111–120 of 141 posts
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Not sure it's still virtue signaling when you sacrifice your job. That might actually be virtue. I wonder though, what counts as actual virtue for some people.
It was sanctioned by the CEO. How much was their job actually at risk?
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> Serve ads without selling data? They sell data. Why do you think they don't? > CC companies sell your data. Your telecom provider sells your data. Banks sell your data. You're over simplifying. WHAT data being sold is a critical variable. Same with HOW MUCH . Not all data is created equally. Last I checked, my bank doesn't have real time access to my location. My bank doesn't know everyone I communicate with. Not e…
> Not even my telecom operator knows that! They sure do and certainly know who is within 100ft of you at any given time.
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> The hate it's about what they did with the power they gained. Which is??? Serve ads without selling data? I'm not sure if y'all are aware, but CC companies sell your data. Your telecom provider sells your data. Banks sell your data. Google figured out a system to sell access while keeping your privacy. And somehow they're more hated than people who just straight up give your data away. If most people hate Google al…
If it wasn't for Google (and ads), my bank might not have even considered selling my data.. They only sold the credit bureaus in the past, AFAIK. Now it's considered a "must have"..
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> Serve ads without selling data? They sell data. Why do you think they don't? > CC companies sell your data. Your telecom provider sells your data. Banks sell your data. You're over simplifying. WHAT data being sold is a critical variable. Same with HOW MUCH . Not all data is created equally. Last I checked, my bank doesn't have real time access to my location. My bank doesn't know everyone I communicate with. Not e…
But what is the alternative, and why is it better? An Apple-esque internet that gets you a full google-like suite of services, along with news and other general entertainment, all ad/tracking free, but for a cool $300/mo? User friendly, pro-consumer, but only for those who can afford it? I genuinely struggle to say that a user friendly internet that cuts out 80% of the current global internet user base because they a…
> But what is the alternative, and why is it better?
> An Apple-esque internet
> all ad/tracking free, but for a cool $300/mo? User friendly, pro-consumer, but only for those who can afford it?
> I genuinely struggle to say that a user friendly internet that cuts out 80% of the current global internet user base because they are too poor is a better system.
[0] Network effect has multiple meanings here and it often does hinder their goals.
[1] Well it's not like we can truly setup global mesh networks, but hey, maybe one day.
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/23/big-oil-coined-carbon-footprints-to-blame-us-for-their-greed-keep-them-on-the-hookEarlier quoted context omitted.
Not sure it's still virtue signaling when you sacrifice your job. That might actually be virtue. I wonder though, what counts as actual virtue for some people.
It was sanctioned by the CEO. How much was their job actually at risk?
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Well, they aren't hated for the tech they built, that is cool and easily appreciated. People don't like google because they turned it into a way to sell people to others for a profit in essence. Over time more and more intrusive to the point where they are no longer worth any of the services they offer. Like a creepy stalker following you every where you go, at some point you need a restraining order. Most people don…
> sell people to others for a profit in essence .... restraining order If you have to make your point by exaggerated comparisons to slavery or analogies to safety concerns and scary crimes, then you should probably step back and re-evaluate. Try to write true words in your comment and see where it leaves you. Google tracks you and sells ad-space to companies that are looking for profiles like your own.
The Voice of Google - should be silenced. I don't want to hear any more Google propaganda in general. From "acceptable ads" to trying to kill ublock origin - enough is enough.
Lol, read the article buddy
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Ads, obviously. I understand Meta has an ad business as well—but no one I know uses their sites.
Instagram makes ~$28/user/mo from ads, which is wild. They couldn't even sell a premium ad-free membership without losing money on those people. (Who the hell would pay $28/mo for instgram?)
Instagram's global ad revenue ~$83.6B in 2025. [1]
Instagram passed 3 billion monthly active users in September 2025. [2]
$83.6B ÷ 3B ≈ $27.9 per user per year ≈ $2.30/month.
1: https://resourcera.com/data/social/instagram-revenue/
2: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/24/instagram-now-has-3-billion-...
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> What's fascinating is that Google gets virtually zero recognition for this, and beyond that, Google is one of the most hated corporations for it. The hate it's about what they did with the power they gained. You can both love and hate something at the same time. Humans have complexity and nuance, don't dismiss that. It's also worth noting that complaints are more vocal than complements. If things are working well t…
Let's say you could calculate a good-evil score for every large corporation by netting the good they do against the evil they do. I don't know if Google would be net-good or net-evil, but I'm pretty sure they would be far less evil than most of the other large corporations on that list. Certainly less evil than Exxon Mobil, Microsoft, Saudi Aramco, Meta, JPMorgan Chase, UnitedHealth, Coca-Cola, Oracle, Palantir, Gold…
This story naturally ends after Claire's departure, but "that the era of sanctioned dissent was over" did not mean that dissent was over. The lesson for many was that "asking nicely" wasn't working. I believe that realization that real power was needed to in order to make change was a big part of why the Alphabet Workers Union was able to get off the ground. Of course it hasn't gotten the numbers to actually build mu…
It wasn't over at that time. The real shift was after those people broke into Thomas Kurian's office. Right after, they permanently cracked down hard on various forms of employee expression, including posting flyers.
"Google employees arrested following protest over Israel ties at executive’s office. The employees were arrested during a sit-in at the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian in California, during a day of company-wide protests by Google employees at offices across the US in protest of Google’s Project Nimbus deal with Israel"