Scandals keep swirling around Facebook. They just don’t seem to end. Just head over to Google and search “Facebook scandals” to get an idea of these.
This past week I watched Mark Zuckerberg be less than forthcoming about their involvement in and knowledge of Cambridge Analytica. I think we will discover in time if he lied under oath or not and to be honest its not looking good. To make matters worse, it has just been reported that they ok’ed the previous owners of Cambridge Analytica as a trusted news source on their platform.
This past week I watched Mark Zuckerberg be less than forthcoming about their involvement in and knowledge of Cambridge Analytica. I think we will discover in time if he lied under oath or not and to be honest its not looking good. To make matters worse, it has just been reported that they ok’ed the previous owners of Cambridge Analytica as a trusted news source on their platform.
Something is wrong here and it is not sitting well with me.
The more investigative journalists dig into the company the worse it seems to get. It would seem that their leadership is unable or unwilling to course correct, all in pursuit of the mighty ad dollar or worse.
At first my opinion on this was similar to why I keep driving a car. Cars are dangerous and literally kill millions of people every year. Yet I still drive because at the moment the benefits outweigh the risks for me, also, quite frankly how else would I get around? I have kept using Facebook using similar reasoning — the benefits outweigh the risks I told myself.
But I am not so sure that reasoning works for me anymore. While I may at this point pretty much be forced to use a car, I certainly am not forced to use Facebook. There are alternatives.
Facebook and it’s business model, it’s shocking irresponsibility with user data, its inability or unwillingness to stop the spread of misinformation, is causing REAL harm. Worse is its apparent unwillingness to accept responsibility and make the sweeping changes necessary to stop the harm. It’s beginning to tear at the very fabric of society.
How different is this from Shell or BP, who have know for decades about the harm their products are causing to the environment and people, but have continued polluting and expanding anyway? How different is this to the meat industry which despite knowing about the horrendous treatment of animals continues anyway?
As a single individual, there is little I can do to get these companies to change course. However, it IS my choice as to whether I will support them and whether I want to be associated with them. If I won’t work for an oil company, or a meat company, or a cigarette company, why would I continue to be a willing participant in Facebook, feeding their algorithms and business model, while at the same time having serious misgivings and serious legitimate questions about their ethics and the real world harm they are causing and their trying to cover it all up?
As a result of all this I am going to take some time to get clarity on these issues and also to see if anything is going to reverse the trajectory they are on. Until then I am pausing my participation on their platform.
If you want to stay connected with me I an active elsewhere on the social web eg on LinkedIn & Twitter. Almost everything I publish is also available on my blogs at FutureWork IQ and here. Remember to subscribe to these if you use an RSS reader like Feedly.
The more investigative journalists dig into the company the worse it seems to get. It would seem that their leadership is unable or unwilling to course correct, all in pursuit of the mighty ad dollar or worse.
At first my opinion on this was similar to why I keep driving a car. Cars are dangerous and literally kill millions of people every year. Yet I still drive because at the moment the benefits outweigh the risks for me, also, quite frankly how else would I get around? I have kept using Facebook using similar reasoning — the benefits outweigh the risks I told myself.
But I am not so sure that reasoning works for me anymore. While I may at this point pretty much be forced to use a car, I certainly am not forced to use Facebook. There are alternatives.
Facebook and it’s business model, it’s shocking irresponsibility with user data, its inability or unwillingness to stop the spread of misinformation, is causing REAL harm. Worse is its apparent unwillingness to accept responsibility and make the sweeping changes necessary to stop the harm. It’s beginning to tear at the very fabric of society.
How different is this from Shell or BP, who have know for decades about the harm their products are causing to the environment and people, but have continued polluting and expanding anyway? How different is this to the meat industry which despite knowing about the horrendous treatment of animals continues anyway?
As a single individual, there is little I can do to get these companies to change course. However, it IS my choice as to whether I will support them and whether I want to be associated with them. If I won’t work for an oil company, or a meat company, or a cigarette company, why would I continue to be a willing participant in Facebook, feeding their algorithms and business model, while at the same time having serious misgivings and serious legitimate questions about their ethics and the real world harm they are causing and their trying to cover it all up?
As a result of all this I am going to take some time to get clarity on these issues and also to see if anything is going to reverse the trajectory they are on. Until then I am pausing my participation on their platform.
If you want to stay connected with me I an active elsewhere on the social web eg on LinkedIn & Twitter. Almost everything I publish is also available on my blogs at FutureWork IQ and here. Remember to subscribe to these if you use an RSS reader like Feedly.
No comments:
Post a Comment