3 ms·

Praising is good. Gratitude is a bit much. They got this big by selling user generated content and private info to the highest bidder. Often through questionabl

Praising is good. Gratitude is a bit much. They got this big by selling user generated content and private info to the highest bidder. Often through questionable means. Also, the underdog always touts Open Source and standards, so it’s good to remain skeptical when/if tables turn.

sheepscreek 2y ago
All said and done, it is a very expensive and balsy way to undercut competitors. They’ve spent > $5B on hardware alone, much of which will depreciate in value quickly. Pretty sure the only reason Meta’s managed to do this is because of Zuck’s iron grip on the board (majority voting rights). This is great for Open Source and regular people though!
- wrsh07 2y ago
  Zuck made a bet when they provisioned for reels to buy enough GPUs to be able to spin up another reels-sized service. Llama is probably just running on spare capacity (I mean, sure, they've kept increasing capex, but if they're worried about an llm-based fb competitor they sort of have to in order to enact their copycat strategy)
- fractalf 2y ago
  Well, he didn't do it to be "nice", you can be sure about that. Obviously they see a financial gain somewhere/sometime
- tambourine_man 2y ago
  At Meta level, spending $5B to stay competitive is not balsy. It’s a bargain.
ricardo81 2y ago
>selling user generated content and private info to the highest bidder Was always their modus operandi, surely. How else would they have survived. Thanks for returning everyone else;s content and never mind all the content stealing your platform did.
jart 2y ago
I'm perfectly happy with them draining the life essence out of the people crazy enough to still use Facebook, if they're funneling the profits into advancing human progress with AI. It's an Alfred Nobel kind of thing to do.
- kataklasm 2y ago
  It's not often you see a take this bad on HN. Wow! You are aware Facebook tracks everyone, not just people with Facebook accounts, right? They have a history of being anti-consumer in every sense of the word. So while I can understand where you're coming from, it's just not anywhere close to being reality. If you want to or not, if you consent or not, Facebook is tracking and selling you.
  - jart 2y ago
    Oh no! Facebook knows who I am! No they are not selling me. How can they sell my attention to advertisers when I don't look at their ads? How can they influence me if I don't engage with their algorithm? You're the one who's trying to sell me your fear and mistrust.

sheepscreek 2y ago

All said and done, it is a very expensive and balsy way to undercut competitors. They’ve spent > $5B on hardware alone, much of which will depreciate in value quickly. Pretty sure the only reason Meta’s managed to do this is because of Zuck’s iron grip on the board (majority voting rights). This is great for Open Source and regular people though!

wrsh07 2y ago
Zuck made a bet when they provisioned for reels to buy enough GPUs to be able to spin up another reels-sized service. Llama is probably just running on spare capacity (I mean, sure, they've kept increasing capex, but if they're worried about an llm-based fb competitor they sort of have to in order to enact their copycat strategy)
fractalf 2y ago
Well, he didn't do it to be "nice", you can be sure about that. Obviously they see a financial gain somewhere/sometime
tambourine_man 2y ago
At Meta level, spending $5B to stay competitive is not balsy. It’s a bargain.

ricardo81 2y ago

>selling user generated content and private info to the highest bidder Was always their modus operandi, surely. How else would they have survived. Thanks for returning everyone else;s content and never mind all the content stealing your platform did.

jart 2y ago

I'm perfectly happy with them draining the life essence out of the people crazy enough to still use Facebook, if they're funneling the profits into advancing human progress with AI. It's an Alfred Nobel kind of thing to do.

kataklasm 2y ago
It's not often you see a take this bad on HN. Wow! You are aware Facebook tracks everyone, not just people with Facebook accounts, right? They have a history of being anti-consumer in every sense of the word. So while I can understand where you're coming from, it's just not anywhere close to being reality. If you want to or not, if you consent or not, Facebook is tracking and selling you.
- jart 2y ago
  Oh no! Facebook knows who I am! No they are not selling me. How can they sell my attention to advertisers when I don't look at their ads? How can they influence me if I don't engage with their algorithm? You're the one who's trying to sell me your fear and mistrust.