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Mark Zuckerberg Reportedly Ordered All Facebook Executives To Use Android Phones After Tim Cook Criticized Facebook (theverge.com)
A new report from the New York Times sheds some light on what happened inside Facebook last year as the company was fighting numerous scandals, including Russian interference and the Cambridge Analytica scandal in March. In addition to reportedly hiring a public relations firm to write dozens of articles critical of rivals Google and Apple, the social media company ordered Facebook executives to use Android phones, after Apple CEO Tim Cook criticized the company in an MSNBC interview for being a service that traffics "in your personal life." According to the report, the order came from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The Verge reports: In those comments made back in March, Cook dismissed a question asking him what he would do if he were in Zuckerberg's shoes dealing with the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal by saying, "I wouldn't be in this situation." Zuckerberg soon after retorted in an interview with Recode that he found Cook's comments to be "extremely glib," and that "I think it's important that we don't all get Stockholm syndrome and let the companies that work hard to charge you more convince you that they actually care more about you. Because that sounds ridiculous to me." While it's not clear how Cook's aggressive comments directly provoked Zuckerberg into issuing his Android-only order, it's still a rational decision to make Americans use Android. Android is the dominant operating system in many regions outside of the U.S., including South America, Europe, Russia, South Asia, and parts of the Middle East.
That wouldn't be petty at all...
Granted, I could see myself doing that, too ;).
Which means Facebook employees have to use the Facebook App for Android, right? Maybe this will motivate them to fix it.
it's still a rational decision to make Americans use Android. Android is the dominant operating system in many regions outside of the U.S., including South America, Europe, Russia, South Asia, and parts of the Middle East.
Bandwagon Fallacy = 'rational decision' now?
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
Way to go on the completely unbiased reporting! No bias at all!!
Zuckerberg got one right for a change
Crapdroid for crapbook. They should stick to the crap.
"Dumb fucks!"
- Mark Z. ca. 2005
Nothing has changed.
"...it's still a rational decision to make Americans use Android. Android is the dominant operating system in many regions outside of the U.S., including South America, Europe, Russia, South Asia, and parts of the Middle East."
I'm not here to get the iNerds and 'Droid Dorks all fired up, I merely question how the hell OS dominance equates to a rational decision to make Americans use a particular smartphone OS. Smartphones have become black box devices that run apps (go ahead, ask an smartphone user to find the "operating system" on their phone), and all smartphones pretty much do the same damn thing. The OS that the consumer can hardly touch is damn near irrelevant.
And where it works outside the U.S. is becoming more and more irrelevant for Americans too. They spent all their travel money on a $1000+ fashion accessory and an unlimited everything plan. They can hardly afford to change their mind, let alone their location.
Are all CEO's big babies with OCD? It would seem so.
Bring an Android phone into Apple HQ, and see how well that works out for you!
As the privacy controls on iOS are better than Android(though the difference is a lot less than it used to be) and Facebook does not seem to like such things.
Interesting! You see if Zuckerberg has any sense he would never agree Facebook to be paid service. Even if all users pay him, say 10$ per month, but then he is not allow to collect ANY data, no ads, no nothing...say 1 billion people use it that's 10 billion per month. In 1 year you are ahead of Bezos. Same for Google.
You see, that would never happen. Because the personal data are simply priceless. Truly, utterly, absolutely priceless!!! I cannot think of anything else that compares or even comes close. Having the data makes you more powerful than the whole of the rest of the world combined with all their economies, armies and nukes. You can change the entire society in a very short timespan (that's happening right now in the West; in fact I think it is over, now follows the descent into hell). You can sway people's opinions however you like; you control the information flow (in English; soon in other languages); you control who has access to platforms; you can blackmail anyone with their data if you please (something about 5 lines written by the best man comes to mind).
You are simply the ruler of the world. When an algorithm can learn more about you than you know about yourself, discover the blind spots in your worldview, your fears, insecurities, ambitions, likes, dislikes, desires, political leanings, diets, travels, your mental and physical health, who is your family (and everything about them, of course), who are your friends, where do you work, what is your education, what do you work on (do you think that when I use sometimes Google translate for work - something I am very reluctant to do but there is no alternative - they do not store that somewhere and link it to me and the company?), where do you shop, what do you buy, how much energy you use at home and when, your exact address, what is your income, every query you ever put in a search engine, every site you ever visited, every post you ever wrote, what movies do you watch, what books do you read, what music do you listen to, how much you exercise, the drugs you use (both medicine and narcotics), how fast you drive your car...I think I can go on for quite a while...
Never before was anyone capable of collecting, handling and exploiting so much data. Now the machines are more than capable of doing this and they get faster and more sophisticated all the time.
And somehow the whole world was scammed to give away the most precious thing we have for "free" service. All the above is the reason I never joined any of this. I lost all my friends, I missed hundreds of parties, I have very small social circle (which is murder for extreme extrovert as me). But I'd rather have that than betray myself to evil. And yes, I know that Google knows everything about me and Facebook is running shadow profiles and basically I am just as screwed as you are. But at least I saw it from the very beginning and resisted and talked about it. Can't do much more...
He effectively told them to stop using BSD based computers (iOS) and start using Linux based computers (Android). I suppose it's a good thing he didn't insist they switch to a Lumia phones.
Though if you think this is going to ruffle feathers then just wait until he starts insisting on Emacs instead of Vi! ;)
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
I quit facebook after I got shadowbanned, and people stopped seeing my posts. I assume this was punishment for re-sharing some anti-Hillary memes. Google and facebook are the most toxic/intolerant free-speech suppressing and intrusive companies I know of.
I've met or heard of Tom Cook. Is he someone you work with? Or is he working for facebook?
Such a douche.
One wonder if Apple would use their total control over all iPhones to sneak peeks at what Facebook executives are talking about. 'Course, if they did, there's no way for anyone outside to know about it...
Next step, all Facebook engineers must use Linux laptops instead of Macbooks. Imagine all the piteous crying, nothing hurts as much as going cold turkey on an addiction. But in the end, the Linux laptop is just better as an engineering tool. There are some very nice Windows ultrabooks that make great Linux laptops. Bonus: more computer for less money.
Of course they could also use Windows laptops if getting constantly owned inside the network is ok.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
His firm, his rules. In my firm the police is no Facebook accounts: you want to work with us, you must have no Facebook profile at all. If you already have one, the contract signed upon hiring gives you 48 hours to delete it. If you fail to comply or are discovered holding a Facebook account, your contract is terminated immediately. Our workers are more than OK and after a month of withdrawal you can see them way happier with their lives. Those who choose a social network over food on the table are not the kind of people you want as workers anyway.
Mark probably did Apple a favor if only a very tiny one.
1) No such thing as bad publicity. In this case its not even bad. People HATE facebook, they don't trust facebook. There are people who have feelings like that about Apple too of course but they don't count they were never going to buy an iWhatever anyway. Mark probably will drive some anti-fb folks into the arms of Apple.
2) I have seen this stuff play out in the corporate world. His staff will have to go buy new Android phones; but its not like Apple loses anything on the phones they have already sold those users; or any of their cut on the apps those users already bought. Meanwhile Mark's anger will at some point find a new target. At which point most of those people will go back to their preferred device. They may even end up buying a new one having given their old one away to friends or family (there by bringing some new people into the apple fold) and increasing Apples sales even more.
Zuck is being short sighted and stupid here.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
Most places where I work, we spend our time focused on our job, our customer, and our product.
Now, I have seen a few managers here and there who spend time on things other than this, but they either get weeded out or they leave.
If someone came up to us and said, change your phone, it would be like an insane person had come to work for us. Our customers have absolutely zero interest in what phones we use. Our products are not affected in any way. It has absolutely nothing to do with our job.
To use a concept from the Toyota production system, this type of thing is 100%, pure, unadulterated Waste, and should be eliminated from the production line so that we can improve our product and our customer's experience.
Oh, what about corporate culture? Best corporate culture I ever had was, having a boss who was professional and didn't waste time on this stuff
Tweedledee and Tweedledum, one trafficking in addiction, the other in voyeurism. Which is worse? Please beat each other to death.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
It would be a bit embarrasing for your C-suite to flaunt devices manufacturerd by some of your biggest critics.
Facebook is hardly the only bad actor. Let's not forget Google, looking the other way while Trump/Russian shitposters swarm Youtube.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Xi Jingpin would have been very jealous of Mark Zuckerberg.
Mark Zuckerberg is not only the emperor for life inside Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg also has the power to dictate to his subordinates what kinds of phones to use, and what kinds of phones are prohibited.
Imagine Xi Jinping has the power to order all Chinese nationals to stop using Apple phones --- China would have saved the hundreds of billions of US Dollars they doled out to Apple Inc.
Well, Android is the dominant OS for some reasons right?
Its largely cost. Not just current device but old devices running old versions of Android are plentiful at very low prices. I can get a Samsung Galaxy S4 running Android 4.4 at Walmart for $115. According to Google 8% of Android users are running this ancient version of Android, 4.4, 18% Android 5, 21% Android 6. Pick a price point and you can find legacy hardware and legacy android matching that price. So its not necessarily that people chose Android over iPhone, for many it was Android was all they could afford.
Those sort of statements coming from Zuckerberg prove what Facebook is all about. Rather then taking what Cook said and trying to improve. You just play control freak and tell everyone to avoid it. I guess old Zuck must pay for everyone's cell phones as well?
Good article, I could use without the commentary at the end: "While it's not clear how Cook's aggressive comments directly provoked Zuckerberg into issuing his Android-only order, it's still a rational decision to make Americans use Android. Android is the dominant operating system in many regions outside of the U.S., including South America, Europe, Russia, South Asia, and parts of the Middle East."
The editors should have moved this from inline or better, removed this "rational" opinion from the summary.
One of my last efforts here, I'm finding I'm going to Hackernews more frequently these days.
Why is this news? Private company, he can tell people to use shoe phones on the job if he wants. Employees can either comply or find another job.
And so high level people in companies like this piss each other off all the time, this is also not news. Its called business. is it smart or not? Who cares, its his choice.
"He seems to have the mental age of a two-year-old. Make an irrational decision, then find some vague reason to back it up." (Fixed)
This Slashdot article, and this other one today seem to indicate a mental breakdown:
Facebook Reportedly Hired a PR Firm That Wrote Negative Articles About Rivals, Pushed George Soros Conspiracy Theory
That kind of breakdown indicates a very poor childhood, in my opinion.
He should have disabled the apple FB app if he really wanted to prove something.
That Zuck just cannot take the heat and is unfit for the job.
become journalists and write about those who do. Some journalists are more petty than others.
Tyranny is the way of the autocrat, the national socialist, the democrat. They aren't racist just because they think non-whites are inferior; they think everyone is inferior to the chosen few Party Elite. They even mocked Obama behind closed doors, but he emulated their autocratic ways.
OBEY THEM!
What?
Am I the only one who can barely even parse the argument embedded here?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Fuck apple.
Eventually wind up owning some ever losing sports team. Actually all the loss in corporate management is just preparation for the losses in sport franchises.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
"I think it's important that we don't all get Stockholm syndrome and let the companies that work hard to charge you more convince you that they actually care more about you. Because that sounds ridiculous to me."
I'd love to hear more about how Mark Zuckerberg is trying to charge his customers (advertisers) less.
It’s so comforting to know that a tyrannical, vindictive, petulant child who brazenly lies before congress (“shadow profiles”) is ultimately lord god over a greedy international corporate behemoth that can alter democracy and contains all user personal information what could possibly go wrong?
Don't pick Samsung then, dummy. Google and Sony both give monthly updates. Probably others too.
Find me a company that has a usable, unlockable bootloader, and doesn't want to penalize people because they desire a "#" prompt.
With root, Android is very secure, especially with a utility like xPrivacy that happily passes bogus data to asks that asks for way too much. Root also gives firewalling, ability to backup/archive apps with Titanium Backup, ability to present the phone as a CD, hard drive, or what ever you want via USB, and many other things. Hell, I have a HTC Desire phone running as a DNS cache and a NTP server, and its battery is long since gone, but it performs a network function without issue.
Without root, Android is a privacy nightmare. Yes, newer apps have switches, but it is often all or nothing, and Android permissions allow for apps to slurp a lot of data.
Until Android fixes the privacy issue, or there is a decent rootable phone, I'll stay with iOS.
I would quit that job before I switch to an inferior Android device. Their logo looks like a walking trash can for Christ-sake!
That's what this article seems like.
Your ordering employees to use Android phones just shows how pathetically petty, vindictive, and authoritarian you are.
Nothing personal, but go fuck yourself.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
You've never heard of Tom Cook? He was the assistant dolly grip for Jaws 3.
Dear all FB employees - we need to track you more easily. I can't tell what you are thinking. Let us develop the new level of tracking daily lives by having you beta test our new listening device on Android. It is impossible to implement this on iOS.
Plus I don't like Tim Cook.
Thanks, :-D
-The Big Z.
"I think it's important that we don't all get Stockholm syndrome and let the companies that work hard to charge you more convince you that they actually care more about you. Because that sounds ridiculous to me."
Hilarious coming from the man who runs a company that does the exact same thing! The only difference is that his currency of choice is personal data and not dollars. It really shows us how disconnected from reality he really is, so much so that he doesnt see the reflection on his self in those words. Facebook is always looking for ways to collect more data from us, all the while trying to tell us that they care, yet it is clear by their operation that all they care about is the profits from advertising dollars.
There are 20K+ MacBooks at Facebook and that's not likely to change.
Unfortunately, they were too stupid to figure out the complexities of Android vs IOS.
In other news, Facebook announced today they are buying Motorola from Lenovo and plan to resurrect the flip-phone as soon as they confirm that the flip-phone will support both mental and physical masturbation with one hand.
When you get caught doing really sleazy stuff, Facebook, STOP DOING MORE SLEAZY STUFF!
There is absolutely no reason why anyone should use Facebook anymore.
Tim Cooke is one to talk. Following his "curation" of free speech..
https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/yw95kg/this-is-why-apple-ceo-tim-cook-banned-alex-jones
Zuckerberg soon after retorted in an interview with Recode that he found Cook's comments to be "extremely glib," ...
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
He should just have bought highest end android he could, and gifted them to every executive with a note saying he was looking forward to seeing them all using his gift. Then have some minions write a program that only runs on that phone model, for secure (and ironic) communication with his execs.
carrot and stick. Carrot works better.
- Tjp
I am in wallow with my inner money grubbing capitalistic pig. ... Oink!
Does Facebook pay for its employees' phones? If not, well, you can go fuck yourself Mark.
Obligatory car analogy (but absolutely true): My dad worked as a mechanic at a Chrysler dealer for over 40 years. He was never prevented from driving to work in a Ford or GM or a Ferrari for that matter. They're called *laws*.
Now, a company car? *They* provide you with what they want you to drive. So again, are those company phones?
I'm not sure how the comment comes to that conclusion. The rational decision for a company as large and as influential as Facebook is to ensure all their executives, especially the ones who travel or work in other jurisdictions are using secure devices that a resilient to hacking / trojans or other forms of espionage. Not just by state actors, but potentially their rivals in Google or Apple who... make the most popular phone platforms. Really their execs should be running handsets stripped of all Google / Apple software, or at least designed in a way to silo / protect any information they might get on their phones from other processes.
Because he was terrified of Apple's success, Ballmer famously wouldn't allow his kids to own an iPod, forcing them to use the "uncool Zune" instead.
Zuckerberg is also ridiculous, immature, narcissistic and petty.
Tim Cook's comments were the truth; too bad Suckerberg thinks we're all too stupid to realize it.
Ummm its down a whole bunch right now. But dont let facts get in the way of worshiping apple.
I heard Soros funded an anti-apple campaign aimed at Zuckerberg so that his execs would not have phones difficult for Soros funded law enforcement departments to examine.
FB needs to combat Apple? The former should stick to its priorities: user data, personal info, harvesting of both, exposing trolls, did I mention harvesting personal info, profit, duking it out with Apple in the press, China,etc
Google used to be better at updates. Speaking as a Nexus 4 and 5 owner. Google is my first choice for Android but the longevity of their support has diminished.
Tomothy
I remember back in the mid to late 90's seeing all of this shit start and warning people of what was gonna happen.
There were a few who agreed, but the rest of u asshats in IT, loved the idea. Couldn't wait to get ur grubby fucking hands on the loot. Privacy and the end user b damned. Didn't give a fuck as long as u got paid. Until that situation gets fixed, and admins are more than just yes men the problem will continue.
Grow a fucking backbone.
Talking about bullshit that doesn't matter. Fuck off and die
"it's still a rational decision to make Americans use Android"
wait wat? I don't even.
Zuck's comment a few years ago that he could "buy the country of Greece" with his new stock profits was a bit glib too.
One day that self-important man is going to realize that he is not actually in charge any more. If he decides that the monster he's created needs trimming down, or breaking apart, or any number of other things that result in a decline in user base or profitability but also are good for things like democracy, culture, or mental health, he will be dumped out to pasture. Perhaps he already has been, and the most impactful thing he can do at this point is issue petulant orders to his fellow execs to use a different phone.
to go suck a dick... Android sucks balls. It's supremely shit and un-intuitive, not to mention a bastardised version of everything else out there that's good. Its like shareware.