5 ms·
Em, this is a private company. I see what you mean, but this hardly points to some dystopia.
by roydivision 3y ago
Em, this is a private company. I see what you mean, but this hardly points to some dystopia.
- LightHugger 3y agoThat's cute. With sufficient size and influence over your life, a private company is a form of government.
- malka 3y agosounds like an argument for nationalization.
- ryandrake 3y agoMeta only has as much influence over our lives as we give it. I don't use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or any Meta product. What influence does the company have over me that even remotely rises to the level of "government?"
- philpem 3y agoBingo. Even a relatively tiny company can have a huge impact on your life. Say you're interested in a niche hobby, so niche there's only one company who organises meet-ups and events around that hobby. The best friend of the chairman runs the main online forum for that hobby. If you have a falling-out with either of those people, or their friends - you're going to lose all the social aspects of your hobby, and they're probably going to slander you to everyone they know. And people will repeat the lies, assuming that the chairman of the major event of the niche hobby wouldn't lie... and on and on. The people who seek these roles absolutely love this, though homeowners' associations are probably the more familiar example of the same power structures.
- johnnyanmac 3y ago>so niche there's only one company who organises meet-ups and events around that hobby. If it's that niche that no one else forms groups around it, that sounds like an issue in and of itself. >If you have a falling-out with either of those people, or their friends - you're going to lose all the social aspects of your hobby, and they're probably going to slander you to everyone they know. sounds like your average small town experience. People can be cruel, they don't need a company to enable that.
- roydivision 3y agoThat's your choice, law is not
- garba_dlm 3y agosure, ok... but in some places it functions as a public utility further, there was a principle of roman law that forbids this... then again the USA is not following those principles (civil law) but common law which means you can disregard what I say you seem like you haven't actually read the referenced book, but only heard about it
- K0balt 3y agoWhen a company becomes pervasive enough to become a feature of the ambient social, commercial or economic environment, the argument of “its a private company” loses its validity. At that point the company serves a vital public function, and its rules and actions bleed into public governance. Which is a great argument for limiting the scope and size of companies that interface directly with the public.
- kobalsky 3y agowasn’t this mere private company recently in the spotlight for a scandal related to getting a us president elected through manipulation ? maybe you should be holding them to a different set of standards
- nrdxp 3y agoThis endlessly parroted argument argument is so tired and lazy already. How big do these companies have to get before you turn your brain back on?
- squarefoot 3y agoExactly. This is a private company, and unlike a nation in which you can still have some word with your vote by becoming automatically a citizen from birth, you must buy your place as a shareholder in order to have a voice in whatever direction the company is going to. Now imagine a private company that slowly eats every spot in which users could buy or sell product and services; what would happen if say they one day decide to limit your business in there? Indeed you can still breathe, but the western world you're pretty much dead in every other way.
- henry2023 3y ago1 in 4 people in the world has an account in this private company.
- roydivision 3y agoAnd they would do well to understand what that actually means