{"id":2691,"date":"2022-01-27T08:26:13","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T07:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/2022\/01\/27\/opinion-facebook-was-down-for-a-few-hours-should-it-go-away-forever-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2022-01-27T08:26:13","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T07:26:13","slug":"opinion-facebook-was-down-for-a-few-hours-should-it-go-away-forever-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/2022\/01\/27\/opinion-facebook-was-down-for-a-few-hours-should-it-go-away-forever-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion | Facebook Was Down for a Few Hours. Should It Go Away Forever? &#8211; The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"cfbc967f0983488262956e73eca9483a\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3859091246952232\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- blok -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3859091246952232\" data-ad-slot=\"1334354390\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n\n<\/div>\n<p>Advertisement<br \/>Supported by<br \/>Spencer Bokat-Lindell<br \/><strong>Send any friend a story<\/strong><br \/>As a subscriber, you have <strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">10 gift articles<\/strong> to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.<br \/><span class=\"byline-prefix\">By <\/span><span class=\"css-1baulvz last-byline\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/spencer-bokat-lindell\" class=\"css-mrorfa e1jsehar0\">Spencer Bokat-Lindell<\/a><\/span><br \/>Mr. Bokat-Lindell is a staff editor.<br \/><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">This article is part of the Debatable newsletter. You can <\/em><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/newsletters\/debatable\" title=\"\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">sign up here<\/em><\/a><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\"> to receive it on Tuesdays and Thursdays.<\/em><br \/>It has not been a good month for Facebook. A few weeks ago, The Wall Street Journal began publishing a damning investigative series, \u201c<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/the-facebook-files-11631713039\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">The Facebook Files<\/a>,\u201d based on leaked internal documents revealing that the tech giant knows its platforms are causing great social harm \u2014 often in ways only the company fully understands \u2014 but has done little to alleviate it for fear of losing profits.<br \/>\u201cThe version of Facebook that exists today is tearing our societies apart and causing ethnic violence around the world,\u201d Frances Haugen, the whistle-blower who provided the documents at the heart of The Journal\u2019s investigation, <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/facebook-whistleblower-frances-haugen-misinformation-public-60-minutes-2021-10-03\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">told<\/a> CBS. \u201cFacebook has realized that if they change the algorithm to be safer, people will spend less time on the site, they\u2019ll click on less ads, they\u2019ll make less money.\u201d<br \/>But before that scandal could be fully metabolized, <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/04\/technology\/facebook-down.html\" title=\"\">The Great Facebook Blackout<\/a> happened: Facebook and its family of apps \u2014 Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp \u2014 suffered an unusually debilitating global outage on Monday, depriving 3.5 billion people of an important \u2014 or in many countries, the only \u2014 means of digital communication.<br \/>As the blackout made clear, our world is very much dependent on Facebook. But would we be better off without it? Here\u2019s what people are saying.<br \/>Here are just a few forms of malfeasance the Journal investigation revealed:<br \/>Throughout the pandemic, anti-vaccine activists have used the platform to hobble the U.S. vaccination effort, despite a promise from Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook\u2019s chief executive, to make promoting Covid-19 vaccines a top priority: \u201cEven when he set a goal, the chief executive couldn\u2019t steer the platform as he wanted.\u201d<br \/>Researchers inside Instagram found that the platform harms the mental health of its users \u2014 more so than other social-media platforms \u2014 making body image issues worse for one in three teenage girls.<br \/>Employees flagged that Facebook was being used to facilitate all manner of pernicious activity in developing countries, where its user base is expanding, including human trafficking, drug cartel recruitment, incitement of violence against ethnic minorities, organ selling and government suppression of political dissent. A former Facebook vice president described the company\u2019s attitude toward these ills as <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/facebook-drug-cartels-human-traffickers-response-is-weak-documents-11631812953\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">\u201csimply the cost of doing business.\u201d<\/a><br \/>\u201cTime and again, the documents show, Facebook\u2019s researchers have identified the platform\u2019s ill effects,\u201d The Journal found. \u201cTime and again, despite congressional hearings, its own pledges and numerous media expos\u00e9s, the company didn\u2019t fix them.\u201d<br \/>Facebook, for its part, <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2021\/09\/what-the-wall-street-journal-got-wrong\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">responded<\/a> to The Journal\u2019s investigation by claiming it contained mischaracterizations and promising to \u201ccontinue to improve our products and services.\u201d<br \/>In an essay last year, my former colleague Charlie Warzel <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/07\/01\/opinion\/facebook-zuckerberg.html\" title=\"\">argued<\/a> that such promises only work to obscure the platform\u2019s fundamental incapacity for reform. \u201cThe architecture of the social network \u2014 its algorithmic mandate of engagement over all else, the advantage it gives to divisive and emotionally manipulative content \u2014 will always produce more objectionable content at a dizzying scale,\u201d he wrote.<br \/>\u201cYou see lots of people putting forth a hopeful idea of a new, humane social media platform to rescue us \u2014 one that respects privacy or is less algorithmically coercive,\u201d Siva Vaidhyanathan, a professor of media studies at the University of Virginia, told Warzel. \u201cBut if we\u2019re being honest, what they\u2019re really proposing at that point is not really social media anymore.\u201d<br \/>Indeed, in 2019, Annalee Newitz <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2019\/11\/30\/opinion\/social-media-future.html\" title=\"\">argued<\/a> in The Times that the time had come for social media to be replaced by some other medium of communication, much the same way that television was replaced by the internet. \u201cWe need to stop handing off responsibility for maintaining public space to corporations and algorithms \u2014 and give it back to human beings,\u201d she wrote. \u201cWe may need to slow down, but we\u2019ve created democracies out of chaos before. We can do it again.\u201d<br \/>As \u201cThe Facebook Files\u201d were being published, the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, spoke on a podcast to defend the company, claiming its good works outweighed its sins: \u201cCars create way more value in the world than they destroyed,\u201d he <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/pkafka\/status\/1438492063100776454\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a>. \u201cAnd I think social media is similar.\u201d<br \/>It\u2019s not just people whose salaries depend on believing this argument who believe it. Haugen, the whistle-blower, suggests that Facebook can still play a positive role in the world: \u201cI don\u2019t hate Facebook,\u201d she <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/facebook-whistleblower-frances-haugen-says-she-wants-to-fix-the-company-not-harm-it-11633304122\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">wrote<\/a> of her motives for leaking. \u201cI love Facebook. I want to save it.\u201d<br \/>And true enough, Facebook does serve some socially useful functions:<br \/>Through Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, the company provides ways to communicate with people across age, life experience and nationality, which is especially useful for diasporic populations trying to stay connected, as Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/technology\/2019\/2\/4\/18205138\/facebook-15-anniversary-social-network-founded-date-2004\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">told<\/a> Vox.<br \/>Like Twitter, Facebook facilitates \u201cthe exchange of information that is vital to the coordination of protest activities, such as news about transportation, turnout, police presence, violence, medical services and legal support,\u201d as a 2018 academic article <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/nyuscholars.nyu.edu\/en\/publications\/how-social-media-facilitates-political-protest-information-motiva\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">summarized<\/a>.<br \/>Social media sites can have a positive effect on the well-being of marginalized youth: In <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full\/10.1177\/2056305121988931\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a survey<\/a> of L.G.B.T.Q. people aged 14 to 29 published this year, 11.1 percent of those who chose Facebook as one of their favorite social media sites indicated that they used it because it helped them feel loved.<br \/>When Warzel <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/07\/01\/opinion\/facebook-zuckerberg.html\" title=\"\">made his case<\/a> for Facebook\u2019s abolition, he also sought out some of the countless ideas that have been proposed for its reform:<br \/>Some are administrative, like increasing content moderation enforcement, which can <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/technology\/2020\/05\/12\/facebook-content-moderator-ptsd\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">be grueling, even traumatic work<\/a>. In the United States there<strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\"> <\/strong>is<strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\"> <\/strong>roughly one law enforcement officer for every 500 people. Facebook, by contrast, has <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/01\/opinion\/facebook-files-content-moderation-zuckerberg.html\" title=\"\">just 1.3 people<\/a> working in safety and security for every 100,000 users. \u201cEnforcing the rules can be done; it just costs money,\u201d Gilad Edelman <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/stop-saying-facebook-too-big-to-moderate\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">wrote<\/a> in Wired last year.<br \/><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2019\/2\/25\/18229714\/cognizant-facebook-content-moderator-interviews-trauma-working-conditions-arizona\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">[Related: The secret lives of Facebook moderators in America]<\/em><\/a><br \/>In 2018, Zeynep Tufekci, now a Times columnist, <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/04\/09\/opinion\/zuckerberg-testify-congress.html\" title=\"\">laid out suggestions<\/a> for drastically reining in Facebook\u2019s collection and use of data by allowing personalized data collection \u201conly through opt-in mechanisms that were clear, concise and transparent,\u201d letting people \u201chave access, if requested, to all the data a company has collected on them\u201d and limiting the use of any data \u201cto specifically enumerated purposes, for a designed period of time.\u201d<br \/>Other reforms might pose more radical challenges to Facebook\u2019s business model, like using antitrust law to <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/10\/03\/opinion\/facebook-antitrust.html\" title=\"\">break it apart from WhatsApp and Instagram<\/a>; making the company a <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stern.nyu.edu\/experience-stern\/faculty-research\/nationalize-facebook-and-twitter-public-goods\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">publicly owned and democratically controlled utility<\/a>; <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Moonalice\/status\/1278174015014625281?s=20\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">classifying data as a human right<\/a>; or <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/alexismadrigal\/status\/1278186137115217920?s=20\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">designing distribution around a different principle than virality<\/a>.<br \/>The Times\u2019s Kevin Roose <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/04\/technology\/facebook-files.html\" title=\"\">says<\/a> the most recent revelations show \u201ca company worried that it is losing power and influence, not gaining it, with its own research showing that many of its products aren\u2019t thriving organically.\u201d<br \/>What might a better organizing principle for Facebook\u2019s business model be, if not engagement at all costs? Kate Klonick, an assistant professor at St. John\u2019s University Law School, <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/01\/opinion\/facebook-files-content-moderation-zuckerberg.html\" title=\"\">argues<\/a> it should be \u201cuser experience,\u201d which might entail measuring the <em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">good<\/em> things Facebook offers, not just the bad \u2014 how likely a user is to attend a protest, for example, or to give to a charitable cause.<br \/>The hope for the possibility of a better Facebook was palpable on Tuesday when Haugen testified before a Senate subcommittee about her findings. \u201cFacebook wants you to believe that the problems we\u2019re talking about are unsolvable,\u201d she <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2021\/10\/05\/technology\/facebook-whistleblower-frances-haugen\/frances-haugen-a-safer-free-speech-respecting-more-enjoyable-social-media-is-possible\" title=\"\">said<\/a>.<span class=\"css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0\">  <\/span>\u201cI am here today to tell you that\u2019s not true. These problems are solvable. A safer, free-speech-respecting, more enjoyable social media is possible.\u201d<br \/><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">Are you done with Facebook, or do you still think the platform\u2019s pros outweigh its cons? Email us at <\/em><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"mailto:debatable@nytimes.com\" title=\"\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">debatable@nytimes.com<\/em><\/a><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">. Please note your name, age and location in your response, which may be included in the next newsletter.<\/em><br \/><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/09\/17\/opinion\/facebook-instagram-teens.html\" title=\"\">\u201cThe Endless Facebook Apology\u201d<\/a> <em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">[The New York Times]<\/em><br \/><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/technology\/archive\/2020\/12\/facebook-doomsday-machine\/617384\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cFacebook Is a Doomsday Machine\u201d<\/a> <em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">[The Atlantic]<\/em><br \/><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2021\/10\/01\/opinion\/defense-facebook\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cIn Defense of Facebook\u201d<\/a> <em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">[The Boston Globe]<\/em><br \/><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/opinion\/articles\/2021-10-03\/give-amazon-and-facebook-a-seat-at-the-united-nations\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cGive Amazon and Facebook a Seat at the United Nations\u201d<\/a> <em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">[Bloomberg]<\/em><br \/>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/05\/opinion\/facebook-whatsapp-instagram.html\">source<\/a><\/p>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AdvertisementSupported bySpencer Bokat-LindellSend any friend a storyAs a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.By Spencer Bokat-LindellMr. Bokat-Lindell is a staff editor.This article is part of the Debatable newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it on Tuesdays and Thursdays.It has not been a good [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow1sXXCw:productID":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classe"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2691\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}