
Zuckerberg: Advertisers will be back to Facebook 'soon enough' - MindGods
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53262860
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blinding-streak
And Zuck is right, they will come back eventually. Facebook seems to drive a
lot of value for advertisers, due to the amazing targeting ability they
provide. They know _so_ much about people, it's scary.

And while people make a lot of noise about deleting their FB accounts, the
truth is that those only represent a tiny fraction of overall usage. Not
enough to make a material dent.

I think the only real way for lasting change to take hold against Facebook is
for individuals to openly boycott companies that advertise on Facebook. But
even that is difficult to do and maintain. Facebook is in a very strong
position. If they truly needed to change to survive, they would have already
done it.

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pmdulaney
I'm not on Facebook and I don't follow this kind of news too closely, so tell
me: Is _anyone_ taking a stand in favor of Facebook in this controversy? I
suspect that those who agree with Zuckerberg (unless they're nobodies like me)
are keeping mum because no one wants to go against the activist left.

What Zuckerberg is trying to uphold is the long-standing democratic notion of
freedom of expression. Is it just out of the goodness of his heart? Probably
not. Perhaps the Trump administration is putting pressure on him to ensure
that Facebook is not a politically biased platform.

We have become a severely divided country ideologically. The civilized, the
American way of dealing with it is to live and let live. The expression of an
idea that you don't agree with does not hurt you! Ignore it. Trust that, as
the Whole Earth Catalog used to say, "Cream rises". The best will win out.

~~~
hindsightbias
> “Jefferson-allied papers accused President Adams of being a hermaphrodite
> and a hypocrite, while Adams’ camp attacked Jefferson’s racial heritage,
> accusing him of being “the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a
> Virginia mulatto father” as well as an atheist and libertine”

We’ve always been divided. The differences have just been suppressed at times
by those in control of the levers.

~~~
pmdulaney
I'll grant you that our situation now is not unprecedented, but I would still
say that if there were an objective measure of divisiveness that 2020 would
come in well above the average of the last 100 years.

But more importantly, what do you think? Should we be suppressing unpopular
views on social media?

~~~
hindsightbias
Not effective, need to suppress social media if we want a stable society.

~~~
pmdulaney
So you're in favor of suppression of free speech so as to enhance the
stability of society? If so, we disagree.

