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Paying a company to spread dirt on your competitor is not bribery.
Facebook paid Republican strategy firm to malign TikTok
111–120 of 324 posts
Re: Facebook paid Republican strategy firm to malign TikTok
#112If there is anything happening around you which influences, it is staged and driven by someone.
http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html
> Of the stories you read in traditional media that aren't about politics, crimes, or disasters, more than half probably come from PR firms.
Stories not about politics, crimes, or disasters ... are not news?
But I would add corporate malfeasance to the list of "politics, crimes, or disasters" (or does that count as crime?).
Re: Facebook paid Republican strategy firm to malign TikTok
#113Serious question, for those with more experience than me “in the game” running big successful companies: are dirty tactics like this (and worse) par for the course and generally expected, and it’s sort of understood that the outsiders/general public are shielded from it? Or is it actually shocking? It often seems like there’s two “worlds” operating at the same time. In one, there’s outrage and indignation at this sor…
This is par for the course. Done by majority of big corps and nothing wrong with it imo. Stating TikTok is a danger isn't a stretch. The hyperventilating in this piece is hyped up by republican and FB angles but almost every big company is doing comms like this.
Re: Facebook paid Republican strategy firm to malign TikTok
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well that's not entirely true. Instagram (a Meta property) is more the competitor to TikTok. And this isn't crying to the government. This is trying to push the dangers of TikTok on right wing cultural outlets. The thing is, this is true, the incentives of TikTok are not pro-social. Then again, neither are those of Instagram (or Facebook for that matter).
Has FB met any kids? "Mom say TikTok will corrupt my morals" is recruiting campaign, not a destructive attack.
Not in many culturally conservative households. These parents exert a lot more control over what their children are exposed to / allowed to engage with.
Re: Facebook paid Republican strategy firm to malign TikTok
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
Being unable to find the best candidates because you have racial prejudices or prejudices towards anyone with prior employment at the F in FAANG are both bad for business. You have a massive systematic blind spot that will make your company less competitive relative to peers because you have a personal ax to grind. I might add that prior employment at Facebook is very positively correlated with engineering talent --…
You are again enshrining (purely) fiscal motivation as expected and logical. I'm sorry, I just don't agree. I doubt you will start seeing it my way. Let's just leave it at that.
All I've said is that your ideological prejudices will cause you to have more difficulty finding good quality candidates (you are selecting against things correlated with quality) and you'll be paying more for equal quality candidates as a result.
Re: Facebook paid Republican strategy firm to malign TikTok
#116Serious question, for those with more experience than me “in the game” running big successful companies: are dirty tactics like this (and worse) par for the course and generally expected, and it’s sort of understood that the outsiders/general public are shielded from it? Or is it actually shocking? It often seems like there’s two “worlds” operating at the same time. In one, there’s outrage and indignation at this sor…
On average, these sorts of undermining tactics are uncommon because most companies have limited resources that are better spent on improving their own product or service.
That said, for the subset of companies that operate in fiercely competitive markets with well-funded players, this sort of activity is common.
In my prior company, where 2 competitors & us had raised 9 figures in venture capital, we found multiple instances of such undermining attacks going on from 1 of the competitors. Although we never engaged in such activities, it was clear to me that we were at a slight disadvantage due to our lack of willingness. Imo, such activities require sociopathic leadership, and unfortunately, that sort of personality is overrepresented in the c-suite.
Re: Facebook paid Republican strategy firm to malign TikTok
#117Serious question, for those with more experience than me “in the game” running big successful companies: are dirty tactics like this (and worse) par for the course and generally expected, and it’s sort of understood that the outsiders/general public are shielded from it? Or is it actually shocking? It often seems like there’s two “worlds” operating at the same time. In one, there’s outrage and indignation at this sor…
This kind of thing is entirely normal.
Re: Facebook paid Republican strategy firm to malign TikTok
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
> - having Facebook/Meta experience on your resume starts hurting you against others who don't Would you penalize a mechanical engineer for having Volkswagen on their resume because you read about the VW emissions scandal? Should we refuse to hire anyone who interned for politicians who were later involved in scandals? Of course not, because it’s dumb to punish former engineers for something a previous employer did o…
VW emissions scandal is small potatoes compared to what Facebook is doing to the world. Working for a war machine company (Lockheed, GD, etc) would be a much better analogy, and I think the question is a valid one for employees of those companies, too.
Today, people from Ukraine are glad of products of such war machine companies.
Re: Facebook paid Republican strategy firm to malign TikTok
#119Isn't this what all firms do to each other, all the time? Like, isn't this just normal business these days? Isn't this sort of thing a natural eventuality in a capitalist world? Capitalism crowns the person who wins, regardless of how they won. And besides, all press is good press because it's all exposure. Why wouldn't you do this sort of thing? It's only wrong to get caught. And even then, you can pay for a lawyer…
The 'yellow peril' aspect of it was certainly disgusting.
All of Chinese economic activity is subservient to the state, including companies like ByteDance. The information they gather goes back to the state. This is not “yellow peril”, this is “Sino peril” if you must call it something scary sounding. It has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with national security and ideology.
Re: Facebook paid Republican strategy firm to malign TikTok
#120Serious question, for those with more experience than me “in the game” running big successful companies: are dirty tactics like this (and worse) par for the course and generally expected, and it’s sort of understood that the outsiders/general public are shielded from it? Or is it actually shocking? It often seems like there’s two “worlds” operating at the same time. In one, there’s outrage and indignation at this sor…
I prefer the moral clarity of playing "dirty" (but legally) compared to pretending to be nice but doing shady shit like conspiring to depress SWE salaries in emails with strict retention policies