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Facebook executives shut down efforts to make the site less divisive

wsj.com

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Re: Facebook executives shut down efforts to make the site less divisive

#21

Post by troughway »

yumraj wrote: post #17

I've always wondered how such discussions go in company meetings where some product/feature has harmful effect of something/someone but is good for the business of the company. I cannot believe that everyone is ethicality challenged, only perhaps the people in control. So what goes through that minds of people who don't agree with such decisions. Do they keep quiet, just worry about the payroll, convince themselves t…

Where do you draw the line?

If the customers are willing to pay a huge markup on a product, who are you to tell them wiser?

- youdontchargeenough11 (probably)

Re: Facebook executives shut down efforts to make the site less divisive

#22

Post by yumraj »

troughway wrote: post #21
yumraj wrote: post #17

I've always wondered how such discussions go in company meetings where some product/feature has harmful effect of something/someone but is good for the business of the company. I cannot believe that everyone is ethicality challenged, only perhaps the people in control. So what goes through that minds of people who don't agree with such decisions. Do they keep quiet, just worry about the payroll, convince themselves t…

Where do you draw the line? If the customers are willing to pay a huge markup on a product, who are you to tell them wiser? - youdontchargeenough11 (probably)

This is more than just a price markup..

This is more like a pharma company or Monsanto knowing that their product kills, but ignore or hide the data and keep selling the product.

Re: Facebook executives shut down efforts to make the site less divisive

#23

Post by danharaj »

yumraj wrote: post #17

I've always wondered how such discussions go in company meetings where some product/feature has harmful effect of something/someone but is good for the business of the company. I cannot believe that everyone is ethicality challenged, only perhaps the people in control. So what goes through that minds of people who don't agree with such decisions. Do they keep quiet, just worry about the payroll, convince themselves t…

Capitalist systems sieve out people whose goals are at odds with the accumulation of capital. By the time you get to a boardroom, everyone has been tested hundreds of times for their loyalty to profit. All deviations are unstable: over a long enough period of time they will be replaced or outcompeted.

Re: Facebook executives shut down efforts to make the site less divisive

#25

Post by miguelmota »

yumraj wrote: post #17

I've always wondered how such discussions go in company meetings where some product/feature has harmful effect of something/someone but is good for the business of the company. I cannot believe that everyone is ethicality challenged, only perhaps the people in control. So what goes through that minds of people who don't agree with such decisions. Do they keep quiet, just worry about the payroll, convince themselves t…

It's kind of a combination of all the above. Majority of employees are working for a paycheck and they don’t really care what goes on as long as they get paid. If the person is in an executive type role then their goal is to increase revenue so they convince themselves that it’s good for the company.

Re: Facebook executives shut down efforts to make the site less divisive

#26

Post by troughway »

yumraj wrote: post #22
troughway wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you draw the line? If the customers are willing to pay a huge markup on a product, who are you to tell them wiser? - youdontchargeenough11 (probably)

This is more than just a price markup.. This is more like a pharma company or Monsanto knowing that their product kills, but ignore or hide the data and keep selling the product.

Division on FB started out as squabbles between friends and relatives.

And yet, here we are.

Re: Facebook executives shut down efforts to make the site less divisive

#29

Post by dorkinspace »

bitcurious wrote: post #20
sneak wrote: post #4

Do we ask or expect the same of the phone or cable companies? Why the agenda to (further) censor Facebook and similar?

If you mean that Facebook should be regulated as a utility, by all means make that argument - I think you’ll find broad support. As it is, Facebook is constantly making editorial decisions in terms of what content is shown (which posts, in what order, with what presentation). Their own research had found that some of those editorial decisions have externalities in the form of increasing social conflict. Rather than t…

> If you mean that Facebook should be regulated as a utility, by all means make that argument - I think you’ll find broad support.

In this case, would Facebook become compulsory for American citizens?

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