4 ms·

The idea that facebook is this "well-documented do-bad-for-the-world organization" that has caused "damage to the world" is a perfect example of scape-goating.

by slibhb 4mo ago

The idea that facebook is this "well-documented do-bad-for-the-world organization" that has caused "damage to the world" is a perfect example of scape-goating. When you step back and try to explain exactly what the company has done that's so bad, there's nothing there.

techblueberry 4mo ago
> The idea that facebook is this "well-documented do-bad-for-the-world organization" that has caused "damage to the world" is a perfect example of scape-goating. True, none of us are innocent. > When you step back and try to explain exactly what the company has done that's so bad, there's nothing there. WTF?
bla15e 4mo ago
it's not a perfect exampe of scape-goating of the goat is still alive
ben_w 4mo ago
Off the top of my head, a genocide, albeit by being careless people rather than malicious: The chairman of the U.N. Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar stated that Facebook played a "determining role" in the Rohingya genocide.[98] Facebook has been accused of enabling the spread of Islamophobic content which targets the Rohingya people.[99] The United Nations Human Rights Council has called the platform "a useful instrument for those seeking to spread hate".[100] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_content_management_controversies#Incitement_of_human_rights_abuses_in_Myanmar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_content_management_co...
- curt15 4mo ago
  See Sarah Wynn-Williams' book and congressional testimony for more.
- slibhb 4mo ago
  You might as well blame this on Tim Berners-Lee. It's just absurd, a clueless way of thinking about moral responsibility.
  - ben_w 4mo ago
    Before Facebook subsidised the internet in Myanmar via the internet.org initiative, only 1% of the population had internet. The way Facebook chose to operate in the country made rumour indistinguishable from verified news by its users. Myanmar's Facebook community was also nearly completely unmonitored by Facebook, who at the time only had two Burmese-speaking employees. If TBL had managed to fund a huge rollout of the web, and convinced everyone that a random phpbb forum he made was filled with BBC reporters, and the defence was two full-time moderators, you can bet people would blame him if someone organised a literal genocide on that forum.
    - slibhb 4mo ago
      "We shouldn't give Burma the internet because they might commit a genocide" Do you hear yourself? Let's not give them electricity and fossil fuels either. Just keep them in dark age conditions so they don't hurt anyone.
      - ben_w 4mo ago
        > Do you hear yourself? Better than you heard me, given that's not what I said.
        solid_fuel 4mo ago
        This is an uphill battle, I'm afraid. As evidenced from their other comments, slibhb struggles a lot with basic moral concepts like "you are responsible for the things you do".
        slibhb 4mo ago
        It's very fashionable for Westerners to evince belief in the idea that inhabitants of third-world countries have no free will and aren't responsible for their actions. We're told that everything bad that happens in those countries is due to large Western companies or a history of colonization. This is all very silly. The genocide in Myanmar (it's a civil war last I checked) isn't Facebook's fault (legally or morally). Facebook has surely made mistakes, but that doesn't make them to blame for people killing each other on the other side of the world.

by slibhb 4mo ago

techblueberry 4mo ago

> The idea that facebook is this "well-documented do-bad-for-the-world organization" that has caused "damage to the world" is a perfect example of scape-goating. True, none of us are innocent. > When you step back and try to explain exactly what the company has done that's so bad, there's nothing there. WTF?

bla15e 4mo ago

it's not a perfect exampe of scape-goating of the goat is still alive

ben_w 4mo ago

Off the top of my head, a genocide, albeit by being careless people rather than malicious: The chairman of the U.N. Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar stated that Facebook played a "determining role" in the Rohingya genocide.[98] Facebook has been accused of enabling the spread of Islamophobic content which targets the Rohingya people.[99] The United Nations Human Rights Council has called the platform "a useful instrument for those seeking to spread hate".[100] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_content_management_controversies#Incitement_of_human_rights_abuses_in_Myanmar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_content_management_co...

curt15 4mo ago
See Sarah Wynn-Williams' book and congressional testimony for more.
slibhb 4mo ago
You might as well blame this on Tim Berners-Lee. It's just absurd, a clueless way of thinking about moral responsibility.
- ben_w 4mo ago
  Before Facebook subsidised the internet in Myanmar via the internet.org initiative, only 1% of the population had internet. The way Facebook chose to operate in the country made rumour indistinguishable from verified news by its users. Myanmar's Facebook community was also nearly completely unmonitored by Facebook, who at the time only had two Burmese-speaking employees. If TBL had managed to fund a huge rollout of the web, and convinced everyone that a random phpbb forum he made was filled with BBC reporters, and the defence was two full-time moderators, you can bet people would blame him if someone organised a literal genocide on that forum.
  - slibhb 4mo ago
    "We shouldn't give Burma the internet because they might commit a genocide" Do you hear yourself? Let's not give them electricity and fossil fuels either. Just keep them in dark age conditions so they don't hurt anyone.
    - ben_w 4mo ago
      > Do you hear yourself? Better than you heard me, given that's not what I said.
      - solid_fuel 4mo ago
        This is an uphill battle, I'm afraid. As evidenced from their other comments, slibhb struggles a lot with basic moral concepts like "you are responsible for the things you do".
      - slibhb 4mo ago
        It's very fashionable for Westerners to evince belief in the idea that inhabitants of third-world countries have no free will and aren't responsible for their actions. We're told that everything bad that happens in those countries is due to large Western companies or a history of colonization. This is all very silly. The genocide in Myanmar (it's a civil war last I checked) isn't Facebook's fault (legally or morally). Facebook has surely made mistakes, but that doesn't make them to blame for people killing each other on the other side of the world.