Facebook Now Faces a Massive Backlash. But Will Anything Change? (fortune.com)

Slate argues that Facebook "is a normal sleazy company now," saying the company "obscured its problems and fought dirty against its critics" -- but that now its failings are being publicly aired. And Reason provides yet another example: The Times also reveals that Facebook chose to support FOSTA (and its Senate counterpart, SESTA) -- legislation that guts a fundamental protection for digital publishers and platforms, and makes prostitution advertising a federal crime -- not as a matter of principle but as a political tactic to tar opponents and cozy up to Congressional critics.
Even Steve Wozniak has joined the critics, saying this week that Facebook should "stop putting money before morals," adding later that "I haven't seen them do one real thing." Woz also suggested that Facebook should allow users to export their data so they could upload it onto competing social networks.

Now long-time Slashdot reader pcjunky reports that the same scammy ad has been running on Facebook for a full two months after it was reported. But maybe they're just understaffed? Engadget reports that over the last six months Facebook has discoverd and eliminated 1.5 billion different fake accounts -- which is 200 million more than the 1.3 billion accounts it removed in the previous six months. On the Blind app, one Facebook employee reportedly asked the ultimate question: "Why does our company suck at having a moral compass?"

So where will it all lead? According to Fortune, Senators Chris Coons and Bob Corker "warned Friday that Congress would impose new regulations to rein in Facebook unless the social-media company addresses concerns about privacy and the spread of misinformation on its platform."

But will anything change?

Comments

"now"?

[Meneth]

As I recall, Facebook has always been one of the sleaziest companies on the planet. You'll recall the "dumb fucks" quote.

Re: "now"?

[msauve]

"People are upset because now they think Facebook helped the *other* party."

In a large sense, that's true. Facebook (and other social media) has increased political polarization by creating a feedback loop out of people's narrowly focused worldview, instead of expanding their range of thought.

#deletefacebook

I talked to a round 1 employee.

[Anonymous Coward]

He bragged about their misbehavior back then, as well as how much money they were making off it. The data mining facebook was just a matter of time based on what he said back then, and I didn't trust them much as a result. Finally everybody else is catching up to the concerns I've had for 20 years and they have been oblivious to.

Next up: Google, Cloudflare, Akamai, Valve/Steam, Akamai, and a few other huge data companies.

We are not a number, or a product, we are a customer. The sooner the peasants remember that mantra the sooner corporations will be reined in.

Re:I talked to a round 1 employee.

[Anonymous Coward]

We are not a number, or a product, we are a customer. The sooner the peasants remember that mantra the sooner corporations will be reined in.

Sorry to burst your bubble but, at least in Facebook's case, you're definitely the product.

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[Anonymous Coward]

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Re:Facebook

[Artem S. Tashkinov]

Because every website that has a Facebook Like button on it is sending information about you back to Facebook. Because every website that loads Facebook Javascript is sending information about you back to Facebook.

There are dozens of other companies on the Internet which collect your information without your consent. Facebook is not the worst offender and if everyone's so concerned, we must enact the laws which make information gathering illegal in general vs. persecuting Facebook alone.

Also, just also, the way the web was designed in the first place makes it very difficult to evade such kind of tracking, so this issue must be solved at the web browser level as well. I've solved it by using session only cookies, having NoScript installed and disabling web browser disk cache. But that's not nearly enough unfortunately since your web browser leaves dozen of fingerprints which are very difficult to hide unless you switch to the Tor browser.

Let's be honest: tracking on the Internet is a serious issue and it's not just Facebook which abuses it to its advantage.

Except China

[khchung]

Funny thing is Facebook is blocked in China.

You know, as if the Chinese govt looked at Facebook and understood its implications years ago.

Re:The CEO of US Capitalism.

[swillden]

The essential fiduciary duty of a publicly traded company is to maximize profits for its shareholders without regard to any moral considerations.

This is untrue.

The essential duty of a publicly-traded company is to work towards the goals outlined in its articles of incorporation and IPO letters, and perhaps the will of the shareholders if votes are held to alter those documented goals (not common). The goals nearly always include generating profits, but that's often not the only goal, and sometimes it isn't even the primary goal. It is always a goal, because all publicly-traded corporations are for-profit (US law bars non-profit corporations from selling shares).

And even for corporations that do have profit generation as their primary, or only, goal, it's still not true that directors and executives will be held legally accountable for failing to maximize profit. In theory that's possible, in practice it only happens with the most egregious of mismanagement.

There are characteristics of large organizations that tend to dilute moral concern and enable otherwise reasonably-moral individuals to make extremely amoral decisions. But it has nothing to do with fiduciary duty. Please, let's kill this tired old trope.