Originally published at: Facebook whistleblower says it fed Capitol riot and deliberately magnifies hate and misinformation for profit | Boing Boing
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Delete Instagram and WhatsApp too. And find an alternate VR platform instead of Oculus. They’re all part of the same Zucky and toxic ecosystem.
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Omg. Quitting Facebook is one of the best things I’ve ever done. This isn’t exactly a hot take but practically nothing good has ever happened to me as a result of scrolling Facebook as a time-waster 
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oh crap, i didn’t know WhatsApp is part of the Zuckerverse. i just told a new client yesterday i would install it so we could conduct meetings. ugh, now i gotta figure out how to tell her i can’t use WhatsApp.
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“Facebook, over and over again, has shown it chooses profit over safety.”
With oil spilling off the coast of California it feels like this statement could be applied to a lot more than just Facebook.
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My family wants me use to WhatsApp so they can share stupid meme videos. I refuse. My boss kind of requires it (for a while I refused, but then he kept forgetting to email me my work schedule), so I bought a separate tablet and registered with a throwaway number. My family has no idea.
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Zuck & Fbook are the other “bullshit factory”.
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“Facebook whistleblower says it fed Capitol riot and deliberately magnifies hate and misinformation for profit”
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We all already knew this. Of course a corporation valued profits over … well, anything else. That’s how we have defined a corporation to work. Of course FB’s algorithms are actively promoting hate and outrage.
I see no different outcome from this then another Senate hearing where Zuckerberg promises for the Nth time to do better.
So why is this different?
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Now do gun manufacturers and Fox News…
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It’s good to have even more internal confirmation on what we already know. Every little bit of evidence hopefully prompts more people to put more pressure on congress to enact regulations on social media companies.
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Is “Rogue Uncle” already taken for a band name? If not I call dibs.
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FB and Youtube should end the algorithm that feeds users only what they’re looking for-- it may be counterproductive if you’re looking for live Thin Lizzy performances, or the best ways to remove mildew from bathroom grout, but at least we won’t have people diving down the rabbit hole of paranoid fantasy and historical denialism.
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On Huntington Beach in Orange County, one of the largest conservative counties in California. It’s like the great invisible man in the sky is trying to send a message to all the maga-churches (sic) there.
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And now Facebook and all related FB products are down . . . coincidence?
Yeah, probably.
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Amazing how well their algorithm works when you post this article on Facebook…
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I met Mrs Peas via a Facebook post and deleting it is still one of the best things I’ve ever done!
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I’m always puzzled by the simplistic reductionism of “profits” as an explanation for bad behavior by big corporations. Any halfway decent history of just the US auto industry, for example, will show how off the mark that is. Corporations are endlessly putting ideology above profits, to the point of facing extermination, as the history of the Ford Motor Co. alone would make clear.
Should we ever get an honest history of Facebook, we’ll doubtlessly see Zuck’s ideology and psychology kneecapping his drive for profits over and over again, avoiding the evidence he has been shown. He’s not any better at this than Henry Ford.
Maybe it won’t be. But it’s worth noting that Facebook is treating it differently. They’ve gone on an usual PR defensive campaign and internal reports are that Zuckerberg is spending an inordinate amount of time dealing with this.
It’s possible it’s purely the result of some kind of shuffling of PR consultants and nothing more. But this article notes that there are things that are different about this incident than previous ones.
“While plenty of Facebook employees have spoken out against the company anonymously or internally, only a handful — particularly at a high-ranking level — have ever spoken out on the record against Facebook. And never before have they revealed such detailed evidence that the company seemingly understands but ignores systematic harms it causes. Nor has a Facebook defector had this kind of press rollout: first, a series of investigative reports with a major publication, then an unveiling on primetime television, and soon testimony before Congress — all within the span of just a few weeks.”
This doesn’t mean that the ultimate outcome will be different than before, of course. Facebook is a fantastically rich company and has a lot of resources to fight. But it’s a mistake to assume they’re different from other super wealthy corporations who have completely and utterly misjudged a challenge and shot itself in the foot with a combination of ideological blindness, narrow mindedness and ego.
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It isnt free… it only costs your soul…
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