I go after Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook a lot, I know and trust me I would love to be an equal opportunity pundit but Zuck is such an easy target. I get my news in my inbox every morning from a variety of dare I say ‘reputable’ sources and I can honestly say Facebook is a zombie train wreck on the way to a goat rodeo behind a dumpster fire, so they are hard to avoid.
There was Cambridge Analytica and the $5 billion fine.
I tried to leave Facebook alone after they admitted to being used to incite violence in Myanmar against Rohingya Muslims in March 2018. Only to have them top it off a year later by being accused, alongside Google, of human rights violations by Amnesty International for continuing to pursue a destructive Surveillance Capital Business model
“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”
-Don Michael Corleone, The Godfather Part 3
In June 2019 The Verge reported appalling work conditions for Facebook content moderators, including PTSD, at vast viewing farms operated by third party contractors allowing them to side-step labour laws. That side-step turned into a mis-step when they paid $52 million to settle a class action lawsuit brought by moderators.
The Facebook Ad boycott, part of the #StopHateforProfit movement is seeing big global brands take a break from advertising on Facebook in the hopes that the platform takes some control of the hate on the newsfeed. Zuckerberg’s response? “They’ll be back”
You can’t help but hate this guy.
Given Zuck’s most famous quote from the early days of Facebook I guess it is not surprising we ended up here.
This guy just doesn’t get it or he just doesn’t care, neither is acceptable. That Mark Zuckerberg should be allowed to destroy the fabric of our society in return for making him personally one of the richest men on the planet is a sad testament to what is wrong with the Internet.
Everyone has a come to Jesus moment…
The latest news indicates a much more existential threat to Facebook than Elizabeth Warren. The pressure to drive more connections and harvest more data has Facebook employees on the edge of revolt.
In “HURTING PEOPLE AT SCALE” Ryan Mack and Craig Silverman of Buzzfeed speak about a deep and understandable moral dilemma facing many Facebook employees who feel their work is contributing to the destruction of our society. It’s like they built the Death Star for the Empire and they are watching it target Earth not Alderan.
Working at Facebook these days, especially on something like algorithms or user-engagement must feel like working for the wrong side, no matter which ‘side’ you are on. What happens when all these people that Facebook relies on to moderate content for minimum wage stop working to protect a single rich Silicon Valley billionaire?
What happens when enough really is enough? If Facebook’s employees turn on Zuckerberg and his henchmen he really will be screwed. The one thing Zuckerberg needs to run Facebook is employees, who else would do his dirty work?
If you work at Facebook, don’t underestimate your power to speak out and affect real change. The board of directors can’t stop Zuck but Facebooks’ employees can.