Tim Cook May Have Just Ended Facebook

[swag]

https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/tim-cook-may-have-just-ended-facebook.html

BY JUSTIN BARISO

-----------

Excerpt:

. . . In a recent speech at Brussels' International Data Privacy Day, Apple CEO Tim Cook went on the offensive against Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. Cook's speech seems to be a direct response to Facebook's recent attack on Apple, in which the world's largest social network took out full-page ads in several newspapers attacking Apple's new privacy changes.

"We should not look away from the bigger picture and a moment of rampant disinformation and conspiracy theory is juiced by algorithms. We can no longer turn a blind eye to a theory of technology that says all engagement is good engagement, the longer the better, and all with the goal of collecting as much data as possible.

Too many are still asking the question, 'How much can we get away with?' When they need to be asking, 'What are the consequences?'

What are the consequences of prioritizing conspiracy theories and violent incitement simply because of the high rates of engagement?

What are the consequences of not just tolerating but rewarding content that undermines public trust in life-saving vaccinations?

What are the consequences of seeing thousands of users joining extremist groups and then perpetuating an algorithm that recommends even more?"

. . . more

[leftieNanner]

1. We Can Only Hope

I left FB sort of unintentionally. Our basement family room flooded (raw sewage. don't ask) and I had to disconnect my desk top computer and move it into a closet. Only had FB on my desk top. Started using a laptop all the time. Did NOT miss FB at all. In fact, during the election season last year, I would not have wanted to be on it. More raw sewage from there, if you know what I mean.

I hope Zuckerberg is taken down completely. In fact, I hope the DOJ finds something dodgy to charge him with.

[BigmanPigman]

9. I have the feeling that the Biden Admin will

not be looking at Fakebook the same way tRump did. I hope E. Warren is heading a commission to oust Fuckerberg and pals.

Don Winslow (@donwinslow) Tweeted:
On that list of things NEVER to forget is the evil partnership between former disgraced President Donald Trump and Lex Luthor (Mark Zuckerberg).

A simple deal:

You don't break up Facebook+keep Justice Dept off our backs.

We will let you and your crazies post whatever you want https://t.co/9dZfumKFKT

Link to tweet

?s=20

[ShazzieB]

18. The look on Zuckerberg's face there

is creepy af. 😬

[DemoTex]

20. He looks somewhat like Jared K.

[Chicago1980]

45. Assholes are a dime a dozen...

[drmeow]

62. The look on Zuckerberg's face

is almost always creepy.

He has extremely flat affect - no empathy and no emotion.

He is what people with narcissistic personality disorder would be like without the charm that goes with NPD.

[nam78_two]

31. I saw on BBC that the Biden administration is targeting Facebook

It was a show called Click. They said something about the Biden administration specifically focusing on FB.

[Locrian]

37. there's a metaphore or something for you in there....

raw sewage /facebook - are the gods telling you something?
coincidence? I think not!

[NJCher]

2. well, thank you Tim Cook

I don't use these sites but it's shocking to me how much they've shaped American opinion.

[Fiendish Thingy]

3. Exaggerate much? FB isn't going anywhere.

Good on Cook for what he said, but even if he deletes the FB app from the App Store, they will still be around...

[brush]

4. He's making people think of the consequences though. And putting Zuckerberg on notice...

that he's got to clean his site up from all the malicious disinformation he allows as the Biden admin will soon look at regulations on social media responsibilities.

[BComplex]

43. In that case, Biden needs to do something about fox propaganda and oann, and the like.

Many western european countries and Australia have now banned fox propaganda. It's time the USA reconsidered what platforms should be allowed to consistently lie to a huge audience and incite riots and sedition.

[brush]

54. Agreed. No argument with that here.

[efhmc]

61. Pretty sure thar our pres cannot do anything but tell me if I am wrong and how that might

happen. Please and thank you.

[TwilightZone]

6. Agreed.

Everything apparently has to be hyperbolic now, even ridiculously so.

[cstanleytech]

32. It might however get them to reconsider their

relative inaction toward misinformation and allowing various hate groups to flourish.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

46. Exactly

One can still access it through their browser if they so desire.

[Archetypist]

5. Hyperbole

But not a terrible sentiment.

[Ferrets are Cool]

7. I don't see how this ends FB

[Warpy]

15. It needs to end doing business the way it has

and change its algorithms that ensure if someone is curious enough to go after clickbait once, they're deluged with clickbait thereafter.

The site is overdue for a cleanup. If Zuckerberg won't do it, maybe it's time Zuckerberg is ousted. The whole thing has become dangerous and if they won't clean it up, we can expect the government to step in and nobody wants that.

No, this won't end it. Let's hope it has a chance of changing it.

[Auggie]

40. It could open the door to a new competitor

Biggest complaint I see on Facebook is how it keeps editing the feed to promote the same people and posts. Users want to see posts from ALL their contacts, not just the ones that post or engage the most frequently.

I think someone, eventually, is going to develop the right product, name, vibe, and software to knock Facebook off.

[Wawannabe]

50. Facebook took down MySpace

Bigger they are. Harder they fall.

I think there will be a competitor. There already are but not one that is rising to the top. All face the data mining hill however. If some entity could offer free access but limit the data mined on each account (or at least limit the “pushing” of info, then that would be a start. Totally agree with you.

[Auggie]

58. I don't mind someone advertising to me or knowing my demographic based on my interests

Heck, that's what traditional print media is all about. More importantly, advertising supports a free press.

But data mining goes too far.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. No, this isn't the end of FB.

I will not try to persuade the anti- FaceBookers they should change their minds. But I have had a very personal experience with the good of FB and its ability to reach out to many. I am personally not going to give it up.

Oh, and I not only have very high privacy settings on my account, but I have unfriended right-wingers without remorse. I have also learned that when someone I used to know some years back sends me a friend request, NOT to think "Oh great! We can reconnect!" and instead look at their FB page. If I don't like what I see, I don't accept the request.

[Riverman100]

19. amen

100% amen!

[Karma13612]

23. 👍👍👍👍 x 1000

I’m happy with Facebook because I know how to use it for my needs. Forums, swaps, support groups. I only read feed info from reputable sources (ie MSNBC, CNN, NPR, etc). Rarely read feeds of individuals, even friends feeds are not high priority to me.

I would have trouble giving up FB in all honesty.

I stomp out suggested ads content as soon as I get it.

[Wawannabe]

42. You turn a blind eye to what the bad is when you glow about it this way

I can be there with no consequences... is what you are saying to yourself and others here. Well. Your choice. But there are consequences and the data mongers ARE using you and the data you generate. Have fun out there.

[flying_wahini]

47. There are lots of reasons people go to Facebook.

I keep in touch with my family this way. Try not to paint everybody with your wide brush.

[Wawannabe]

48. See post 41

Fakebook users are used, stalked and entrenched.

Have fun out there.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

60. Gosh, how have I missed out on being used, stalked, and entrenched?

[Wawannabe]

51. See also post 9

See fuckerberg grasping hands with the most hideous creature we know here?

Nuff said!

[stage left]

59. Yes.

I belong to a grassroots political group that organizes on FaceBook.

[ChazII]

64. +1 Facebook

was the way I coped when we learned that my only child had a glioblastoma - the same brain tumor that killed Pres. Biden's son, Beau, and senators Kennedy and McCain. The support groups there and the ones for grief are helpful to me as I now travel this road without my son. He passed at age 35 and it will be one year next month. Yes, Facebook has problems.

Stories discussing Covid now come with a tag asking if one wants to continue sharing the information. For what it is worth I have been able to share everything from the DU page on Facebook.

[bucolic_frolic]

10. What he's saying, basically, is public airwaves should serve the public good

FCC and licensure, social media and the internet.

How do lies serve the public good? Would we knowingly license something that causes harm to people, society, no matter how popular?

We've faced similar questions with tobacco, pollution, pornography, alcohol.

I'm not saying Utopia can be legislated, but anti-Utopia can be bridled.

[c-rational]

14. I like the way you put this. Makes me think we should brand social media outlets as users

of the public airwaves including the internet (I do not believe this is quite a private enterprise) and then socializing the negative costs of its endeavors.

[summer_in_TX]

28. I'd like to require ALL of them to have public interest

requirements. Social media required to protect user privacy, require permission for using user information to advertise, show users news articles contradicting the conspiracies and compensating users or paying a tax for using their personal info.

Cable news outlets treated as over-the-air broadcasters with public interest obligations.

Required to air content from other points of view, presented fairly and equitable.

Media conglomerates forced to divest their monopolies. Talk radio forced to sell stations so they are answerable to local owners accountable to their communities.

A tall order I know.

[c-rational]

44. If memory serves correct, Michael Powell, son of Collin had a seat on the FCC in early bush years,

and during his tenure they relaxed the rules for media ownership. I recall sending a letter to the Times stating that this had done more to take away our freedom than the 9-11 attacks.

Yes a tall order, but a good one.

[summer_in_TX]

63. A good letter

I wrote members of Congress and FCC Commissioners to talk about the threat media consolidation (especially within the same media market.

In December the FCC was directed by Trump to allow Murdoch to purchase WWOR and the New York Post in New York. The FCC granted a temporary waiver because it was in violation of existing ownership regulations considering everything else Murdoch owns in that area, including the Dow Jones, Wall Street Journal, Barron's and Market Watch.

The Supreme Court is apparently going to take a look at it.

[bucolic_frolic]

39. Let's illustrate with an example, where a group decides that traffic lights

only need to be obeyed during rush hours, from 7-9AM and 3-5PM. After all, statistically, most traffic light accidents occur during those time periods. You are much safer running a red light at 2PM or 11PM than during rush hour.

Now imagine the people behind the group manufacture car fenders and own collision shops. You can see their obvious agenda.

Do they have free speech to advocate running red lights? Absolutely. Is it good public policy. No. Their crazy idea should be restrained rather than be allowed to run rampant.

Social media would be irresponsible if they continued to allow the group to advocate running red lights. The number of accidents and deaths would testify to that fact.

We have some people running political red lights with a false narrative. It's bad public policy, it's harmful to democracy and our way of life, and it should be restrained - put the Big Lie to bed.

[Frerotte]

55. Good Example

Thoughtful example. Thank you.

[Kitchari]

17. Great point

when a private enterprise becomes more of a public utility, it needs safeguarding

[Karma13612]

25. Precisely.

FB is no longer just a cool little college buddy meet-up hook-up app.

Reliance is universal and does need some healthy regulation.

[KPN]

27. Great interpretation.

[Control-Z]

11. I only wish you were right.

Unfortunately it will take a lot more than a speech.

[IronLionZion]

12. Dramatic clickbait headline

People have known for some time that when some service or product is free, the user's data is where the make their profits. So Tim Cook is asking why social media services allow conspiracy theories and hate and disinformation, it's because it draws in people who advertisers can sell stuff to. RWers will get ads for guns and survival stuff. Liberals will get ads for masks and organic food, or whatever. As long as the platform is making money for someone, they don't have much incentive to moderate the content.

As it is, conservatives constantly complain about being censored on these platforms, yet we keep hearing them, so they're not that censored. I always suggest they boycott, but they never do.

[BlueIdaho]

16. Bravo Mr Cook.

I look forward to the next iOS that allows me to shut off the data spigot both inside and between greedy apps. For me, Facebook has never given me more than it has taken.

[kurtcagle]

21. Cook may not have ended Facebook

but he may have ended Zuckerberg's tenure as CEO.

I run a data science news site. Over the past several months, we've been steadily scaling back our engagement with Facebook, usually in favor of Twitter or LinkedIn. A big part of that has been that our audience for the most part has withdrawn from FB, and with it, the number of engagements that potential advertisers want to see before buying ad space. I've not seen the same thing on either Linked In or Twitter.

From that perspective, Facebook is hurting, and if anything, Zuckerberg's closeness with Trump, along with the frequently two-faced approaches that the company has taken with both advertisers and regulators in trying to become the FoxNews of Social Media, has hurt the company far more than it helps.

Tim Cook is not Steve Jobs, but he is still a very prominent voice in the industry, and others are listening. I would not be at all surprised if Facebook's board of directors decides to call Zuckerberg to the carpet and ousts him, then picks up a senior executive from Google or Twitter as his replacement. This would likely be justified on the basis of falling subscribers, but in reality, they also know that they're going to be facing significant regulatory battles so long as Zuckerberg is in the corner suite, especially with Biden remaking the FCC and SEC. He's already on thin ice, from what I've heard.

[PatrickforO]

22. Zuckerberg is a jerk. Instead of asking whether we CAN do something, maybe

we should be asking if we SHOULD.

[Blue Owl]

24. K&R

[KPN]

26. That's a lofty may have ... how many Tom Cook's are there

out there? It’s going to take many to legally redefine free speech to include some form of accountability and censorship in our present environment. The conspiracists are ready to go to civil war over their idiotic “freedoms”.

At the same time, I’m grateful and tip my hat to Tim Cook. May there be many more monied influentials like him.

[Duppers]

29. Amen. "May there be many more..."

Tim Cook has some respect for phrase "for good of the country."

Suckerburg has none.

[nam78_two]

30. Hmmm-I think my next computer will be a mac

Last edited Sun Jan 31, 2021, 04:44 AM - Edit history (1)

I have to admit to a preference for PCs. But these are important issues and I think I might make a leap to the mac. Mac, Iphone and so on.

Of course one will have to be vigilant with any for profit enterprise because these guys are not great at self-regulation. That is ok-I am not looking high degrees of trust wrt ethics in business transactions with corporations. I just want to deal with businesses which don't come off as pirates. Dealing with creepy and untrustworthy businesses is a time-suck. Dealing with any creeps is a time suck but they aren't quite as prolific in non profits in my experience.

I am starting to have a slightly higher level of trust of Apple as opposed to Facebook, Google and Amazon. Microsoft is probably also creepy and sucky.

The problem is not dispensable garbageware like Facebook. The real issue is the use of the exploitation of what Zuboff has termed "behavioral data surplus" by people selling stuff we cannot remove from our lives Web forums like these are fine for political action. There is no need to use one centralized and tacky website run by a pack of creeps who first exploit ignorance and then try to normalize shady practices and numb awareness through bribery or extortion.

But Tim Cook's speech signals that any software that comes with the Mac/Iphone is likely to be less intrusive than the equivalent on offer with the PC/Android. Computers, an internet connection, a search engine,email- these are no longer dispensable tools and to have them come from all the companies-large or small that mimic Zuckerberg's or Larry Page's unsanitary and creepy practices is just a terrible idea. I would not buy a computer from either of these creeps. I would not get medical care from them or from anyone who behaves like them. I would not like people who behave like this to have government authorization to snoop on citizens. It is a shame that DuckDuckGo and Protonmail are not partnering with Apple to provide email and search engine solutions that protect privacy so that more users can abandon Google/gmail and Google search. I would like to opt out of data harvesting. A focus on real and complete privacy without further tolerance of sleazy groups, companies and people who are too far gone to establish trust with. Who have not paid at all for practices that have egregiously abused trust repeatedly for more than a decade now. At least I'd like the option of punishing such people with one's wallet first while waiting for government regulations to crack down on them.

Without surveillance equipment and snooping, lots of people can do the layman's version of behavioral science-i.e. a necessary evaluation inside one's head of the trustworthiness or creepiness of people or systems they deal with. The role all these companies played in radicalizing people and inciting violence should not be ignored any more than the overt malice of the GOP.

[Layzeebeaver]

34. the latest macOS versions have a much better privacy wrapper

it's not perfect, but it is better than past releases.

Their hardware strategy remains less optimal - they need to figure their way out of the Johy Ive mess - a new set of design principles are needed.

[nam78_two]

38. Thanks - I do think I will switch to the mac

Last edited Sat Feb 13, 2021, 12:24 PM - Edit history (1)

MS is as bad as FB/Google under that creep Nadella. And there was a Skype scandal regarding employees listening in on calls when the subtitle option was turned on. I would use a for-pay video chat service were a secure/private one available.

If the free market actually worked, there would be an explosion in products delivering privacy and real security. And we would ward off another possible global disaster. No prediction algorithms are needed to speculate that these opportunistic creeps (FB, Google and similar creeps) will eventually be sloppy enough to let a horrible computer virus get out of hand.

[Layzeebeaver]

33. Apple cannot "End" farcebook

However, Tim Apple "Could" take steps to introduce a new social media platform that adheres to these principles he alludes too.

If successful, then FB could actually start being Farcebook, since only the crazies will want to hang out there.

Farcebook would then become tomorrows myspace.

[NurseJackie]

35. I doubt it.

[whistler162]

36. Next up Tim Cook may have ended hammers and saw's

FACEBOOK IS A TOOL use it correctly, and it is useful. Use it incorrectly and it will do harm.

[Wawannabe]

41. But my family!

But my friends!

But my business!

But but but....

[Oldem]

49. All I need to know about FB

is that Zuckerberg called fellow Harvard students "dumb f*cks" for trusting him with their personal information. He's built an empire by exploiting the personal data he gleans from FB users. Yes, FB is a convenient way to keep up with friends and relatives, find recipes, etc. That's its appeal. But Zuck has clearly allowed the platform to be used for much more perfidious purposes than posting pictures of our food, and has fought tooth and nail to avoid government regulation. And he still uses the same business model: gathering and selling the personal information of his users. It's one of the great dilemmas of our age: how much privacy are we willing to give up for convenience? Me? Not much.

[nam78_two]

53. I agree with everything you said

I remember saying in 2017 to my closest friend that "Mark Zuckerberg is going to offer free internet to the poor in India."* His reaction was very funny-he instantly grimaced with distaste and said "ewwwwwww". I think that pretty much covers the gap between how Zuckerberg (and others like him-Larry Page etc. etc.) view themselves and how normal people view them. I feel the same distaste when I see creeps of this type skulking around near education, medicine, national security etc. Not to mention peddling their bogus philanthropies as tobacco companies used to.

I don't use this garbageware, but he and Larry Page symbolize a deep problem in contemporary society and it is far worse than FB/Google alone.

That is why this article really gives me hope -more than most things I have seen in over a decade. I plan to switch to the mac/Iphone in support of people who take a firm and hard stance in defense of privacy/consent/permissions etc. I am sick of those who treat privacy issues vacuously at best or opportunistically/creepily at worst.

[Oldem]

56. Thanks for that.

I'm an iPhone guy, again for security reasons. Can't afford a MacBook and can't stand touchpads. I post the following in hopes that somebody can convince me to dump Lenovo. I'm addicted to the TrackPoint, the little red eraser head in the middle of a ThinkPad keyboard. I'm a touch typist, and the TrackPoint allows me to keep my fingers on the home keys. With a TrackPad, I'd have to move my hand from the keyboard and then replace it. I know I'm in a small minority on this, and if I could accommodate myself to the TrackPad, I'd many more computer choices. Might even save up for a MacBook.

[BobTheSubgenius]

52. I don't use FB all that much, and that use is diminishing.

There are some people that I would regret 'losing,' but by and large, I don't miss the site and its idiocy.

[RainCaster]

57. I waste no more than 15 minutes per week on FB

Makes me feel much better to ignore all that ugliness.