Facebook is not an honest company

How do you reconcile what Facebook did and how it’s poorly handled being in the spotlight?

There’s ‘nothing but bad news’ about Facebook, causing the stock to take a dive. But it’s really the careless dishonesty at the root of so many of the stories that’s the ultimate turn off. Silicon valley greed was never quite so transparent.

Facebook asks Parliament to keep quiet on internal documents seized following cat and mouse game, it’s getting morbid. There’s so much news of Facebook in 2018, I feel like I’m reading a tabloid about the failure of social media as a whole.

So last week the British Parliament seized internal Facebook documents that allegedly include communications from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and evidence that the company promoted a loophole exploited by Cambridge Analytica. The weird part is Facebook has asked Parliament to refrain from referencing the documents in an upcoming hearing. It’s damage control but it makes Facebook look dishonest.

Internal Facebook documents that allegedly include communications from CEO Mark Zuckerberg and evidence that Facebook actively promoted the use of a privacy loophole exploited by Cambridge Analytica. Publications like the Guardian, are all over these things.

Facebook’s talent exodus, internal discontent and PR nightmare continues, but it’s not just about trusting Facebook, it’s a story of how tech companies treat their users and then do shady things to cover it up.

The CEO says he is the right person for the job, but (Zuckerberg) has repeatedly refused to appear before Parliament to answer questions about the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal. That’s an unfortunate decision for his public image.

Facebook’s stance on data harvesting and about the use of data, especially by external developers is really not what you want your business model to be based upon, since as public trust in your company and its apps declines, so too will your advertising revenue.

Facebook isn’t just a relic of the past, it’s a symptom of the lack of ethics and regulation in technology that’s driving society in the misuse of algorithms. At the end of 2018, we’re all questioning how monopolies like Google, Facebook and Amazon conduct themselves as responsible corporate entities. For the most part, they are failures in accountability. It makes you wonder about the ethics of capitalism to create value that’s not dangerous and disruptive in a negative way.

This particular document seizure comes ahead of an “international grand committee” set for Tuesday that will address fake news, disinformation, and election interference. Will Facebook ever pay for its crimes against humanity? It’s rather unlikely, as corporations shrug off fines and bulldoze through legal situations like these. There’s no real justice when you are a monopoly.