
Ask HN: Why aren't Gov's doing anything about Facebook, Google etc? - muse900
Is there any specific reason?<p>I mean I understand that I sign up with a service and agree that they can use data to advertise on me... but they go into the extend of monitoring my private messages and present me with stuff that I&#x27;ve confidentially shared with another person or a group but not with them.<p>Is there nothing we can do as a whole to force GOV&#x27;s to regulate those companies when it comes to advertisement?
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j3nnif3rfu
Not directly related to private messages monitoring and advertisement, but
leaders like Angela Merkel have said that the Internet is not "a space that is
free from the law." She was mostly referring to legislations that would combat
fake news and hate speech on Facebook (
[http://fortune.com/2017/01/17/facebook-
germany/](http://fortune.com/2017/01/17/facebook-germany/)).

If such regulations can be made, I'm sure if there's enough push, governments
would (hopefully) regulate social media advertisement to a certain degree?
With that said, there's so much money involved in that I highly doubt that
governments can do much or would do much about it...

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vincpa
Here's the thing. You agree to let those companies do that. They provide you
with a service, and in exchange they collect data about you. That's the trade
you're making. Without that data, they can't make any money as they rely
heavily on advertising.

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laxentasken
"When the service is free, you are the product" or something similar.

