What Meta collects, what it sells, why it's worth more than a trillion dollars, why nobody has regulated it, and what a $17 billion settlement for harming children changed. Less than you'd think.
Meta doesn't like me... it bounced me off both FB and IG... off FB because I refused to provide an unredacted government picture ID (this in 2014 just before the Russian bot farms abd Cambridge Analytica mess) and IG in 2024 when I posted a "Meowy Purrthday" pic of my cat on a pet account - immediate deletion, less than 10 minutes for "review"... I think they were mad that I never posted any personal info... their loss 🍸
Its not only FB. My Google news feed, which i haven't figured out how to turn off, I just want to search for something, does the same thing. When I click on "less material like this" its back in a few hours.
I don't have an account because I don't want to be that hook for my family that reels them in for FB. I know how hard it is to exclude yourself from their lives and memories. Everyone of my family members and favorite people are plugged into that ecosystem. If I had an account, this article would have tipped the risk/reward scales for me.
I'm sending this to my family members. At least they can know the depth of the insidiousness. Thank you for your research and succinct writing.
my relatives got mad at me because I wouldn't rejoin FB as me to engage in their group chats... nor would I video chat with them... I'm funny when it comes to online privacy... they must have taken it personally because we have no relationship whatsoever to this day (and this was 20+ years ago) and their entire attitude and their behavior changed towards me completely... that's why I say my relatives - we only share DNA, they are not family 🍸
When I retired 15 yrs ago i on got on FB. And I found out how utterly insane my coworkers were. They let it all out there on FB. I got off twice for that shit.
I'm sorry. That's a huge price to pay. You have my respect for being this strong. My family acted like I was insulting them for not wanting to look at the photos and share with them and connect with them. In the end they all accepted it but I still get links now and then for pics or whatnot.
thank you, that's very nice of you to say... I have my memories of when we were young, and I'll hold on to that... who they became is of no interest to me, that's not the type of person I would want to be associated with anyway... so, all is good 🖤🍸
Well that was interesting. Not surprising in a world where it is safe to assume that all large corporations are set up to take advantage of as many people as possible. It is concerning that the financial incentives for Facebook to exploit people have ballooned to numbers that allow the company to control governments and defeat most countries and their regulators.
I used to work on Reels at Meta. There was a lot of filtering of nudity etc. These are designed to pass these filters I guess, and they do get higher engagement from people. I don't think anyone did this intentionally, at least not before 2023.
I find “Fluff Busting Purity”, to be fairly useful for minimizing some of the bunk on Facebook, though admittedly, I haven’t used the feed in at least 15 years. I’m only there for the few online friends I’ve literally had since the 90s, in all kinds of other groups that no longer exist, and mostly, to participate in fractal groups, where I post the fractal art I create. If I look at the feed at all, usually I only see posts from the fractal groups. https://www.facebook.com/fluffbustingpurity
I deleted Facebook in 2016 when items I was consider buying showed up in the sidebar. I knew then it was tracking everything I looked at. I don’t regret deleting it.
I don't think I've been on Facebook since Obama was President- and back then it kept suggesting profiles of women I dated many years before - and before there was even internet. I don't know or want to know how it did that. It's a big reason I deleted it.
if those links work like the ones my friends send for fun videos, etc., you should be able to view then easily, but without interaction... then again, who knows how much info is pulled just from a view by a third party 🍸
It usually does work and sometimes I will look. I still state that I don't have FB or insta when they send links just to make the case that not having an account is a possibility.
I never click on them. Every time, I hit "Hide - see fewer posts like this," and every time they keep coming anyway. The button does nothing. So this piece is a condemnation. A complaint asks for a fix, and I'm done asking.
Dumped ButtFace two years. One; the creepy delusional trump cult fucked most of my friends and family. Two; the algorithm was feeding me stupid nonsense to get me to engage with idiots and bots. Three; all they want to do is sell me shit I don’t need …
Thanks for this illuminating explanation of one of the reasons I really hate Facebook
Meta doesn't like me... it bounced me off both FB and IG... off FB because I refused to provide an unredacted government picture ID (this in 2014 just before the Russian bot farms abd Cambridge Analytica mess) and IG in 2024 when I posted a "Meowy Purrthday" pic of my cat on a pet account - immediate deletion, less than 10 minutes for "review"... I think they were mad that I never posted any personal info... their loss 🍸
Its not only FB. My Google news feed, which i haven't figured out how to turn off, I just want to search for something, does the same thing. When I click on "less material like this" its back in a few hours.
I don't have an account because I don't want to be that hook for my family that reels them in for FB. I know how hard it is to exclude yourself from their lives and memories. Everyone of my family members and favorite people are plugged into that ecosystem. If I had an account, this article would have tipped the risk/reward scales for me.
I'm sending this to my family members. At least they can know the depth of the insidiousness. Thank you for your research and succinct writing.
my relatives got mad at me because I wouldn't rejoin FB as me to engage in their group chats... nor would I video chat with them... I'm funny when it comes to online privacy... they must have taken it personally because we have no relationship whatsoever to this day (and this was 20+ years ago) and their entire attitude and their behavior changed towards me completely... that's why I say my relatives - we only share DNA, they are not family 🍸
When I retired 15 yrs ago i on got on FB. And I found out how utterly insane my coworkers were. They let it all out there on FB. I got off twice for that shit.
I'm sorry. That's a huge price to pay. You have my respect for being this strong. My family acted like I was insulting them for not wanting to look at the photos and share with them and connect with them. In the end they all accepted it but I still get links now and then for pics or whatnot.
thank you, that's very nice of you to say... I have my memories of when we were young, and I'll hold on to that... who they became is of no interest to me, that's not the type of person I would want to be associated with anyway... so, all is good 🖤🍸
Well that was interesting. Not surprising in a world where it is safe to assume that all large corporations are set up to take advantage of as many people as possible. It is concerning that the financial incentives for Facebook to exploit people have ballooned to numbers that allow the company to control governments and defeat most countries and their regulators.
I used to work on Reels at Meta. There was a lot of filtering of nudity etc. These are designed to pass these filters I guess, and they do get higher engagement from people. I don't think anyone did this intentionally, at least not before 2023.
I find “Fluff Busting Purity”, to be fairly useful for minimizing some of the bunk on Facebook, though admittedly, I haven’t used the feed in at least 15 years. I’m only there for the few online friends I’ve literally had since the 90s, in all kinds of other groups that no longer exist, and mostly, to participate in fractal groups, where I post the fractal art I create. If I look at the feed at all, usually I only see posts from the fractal groups. https://www.facebook.com/fluffbustingpurity
This will make you sick to your stomach. *This* is how much they really care about children.
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/facebook-meta-ai-generated-violent-child-abuse
I deleted Facebook in 2016 when items I was consider buying showed up in the sidebar. I knew then it was tracking everything I looked at. I don’t regret deleting it.
I don't think I've been on Facebook since Obama was President- and back then it kept suggesting profiles of women I dated many years before - and before there was even internet. I don't know or want to know how it did that. It's a big reason I deleted it.
if those links work like the ones my friends send for fun videos, etc., you should be able to view then easily, but without interaction... then again, who knows how much info is pulled just from a view by a third party 🍸
It usually does work and sometimes I will look. I still state that I don't have FB or insta when they send links just to make the case that not having an account is a possibility.
I never click on them. Every time, I hit "Hide - see fewer posts like this," and every time they keep coming anyway. The button does nothing. So this piece is a condemnation. A complaint asks for a fix, and I'm done asking.
Dumped ButtFace two years. One; the creepy delusional trump cult fucked most of my friends and family. Two; the algorithm was feeding me stupid nonsense to get me to engage with idiots and bots. Three; all they want to do is sell me shit I don’t need …
Why have an account at all on any Meta platform?
Maybe stop clicking on them?
Facebook is a toxic cesspool, irridemable, shut it down.