longer.blue

I've just finished reading "Careless People,"(1) Sarah Wyn-Williams's revealing tale of her years working at Facebook (now Meta). Sarah Wyn-Williams appeared with Carol Cadwallader and Professor Tim Wu at this year's Hay Literary Festival to discuss her book. At the last moment she was prevented from doing so by a legal order from Meta's lawyers effectively banning her from speaking. She sat in total silence throughout the meeting, but received a rapturous ovation from the audience at the end. The story of her gagging went viral around the world and her book sales soared over 300% week on week. That's one in the eye for Zuckerberg's arrogance. But it's more than that: for a long time Facebook was considered one of the better platforms. "Careless People," reveals that is not the case. The irresistible combination of money and power always entices the devil from his hole. Facebook (Meta) is no exception. It's only interest in it's users is the money they bring it. Facebook's algorithms were responsible for the vilest atrocities against the Rohingya in Myanmar during the junta's ethnic cleansing in 2017, according to Amnesty International (2) Zuckerberg was obsessed with capturing the market in China, over a billion potential customers, and was even prepared to offer the Chinese government access to users' data (3) in exchange for permission to go ahead. Fortunately, he failed to provide sufficient guarantees to satisfy Xi Jinping, or who knows how many Chinese would have ended up incarcerated, or worse. (1) https://sparrowchat.com/corporate-authoritarianism/ (2) https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/09/myanmar-facebooks-systems-promoted-violence-against-rohingya-meta-owes-reparations-new-report/ (3) https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly820v99ppo