Nationwide outage of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - DOWN !

[SmCaudata]

Think Facebook is getting a bad rap. The problem is the people incapable of putting it down and oversharing. If it isn't FB it'd be something else. But I do think Congress needs to find a way to combat the torrent of lies posted online. Maybe it is time to update the libel laws.

Well, Facebook is choosing profits above doing the right thing. They would still make obscene money not intentionally fanning the flames and spreading disinformation. They are following the fox news formula for profits. So, no, they aren't getting a "bad rap." they made choices and people are tired of it. Wells Fargo made a bunch of secret accounts in people names to make their business bigger. I chose to leave them for a bank that appeared to be less evil.

Again, Facebook had no problems with growth before they became the cesspool they are now.


Addendum. Facebook is big tobacco...

Facebook runs the coward’s playbook to smear the whistleblower

Smears didn’t work for Big Tobacco, but Facebook’s trotting them out anyway.

www.theverge.com

 

[zinfamous]

I think you're getting old.

View attachment 51005

yep. shorty doesn't realize that Justin Bieber is at the point in his career of all young male pop idles where the 12 year old screaming girl fan base (and their current, older selves) have abandoned him, to be predictably replaced by the 28-45 year-old gay male fan club where he now is, apparently, a "major thing."

 

[brycejones]

Think Facebook is getting a bad rap. The problem is the people incapable of putting it down and oversharing. If it isn't FB it'd be something else. But I do think Congress needs to find a way to combat the torrent of lies posted online. Maybe it is time to update the libel laws.

Not sure how you can make the argument that Facebook is getting a bad rap when their own research shows how they selected content for feeds drives negative behavior and if they changed they algorithm their profits would decline.

 

[emperus]

Well, Facebook is choosing profits above doing the right thing. They would still make obscene money not intentionally fanning the flames and spreading disinformation. They are following the fox news formula for profits. So, no, they aren't getting a "bad rap." they made choices and people are tired of it. Wells Fargo made a bunch of secret accounts in people names to make their business bigger. I chose to leave them for a bank that appeared to be less evil.

Again, Facebook had no problems with growth before they became the cesspool they are now.


Addendum. Facebook is big tobacco...

Facebook runs the coward’s playbook to smear the whistleblower

Smears didn’t work for Big Tobacco, but Facebook’s trotting them out anyway.

www.theverge.com

I do think it's a generational thing. The internet has expanded vastly and has been integrated into our lives moreso than when I was young. I don't know how you put that genie back in the box without the aid of massive regulations, oversight and censorship.

I agree about the disinformation point. But how do you fix that without unintended consequences. Who decides what information is disinformation and do we really want corporate boards/government deciding that? I'm sure FB can be forced to make changes to their algorithm and maybe settings to let parents take better control on what content their kids can see. But the internet is vast and open and if you're looking for trash you'll find it (the 10 year old daughter of a friend was looking at porn on her school laptop). I think this is a personal responsibility thing. Both for the parents and ourselves.

 

[nakedfrog]

I do think it's a generational thing. The internet has expanded vastly and has been integrated into our lives moreso than when I was young. I don't know how you put that genie back in the box without the aid of massive regulations, oversight and censorship.

I agree about the disinformation point. But how do you fix that without unintended consequences. Who decides what information is disinformation and do we really want corporate boards/government deciding that? I'm sure FB can be forced to make changes to their algorithm and maybe settings to let parents take better control on what content their kids can see. But the internet is vast and open and if you're looking for trash you'll find it (the 10 year old daughter of a friend was looking at porn on her school laptop). I think this is a personal responsibility thing. Both for the parents and ourselves.

The parents have been the problem, not the kids, they can't tell disinformation from real information, or fake sources from real sources.

 

[sportage]

If John Lennon were alive he could write his new song IMAGINE THERE'S NO FACEBOOK. IT'S EASY IF YOU TRY. And it is really easy, if you really try. Or, if it actually goes down for several hours, then it's even easier to imagine.

 

[SmCaudata]

I do think it's a generational thing. The internet has expanded vastly and has been integrated into our lives moreso than when I was young. I don't know how you put that genie back in the box without the aid of massive regulations, oversight and censorship.

I agree about the disinformation point. But how do you fix that without unintended consequences. Who decides what information is disinformation and do we really want corporate boards/government deciding that? I'm sure FB can be forced to make changes to their algorithm and maybe settings to let parents take better control on what content their kids can see. But the internet is vast and open and if you're looking for trash you'll find it (the 10 year old daughter of a friend was looking at porn on her school laptop). I think this is a personal responsibility thing. Both for the parents and ourselves.

I'm not sure of you can do anything just like Fox News. You can have accountability laws for News sources which would make less fake news in general.

Shopping elsewhere, or "canceling" as the right likes to call it is the best action. Capitalism works for educated consumers. It works for business when consumers lack power or are not informed.

 

[MrSquished]

Facebook was a good learning experience. Almost every Trumpie that I knew was a Trumpie was posting insane shit - from nasty memes about Hilary, Michelle and then Kamala, to then Covid misinformation, to Biden is gonna get our guns, and then of course election stealing, their ballots were being not counted in NJ (some thought Trump had a chance to win NJ) and then plenty were about Biden the pedophile. The evangelical that used to be on my friends list was posting elaborate things about how Biden was abusing his niece and there was this cover up, all in crazy intense detail. I mean all insane. Meanwhile everyone that was a Democrat, pretty normal posts. Only one dude is like an over woke annoying super far leftist that is just over the top - defund the police type shit. Majority Trumpies - lived in an alternate reality. All but one leftie, pretty fucking normal belief system politically.

 

[emperus]

The parents have been the problem, not the kids, they can't tell disinformation from real information, or fake sources from real sources.

Agree. Not even sure how you fix that. There has been a cottage industry (Fox News type) that profit off of it. I think things have gotten so much worse because one Political party uses the misinformation to stay in Power. If both parties acted like adults and shot this ish down, it wouldn't be this bad.

 

[Stokely]

Humans are fucking animals. Our brains are still back on the prehistoric plains, no matter how many tech advancements we make. Social media (like crack and junk food) is hitting us where we have no defenses. People are far more eager to find comfort in false news than they are to find discomfort in the truth.

We are about to climate change ourselves back to the stone age over the next bunch of decades, barring some magic tech flying in at 3 minutes to midnight. And the whole time it'll be a blame game combined with "yay the end times are finally here!" from all the religious freaks.

 

[nakedfrog]

Agree. Not even sure how you fix that. There has been a cottage industry (Fox News type) that profit off of it. I think things have gotten so much worse because one Political party uses the misinformation to stay in Power. If both parties acted like adults and shot this ish down, it wouldn't be this bad.

It's not just our political parties, we know foreign actors have had their hands in the pie working up both left and right wherever they could. But this strategy generally seems to be more effective against some people... and of course, one party is less inclined to do anything about it, so long as they believe it favors them.