Facebook Employees Criticize Campaign Against Apple in Leaked Comments

[SDJim]

"The only thing I'm hearing, again and again, is "this is bad for the businesses," and I'd really like someone at the top to explicitly say, "People are better off if they don't know what we're doing, if we don't have to explain ourselves to them, if they don't get a choice to opt-in or opt-out of our practices, if we obscure it as much as possible behind interesting features and then get them to accept surreptitious tracking on the back end as long as we downplay it."

GIVE THIS MAN A MEDAL

 

[Taustin Powers]

„No no no, guys this is really about teh small businesses!! Honest! We totally care about them! Right, Mr. Zuckerberg??“

 

[JM]

I know right, facts are those pesky things that keep us from being right when all we are doing is making up any old crap we feel like and then keep repeating it. Facts need to be outlawed. Now “ alternate facts” they rule. Until you get sued for libel

Until my facts are better than your facts. Then we just have a fact war and the fact checkers disagree on facts.
Facts facts facts.... I swear.

The word "fact" has had its definition changed into :"this is how we interpret this piece of information"

a fact is a truth and there is only one truth to anything, aka "reality".

Reality is not always a person's interpretation of the event.

 

[s66]

There's also this:

Google, Facebook reportedly agreed to work together to fight antitrust probes

The law doesn’t love it when competitors promise to cooperate in certain ways.

arstechnica.com

The final version of the suit made public last week (PDF) alleged that Google and Facebook signed a secret agreement in 2018 that "fixes prices and allocates markets between Google and Facebook as competing bidders in the auctions for publishers' Web display and in-app advertising inventory."

If that is anywhere near proven, it would be an open invitation for severe action against both Facebook and Google. Pity it'll take years for this to come to court.

 

[rafark]

I personally would never want to have to admit that I worked at Facebook

I assume you have nothing to do with CS. Because I’d be very proud to say I’ve worked at Facebook (I never have). The do a lot of cool things both in the front and back end. I’ve used their most popular open source framework in a few projects and it’s very smooth.

 

[Anson_431]

In a sense it's good to see Facebook is communicating with their employees internally, trying to align them with the company's agenda. A good internal communication practice actually.

But then still moving forward with the ad campaign even your own staff raised the huge disagreements and saw the concerns in the stance that the company plans to take? That's just beyond baffling........

Mark, Den Levy and whoever worked for their PR and HR team has to be fired LOL

 

[bernuli]

Yeah. Google not using that saying anymore so it’s up for grabs.


Facebook should add "don't be evil" to their code of conduct (too).

 

[827538]

Anyone who isn't mentally deficient can see straight through their ******** campaign against Apple. I do not like Tim Cook but his stance on privacy is to be commended and a shrewd business move.

Here's hoping Facebook's business model suffers badly. C'mon Apple, give us the opt-out so we can watch Facebook's stock price plunge.

 

[waveman]

Facebook - polluting the world with ads since 2004

 

[4tune8chance]

View attachment 1699686

Well if you look at our logo, it’s got a big F in it.

 

[VanNess]

“Since launching this effort we have heard from small businesses literally around the world who are worried about how these changes could hurt their businesses”

Well that’s because Facebook has never been upfront or clear about how it’s advertising scheme actually works so sure it’s confusing. And by the way the “effort” makes more sense after you hear from businesses, not before. Basically putting the cart before the horse. Even more confusing now and basically pretty disingenuous.

 

[s66]

I know it's not easy for everybody, but I did quit a highly paying client over ethical issues I had with how they operated. I had no way to change how the board of directors or the CEO acted, so I quit letting them know why I quit.

It's the only right thing to do. Find another job first if you can't afford it, but quit or go into a whistleblower program or so if there is one. Doing the right thing will make you feel much better in the long run.

 

[-BigMac-]

At this point I’m not sure why the App Store and the play store are still hosting this piece of malware...?

$

 

[skinned66]

Yeah I think small business I think of Facebook. They don't give a **** about anyone else but Facebook. If Facebook was in the mobile device business you had better believe they'd be locking you in and everyone else out.

Sorry, I have zero sympathy. They're reaping what they've sown, I just wish others followed Apple's lead here.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Years from now I wonder how Facebook’s handling of this issue will be viewed in terms of corporate blunders.

Facebook’s outcome with be Epic.

 

[CthuluLemon]

Is there a single executive at Facebook who knows how to read a room. When their are consistent reports that even your employees don’t like what the company does, management has made serious mistakes. It’s amazing that not a single executive at Facebook seems to understand how dire their public image crisis has become.

 

[idiiamots]

Yes, but it's the managers who take the bad decisions and usually destroy good companies.

In this case, I fully support managers destroying a bad company.

 

[Bogstandard]

This campaign by Facebook is using this ploy to manipulate the addiction/dependence of most of its user base .
It wants its "base" all riled up in order to cause disruption in progress of privacy advocacy.
It just shows what they really think of their subscribers.
Typical reaction by bullies and strongmen the world over to percieved threats to their greed.
At the same time, perhaps mr z, and his inner circle are engaging in some other hidden strategy under the cover of this publicity.
Given that this issue is laughable on the surface, it could be a distraction/feint.
They'll pay their lawyers, but will probably attract more subscriptions despite the negativity (people tend to be attracted to drama).

 

[jdsingle]

Have a look at facebook's financials. They are ANYTHING but a small business.

Think you missed the context. They were stating that if a small business needs to invade privacy to make money then they hope the small business fails.

 

[jdsingle]

How is Apple supposed to determine what the tracking is for? All they see is tracking. It could be for relevant ads, or it could be for political data mining (e.g., Cambridge Analytica), or maybe a venture capital firm fund buys the tracking data to analyze it for insights on which companies are popular enough to invest in. Relevant ads are just the tip of the tracking iceberg, and Apple has no way to determine what the data will ultimately be used for.

I think the way they have it phrased now is exactly broad enough and they shouldn't change it.

Thank you for responding to this person, so I didn't have to. My internet polling tells me that at least 50.1% of the internet agrees that tracking in general is not a "positive" thing.

 

[alecgold]

I assume you have nothing to do with CS. Because I’d be very proud to say I’ve worked at Facebook (I never have). The do a lot of cool things both in the front and back end. I’ve used their most popular open source framework in a few projects and it’s very smooth.

It’s becoming more and more a reality that when you are a developer and at a job interview, you have to explain why you worked at Facebook if you where working there for the last few years.

 

[4pp13]

It’s becoming more and more a reality that when you are a developer and at a job interview, you have to explain why you worked at Facebook if you where working there for the last few years.

I am an actual software engineer and Facebook would definitely be on my list of...well, if that's the only offer I've got in hand, I guess so?

And I have had a product I work on that is hosted on their platform. The support was SHOCKING. They would notify in short timeframe they will pull support for an old API and then give pretty much no assistance except a group developer chat and, if you are very lucky, someone who is not really able to understand what the issue you're having is. API upgrade all relatively simple stuff but not simple should you be unlucky to have a strange issue.

However, in all of this I find it interesting how much Facebook wants to help one of Apple's key business models - privacy. Google and Facebook are doing a FANTASTIC job selling Apple products by being so shady like this. I'm happy to pay more money if it means more privacy and Apple clearly knows there's a market for this type of thinking.

 

[mwd25]

"That's Apple's marketing working and convincing you to scapegoat us so they can decide how the internet should work"
Give me a break. Please show me the ads, the numerous ads no less of Apple doing that, cause i haven't seen any

 

[bigchrisfgb]

Most social media companies are morally indefensible - FB & IG particularly.

What these companies want is our labour, our network and our supposed creativity. Data factories are eating our world and giving practically nothing back. For the labour we invest in adding intelligence to Facebook or photos to Instagram, we are paid zero. Nothing at all. Except the right to use their software for free.

We are the product that creates the phenomenal wealth for these companies - and we do it all for free. It's a 'winner takes all' mode of business that just provides ridiculous wealth for a tiny minority of people who provide practically nothing in return.

It's a perfect business model - billions of people create the data (for free) and then that same data is sold back to us for billions of dollars in advertising. FB don't make a product because we are all the product.

I’m sure the EU are proposing that websites who gain data off you and sell it should be legally obliged to give you some of the money they earn.
There is a new social media company being made by a list of celebrities which proposes actually doing that.

 

[chucker23n1]

I assume you have nothing to do with CS. Because I’d be very proud to say I’ve worked at Facebook (I never have).

Well, you do you.

The do a lot of cool things both in the front and back end. I’ve used their most popular open source framework in a few projects and it’s very smooth.

Yes. It’s possible to produce great work with great teammates in an ethically dubious environment. You also get paid handsomely.

Some people might eventually conclude that it’s not worth tainting their legacy over, though.