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Author of "Careless People" banned from saying anything negative about Meta

thetimes.com

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Re: Author of "Careless People" banned from saying anything negative about Meta

#51
The book is so good that once picked up you can't stop reading it. I've left Facebook many many many years ago and ever came back. The book just reinforced my aversion to any product that's out there that is designed to waste your time and manipulate your head. I sincerely hope that whoever ruled the gag on the author reverses the decision and at least reads the book and understands how nasty and evil Facebook is.

Re: Author of "Careless People" banned from saying anything negative about Meta

#52
post #23

Having listened to the book on Audible, I'm both shocked at the behavior of the executive team, and not surprised all at the same time. What bothers me about all of this is what it says about us. It says we're willing to give rich and powerful people a pass just because they make overtures towards something we care about. We wouldn't give our children a pass like this, nor would we teach our children to act this way,…

I think the overtures about things we care about more just provide plausible deniability and that when you dig down, people are more concerned about the risks of challenging the wealthy than they are about such window dressing.

Re: Author of "Careless People" banned from saying anything negative about Meta

#54
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As if Meta employees live on the cusp of starving.

https://www.npr.org/2020/05/12/854998616/in-settlement-faceb... > Some of the content moderators were earning $28,800 a year, the technology news site The Verge found last year. In this particular case, the legal costs are probably pretty ruinous.

I think you'll find the person in question's title is quite far from content moderator.

Re: Author of "Careless People" banned from saying anything negative about Meta

#55

I guess I just don’t understand contracts and laws. Your employment agreement can include stuff like “if you say anything bad about us, even to your family in your own home, you owe us $50,000”. What in the world?? I guess NDA’s are like that, and used everywhere. Still it just seems wild

It's a condition of the severance payment. She didn't need to sign it. She wanted the money. Then she violated the terms of the contract.

Re: Author of "Careless People" banned from saying anything negative about Meta

#57
post #34

How the hell did Zuck run Facebook for so long without learning about the Streisand effect?

The Streisand effect has a bit of confirmation bias at play.

For every case of "idiot billionaire tries to suppress story and fails" I suspect there are quite a few "billionaire successfully suppresses story" cases.

Re: Author of "Careless People" banned from saying anything negative about Meta

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That should be illegal, too. Or the permissible scope of such an agreement heavily limited.

“Sign this or starve” isn’t much of a stretch when you think about it

It's called a Hobson's choice.

Re: Author of "Careless People" banned from saying anything negative about Meta

#60
post #33

A good reminder not to sign contracts with non-disparagement clauses, if you can help it. Seems like good territory for California to ban like they did with non-competes. At the very least they should be restricted from inclusion in severance agreements - at that point the company already has you over a barrel.

I mean, a reasonable non-disparagement clause for your current employees makes sense. You don't want your employees actively undermining the company in public. If they don't believe in what you're doing, they should be able to quit and say whatever they want. It should end immediately when your employment ends. It should be illegal to make it compulsary for severance packages, as many companies do. And there need to…

The clause in question didn't even arise until after employment ended. Again, this person faced no obligation to sign this contract. They wanted the payment, so they signed it.
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