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Facebook chooses profits over people

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Re: Facebook chooses profits over people

#101

Post by FabHK »

dghughes wrote: post #38

That's any for profit company no matter what anyone believes. Any company its only purpose is profit. It's the same with company HR it's there to protect the company. It's not personnel anymore it's called human resources for a reason you're just company inventory. And "corporate culture" there is none they are not your family there is no culture they'll fire you in a heartbeat.

> That's any for profit company no matter what anyone believes. Any company its only purpose is profit.

That's a myth. See for example

1. this aptly titled article: Corporations Don’t Have to Maximize Profits

https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/04/16/what-are-co...

2. Tim Cook at Apple:

> The shareholder asked Cook about the company’s renewable energy efforts and told him that Apple should only undertake such efforts if they were profitable. In a rare display of anger, Cook replied that there were many things Apple did because they were right and just. “When we work on making our devices accessible by the blind,” he added, “I don’t consider the bloody ROI.” Then he added, “If you want me to do things only for ROI reasons, you should get out of this stock.”

https://hbr.org/2016/09/the-maximize-profits-trap-in-decisio...

Re: Facebook chooses profits over people

#102

Post by roenxi »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #44

These headlines naïvely miss the point. The problem isn’t Facebook, a private company, seeking profits. The problem is its deeply-entrenched psychopathy and pathological record of lying [1]. And it really appears to be a Facebook problem. Instagram for Kids wasn’t the fever dream of a deranged Instagrammer. It was pushed by a Facebook implant [2]. I don’t know if being in proximity to Facebook’s leadership corrupts p…

Being a media company corrupts people. These companies - Facebook and others like it - are part of people's community forming process and have to confront the very real and practical problem that promoting objective truth - insofar as we have one - is unprofitable.

There isn't going to be a large social media company that reliably runs according to high-minded community principles. Not least of which because high-minded types would figure out that one company having that much power is unworkable and doomed to corruption. Sooner or later they'll optimise towards saying whatever needs to be said. And they have to satisfy too many different - opposed - communities to maintain a respect for the truth.

Re: Facebook chooses profits over people

#103

Post by FabHK »

Crusoe123 wrote: post #87
Grustaf wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Any company its only purpose is profit. This isn't true for any company, not even investment banks. When people start companies, money is seldom a major reason, and as they grow they get a life of their own. Even large companies are run by people, people with feelings, insecurities, ambitions. An incredibly wealthy leader of a large corporation is not really motivated by money, he wants more status, he want to look…

Of course they do. That leader would get the boot ASAP if he chooses any goal other than making money as he is behest to investors who expect a maximized return to their investment. Companies where your scenario can play out are the exception and not the rule. Not that the motivations you wrote are much better for society. I am speaking here about large companies that can have impact on a societal level, not your sma…

> That leader would get the boot ASAP if he chooses any goal other than making money as he is behest to investors who expect a maximized return to their investment.

No. See my sister comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28956259

Re: Facebook chooses profits over people

#104

Post by jamesandthewolf »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #96
jamesandthewolf wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I hoard a billion news papers clippings I'm a mad man but if I hoard billions of dollars I'm a hero this seams like a bit of a paradox in itself no?

> if I hoard billions of dollars If you literally "hoard," as in store it up and hide it away [1], yes, that would be crazy. But nobody does that. Those billions are invested and working. [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hoard

I understand people need money to make money, I get it, but surly we could place a cap on it. The super rich are no different from the kings and queens of old, they just are called by different names like CEO or some other three letter thing.

Re: Facebook chooses profits over people

#107

Post by amelius »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #44

These headlines naïvely miss the point. The problem isn’t Facebook, a private company, seeking profits. The problem is its deeply-entrenched psychopathy and pathological record of lying [1]. And it really appears to be a Facebook problem. Instagram for Kids wasn’t the fever dream of a deranged Instagrammer. It was pushed by a Facebook implant [2]. I don’t know if being in proximity to Facebook’s leadership corrupts p…

No, the problem is lack of strong consumer protection.

Trusting profit-seeking private companies to do "the right thing" is naive at best.

Re: Facebook chooses profits over people

#108

Post by jamesandthewolf »

adrianN wrote: post #97
jamesandthewolf wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is life and being alive not already the game that achieves this unless I'm mistaken it's the ultimate education platform, so maybe the answers are in finding a new way to address it.

People play games and consume media mostly to get away from life, because life has many aspects that suck.

Touché good human. Touché!

Re: Facebook chooses profits over people

#109

Post by klelatti »

nly wrote: post #39
klelatti wrote: post #31

Maybe, just maybe, Zuck isn't the best person to lead a large, mature, highly politically sensitive corporation with a view to generating long term value for shareholders. But then shareholders can't remove him.

Good for him. He should have the right to control his own company. Anyone investing directly in Facebook shares knew they wouldn't have this power going in.

Good for him, bad for literally everyone else.

Re: Facebook chooses profits over people

#110

Post by mhh__ »

blitzar wrote: post #55
aceazzameen wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You made me think, is it even possible to create a social media network geared towards education (sharing skills and ideas) for the masses? I suppose YouTube is somewhat there. But it's blended with so much crap.

Yet YouTubers constantly make clickbait titles like "Tour of my 10 MILLLION DOLLAR house" or "I gave away $50,000"

Well yes, but 3Blue1Brown exists on the same site for example.
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