate speech. None of your other companies have anything like that.
- they are dishonest in their marketing. Almost all their Quest ads and feature reveals use concept visualization to deceive users for example on what is possible. Mark often speaks in double speak when addressing issues. Double speak isn’t unique to them but they definitely take dishonest advertising to the limit versus the other companies on your list.
I know Meta are having a popularity renaissance with their open weight (not open source) models in this AI cycle, as is Mark with his his recent PR blitz to reinvent his image.
However I think they’re culturally the only one of your companies listed who lack a moral core to their work. I think culture is top down, and both Zuckerberg and Thiel have instilled a culture of “success at all costs” for the way Meta operates.
The other companies on your list are definitely capitalist too, but have some sense of responsibility with their output.
> - they’re irresponsible with the effects of their algorithm to amplify hate speech. None of your other companies have anything like that.
Twitter is arguably worse - especially after Musk's takeover.
With what is happening outside the us and how facebook and even YouTube ie google is deplatforming people fighting and raising awareness against totalitarian regimes but twitter is not. I get you hate Musk but I don't agree Twitter is not in the same realm as Facebook.
2 replies →
Oh for sure there are worse companies. They just aren’t in the list of companies in the comment I replied to.
> I still use WhatsApp though as that is the biggest communication app outside China in Asia
This is still contributing to their monopoly. WhatsApp's monopoly is growing and they've even blatantly started to copy the competition: Telegram.
Disagreeing publicly does nothing if I'm the one empowering my opposition in the first place.
> Disagreeing publicly does nothing if I'm the one empowering my opposition in the first place.
Of course it does. It does spread the word. That’s important.
You can be an activist and have a real life. You can despise Meta but have acquaintances on WhatsApp you can’t or don’t want to move. You can be an anticapitalist and still agree to join a group of friends inviting you to McDonalds. You can be an ecologist and have a car because you live somewhere without car free infrastructures.
You have the right to be critical of your own life while still acknowledging you can’t control everything.
Having WhatsApp may be wrong for you but it may be less wrong than leaving your friends groups.
> Having WhatsApp may be wrong for you but it may be less wrong than leaving your friends groups.
If friends can't install another app to talk to you, maybe they don't really wanna keep in touch.
When I moved to Telegram I told family and friends where I'd be and they all installed Telegram and actually liked it so they stayed.
It's been 3 years now and I haven't touched WhatsApp.
My words have no value if I can't even follow them. Cognitive dissonance comes cheap, but we can all try to be a bit better than that.
1 reply →
> “And I have to say it works I rarely see anything about Facebook on my Google news feeds etc.”
The company is called Meta nowadays, so that also explains why you don’t see much news about Facebook.