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> A senior member of Ethiopia's media accused Facebook of “just standing by and watching this country fall apart”. Why the hell does one company get hold so mu

by Ovid 5y ago

> A senior member of Ethiopia's media accused Facebook of “just standing by and watching this country fall apart”. Why the hell does one company get hold so much power in the world? More to the point, why does Mark Zuckerberg, an apparently immoral man-boy, get to make decisions like this? Remember when Myanmar used Facebook to coordinate/incite genocide? https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/technology/myanmar-facebook-genocide.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/technology/myanmar-facebo... Or when Facebook was being used in Kenya to orchestrate vigilante murders? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47805113 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47805113 Or how about when Zuckerberg refused to introduce any controls to livestreaming after the New Zealand mosque massacre was livestreamed? https://www.thewrap.com/mark-zuckerberg-defends-facebook-livestreaming-after-new-zealand-massacre/ https://www.thewrap.com/mark-zuckerberg-defends-facebook-liv... Facebook only reluctantly banned white supremacists groups. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/facebook-bans-white-nationalism-after-pressure-civil-rights-groups-n987991 https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/facebook-bans-white-n... Or how about in 2016 when a young man's murder was livestreamed and Facebook refused to take down the stream "because it doesn't violate the company's community standards." https://money.cnn.com/2016/06/17/technology/facebook-live-shooting-death/index.html https://money.cnn.com/2016/06/17/technology/facebook-live-sh... How the hell did we get into such a dystopian hellscape where one company so brazenly, openly, supports evil? Cyberpunk as a genre is dead because it's no longer fiction.

Tenoke 5y ago
>Why the hell does one company get hold so much power in the world? More to the point, why does Mark Zuckerberg, an apparently immoral man-boy, get to make decisions like this? It's a communication platform that some are using to communicate good things and some bad. People seriously talk like Zuckerberg is sitting in his office deciding which country to bring genocide to when it's absurd to think he has made a decision to that effect. At this point I'm glad nobody owns email (officially) since people here would be calling for it to be censored and for email's CEO to stop causing human rights abuses, too.
- macilacilove 5y ago
  > Zuckerberg is sitting in his office deciding which country to bring genocide to when it's absurd to think he has made a decision to that effect I don't find it absurd at all that one of the most powerful people on earth would make such decisions. The point is not to give one person such power, not for us to decide if he is just an awkward mostly harmless geek (as portrayed in a movie) or not.
  - ryan93 5y ago
    Genocides have happened countless times sans Facebook.
    - macilacilove 5y ago
      Your Honor, I did not steal that car because theft happened countless times without me.
      - djohnston 5y ago
        I think the issue is more deep seated, we should sanction TCP
  - csee 5y ago
    Propose a solution. If decentralized, how will you stop incitement to genocide? If government run, how will you stop political censorship and risk of authoritarian takeover? If privately run, what changes are you suggested to the current approach?
    - macilacilove 5y ago
      I don't have a full solution, but as much as possible we need direct democratic control over how the algorithm works and tools to verify that it follows the agreed rules. Social networks should not be owned by "some guy" just as the court and the police, rather work according to the rules of society. Zuckerberg should probably be compensated for the wealth he created, but he is not entitled to this level of control over sociaty.
spacexsucks 5y ago
This a legit post. Not sure why it is downvoted. Typical preachy HN. Zuckerboerg wants the company to be treated like a publishing platform, just like google. But when legislations they are just a service provider. Stick to a story

by Ovid 5y ago

Tenoke 5y ago

>Why the hell does one company get hold so much power in the world? More to the point, why does Mark Zuckerberg, an apparently immoral man-boy, get to make decisions like this? It's a communication platform that some are using to communicate good things and some bad. People seriously talk like Zuckerberg is sitting in his office deciding which country to bring genocide to when it's absurd to think he has made a decision to that effect. At this point I'm glad nobody owns email (officially) since people here would be calling for it to be censored and for email's CEO to stop causing human rights abuses, too.

macilacilove 5y ago
> Zuckerberg is sitting in his office deciding which country to bring genocide to when it's absurd to think he has made a decision to that effect I don't find it absurd at all that one of the most powerful people on earth would make such decisions. The point is not to give one person such power, not for us to decide if he is just an awkward mostly harmless geek (as portrayed in a movie) or not.
- ryan93 5y ago
  Genocides have happened countless times sans Facebook.
  - macilacilove 5y ago
    Your Honor, I did not steal that car because theft happened countless times without me.
    - djohnston 5y ago
      I think the issue is more deep seated, we should sanction TCP
- csee 5y ago
  Propose a solution. If decentralized, how will you stop incitement to genocide? If government run, how will you stop political censorship and risk of authoritarian takeover? If privately run, what changes are you suggested to the current approach?
  - macilacilove 5y ago
    I don't have a full solution, but as much as possible we need direct democratic control over how the algorithm works and tools to verify that it follows the agreed rules. Social networks should not be owned by "some guy" just as the court and the police, rather work according to the rules of society. Zuckerberg should probably be compensated for the wealth he created, but he is not entitled to this level of control over sociaty.

spacexsucks 5y ago

This a legit post. Not sure why it is downvoted. Typical preachy HN. Zuckerboerg wants the company to be treated like a publishing platform, just like google. But when legislations they are just a service provider. Stick to a story