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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

#121

Post by snuser »

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…

It feels off, before working at facebook I was unable to buy a house and wouldn't have been able to retire at 67

I've worked a for a lot of 'nicer' small companies and they pretty much threw me in the trash

Re: Facebook under fire over secret teen research

#122

Post by ProjectArcturis »

sjg007 wrote: post #103
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.

You're not the customer, you're the product. What you want doesn't matter. They keep you happy enough to keep from uninstalling the app, and that's it.

Re: Facebook under fire over secret teen research

#123

Post by bgardell »

discobot wrote: post #54
modriano wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone wanted to make the case that Facebook is a net-good force in the world, I'd read that. But I haven't seen anyone even try to lay out evidence of Facebook doing any good things. I like pytorch, prophet, and their decent job policing the pedophiles on the FB platform, but what else do they do that's good and responsible?

they enable communication for 3 billion people on the scale not previously seen in the history of mankind?

I think facebook tries to keep people locked into their platform so the users believe this exact lie. Facebook doesn't enable the capabilities of the internet.

Re: Facebook under fire over secret teen research

#124

Post by tehjoker »

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…

I would never work at Facebook and have declined to apply for their grants before because I think they're a malign influence. It's possible to make such decisions.

Re: Facebook under fire over secret teen research

#125

Post by modriano »

strulovich wrote: post #102
williamtrask wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

Can you support that belief with any evidence or a coherent argument? What good does FB do that offsets the great amount of evil it does?

What offsets FB's choices that connected millions of extremists and gave them protected spaces to radicalize each other? [0]

What offsets FB's decision to rush into regions it can't moderate, leading to FB being used as the platform that spreads genocide-inciting misinformation? [1]

Personally I've had to work very hard to keep my parents safe this pandemic, disabusing my parents of dangerous COVID related misinformation that they saw on Facebook. I've had to research some really deranged stuff that they picked up on that platform.

I see a pretty deep debt on the evil side of the ledger, but you're asserting FB is net positive. So what am I missing? Where is the good stuff FB does that offsets all of this harm?

[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20201219115127/http://wsj.com/ar...

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/06/technology/myanmar-facebo...

Re: Facebook under fire over secret teen research

#126

Post by 908B64B197 »

discordance wrote: post #111
munk-a wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FAANG is composed of large companies - not great companies. Those employers rarely make it onto genuine lists of best employers and if you want real pedigree on your resume you'll want to come out of a small but successful company. You can be asleep at the wheel for two years and leave a FAANG with neutral or positive reviews because you were sociable - if you helped grow a tiny company into a small company recruiter…

I thought FAANG criteria is more a measure of how much these places pay, otherwise Microsoft would be on the list (with a market cap 2.3tn).

The original acronym was for stock performance.

Re: Facebook under fire over secret teen research

#127

Post by redditmigrant »

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?

Its such a shame US is considered a great place to live. Sure you can have a good life, but at what cost? Your government props up dictators, goes and blows up a country over imaginary WMDs etc. etc. Is this what you imagined as being an enabler of through your taxes and votes?

Re: Facebook under fire over secret teen research

#128

Post by tourist2d »

rozap wrote: post #21
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?

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.

I really hate this recent virtue signalling circlejerk topic on Hacker News lately.

Would you also not hire from Microsoft because they have military contracts? Not hire from the American government because the lack of free healthcare killing millions?

Someone working on content moderation or video streaming at Facebook isn't making these evil decisions. Governments (your clients) should be creating new laws and issuing larger fines to combat behaviour such as Facebooks.

Re: Facebook under fire over secret teen research

#129

Post by bwship »

notJim wrote: post #27
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.

I don't think this is quite it, I think you're underrating the social aspect of it, and the algorithm aspect of it. When I was in high school (livejournal and myspace era), I had a friend group where most of the hanging out occurred IRL. I hung out with the dorks, so there was not a lot of focus on being hot and stuff. And IRL, there aren't algorithms that constantly shove pretty people in your face. Of course you se…

Yea, I think the other aspect is this isn't just internet. When I was younger, going on the internet meant going to the upstairs bedroom, turning on the computer, waiting for it to boot up, then waiting for AOL to connect, then chatting with people. It would take like 5 minutes of effort. Now, most of the time when I go out, for fun, I just look how many people are hunched over staring and scrolling at their stupid rectangle in their hand all day everyday. It's usually at least 80% of people. It's the social, the algorithm, and the fact that the addiction is sitting in people's hands at all moments of the day and night.
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