Until marketers get the sci-fi dystopia they so badly want this data brokerage hellscape will have to suffice. All to pretend they’re all saving money on ads. Everyone else pays the true cost.
We pay for ads with our labor.
We pay for ads with our purchases.
We pay for ads with our private data.
We pay for ads with our attention.
We pay for ads with our democracies.
We pay for ads six times over but they never pay us back.
Advertising is one of the many byproducts of capitalism that spreads its pollution during extraction.
Ask a marketer what they really want and it will almost always remind you of this.
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Troll farms are still thriving on Facebook.
140M monthly users
100M weekly users (US)
360M weekly users (global)
Successfully targeting the same groups as RU IRA in 2016.
Facebook is too big to not fail.
WSJ: Facebook Employees Flag Drug Cartels and Human Traffickers. The Company’s Response Is Weak, Documents Show.
This chart from the article visualizes the new digital colonialism epitomized by the ‘blue app’ as use steadily declines in US/EU. wsj.com/articles/faceb…
A few excerpts from the article that do not require a trigger warning are offered below for a glimpse into the internal reporting on extreme human depravity and systemic violent oppression by bad actors using Facebook as it was designed. wsj.com/articles/faceb…
What if Facebook should not exist? What if Facebook is actually a terrible idea? What if extracting data and attention out of nations at any cost is causing a net harm to humanity despite executives paid generously to insist otherwise? What if Mark Zuckerberg is a failed emperor?
Let’s talk about all the regulation in the automobile industry and traffic laws and taxpayer funded public infrastructure and on and on this metaphor is not as smart as they think it is!
There are literally rules about the placement of headlights and taillights and the colors they are allowed to be. Does IG want the government dictating the app UI/UX because it certainly sound like that to me if we are to take this metaphor seriously (which we really should not)?
In the galaxy brain of Menlo Park, FB/IG/WA is an automobile that you don’t need a license to operate, don’t need insurance for, don’t need to keep inspected, and if it crashes causing death, injury or destruction of property this is kept secret unless leaked to a journalist.
The problem with “free (not actually free)” software like Facebook is that their negligence or malign cover-ups can be designated as “bugs” even if it’s total bullshit. How are we to know?
Don’t put it past Facebook to do malign cover-ups. Cambridge Analytica was a textbook cover-up until journalists and academics took Facebook to task. We were eventually vindicated by the authorities.
This is the argument to consciously seek to destroy Facebook. It is proven to be unaccountable and we don’t want unaccountable power. Period. It’s that simple. This is why Facebook is a malign force.
So yeah this weekend I decided to break down and try NFTs to learn more not just naysay. Once I realized it would cost about $1400 in ETH to list/mint my 7 piece collection of rare Norman Jaffe blueprints, I discovered that this is for folks with a surplus of disposable income.
And then when I discovered that I could use Polygon instead of Ethereum to save on these truly exorbitant gas fees I realized that it would involve starting all over from scratch after deciphering a convoluted process of conversion and configuration. And so I lost interest.
Obviously the nascent NFT market prefers spending ludicrous amounts on garbage pail kids style characters over any actual art history with intrinsic value but in any event here’s what I thought about minting “for science.” opensea.io/collection/jaf…
FYI: UK data protection enforcement was slightly above average while it lasted. bbc.com/news/technolog…
Just wait until UK hires an American ICO commish someday, always tapping from the anglosphere. I’m open for recruitment but I’m obviously insufficiently neoliberal for the job.