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Chris Hughes Says It’s Time to Break Up Facebook

nytimes.com

31–40 of 308 posts

Re: Chris Hughes Says It’s Time to Break Up Facebook

#32

No, Google first. NYTimes is throwing the sacrificial Facebook under the bus to save the real systemic surveillance menace to the future generations.

Even if you break Google up it won't really change anything (i.e. it won't stop wide tracking of users online).

Re: Chris Hughes Says It’s Time to Break Up Facebook

#33
post #30

Funny, what do you have to break up something that you are not even forced to use, and that is not even remotely necessary for benefiting from the internet? I must be missing something.

Exactly because whether or not you use it, Facebook is shaping your use of the internet.

Re: Chris Hughes Says It’s Time to Break Up Facebook

#34

I disagree. But I'm not on any, nor use any, of Facebook's services. "It's Time to Break Up with Facebook" is a better title. > We already have the tools we need to check the domination of Facebook. We just seem to have forgotten about them. That evokes different ideas with me and I'm sure it does for many users of this site. We have the tools and capability to employ them to make alternatives. We're so focused on th…

You may not be on Facebook but you can bet your friends or family have shared your contact info with them. And even if that exposure is limited, you can bet they’ve got a shadow profile of you.

Re: Chris Hughes Says It’s Time to Break Up Facebook

#35
I found this piece very unconvincing. Where is the articulate and data supported argument that our democracy is under threat? Are people no longer voting? No, they are voting in droves. People of all ages are more politically charged than ever before. I’m seeing 10 year olds engaging in our democracy.

To me it is becoming increasingly apparent that the issue here is that people aren’t voting for the issues the NYT and Chris want people to vote on. That doesn’t qualify as a threat to democracy. They don’t understand these voters or their values and the assumption at NYT is that they are morons who are clicking on fake news links on Facebook. An entire case is being made without data to support it.

I get that Trump got elected and nobody at the NYT is happy about it. Time to move on imo.

Re: Chris Hughes Says It’s Time to Break Up Facebook

#36
post #3

“Chris Hughes, a co-founder of Facebook, says the company is so big and powerful that it threatens our democracy.” considering how flawed democracies are, i say let democracy die. adopt democracy 2.0 (no parties, no president/pm, no cabinet ministers, elected speaker, continuous citizen participation) and that’s that.

Let me guess, run on a blockchain too, right?

Re: Chris Hughes Says It’s Time to Break Up Facebook

#37
post #2

I think it would be enough to ban Zuckerberg from running any public corp in his lifetime. The Facebook problems are all Mark Zuckerberg problems, it starts with the people he pics for management the priority he sets for a business which provides an important part of american infrastructure. Zuckerberg as CEO of Facebook is the same for the USA as putting a teenager in control of the United States Department of Energ…

I wonder why you pick on the people rather than the business model inherent to social network. We could argue that making people pay to use a social network or an email would be better, but the experience has shown that reselling personal info to advertisers is the way major internet actors in the field had to pick if they wanted to succeed. i don’t think you can blame zuckerberg for the whole industry practices

Re: Chris Hughes Says It’s Time to Break Up Facebook

#39
post #13
post #7

I agree to breaking up Facebook. But the message falls flat when the suggestion is to spin off WhatsApp and Instagram into separate companies. This doesn't really do anything. When standard oil or Bell telephone broke up, they were broken across geographic lines or "horizontally" in situations where the business was vertically integrated (separating extraction, refining or transport in the case of standard oil) FB, I…

How are the business models different?

FB, IG and WhatsApp are isolated silos (for now). FB tries to work for everyone whereas IG and WhatsApp target younger demographics, since Facebook is no longer cool to be on.

Re: Chris Hughes Says It’s Time to Break Up Facebook

#40
post #17
post #3

“Chris Hughes, a co-founder of Facebook, says the company is so big and powerful that it threatens our democracy.” considering how flawed democracies are, i say let democracy die. adopt democracy 2.0 (no parties, no president/pm, no cabinet ministers, elected speaker, continuous citizen participation) and that’s that.

I'm against direct democracy because I don't have the expertise or the time to make informed decisions about everything my government is currently doing for me. Direct democracy will likely devolve into a reign of demagogues imho.

The Swiss might have something to say on this, living in one of the most stable and prosperous countries in the world which happens to be governed under something resembling direct democracy.
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