WhatsApp co-founder tells everyone to delete Facebook • Hacker News Board

Re: WhatsApp co-founder tells everyone to delete Facebook

#181

Post by ggregoire » Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 3:38 AM UTC

iliketosleep wrote: post #31

It's quite ironic that this is the man who sold WhatsApp and its enormous userbase to facebook, creating a total lock in to the facebook ecosystem for many who do not even use facebook. He would have known what kind of a company facebook is, so I don't understand the contradiction between selling Whatsapp to them and now caring about these issues. Anyway, I am still glad he's getting behind the #deletefacebook moveme…

> I don't understand the contradiction between selling Whatsapp to them and now caring about these issues.

You would refuse $16 billions from Facebook?

Re: WhatsApp co-founder tells everyone to delete Facebook

#182

Post by simula67 » Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 3:39 AM UTC

freejulian wrote: post #172

simula67 wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They also organized anti-Trump protests after the election : http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/02/16/indictment-reveal...

Who did? The Russian government? Russian citizens? How did they organize these protests? Where’s the evidence? Also, this is a completely different claim, separate from the “Russia interferes with our election” claim.

Agreed, Russian citizens doing stuff may not mean Russian government ordered it

Re: WhatsApp co-founder tells everyone to delete Facebook

#183

Post by untog » Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 3:39 AM UTC

earenndil wrote: post #79

untog wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's just that Google maybe be a bit hesitant to sell data to 3rd parties Which is the entire point. I know Google is taking data when I use Google products. The problem arises when Google freely gives my data to a random third party company I neither know nor trust, without my knowledge.

Why is it better that google has your data than that another company has your data?

Because I agreed to give it to them, for one.

For another, I know what Google is. And where it is - they have an address. They're in the US. I could, if I wanted, sue them.

Compare that to a literally limitless number of unknown organisations all across the world? Yeah, I'd say Google is better.

Re: WhatsApp co-founder tells everyone to delete Facebook

#184

Post by fareesh » Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 3:39 AM UTC

drawkbox wrote: post #165

fareesh wrote: post #86

Despite the barrage of negative stories that would have ended nearly every other Presidential campaign - ranging from accusations of racism, misogyny, treason, incompetence, mental instability - despite all of it, tens of millions of Americans absolutely love President Trump. I cannot imagine how utterly frustrating it must be for them to watch the media bounce from story after story in some convoluted attempt to exp…

> from the tens of millions who feel wronged and cheated by electoral results that they lost fair and square. Are you not doing as exactly as you are highlighting? If there were underlying forces at work that were foreign would that not mean it wasn't fair and square? Citizens United vs FEC[1] unfortunate decision in 2011 led to infusions of foreign funds[2] that outnumber what US citizens are legally allowed to cont…

The winning candidate spent significantly less money in this instance.

Also I tend to agree with Citizens United. Unions and Corporations should be allowed to express their views on a candidate.

If there is someone running for office and making a BS claim about steel workers, I would want steelworkers unions to have the right to advertise and inform me that it is BS.

Also if you get into issue based stuff, it becomes extremely overzealous to prevent unions and Corporations from being able to speak up during an election. Planned parenthood, for example, has a lot of misconceptions about it, they should have the right to do something about that.

I also understand the scope for abuse with citizens united, but I don't think curtailing first amendment rights is ever a good idea.

Probably worth noting that I'm not American, my opinion of this case is shaped by my listening to SCOTUS oral arguments of the case on YouTube many years ago.

Re: WhatsApp co-founder tells everyone to delete Facebook

#185

Post by resource0x » Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 3:39 AM UTC

fareesh wrote: post #86

Despite the barrage of negative stories that would have ended nearly every other Presidential campaign - ranging from accusations of racism, misogyny, treason, incompetence, mental instability - despite all of it, tens of millions of Americans absolutely love President Trump. I cannot imagine how utterly frustrating it must be for them to watch the media bounce from story after story in some convoluted attempt to exp…

> ranging from accusations of racism, misogyny, treason, incompetence, mental instability - despite all of it

Same happened in USSR, Yeltsin was accused in almost all of the above, and won - not so much despite of this, but to a large extent due to this. When the entire establishment gangs up against one, the normal human instinct is to support him. And the effect is so well-known that I'm actually suprised Trump's opponents acted this way.

Re: WhatsApp co-founder tells everyone to delete Facebook

#186

Post by iscrewyou » Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 3:40 AM UTC

fareesh wrote: post #86

Despite the barrage of negative stories that would have ended nearly every other Presidential campaign - ranging from accusations of racism, misogyny, treason, incompetence, mental instability - despite all of it, tens of millions of Americans absolutely love President Trump. I cannot imagine how utterly frustrating it must be for them to watch the media bounce from story after story in some convoluted attempt to exp…

How do you explain lower turnout for Hillary Clinton when compared to Obama's two turnout numbers?

Re: WhatsApp co-founder tells everyone to delete Facebook

#187

Post by drdeca » Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 3:40 AM UTC

dingo_bat wrote: post #157

tree_of_item wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you just not paying attention to the Mueller investigation? There's like five guilty pleas by now. Is that just a nothing burger? Seriously, what do you think that's all about? If you want a timeline of events you can go here[0] or here[1], but something tells me you won't accept these... [0]: https://www.politico.com/trump-russia-ties-scandal-guide/tim... [1]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018…

Can you spell it out? How did Russia "hack" the election? Please try to be specific. If I wanted random news stories, I'd google them.

The topic at hand is "meddling", not "hack"ing. Please don't try to change the topic.

Re: WhatsApp co-founder tells everyone to delete Facebook

#188

Post by lovelearning » Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 3:40 AM UTC

While I agree with the co-founder, I wish he'd also suggested deleting WhatsApp given that it's become a tool for many people spreading lies, disinformation, propaganda, faked photos, fake videos and hatred.

Re: WhatsApp co-founder tells everyone to delete Facebook

#189

Post by lulmerchant » Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 3:40 AM UTC

lgregg wrote: post #171

lulmerchant wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, he won thanks to ~63,000,000 votes. You’re also trying to make it sound like there was something uniquely nefarious about his campaign. He used the same marketing tactics that all recent campaigns have used. The same tactics that Obama was widely praised for in 2012. He won because voters liked him more.

* he won thanks to 304 electoral votes and ~3,000,000 less popular votes.

Neither candidate was campaigning for a popular vote, they were both campaigning to win the electoral college. Which Trump did because ~63,000,000 Americans decided, purely of their own free will, that he was the better candidate. No matter how much you try to retroactively gerrymander the outcome, both candidates were playing on a level playing field, one of them won and one of them lost. It’s really a testament to democracy that an outsider candidate can prevail over the amount of establishment support Hillary had.

Re: WhatsApp co-founder tells everyone to delete Facebook

#190

Post by dwaltrip » Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 3:40 AM UTC

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #150

aptwebapps wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The election was won by a very slim margin. The core of Trump's support may have been with him regardless but they weren't enough to win. It's the actions on the margin that matter here. Also, as other's have pointed out, there are a lot of other problems with social media in general and Facebook in particular. Russian meddling in the election is the spark that is lighting the fire but the fuel was already there. (Th…

It's the actions on the margin that matter here. Just think of what this whole story (Foreign meddling) says about these marginal voters in that case: That they were so easily swayed, that they decided to vote ostensibly against their own better judgement simply by being shown a series of ads to influence their emotions. Something is very wrong with voter education if it's that easy to sway a certain influential popu…

Or they really disliked both candidates, so a small push could send them in either direction. Just as an example.

It's pretty difficult to make meaningful wide-ranging inferences about the voter populations this way.