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Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

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401–410 of 627 posts

Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

#401
post #230

It's an unfortunate but inevitable outcome of the attention economys race to the bottom. This area needs better regulation. The best approach is to stay out of technical implementation and focus on what principles companies should adhere to. As James Williams argue: it should be a civil right to have "freedom of chance". We already knew all too well what it does to our democracy that a large part of the public only g…

We are going the totalitarian route. Ministry of Truth will tell what numbers are legal and which ones are. Publishing data that goes against a narrative is a high crime punishable by Goolags. I know it might be news for the kids but this is a common practice in Socialist countries.

The inflation rate is a hate number and banned from all platforms. Enforced by the Soviet Ministry of Truth called Pravda the russian translation of Truth.

I am puzzled how quickly something Americans were completely scared about is being so beloved by people. Do we really see ourselves as so despicable that we want to replace individual speech with government speech ?

Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

#402

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.

I think this is where tech workers are failing society. Other industries actively write legislation bc they understand that politicians are not technocrats. The best thing we've come up with is the EFF, but we need to do more given how consequential our industry has become. So if we understand how engagement optimization works, then what governing rules could we come up with to minimize the negative pact?

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Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

#403

Facebook 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…

Taking it down with him seems like the best possible outcome for humanity, no?

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Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

#404

Facebook 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 th…

You will have to define “news” first, or “politics”. As a former strategist for a big news room, I can tell you it’s not as easy as you make it out to be.

Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

#405
post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people are saying "regulation" What would that regulation actually require social media companies to do?

This is not palatable but trivial. Your login tied to your actual ID. Sites that won't participate can't take US funds or do business with entities that also want to do business with the US. Call for violence or threaten people go to jail. Spread malicious lies you knew are false for political gains go to jail. Spread others harmful crap unwittingly that would tend to lead to others deaths get a ticket for actual mon…

Problem here is enforcement, as we have seen ... The Legal representatives are also elected, meaning that the legal system is also political. Everyone has something to gain out of it.

Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

#406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the way social apps engage today is different to how facebook does. Not sure if I understand what you mean?

Protect your children from social media, no matter which company.

One can only teach values not protect children from social media. I have children.

Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

#407
post #190
post #104

I think misinformation and conspiracy theories on these platforms are a huge problem. A few years ago, some bad actors were successful in convincing Congress of a crazy conspiracy theory that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The results were far-reaching. The US violated the UN charter and launched a disastrous war in Iraq where millions of Iraqis were killed, injured and displaced. They used a platfor…

The Spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images.

Love seeing debord in the wild

Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

#408
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps I am of the minority opinion, but I damn sure was never worried about a bunch of selfie-taking unarmed rednecks destroying the United States of America. My faith in this country goes a little deeper than that.

I wonder if your opinion would be different if those unarmed rednecks were able to get to Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Minority Leader McConnell or VP Pence? Those "unarmed rednecks" were able to do something not even the various armies of the Confederacy couldn't: get inside the capitol. People are not terrified enough, because this group of people saw they could do it and I have a strong feeling they will try ag…

The Canadians/Brits burned the capital down and it did not matter.

Some rednecks stopping by arent going to topple anything

Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

#409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hit the nail on the head there. It’s impossible to actually get what was the damn promise of Facebook to begin with, and instead everyone gets practically drugged with crap because it makes Mark more money.

I don’t know if I’d be cynical in that particular way. Maybe the real cynicism is more banal. FB was and always will be “viral.” When Zuck was in college, this pretty much amounted to stalking all your classmates (for those who remember when it was university students only). Zuck is getting towards middle age now. “News” is the new viral. We want to believe that FB is a corporation and therefore must act with a certa…

> Drugging people with viral was always the main gig unto itself

I don't think this is a useful way to summarise it. You could say any business' main gig is not making money if you want to (this bank isn't about making money; we just intrinsically love signing people up to financial services!) I don't know if it adds anything, and I think it does subtract.

Re: Facebook whistleblower says she wants to fix company, not harm it

#410
post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people are saying "regulation" What would that regulation actually require social media companies to do?

This is not palatable but trivial. Your login tied to your actual ID. Sites that won't participate can't take US funds or do business with entities that also want to do business with the US. Call for violence or threaten people go to jail. Spread malicious lies you knew are false for political gains go to jail. Spread others harmful crap unwittingly that would tend to lead to others deaths get a ticket for actual mon…

Almost every single thing you proposed is radioactively unconstitutional in the United States.
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