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The unchecked power Zuck and co have has global implications for every tiny decision they make. Who gave them this power? What makes them the best people to be

The unchecked power Zuck and co have has global implications for every tiny decision they make. Who gave them this power? What makes them the best people to be making these decisions? Can we always trust them to get it right?

roseway4 6y ago
Facebook is a private entity. Facebook’s shareholders have given Mark Zuckerberg and his management team the power to manage the company as they see fit. If users disagree with the terms and conditions of using the site, they don’t have to use it.
- Uberphallus 6y ago
  That works... for a non monopoly.
- calvinmorrison 6y ago
  It's a bit hilarious to me, that people advertise unchecked unfettered capitalism for internet companies, while arguing for regulation of every other company, say oil company X, due to externalities. Nobody's forcing you to buy gasoline silly!
  - aww_dang 6y ago
    Perhaps it is a function of groupthink. Regulation of the Internet is a relatively new phenomenon. The suggestion that consumers of petroleum (rather than regulators) are responsible for negative outcomes is nearly a heresy in comparison.
- Mangalor 6y ago
  In reality it's like Comcast. You could theoretically switch ISPs, but realistically and in practice it's a monopoly.
  - FartyMcFarter 6y ago
    A monopoly on what? Spamming users with cat videos / baby videos and various other irrelevancies? I haven't used Facebook for many years and I can contact family and friends just fine. Granted I use WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, but WhatsApp doesn't suffer from censorship (to my knowledge).
    - dotancohen 6y ago
      Try Telegram. I use neither Facebook nor Whatsapp. I don't know what Facebook is for, but I'm told that Telegram is a great replacement for Whatsapp and even people who both have Whatsapp seem to prefer Telegram between them.
    - usr1106 6y ago
      There is no monopoly, but an oligopoly. How comfortably would you avoid all 3 of Apple, Google, and Facebook? These 3 are very similar in their values, operate under the same legislation. The latter is especially worrying for people not from the US, because foreigners' rights are completely unprotected.
  - dudul 6y ago
    One nuance being that while having access to an ISP is becoming more and more of a necessity to function in today's society, one can live a very happy life without Facebook :)
  - Larrikin 6y ago
    There is effectively zero barrier to switching social networks. "Friends" that could only be accessed through Facebook I realized long ago were people I didn't actually care to talk to.
    - strawberrypuree 6y ago
      This is not true for billions of people for whom Facebook is the web. Their businesses run on it, their family only communicate through it, and giving it up would mean disconnecting, essentially, from their entire world.
- pavel_lishin 6y ago
  This is an accurate description of how things are, but they don't have to be that way.
  - longerthoughts 6y ago
    How would you change things?
vikramkr 6y ago
We gave them this power by using their platform. They earned it from us. If they'd been given this power by a government agency or something I'd be more concerned, but at the end of the day, we the people directly decided that facebook, and not MySpace or Google plus or whatever, should have this power. And as a non government agency they have the right to modulate speech on their platform. And as long as they're modulating it in this way, by pushing back against holocaust denial, i think they're showing that they are at least competent at making these sorts of decisions. If they eventually prove not to be - well - no social media company is truly too big to fail. There's no regulatory capture or unfair barriers to competition in this space. Their users and advertisers made Facebook, we can unmake it too.
duxup 6y ago
I think there's a valid concern along these lines. At the same time I feel like somehow ... regulating someone like Facebook is fraught with it's own dangers.
s_dev 6y ago
> What makes them the best people to be making these decisions? Because rightly or wrongly billions of people entrusted their data to FB in exchange for services. There is no best or worst about it -- FB are the only people who control FB servers.
- lki876 6y ago
  I don't trust them for a second. I use them because things are published there that I need to reach.

roseway4 6y ago

Facebook is a private entity. Facebook’s shareholders have given Mark Zuckerberg and his management team the power to manage the company as they see fit. If users disagree with the terms and conditions of using the site, they don’t have to use it.

Uberphallus 6y ago
That works... for a non monopoly.
calvinmorrison 6y ago
It's a bit hilarious to me, that people advertise unchecked unfettered capitalism for internet companies, while arguing for regulation of every other company, say oil company X, due to externalities. Nobody's forcing you to buy gasoline silly!
- aww_dang 6y ago
  Perhaps it is a function of groupthink. Regulation of the Internet is a relatively new phenomenon. The suggestion that consumers of petroleum (rather than regulators) are responsible for negative outcomes is nearly a heresy in comparison.
Mangalor 6y ago
In reality it's like Comcast. You could theoretically switch ISPs, but realistically and in practice it's a monopoly.
- FartyMcFarter 6y ago
  A monopoly on what? Spamming users with cat videos / baby videos and various other irrelevancies? I haven't used Facebook for many years and I can contact family and friends just fine. Granted I use WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, but WhatsApp doesn't suffer from censorship (to my knowledge).
  - dotancohen 6y ago
    Try Telegram. I use neither Facebook nor Whatsapp. I don't know what Facebook is for, but I'm told that Telegram is a great replacement for Whatsapp and even people who both have Whatsapp seem to prefer Telegram between them.
  - usr1106 6y ago
    There is no monopoly, but an oligopoly. How comfortably would you avoid all 3 of Apple, Google, and Facebook? These 3 are very similar in their values, operate under the same legislation. The latter is especially worrying for people not from the US, because foreigners' rights are completely unprotected.
- dudul 6y ago
  One nuance being that while having access to an ISP is becoming more and more of a necessity to function in today's society, one can live a very happy life without Facebook :)
- Larrikin 6y ago
  There is effectively zero barrier to switching social networks. "Friends" that could only be accessed through Facebook I realized long ago were people I didn't actually care to talk to.
  - strawberrypuree 6y ago
    This is not true for billions of people for whom Facebook is the web. Their businesses run on it, their family only communicate through it, and giving it up would mean disconnecting, essentially, from their entire world.
pavel_lishin 6y ago
This is an accurate description of how things are, but they don't have to be that way.
- longerthoughts 6y ago
  How would you change things?

vikramkr 6y ago

We gave them this power by using their platform. They earned it from us. If they'd been given this power by a government agency or something I'd be more concerned, but at the end of the day, we the people directly decided that facebook, and not MySpace or Google plus or whatever, should have this power. And as a non government agency they have the right to modulate speech on their platform. And as long as they're modulating it in this way, by pushing back against holocaust denial, i think they're showing that they are at least competent at making these sorts of decisions. If they eventually prove not to be - well - no social media company is truly too big to fail. There's no regulatory capture or unfair barriers to competition in this space. Their users and advertisers made Facebook, we can unmake it too.

duxup 6y ago

I think there's a valid concern along these lines. At the same time I feel like somehow ... regulating someone like Facebook is fraught with it's own dangers.

s_dev 6y ago

> What makes them the best people to be making these decisions? Because rightly or wrongly billions of people entrusted their data to FB in exchange for services. There is no best or worst about it -- FB are the only people who control FB servers.

lki876 6y ago
I don't trust them for a second. I use them because things are published there that I need to reach.