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mathew

I hate threads of posts on sites like this and generally don't indulge in them, but there are apparently people who think Facebook deserves a chance to federate, moderate and be trusted with our data, so here we go.

To avoid spamming people's timelines I plan to use the "unlisted" option after the next post, so that posts only show up for people who click into the thread.

(...and then I made the first post unlisted by mistake. Power user move right there. Well, I'm not going to delete and repost it all now. Click into this post to see the thread.)

Also, I'm highly likely to mute notifications for the entire thread, and if you start sealioning or nit-picking details about individual events then get ready to be blocked, because it's not about individual events, it's about the pattern of behavior.

(Oh, and of course this isn't a definitive list of bad behavior by Facebook; it isn't even all the stuff I've personally heard about.)

mathew

First of all, why shouldn't we trust Facebook to federate and interoperate?

- Facebook originally supported chat using standard XMPP. <adweek.com/performance-marketi>

- Then they dropped support for XMPP in order to force people to use their chat client. It wasn't enough to require that people have a Facebook account — they walled off access via any third party client. <omgubuntu.co.uk/2015/04/facebo>

- Facebook originally supported RSS feeds.
<stackoverflow.com/questions/94>

- Then in 2015 they dropped support for RSS feeds.
<stackoverflow.com/questions/28>

- Of course, Facebook still support RSS today — as a way to get data *into* Facebook.
<facebook.com/help/work/4208143>

- Facebook originally supported the open oEmbed standard, which would you to embed posts on your Wordpress site (or other web site). Then they blocked that.
<searchenginejournal.com/facebo>

(continues)

Adweek · Breaking: Facebook to Launch Jabber/XMPP Support for ChatBy Nick O'Neill
Dec 17, 2023, 02:46 · · Web · 0 · 0
mathew

- Think people might be encouraged away from Threads into the Fediverse via account migration? Facebook blocked an application that would let you export your own friend list for use in other social media systems.
<gmanetwork.com/news/scitech/co>

Next up, why shouldn't we trust Facebook to moderate?

- Facebook continued to actively promote posts that its own internal teams concluded were "bad for the world", because they had high engagement.
<nytimes.com/2020/11/24/technol>

- Facebook allowed right-wing web site The Daily Wire to break Facebook's content rules and use coordinated sockpuppet accounts for self-promotion, even after being told about it.
<popular.info/p/facebook-allows>

- Facebook allowed climate change denialists to be exempt from a supposed Facebook fact-checking program, because they spent money on ads.
<buzzfeednews.com/article/craig>

- Facebook refused to count Holocaust denial as a form of hate speech and ban it.
<theguardian.com/world/2020/aug>

(continues)

GMA News Online · Facebook blocks contact-exporting tool for Google ChromeEven as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly trying out Google+ for himself, his social network is allegedly blocking a tool for Google's Chrome browser that allows people to copy their Facebook contacts into Google.
mathew

- Facebook found thousands of QAnon groups with millions of followers — and did nothing.
<theguardian.com/us-news/2020/a>

- Facebook refused to allow vaccine ads, but allowed antivax ads.
<thedailybeast.com/facebook-axe>

- Facebook picked Breitbart as a high quality trusted news source, even though the site has a long history of racism and homophobia. (One example story about that, feel free to do a search for more.)
<cnn.com/2019/10/26/media/faceb>
<talkingpointsmemo.com/news/bre>

- Facebook was used to incite genocide in Myanmar, and failed to moderate appropriately.
<reuters.com/investigates/speci>

- They then refused to help with investigation of the genocide.
<time.com/5880118/myanmar-rohin>

- Facebook donated to far-right politicians including one who described himself as "David Duke without the baggage".
<threadreaderapp.com/thread/118>

- Facebook brought in The Daily Caller to fact-check posts.
<thedailybeast.com/facebook-bri>

(continues)

The Guardian · Revealed: QAnon Facebook groups are growing at a rapid pace around the worldBy Julia Carrie Wong
mathew

- Facebook decided to make politicians exempt from all acceptable content rules.
<thedailybeast.com/facebook-any>

- Facebook banked millions of dollars from the hate groups it allowed to continue to use its platform.
<gizmodo.com/facebook-has-banke>

- Facebook helped Nazis advertise to people that their algorithms thought might be interested in fascism.
<latimes.com/business/technolog>

- Facebook refused to moderate manipulated video.
<theguardian.com/technology/201>

- Facebook blocked black people from talking about racism.
<usatoday.com/story/news/2019/0>

Next, why shouldn't we trust Facebook with fediverse data?

- Remember how Facebook user data was sold to Cambridge Analytica, and Facebook acted outraged? They were so upset that they hired the person responsible.
<theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/>

- They also lied about when they knew about the problem.
<theverge.com/2019/8/23/2082960>

(continues)

The Daily Beast · Facebook: Anything Politicians Say Is ‘Newsworthy’ and Exempt From Platform’s RulesBy Taylor Hatmaker
mathew

- Facebook launched a tool claiming to clear your history — that didn't actually delete anything.
<theguardian.com/technology/201>

- Facebook kept shadow profiles, data about people who had never signed up for Facebook or used the product. They probably still do.
<theverge.com/2018/4/11/1722548>

- Facebook stated that you have no expectation of privacy on social media.
<cnet.com/news/privacy/facebook>

- Facebook uploaded 1.5m people's address books without permission, and claimed it was an accident.
<businessinsider.com/facebook-u>

- Facebook paid kids to install spyware on their phones.
<techcrunch.com/2019/01/29/face>

So, after all that you want to trust Facebook this time? That's up to you. I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I don't believe Facebook will genuinely federate, and if they do then I sure as hell don't believe they'll moderate acceptably.

The Guardian · Facebook launches 'clear history' tool – but it won't delete anythingBy Alex Hern
HeadMycoPhile

@mathew Those are good points, I agree, however what is really important is the fact of the algorithm.. F will NEVER just start letting people decide what they want to see, like we all do here and so, it WILL go the way of AOL... eventually, its too far down the rabbit hole

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