Is Facebook so much worse than the rest?
How do we judge companies if they are good or bad?
Hi hi,
Another sporadic post for ya. We’ve moved across the country and boy oh boy is it time consuming (and also oh so worth it)!
Today - connecting the Facebook whistleblower revelations and what this should tell us about how we evaluate all other companies.
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Opening Spiel
We all love a good scandal. It is what high schools are fuelled on. And the Facebook one that came out last week is a doozy.
Frances Haugen went on 60 minutes and revealed to the world Facebook has internal documents proving its platform is harmful to democracy and teenage health.
Have a watch yourself of the full episode (I also marvelled at how their format is the same as it was 20+ years ago when I watched it as a teenager with my parents - that is media sticking power!)
We were shocked to find this out and rightfully so. No one wants a company that 35% of the world’s population uses(!?!?) to be causing harm.
Yet - it begs the question, if we are going to go after Facebook, what are we doing about all the rest of the mega-businesses that perpetuate social harm?
It isn't a surprise that Facebook is bad for society
We've known years that Facebook is bad for us.
Facebook is a significant contributor to stress (2018, Pew Research Centre)
Facebook lowers your mood after 20 minutes (2014, Austrian Innsbruck University)
There is 1,500x more child porn on Facebook than Pornhub (2021, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)
I could go on. You get the point that Facebook is a medium to a lot of bad things in this world.
So why are we getting our knickers in a knot about Frances Haugen’s revelations now? The main reason is that Frances proved that Facebook knew about these issues.
Experts are calling this Facebook’s ‘Big Tobacco’ moment in which tobacco companies misled the public that cigarettes cause cancer and are habit forming.
“Its executives knew about the addictive chemicals in tobacco and yet they did nothing to try and keep the product out of the hands of children, They knew that if they could get children addicted early, they’d have a customer for life. It’s very much the same way—children, young people, are addicted to these platforms, and you can see report after report on the damage that’s being done.” - Representative Bill Johnson, an Ohio Republican
But come on! Can we really believe that Facebook didn’t read the external studies? And even if they didn’t, why do we need to wait to go after Facebook until they prove they also know they do harm?
If a court finds someone guilty of murder, the judge doesn’t wait till guilt is admitted before sentencing. Why do our bad businesses get better treatment?
Many other mega-business cause social harm too
Online ad business (mainly Google’s) causes News Deserts and ruins local democracy (UNC, 2019)
Banks deepen poverty with high credit card banking fees for those with the least amount of money
Airlines encourage global warming with frequent flyer programs and corporate discounts
Fast fashion companies create more carbon emissions that all flights and maritime shipping combined (Global Citizen article)
I could go on with this list as well. There are many many companies out there that bring us harm as individuals and collective society.
Yes, online ad services, banks, airlines and the clothing industry also bring goodness to the world. So does Facebook. So who’s to judge which is good and which is bad?
If we're demanding that Facebook change, what about the rest?
The one outcome Frances Haugen wants from her expose is for Facebook be held accountable and regulation imposed to change their ways.
The incentives are misaligned. Facebook makes more money when you consume more content... and the more anger you get exposed to the more you interact.
Facebook has demonstrated they cannot act independently. Facebook, over and over again, has shown it chooses profit over safety. It is subsidizing, it is paying for its profits with our safety. I'm hoping that this will have had a big enough impact on the world that they get the fortitude and the motivation to actually go put those regulations into place. That's my hope.
BUT - in practically every industry the incentives are misaligned. Many companies make more money by causing harm to society.
Airlines aren't going to introduce in-frequent flyer programs.
Banks aren't going to flip their fee structure and charge more to those who have more.
Fast fashion isn’t going to encourage clothing swaps instead of buying a new sweater every month.
Online ad services aren’t going to turn away businesses wanting to advertise with them as opposed to the local Medicine Hat newspaper.
And - Facebook is going to stop all damaging content from making it onto their sites.
None of these or any other business will stop their core business practices that cause social harm unless there is regulation.
So if we get mad about Facebook, we should get mad about everyone else too. And then do something about it.
🙏 to my Ship30for30 cohort for giving me good writing energy this week and to Katie for sparking the idea for the post.
I have a special request for all my regulars. If you liked this and other Rule Breakers - can you share it, please?
The more people involved and thinking about this stuff the better. Drop it in Slack, Tweet it out - or maybe even post on Facebook ;)
Keep well,
J