Facebook Put Profits Over People: What Else Is New?
by John Lawrence
Putting profits over the welfare of the public is the M.O. of American capitalism, baby. Congress crying crocodile tears over this is hypocritical to say the least. In fact if Facebook didn't put profits over people, they could be sued by their shareholders. A corporation's highest responsibility is to maximize profits for their shareholders. That's the way the American version of capitalism works. It's no huge surprise. Every publicly traded corporation puts profits over the welfare of the public. That's what their shareholders want. That's what Wall Street wants. That's what corporations have always done. That's what the law requires. Fast food franchises advertise their wares knowing that the American public is suffering from an epidemic of obesity and diabetes, diseases that their products contribute to. Even movies promote the consumption of cigarettes, alcohol and guns knowing that none of these items are good for you. But not to worry. After you become angry, depressed, overweight or suffering from various diseases of the mind and body, the American pharmaceutical corporations will sell you a plethora of products to deal with all these ailments at premium prices after they lobby Congress not to let Medicare negotiate with them for lower prices.
It keeps the economy humming right along even if some or most Americans have to suffer because they are easily persuaded to consume products which either aren't good for them or have no identifiable beneficial effects as far as curing them. The best cure is to adopt a healthy lifestyle which means resisting the implorations of advertising especially on TV and social media. Yet advertising is a billion dollar industry. In fact it spent $38 billion in 2019 up from $66 billion in 2004 more than double what it spent just 15 years ago. Combine this with the $3.5 billion corporations spend on lobbying and you have a powerful 1-2 punch to get consumers to buy products which aren't good for them and to spend considerable money doing it. Without all this spending the economy might collapse. GDP would decrease. There might even be a recession unless the government stepped in and put people to work solving the real problems of society and the earth like global warming and cleaning up the environment.
Should Facebook change its algorithms to become a kinder, gentler Facebook, impervious to the misinformation and conspiracy theories which have made it rich? Of course, but this would require government censorship. I say bring it on. Facebook is too powerful in the scheme of things influencing elections and social movements all over the world - even genocide. The New York Times reported:
"They posed as fans of pop stars and national heroes as they flooded Facebook with their hatred. One said Islam was a global threat to Buddhism. Another shared a false story about the rape of a Buddhist woman by a Muslim man.
"The Facebook posts were not from everyday internet users. Instead, they were from Myanmar military personnel who turned the social network into a tool for ethnic cleansing, according to former military officials, researchers and civilian officials in the country.
"Members of the Myanmar military were the prime operatives behind a systematic campaign on Facebook that stretched back half a decade and that targeted the country’s mostly Muslim Rohingya minority group, the people said. The military exploited Facebook’s wide reach in Myanmar, where it is so broadly used that many of the country’s 18 million internet users confuse the Silicon Valley social media platform with the internet. Human rights groups blame the anti-Rohingya propaganda for inciting murders, rapes and the largest forced human migration in recent history."
This is another reason China is pulling ahead of the US. It doesn't let social media contribute to the decline of its society. Free speech needs to be limited because it has become toxic. There can be too much of a good thing, and Facebook is leading the way in creating a toxic environment not only in the US but in the world in general which is threatening democracy itself. But not to worry, Facebook. Probably right after the Congressional hearings, many of the hypocritical Senators met with Facebook lobbyists and reassured them that Congress would not stand in the way of Facebook maximizing its profits. After all that's the American way.
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