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Facebook under fire over secret teen research

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Facebook under fire over secret teen research

#101

Post by tomrod »

cybernautique wrote: post #57
gilrain wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Not all of them are bad” isn’t a very strong argument against the general heuristic.

I have one caveat: people whose immigration to the USA was conditioned on their employment in Silicon Valley. Aside from that, I think _every single person_ that works at Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc. (the uncivil technology corps) is morally bankrupt. Every last one of them is fundamentally compromised by their work.

Weird. I know a lot of people who work in that space. None of them are morally corrupt.

What kind of people are you seeking out?

Re: Facebook under fire over secret teen research

#102

Post by strulovich »

williamtrask wrote: post #100
discobot wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is anything good objectively? It is good for me because I can stay connected with my mom despite living in different country. Also facebook group for my town is nice and useful, and my wife enjoys posting in instagram from our trips. Now multiply this by several billions.

All these things existed before facebook

Yes, but so did magazines and TV shows which also made teenage girls feel bad about their bodies.

(Disclaimer: Facebook employee who thinks Facebook and social media is a net positive)

Re: Facebook under fire over secret teen research

#103

Post by sjg007 »

i_love_music wrote: post #17

Such a shame Facebook is considered a prestigious place to work. Sure, you can become a millionaire, but at what cost? Is this what you imagined you would do as a kid interested in math/computers/science?

The FB app has become bloated.. I don't want the shop, I don't want the TikTok or Youtube stuff. I just want my friends.

Re: Facebook under fire over secret teen research

#104

Post by jobu »

lostlogin wrote: post #22
i_love_music wrote: post #17

Such a shame Facebook is considered a prestigious place to work. Sure, you can become a millionaire, but at what cost? Is this what you imagined you would do as a kid interested in math/computers/science?

> Such a shame Facebook is considered a prestigious place to work. Is it? It’s not my industry but I haven’t got that impression from reading threads here.

It definitely was until ~5 years ago. I think the 2016 election was the turning point. There has been a stream of negative PR for Facebook since then, and it seems like everything they've done for damage control only made things worse (especially anything from Zuckerberg).

Re: Facebook under fire over secret teen research

#105

Post by ndesaulniers »

cybernautique wrote: post #88
Nasrudith wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well for one a stance based upon human agency. "Enabling" is also a massive weasel word of propaganda to attribute all indirect actions and consequences to the target while ignoring the actual actors. The ones committing human rights violations. Limiting everyone to only non-toxic crayons short, dull, plastic knives that cannot even cut bread would reduce ability to inflict harm. To call blaming the tool childish is…

Facebook does not have any regard for human agency, neither the platform nor the corporation, anymore than fentanyl or its producers have. I agree that the sense of which you speak is a nonsensical perspective; I'm not interested in laying blame on a tool for how the tool is utilized. The Facebook employee isn't unethical because of their nebulous entanglement in nth-order externalities, whereby bad-person X did bad-…

Does that make me unethical if I contribute to free or open source software, then Facebook uses that software, even though I don't work for them? Why would the answer to that question be different for employees?

Re: Facebook under fire over secret teen research

#106

Post by errantmind »

throwaway10895 wrote: post #30
rozap wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a useful tool for hiring though. I wouldn't be able to hire anyone who worked there. At least at my current job, a functioning moral compass is required due to the impact our clients (governments) have on the general population. It's part of our interview process to figure out if someone cares about how their work effects people. Not that the pay scales overlap much anyway.

If Facebook was only full of people without a functioning moral compass then none of this research would have been done in the first place.

The people who work at companies that seem 'immoral' are able to justify it because they work on such a small part as to avoid any feeling of responsibility.

The same could be said of soldiers in an army used for oppression. They don't feel responsible for the outcomes because they aren't the ones making the decisions, or they work 'behind the scenes'.

I personally don't judge any of them but I can see how you could argue that simply by working for such a company or institution you are partly to blame for their immorality.

Re: Facebook under fire over secret teen research

#107

Post by renewiltord »

sudosysgen wrote: post #83
renewiltord wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their machinery is ridiculously effective. My Uber driver the other day was Afghan. He talked to his family fleeing their country via Messenger. Ubiquitous universal communication. It is the stuff of utopian sci fi.

Lol, you're talking as if it's unique to Facebook. Anyone with money and a modicum of technical expertise can make a messaging platform. The hard part is monetization.

Everyone somehow seems to be capable of anything. But in the end people end up using Facebook.

Re: Facebook under fire over secret teen research

#108

Post by sudosysgen »

renewiltord wrote: post #107
sudosysgen wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol, you're talking as if it's unique to Facebook. Anyone with money and a modicum of technical expertise can make a messaging platform. The hard part is monetization.

Everyone somehow seems to be capable of anything. But in the end people end up using Facebook.

Most people in the world actually don't use Facebook for messaging. Messenger is second to WhatsApp.

There are dozens of software that can do worldwide instant messaging. It's ridiculous to think that that's why Facebook is successful. It's not, monetization and network effects are the reason, not being technically superior.

Re: Facebook under fire over secret teen research

#109

Post by 908B64B197 »

notyourwork wrote: post #3

Does anyone remember Cosmopolitan and other like magazines. Teenage body issues and associated anxiety are not new. What has happened is we gave everyone internet access so now they can look at pictures of unrealistic bodies all day everywhere they go. The result is body dysmorphia on steroids.

> so now they can look at pictures of unrealistic bodies all day everywhere they go

In 2018 "obesity prevalence was [...] 21.2% among 12- to 19-year-olds." [0] according to the CDC. That's one out of 5 being obese, not overweight. And it has more than tripled since the 70's [1].

Maybe our definition of "realistic" changed too.

[0] https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/obesity_child_15_16/obe...

Re: Facebook under fire over secret teen research

#110

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

errantmind wrote: post #106
throwaway10895 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Facebook was only full of people without a functioning moral compass then none of this research would have been done in the first place.

The people who work at companies that seem 'immoral' are able to justify it because they work on such a small part as to avoid any feeling of responsibility. The same could be said of soldiers in an army used for oppression. They don't feel responsible for the outcomes because they aren't the ones making the decisions, or they work 'behind the scenes'. I personally don't judge any of them but I can see how you could…

Ah, the Nuremberg defence: "I was just following orders".[1]

Whatever helps you sleep at night I guess.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_orders

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