Has the National Rail caused real and demonstrable damage to civic and social institutions around the world by permitting (and abetting) the proliferation of false information, for profit? Does the National Rail spy on and lie to its customers - again, for profit - and then continue to lie about the extent of its overreach when caught? Does the National Rail resist all attempts at transparency and regulation, fund smear campaigns against influential critics, track ex-employees and knowingly monetize the exploitation of the worst human impulses?
No, it doesn’t, because the National Rail has a transparent business model that provides a degree of accountability that Facebook has never had, and never will.
So apples and oranges.
And Cory’s criticism of Facebook isn’t motivated by his use of it; it’s not like he’s complaining about page design or whatever. The rapaciousness of FB’s business model isn’t apparent from its anodyne interface; the company’s power and revenue are derived from what it can extract, by any means necessary, from its users, for its customers (and you are not a customer, you are the product).
It’s not at all hypocritical for a non-user to survey the damage Facebook has done and pass judgment.
Cory and everyone else at BB still use Facebook because as beneficiaries of the attention economy they’ve made a financial calculus: self de-platforming would decrease exposure, with a corresponding decrease in…what? So whatever ‘criticism’ BB levels against FB, they’re tacitly cool with its models and methods because the calculus has indicated they get more than they give from the relationship, even if they’re not fully aware of what they’re giving.
Beware of Facebook (but it works for me)? Yeah, that’s most definitely hypocrisy.
Facebook is irreparably broken, and ‘criticism’ from within isn’t going to fix it. De-platforming oneself is the only morally defensible response to its toxicity.
So: quit it (and maybe build something else), or STFU.
