Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Statement from Mark Zuckerberg

facebook.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 699 posts

Re: Statement from Mark Zuckerberg

#51

Post by umvi »

cratermoon wrote: post #31
josh_today wrote: post #13

This was my favorite: “If we wanted to ignore research, why would we create an industry-leading research program to understand these important issues in the first place”

Same reason the tobacco industry created research programs to look at the health effects of smoking. Neither their nor Facebook's research could ever be mistaken of "industry-leading", though.

Yeah but in Big Tobacco's case they made sure the research reflected their products favorably.

Why would Facebook create research programs that have outcomes unfavorable to their core product?

Re: Statement from Mark Zuckerberg

#52

Post by fedbook »

hokumguru wrote: post #18

Honestly am I the only one that doesn’t think that Facebook is that bad? Some of those points that he makes really should make you stop and think.

They do a lot of good bringing people together, but it’s a double edged sword with massive potential for abuse. It’s not up for debate that Facebook causes harm. The only question is how much is too much? At what point do we step in, tell them their mitigations are ineffective, and break up or regulate their systems?

Re: Statement from Mark Zuckerberg

#53

Post by sayonaraman »

cracell wrote: post #32
sayonaraman wrote: post #14

These are words by great CEO, fight these baseless accusations in court like you would fight any slander. These witch hunts must stop.

Ok... First off there's no way Zuckerberg wrote this. Might've been involved but these are the words of a marketing team working with a legal team. Secondly why do you see Zuckerberg as a great CEO?

so many CEOs would come back with tail tucked between their legs when there is an aggressive PR attack, it's so refreshing to see someone unapologetic for a change, standing their ground against blatant lies and angry mobs with pitchforks. This gives hope in the American future.

Re: Statement from Mark Zuckerberg

#55

Post by wpietri »

pshc wrote: post #9

Three minutes of my life I'm never going to get back. You can stop reading by paragraph two at "We care deeply about issues like safety, well-being and mental health." All Facebook cares about is engagement.

Yup. I once saw an accountant write, "Don't tell me your priorities. Show me your budget and I'll tell you your priorities."

Facebook's whole history is not really caring about those things. What they care about is not looking bad. Which is why they trot out those lines when things get too awful for the public, the press, and legislators to ignore.

Re: Statement from Mark Zuckerberg

#56

Post by nickloewen »

With the caveat that I don’t know much about Facebook’s research projects… the question “If we wanted to ignore research, why would we create an industry-leading research program to understand these important issues in the first place?” sets alarm bells ringing for me—because I can imagine a cigarette company saying the same thing about the scientists they hired to argue that smoking isn’t so bad after all, or an oil company saying the same thing about the scientists they hired to argue that it’s too soon to act on climate change (especially since they’re “leading the charge” on renewable energy research).

(I’m influenced here by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway’s work in “Merchants of Doubt.”)

Re: Statement from Mark Zuckerberg

#58

Post by Spooky23 »

iandanforth wrote: post #33

Has anyone trained a language model to generate these content-free apology / explanation blurbs from Zuck?

I think Zuck writes them himself and nobody has the cojones to edit.

Facebook has had a really consistent, weird, “true believer” voice over the years. I can’t believe they can keep indoctrinated PR folks around that long.

It’s pretty scary. The dude is too rich and powerful.

Re: Statement from Mark Zuckerberg

#59

Post by cratermoon »

umvi wrote: post #51
cratermoon wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same reason the tobacco industry created research programs to look at the health effects of smoking. Neither their nor Facebook's research could ever be mistaken of "industry-leading", though.

Yeah but in Big Tobacco's case they made sure the research reflected their products favorably. Why would Facebook create research programs that have outcomes unfavorable to their core product?

They didn't. That's my point.

Re: Statement from Mark Zuckerberg

#60

Post by flomk »

Does anyone else remember when facebook got rid of the friends only feed ~2014/2015? That's when I stopped using facebook so I'm not sure if it's been brought back since then, but I'm assuming they haven't.

To me getting rid of that feed is in direct conflict with "Meaningful Social Interactions".

I'm not sure if anyone else feels the same, but a lot of this post feels very gaslighty to me.

Post reply on HN