The fact that congress has not done anything about FB (other than fruitless hearings) shows how badly in shape we are to confront the risks of social networks.
Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it
211–220 of 627 posts
Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it
#212I'm glad she shared what she shared. Facebook is a cancer on society IMO. In many cases, although perhaps not this one, whistleblowers have had an extremely active and political Twitter account when hired, or are literally being hired _because_ of their wokeness. Do silicon valley companies not screen for intensity of political views during job interviews in order to prevent issues like this? They certainly don't see…
>Do silicon valley companies not screen for intensity of political views during job interviews in order to prevent issues like this? [...] It would seem like it would be better for business to just not let people join the organization if they're relatively likely to one day go on a moral crusade.
That sounds likely to cause a lot of employee blowback, and negative news articles somewhat similar to this one.
I can see the headline now: "[Tech company] wants employees to be sheep" "Afraid of fallout from whistleblowers who report all the bad things it does, [tech company] has put measures in place to prevent job candidates with any morals from being hired."
Who would be the ones doing this? Currently regular employees are the ones conducting interviews. Would there be required interview questions along these lines?
Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it
#213FB is what it is because 45,000 employees work hard daily to make it that way.
if they weren't satisfied with how it works or what it does, they'd fix it or they'd leave. every day they continue to work there without changing direction, they vote with their time that FB is doing what it ought to be doing.
all of the responsibility for FB's effects on the world belongs to them.
Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it
#214Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think we should agree that women and girls physically harming themselves is "harmful". > Frances Haugen: And what's super tragic is Facebook's own research says, as these young women begin to consume this-- this eating disorder content, they get more and more depressed. And it actually makes them use the app more. And so, they end up in this feedback cycle where they hate their bodies more and more. Facebook's own…
It's like a motorcycle for dudes. The faster you go, the more you like it, the more likely you are to die. Do I think motorcycles are harmful? No.
It is very clear to any motorcycle user the risks associated with high speed. Not so to FB users.
Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it
#215We have seen this story before. Person joins Facebook thinking they can "help". Then quits. Facebook is a public company whose purpose is serve advertisers. Online ads is the only way they can generate revenue. It is not some woo-woo about connecting the world, giving people a voice, or whatever. That's what the internet enables, not a single website controlled by someone else. Facebook tries to take credit for what…
> There is nothing to fix. Sure there is: advertising. It's the root cause of nearly all evils in the internet today. Facebook itself is merely a symptom of the advertiser problem. The web and the internet will never be fixed until we get rid of the advertisers. Either we ban advertising or we spread ad blocking technology far and wide.
More Ad blocking won't solve this in the long term, it will become an arms race.
If ad blocking becomes pervasive then there will be more efforts to evade blocks, starting with technically ( operationally difficult) solutions like hosting ads first party etc.
There is simply too much money today in it for the industry to go away quietly.
Ad-blocking as a tool can help address the security issues with a trusted service hosting all sorts of unknown ad scripts that can potentially have malware and/or scrap your data, but issue of ad's itself can sadly not be controlled with ad-blocking only.
Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it
#216Remember when Facebook used to be pretty cool? I mean sure, it fell out of favor with younger people including myself, but overall it had generally favorable and positive views in the press and media - especially compared to today. Yeah, people knew it wasn't the greatest, but it wasn't the devil, either.
But then, I guess it was about 5 years ago now, 2016-ish or thereabouts, it all seemed to change overnight, and suddenly it became demonized by the media, to such an incredible degree.
Really weird.
Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it
#217Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you be more specific? Give examples of what you mean, if you can.
> “Freedom Is Slavery” because, according to the Party, the man who is independent is doomed to fail. By the same token, “Slavery Is Freedom,” because the man subjected to the collective will is free from danger and want.
Ok but how does that relate to perlocutionary and oppressive speech?
Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it
#218Facebook needs to be shut down. Dissolve the corporation, confiscate its assets under civil forfeiture laws, and put Zuckerberg and his enablers in jail.
Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it
#219Facebook is going to become a hollowed out shell of itself if they do not change. They’ll get hollowed out by litigation, legislation, investors, or all of the above. They need new leadership. The tactics that got them here will not carry them further. There are tons of examples of the positive impact of new leadership, on companies like Apple, Microsoft, Uber, Disney, Ford, etc. And there are certainly plenty of exa…
The simplest solution is the one FB will never accept, and yet the harm to the public would be virtually zero:
Eliminate all news, politics, and other public policy groups and apps. Return to being just a way to connect with friends and family.
No one needs to get their news from Facebook. There are plenty of other sites on the Web for that. Same for all these other "engagement" services.
Of course, this would cut their market cap to, oh, $100B or so. Boo-hoo.
Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it
#220Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is the point of publicly trading a company if the public can never actually gain control of it? That would make it solely about speculation.
>> it's just about speculation. As opposed to all the other reasons people buy publicly-traded shares?
I thought the power to affect corporate decision making was an important part of investing. Apparently not.