These are the same people who said pizza in school lunches == a vegetable, yeah?
Senators Blast Facebook for Concealing Instagram's Risks to Kids
61–70 of 71 posts
Re: Senators Blast Facebook for Concealing Instagram's Risks to Kids
#62"She said Facebook takes "the privacy, safety and well-being of all those who use our platform very seriously, ..."" The magic incantation. Flawed reasoning: "We take X seriously" therefore there are no problems with X. Contrast "seriously" with "seriously enough". There must be more to it. There must be some science behind the use of the "take X seriously" statements. "We've committed to not retaliating for this ind…
When they try to change the way they’re viewed instead of bringing up relevant facts, you know that they know that they don’t have a leg to stand on. I say we do to Facebook what JFK wanted to do to the CIA. Imagine social media without a profit motive. Decentralize, distribute and encrypt the fuck out of it. I don’t want curated feeds, I want to keep in touch with people I know.
Except like all of these services, people actual do engage more with a curated feed. I just wish there were at least an option to go chronological.
Re: Senators Blast Facebook for Concealing Instagram's Risks to Kids
#63To what degree should companies be responsible for goods which, without structured or disciplined use leads to harm, especially when the good in question has an apparently reasonable use case?
> goods Drugs. The term you are looking for is drug, because numerous studies have shown the effect on brain chemistry[2] and behavior[1] from social media addiction could be as bad as hard drugs. [1] https://www.addictioncenter.com/news/2019/09/excessive-socia... [2] https://neurogrow.com/what-social-media-does-to-your-brain/
I feel this way about HN. I open it every day, and check back far more than Facebook. Maybe we'll have a senate hearing someday about HN. :P
Re: Senators Blast Facebook for Concealing Instagram's Risks to Kids
#64Facebook and Instagram employees responsible should be sent off to work in agriculture or be drafted into the military.
Military and agriculture are the foundations of every powerful state.
The state would become more powerful and those employees reassigned to more productive tasks would be morally progressed.
Re: Senators Blast Facebook for Concealing Instagram's Risks to Kids
#65Sounds like social media platforms might end up like cigarette companies, where they finally acknowledge the harm of their product and add a disclaimer to avoid liability: "This product is designed to manipulate you. It will probably make your life worse." Or, like the drug companies: "If you have depression, suicidal thoughts or find yourself screaming at some rando on the internet, stop taking Facebook and consult…
Maybe a required 20px white on black label affixed to the top of the app at all times. Like a cookie banner, but not dismissible? THIS PRODUCT IS DESIGNED TO MANIPULATE YOUR EMOTIONAL STATE. [READ MORE] That seems totally reasonable to me. We should call our legislators and demand this. This would make society so much better if Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Reddit, etc. were forced to bear this marking.
Sounds good. I also propose that companies can opt out, at the cost of donating 20% of their annual revenue, every year, to agricultural development or to the military. These are prosocial organizations known for their contribution to society.
Re: Senators Blast Facebook for Concealing Instagram's Risks to Kids
#66Sounds like social media platforms might end up like cigarette companies, where they finally acknowledge the harm of their product and add a disclaimer to avoid liability: "This product is designed to manipulate you. It will probably make your life worse." Or, like the drug companies: "If you have depression, suicidal thoughts or find yourself screaming at some rando on the internet, stop taking Facebook and consult…
How about we identify what advertisers take part in Facebook harming people?
I think hitting Facebook's wallet is the only way to get them to reform.
Re: Senators Blast Facebook for Concealing Instagram's Risks to Kids
#67This is completely subjective but it always seems to me like whenever these sitdowns happen it's nothing but an opportunity for politicians to posture and get their soundbites in to clip and re-use in Twitter shorts and campaign material with not much actually happening afterwards. The only time giant companies actually seem to change course is when rumors of upcoming regulatory pressure from the FCC or something like that start up.
I understand that I might be cynical but even when they're not just producing cringe at these hearings, they always seem to do the Ted Cruz thing and so I've stopped expecting anything to actually happen...
Re: Senators Blast Facebook for Concealing Instagram's Risks to Kids
#68"She said Facebook takes "the privacy, safety and well-being of all those who use our platform very seriously, ..."" The magic incantation. Flawed reasoning: "We take X seriously" therefore there are no problems with X. Contrast "seriously" with "seriously enough". There must be more to it. There must be some science behind the use of the "take X seriously" statements. "We've committed to not retaliating for this ind…
Sidenote: > "We take X seriously" therefore there are no problems with X. This is my favorite response doing Tech DDs. I meet execs who say "we take security seriously" all of the time. I enjoy the follow-on of "ok show us then"... Do you backup your DB? Do you test it? No? Do you encrypt everything at rest? No? Are you using MFA for all services that are accessible by developers? No? etc. etc. Then no, you don't tak…
OMG preach! When you've heard these empty platitudes enough they become warning klaxons.
Re: Senators Blast Facebook for Concealing Instagram's Risks to Kids
#69I can think of no greater waste of human time or energy than these ridiculous Senate "hearings". It's just performance art, on all sides - they should just bring Yoko Ono in and call it a day. The sad thing is that Senators usually call these hearings so they can make tough sound bites against naughty companies, but they usually just end up sounding like idiots (see the other comment about Sen. Blumenthal's "Finsta"…
I mean and they lie under oath without penalty, and if they ever settle on anything it's for peanuts compared to whay they rake in.
I think we've given them more than enough chances they need to be completely dissolved nothing of value will have been lost.
Re: Senators Blast Facebook for Concealing Instagram's Risks to Kids
#70To what degree should companies be responsible for goods which, without structured or disciplined use leads to harm, especially when the good in question has an apparently reasonable use case?
Ask anyone who died of smoking-related illnesses.
I would try but there is just one problem...