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Zuckerberg's war on whistleblowers

pluralistic.net

121–130 of 320 posts

Re: Zuckerberg's war on whistleblowers

#121
post #16

“Zuck is also revealed to have given the Chinese state access to all of Facebook and the power to censor content they disliked, as part of a failed bid to get permission to offer a Facebook service in China.” This did not happen and I’m not aware of any evidence or allegations that it did. Williams claims that Meta indicated they would accept China’s demand to give the Chinese government access to Chinese users’ data…

Agreed. I don't like that you're downvoted for pointing this out as the language is very weasel-wordy (revealed to have? by who? what is all of Facebook?):

> Zuck is also revealed to have given the Chinese state access to all of Facebook

Tbf, the book actually makes the right claim that it's Chinese user data, not all of Facebook so the article is to blame.

Re: Zuckerberg's war on whistleblowers

#122
post #67
post #37

My guess would be - there is way more primitive explanation than setting an example etc (which is also a good reason, from their point of view). It is just plain ego and pettiness - we see it everywhere, even from a manager who has 3 people reporting to him. Why else would Zuck cheat on a board game , of all things? That too in private? It might just be as primitive as "I have more money than God, therefore I am bett…

> It is just plain ago and pettiness […] Why else would Zuck cheat on a board game Recently I felt somewhat enlightened on this point, specifically in regards to Trump cheating at golf and some of his bald-faced lies, but I’d speculate it applies here too. Others pointed out to me that while it might look petty and ridiculous to normal people, it’s a social power move to get away with things, and serves the purpose o…

What you are describing is Narcissistic Personality Disorder behavior. It is psychological abuse.

Re: Zuckerberg's war on whistleblowers

#124
post #91
post #53

It's not increasingly bizarre, really, if you just allow for the possibility of one thing: There's something else worse that they know could be in such a book, but isn't yet, and it is so bad that it is worth doing this. Perhaps they know that Wynn-Williams could have put it in the book and didn't. Perhaps they know that someone else — someone else British, say? — could write such things in a book and so far hasn't.…

The article mentions: > But I think they've decided that this is a price worth paying, because: > a) They've done even worse things since Wynn-Williams parted ways with the company; and > b) They're laying off thousands of workers because their giant bet on AI has been a flop, leaving them with a massive cash crunch; and > c) By destroying Sarah Wynn-Williams, they can terrorize all those thousands of bitter ex-emplo…

Please don't comment on whether someone read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that".

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Zuckerberg's war on whistleblowers

#125
"Whistleblowing" requires something illegal to have occurred. It doesn't appear any of the disclosures being made about Facebook allege anything illegal. They are just disparaging insider information. Anyone who has worked in tech for any amount of time has signed an NDA. They are not nefarious.

Re: Zuckerberg's war on whistleblowers

#126
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He and the congress (and probably most of the country would have supported it) . There is an argument to be made that the Supreme Court was at least partially usurping the powers of the legislative and executive branches to impose its political policies.

Before the court packing threat, they were limiting the federal government's power to regulate commerce within states. Which is a power it doesn't actually have.

They have whatever power the Supreme Court decides they have. The Supreme Court decided that was their job, and thus far everyone has accepted it. The Court interprets the Constitution, which is vague enough to mean whatever a bare majority wishes it to mean.

Re: Zuckerberg's war on whistleblowers

#127
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is just plain ago and pettiness […] Why else would Zuck cheat on a board game Recently I felt somewhat enlightened on this point, specifically in regards to Trump cheating at golf and some of his bald-faced lies, but I’d speculate it applies here too. Others pointed out to me that while it might look petty and ridiculous to normal people, it’s a social power move to get away with things, and serves the purpose o…

This is called "Fuckery:" I tell you a lie. You know it's a lie. I know you know it's a lie. But you have to pretend that you believe it because of the power I have over you. The Fuckery is a demonstration of that power.

Yes. It serves to identify the people who will go along with lies and bullshit and who won't speak out

It's a test of loyalty via a show of power

Re: Zuckerberg's war on whistleblowers

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It took the literal burning down of aristocratic homes during the english reforms of 1832 for the House of Lords to finally sit down with Earl Grey and hash out a bill that would finally grant large populated cities like Manchester actual voting rights. The French Revolution was still fresh in minds of these elites - the July Monarchy having just taken place - and yet still they let it escalate to the point of near c…

The point is a guillotine somewhere else is good. Guillotines at home don’t particularly hurt the rich as a class. (It’s debated whether France’s elite actually consolidated wealth and power through its revolutions.)

Not the best success story, granted, but socialist revolutions in China and Russian Empire had definitely hurt the rich as a class. Definitively even.

Re: Zuckerberg's war on whistleblowers

#129

People complain about meta all the time. Clearly, its a scumbag company. There is only one way to make him hurt: boycott all meta products. Uninstall facebook, instagram, whatsapp. Edit -- I am getting downvoted for this comment. I can't say I am surprised, most of you are too programmed to think for yourselves.

> There is only one way to

Zuckerberg et al. would actually prefer that we all think that, so that we just stop there and don't proceed to more-effective politics.

https://pluralistic.net/2026/05/21/purity-culture/

Re: Zuckerberg's war on whistleblowers

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the Silicon Valley circular-reasoning meritocracy in action: those with the billions deserve to have the billions because they have managed to get the billions. Every extra dollar only goes to prove how little they need to listen to those with less.

Not just Silicon Valley, although SV is definitely the poster child for this mentality. It’s a problem all over the world. Obtaining X fully justifies having X. Nobody cares about the “how.”

An aspect of the "just-world fallacy", where ultimately good things happen to good people, so if a good thing happened to you, you must have been good, etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_fallacy

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