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I work in a completely different industry, but it is a well-known principle that if you can show the regulator that you're regulating yourself effectively they'

I work in a completely different industry, but it is a well-known principle that if you can show the regulator that you're regulating yourself effectively they'll leave you the fuck alone. As soon as a fuckup becomes public, the regulator will start delving into every detail of your fuckups (of which you have many). It costs money and ties up valuable resources to respond to the regulator when they start getting stuck into details, so it always pays dividends to maintain an outward display of effective self-regulation. It's in every large company's interests to maintain a steady stream of propaganda to show just how splendid they are at regulating themselves.

titzer 6y ago
That's a bingo.
draw_down 6y ago
All of that is very contingent, even by your description. Facebook is itself very visible and in an industry that has a target painted on its back, and it's an election year in America. They could pull it off though, who knows.
baryphonic 6y ago
Peter Thiel has takes about this kind of propaganda (he calls it "lies") in the context of antitrust law. Firms in highly competitive markets will lie that they are highly differentiated from other firms, while monopolistic firms will lie that they are highly competitive.
Frost1x 6y ago
>It's in every large company's interests to maintain a steady stream of propaganda to show just how splendid they are at regulating themselves. Propaganda is right. Call me a cynic (because I am), but a significant portion of "effective" self-regulation is a self-interest spin on manipulating perception of efficacy. As long as you can spin your self-regulation to a point the outside mostly believes you, you can make compromises between what you should be doing and what you can get away with in the framework of profit seeking motives. Perhaps this is still more effective than external regulation? I'm skeptical.
rmrfstar 6y ago
Unfortunately NDA's and raw intimidation suppress a lot of horrific abuses. I'm sure these abound at Facebook, which has had at least one workplace suicide this year. Some families don't have the resources to investigate, the way this victim's did [1]. I don't mean to dump on Facebook, this is just one of those rare cases where it came out into the sunlight. [1] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/30/facebook-employee-suicide-being-investigated-by-law-firm-for-family.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/30/facebook-employee-suicide-be...
- squnch 6y ago
  One suicide is not unusual for a company of Facebooks size given prevailing suicide rates.

titzer 6y ago

That's a bingo.

draw_down 6y ago

All of that is very contingent, even by your description. Facebook is itself very visible and in an industry that has a target painted on its back, and it's an election year in America. They could pull it off though, who knows.

baryphonic 6y ago

Peter Thiel has takes about this kind of propaganda (he calls it "lies") in the context of antitrust law. Firms in highly competitive markets will lie that they are highly differentiated from other firms, while monopolistic firms will lie that they are highly competitive.

Frost1x 6y ago

>It's in every large company's interests to maintain a steady stream of propaganda to show just how splendid they are at regulating themselves. Propaganda is right. Call me a cynic (because I am), but a significant portion of "effective" self-regulation is a self-interest spin on manipulating perception of efficacy. As long as you can spin your self-regulation to a point the outside mostly believes you, you can make compromises between what you should be doing and what you can get away with in the framework of profit seeking motives. Perhaps this is still more effective than external regulation? I'm skeptical.

rmrfstar 6y ago

Unfortunately NDA's and raw intimidation suppress a lot of horrific abuses. I'm sure these abound at Facebook, which has had at least one workplace suicide this year. Some families don't have the resources to investigate, the way this victim's did [1]. I don't mean to dump on Facebook, this is just one of those rare cases where it came out into the sunlight. [1] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/30/facebook-employee-suicide-being-investigated-by-law-firm-for-family.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/30/facebook-employee-suicide-be...

squnch 6y ago
One suicide is not unusual for a company of Facebooks size given prevailing suicide rates.