Let me be straight — I’ve been a huge fan of Facebook since day 0. I was an early adopter in 2007 and at times have battled with an addiction to the platform that has made it hard to break. Throw in a pandemic and lack of real contact with people and I’ve found that my screen time has slowly increased, and most of it can be attributed to one app alone — Facebook.
I know I am not alone in this confession either.
I’ve shared my life and my family on the Facebook platform with my private network and, as an online marketer, I’ve used the platform to market my business and manage my client campaigns. I, like everyone else, use Whatsapp every day. I dabble on Instagram, because for me, in my late forties, I’ve always found my social media home to be Facebook — filled with people I actually know and groups that I extract vast amounts of support and wisdom from.
Let’s face it — we are all locked into the Facebook ecosystem, in some way or other. We know they are a monopoly and now we’re seeing just how insidious the world inside the Facebook headquarters is.
The irony is that Facebook tries so hard to pretend that they’re transparent and ethical, sharing their transparency reports and saying all the right words to the media. They wheel out the robotic Mark Zuckerberg to mouth the appropriate words around how they, as a business, take this all so seriously, how they care for the world and how they’re here to be a force for good. But if you haven’t worked it out by now, it’s mainly a facade for what is really going on… capitalism at its worst.
While I believe many good people with noble ideals go to work for Facebook to try to make the world a better place, the platform and the values of the company and shareholders directly contradict these people’s visions. I think they slowly realise how hard the battle is to fight to bring this behemoth into the light that they ultimately burn out or leave.
The recent Wall Street Journal’s searing and incisive exposé on Facebook, called the Facebook Files, goes behind the scenes at the company, reviewing hundreds of internal documents and interviewing whistleblower and ex-employee, Frances Haugen. The series is really worth a listen. Episode 6 interviews Frances about what was happening in her role at Facebook and why she’s decided to expose what’s going on inside. Thank God for her courage and ethics.
She details her choices — carry on the fight inside and die from working 70+ hours a week, leave and go somewhere else or blow the whistle and expose the inner workings of this organisation.
It’s truly horrifying what we don’t know about.
While we might have always suspected it, it’s now been confirmed as to how far they’ll go to put their profits before the rights and protection of people. It explains in detail how they’ve actively let misinformation spread (because it gets more engagement and eyeballs) and how they’re planning for our kids to get onto their platforms ASAP so that they lock them in for life.
These issues are so deep and serious, affecting whole country’s democracies, or whether people in countries will actually start genocides. They affect how many women and children are trafficked around the world via the platform and how many teens will now self-harm or even commit suicide because they feel so shitty about what they look like or what their lives are about, compared to everyone else.
The content shared on the platform shows how base and toxic so many humans are. What Facebook and their moderators see on a daily basis would traumatise the hardest of hearts. No wonder they send the robots in to check the content. But robots can be manipulated.
Teen mental health continues to deteriorate through what is algorithmically being displayed to young kids via Instagram. Facebook give special treatment to celebrities, shielding accounts with large followers (athletes, movie stars, politicians etc) making them exempt from the rules that I have to abide by. But the algorithm (and the whitelist) will continue to put profit first.
So much content shared is so toxic and horrific, yet in many cases they allow that content to still go out. And when they’re asked to respond internally and fix these problems, they WILL NOT DO ANYTHING that will AFFECT USER ENGAGEMENT and therefore their profit.
They are CRYSTAL CLEAR — if it interferes with their profits, it will not be stopped, even if it harms society and divides the world. They don’t care.
We knew they were coming undone with the uncovering of the Cambridge Analytica scandal during 2018… but this is so just much worse. They have actively disbanded internal teams to work on tackling these specific issues, issues that have been brought forth to them, all because it would affect profitability.
What especially makes my skin crawl is the sights they have set on our kids and how quickly they want to get them onto their platforms. I have three kids all under 12 and when I heard episode 5 today, I felt my insides turn. They have detailed plans for kids aged 1+ with strategies and product plans to get them hooked ASAP.
Personally. I’m torn because the platform does wonders for connecting people and allowing free speech. It has literally changed the world. As a natural connector and communicator, I feel like I’ve felt my community home on Facebook.
The platform has always appealed to me. I learn so much about the world around me, but especially what’s going on in my friend’s lives through the content that is shared and that I actively consume. But I’m mostly stuck in my little algorithmic bubble and echo chamber.
At what cost are Facebook willing to gamble with society (and the world at large) so that they can continue to make money? For me it exposes and cements the very ugly side of capitalism that I’ve long turned off from because it’s so vulgar and blatant. Consume, produce, exploit, profit. It’s a direct result of a patriarchal society and world we still live in (and which I wonder if we’ll ever see the end of).
For me it exposes and cements the very ugly side of capitalism that I’ve long turned off from because it’s so vulgar and blatant. Consume, produce, exploit, profit. It’s a direct result of a patriarchal society and world we still live in (and which I wonder if we’ll ever see the end of).
This WSJ exposé shows just how base Facebook is and what they truly value. They are liars. There is no other way to see it. And now you can’t unsee it. I certainly can’t. Who they are no longer resonates with me. The question I now need to answer for myself is what do I do now? I have invested heavily in time and content on the platform. Do I download my entire history (which let me tell you will be excessive) and not participate any longer? Do I deactivate my account or delete it entirely? Do I now market my own business anymore on their platforms? And is Google any better? I am lost for an answer. I only know I wanted to write what I was feeling.
Facebook have so much money to invest in sorting out their internal issues — the misinformation in the world, the human trafficking that openly happens on their platform, the destruction of children’s and adults self-esteem and the voracious pushing of advertising so that we continually consume and stay hooked and unconscious. But they have no WILL. And that disgusts me.
Facebook have so much money to invest in sorting out their internal issues — But they have no WILL. And that disgusts me.
Let’s hope this now gets the oxygen it needs to be addressed, that the US Congress (and other governments and bodies in the world) step up efforts to examine what’s happening and hold them accountable. I hope this is the start of Facebook journeying back to the light.
May they truly understand how distasteful they are as a brand right now, to me and millions of other people who will listen to these podcasts. I hope they address everything unethical and manipulative about their platform and algorithm, regardless of the profit implications.
But I’m not holding my breath.
Take a listen to the podcast episodes here:
Part 2 — We make Body Image Issues Worse
Part 3 — This Should Not Happen on Facebook
Part 4 — The Outrage Algorithm
Part 5 — The Push To Attract Younger Users
Part 8 – The New Enforcement Strategy
CREDIT Featured Image – Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
