A great day indeed. Thanks for helping build the movement to make this happen.
Don’t know if this will be part of a future article, but what do you think of the FTC wanting FB to sell Instagram and WhatsApp, instead of just forcing them to spin them off into their own independent companies? A breakup is great to begin with, but it seems like it would be better for these services to be independent instead of becoming part of a another tech behemoth.
As a former employee who quit after nine months, I just presented a talk at an academic forum, http://rebase-conf.org/2020/, that makes the case against Facebook. I certainly had no shortage of material and was able to draw on many examples I personally experienced. The talk is online at https://youtu.be/iYJQSfQGDEE.
My local newspaper, The Salt Lake Tribune, is down to about 2 sheets of paper and will cease delivery at the end of this year. It is a dwindling of the fourth estate and it is caused by Facebook and Google. -Mark Bailey, Salt Lake City
The company was also gracious enough to thank the two FTC Commissioners, Republicans Noah Phillips and Christine Wilson, who voted against bringing the case. That will become important, but I won’t go into why in this issue.)
These two are also the ones who decided not to bring a case against Insurance giant (United health Group)UHG’s buyout of DaVita Dialysis monopolizing the dialysis market via a vertical merger in 2019. Their reported reason for not bringing the suit was basically “Bc lawsuits are hard 🤷♀️” unbelievable! Healthcare monopolies need to be looked at next. The corruption and illegality are insurmountable.
I haven't had a business ruined by Facebook. I just have these folks arbitrarily locking an account, with no recourse. Many hobbies and organizations conduct all or most of their communications on facebook. If you are interested in pursuing a hobby, you are forced to use them. I chose to use a very ordinary nom de plume because a refuse to generate a dossier on myself. I spent a full day setting up an account and finding all the related groups I wanted to follow. Made a few comments here and there along the lines of 'nice specimen', "what equipment do you recommend for that'. Months later, I find my account has been disabled for 'violating terms'. Tried again a week later, same deal. Tried again, now it's 'too late for appeal', but I can 'download my data' to see what's going on. Said action results in 10 minutes of churning, nothing happening.
These folks are controlling communications as a common carrier, yet have no accountability to any one or any thing.
Matt, at the “lawlessness at the heart of our economy”, as you write, is predominantly based of the massive deceit of this Disguised Global Crony Capitalist Empire employing this ‘negative externality cost’ pumping and dumping scheme to make massive crooked faux-profits as I have described in commentary published in the NY “Times”:
No, it’s not difficult at all, to prove that all of the looting corporations which make their dirty faux-profits by pumping and dumping ‘negative externality costs’ on “others”; ‘we the American people’, our government, our environment, and our entire fragile little shared-world.
All honest economists fully understand that the dumping of ‘negative externality costs’ on “others” in order to make their massive false and stolen profits is a form of theft by deceit and fraud — regardless of whether their ‘negative externality cost’ dumping schemes are based on dumping; fossil-fuel climate damages, CDOs CDSs & derivative financial theft (EG. 2008/9), destruction of our democracy by Facebook anti-social media crooks et. al., gun deaths, MIC claimed “defense contractors” (AKA) “Merchants of Death”, and all looting through “accumulation by dispossession” by these damned and highly camouflaged Disguised Global Crony Capitalist Empire indirect thieves.
This made my day! Sent a complaint to the FCC on FB taking over my account. I am registering a complaint about FACEBOOK taking over my email without my permission. About two weeks ago started getting hundreds of messages in my Google email JUNK file placed in junk by Facebook. I do not like this feature it is my email it is up tp me to determine if email is junk. Email I had been receiving for decades was moved by FB to junk. I determined I could block this feature on my MAC. My server is Google. Somehow my gmail account was no longer accessible. This was devastating. I contacted Google and was able to access my account thanks to their help. I use my married name on my FB account to protect my privacy. I have used my maiden name since my divorce decades ago for email. I can now use my gmail account to send email however the name I use on FB is used as my name as sent not my maiden name. I have spent days trying to recover the use of my maiden name on my email with no success. I know I can close my Facebook account but have posts I want to save from family and friends such as posts received with photos of my son who died in an accident. More important at this time have been settling the contentious issue of my mothers estate with Attorneys. It is vital my name is correct on my email. How did FACEBOOK secure the right to change my name on my Google email account?
Did you see the politico article "why the democrats keep losing rural counties like mine"?. I don't know if I can include the link but search by title. Key point, rural farmers were upset when the Obama admin went back on promises to take on the ag monopolies that were running them out of business.
"Rural voters appreciated Obama’s repeated campaign promises to challenge the rise of agribusiness monopolies. But as president, he allowed for the continued consolidation of corporate power in the food system. "
I'm forwarding this comment from a friend who is not subscribed to substack. His comment follows:
I'm a podcaster, and I had a Facebook group populated by 1,500 members of my audience. I spent a considerable amount of time and effort keeping the conversations taking place there constructive. I used my podcasting sobriquet instead of my given name on my Facebook account, which is what made me vulnerable to what came next.
One day in July of 2018, I posted an opinion to a very large Star Trek discussion community in which I compared Star Trek: Discovery and the J.J. Abrams Star Trek movies unfavorably to older incarnations of Star Trek. Within 2 hours of posting that opinion, I got a letter from Facebook telling me that someone accused me of "impersonation." Facebook locked me out of my own account and demanded that I send them a photo of my ID. When I asked to have a human review the situation, I got another form letter demanding proof of ID, and when I didn't provide it, Facebook deleted my account. Over a decade's worth of content creation and curation was obliterated in an instant. My contributions to a decade's worth of in-depth conversations on the Friends of the C-Realm group and in exchanges with friends, enemies and strangers on my own account were deleted in an instant.
Insoc ain't got nuthin' on Facebook when it comes to flushing a person's life down the memory hole.
Anyway, the Facebook community devoted to my podcast still exists, but I don't have access to it.
I COULD start a new account, but after having been erased by Facebook once, why would I come crawling back for more abuse?
I want you to know that your work has made a real and significant impact to my world view, and has definitely shifted my attitude on antitrust. However, one major concern I am grappling with is that the current wave of antitrust regulation is specifically targeted at big tech. I am not going to argue that breaking up or otherwise regulating big tech would be bad in and of itself, but I am concerned that this will end up being tech specific and not actually deal with the problem of market concentration in the US. In some sense, it is a little disturbing that the first targets of this antitrust action are some of the newer, more innovative companies.
I know that any sort of antitrust action is helpful even just for signaling, but I can't shake the concern that all of the large companies and conglomerates that have been "disrupted" by big tech over the previous decades are going to end up benefitting. Do you think that's untrue (presumably via some argument that busting big tech will let other tech companies thrive and disrupt these companies to a greater extent.)
interesting, i think a factor this article doesn't talk about is FB putting the existential shits up the US by floating and building their own global reserve currency. I think the gov probably doesn't care that much about the destruction of democracy and privacy rights of the public. but the FB sovereign currency thing. that scared the shit out of them. with it's use base of 2bn folks FB would instantly become the largest central bank on the planet. as they say: money talks, everything else walks.
A great day indeed. Thanks for helping build the movement to make this happen.
Don’t know if this will be part of a future article, but what do you think of the FTC wanting FB to sell Instagram and WhatsApp, instead of just forcing them to spin them off into their own independent companies? A breakup is great to begin with, but it seems like it would be better for these services to be independent instead of becoming part of a another tech behemoth.
As a former employee who quit after nine months, I just presented a talk at an academic forum, http://rebase-conf.org/2020/, that makes the case against Facebook. I certainly had no shortage of material and was able to draw on many examples I personally experienced. The talk is online at https://youtu.be/iYJQSfQGDEE.
This IS a good day, and you've helped it come. Well done
My local newspaper, The Salt Lake Tribune, is down to about 2 sheets of paper and will cease delivery at the end of this year. It is a dwindling of the fourth estate and it is caused by Facebook and Google. -Mark Bailey, Salt Lake City
The company was also gracious enough to thank the two FTC Commissioners, Republicans Noah Phillips and Christine Wilson, who voted against bringing the case. That will become important, but I won’t go into why in this issue.)
These two are also the ones who decided not to bring a case against Insurance giant (United health Group)UHG’s buyout of DaVita Dialysis monopolizing the dialysis market via a vertical merger in 2019. Their reported reason for not bringing the suit was basically “Bc lawsuits are hard 🤷♀️” unbelievable! Healthcare monopolies need to be looked at next. The corruption and illegality are insurmountable.
I haven't had a business ruined by Facebook. I just have these folks arbitrarily locking an account, with no recourse. Many hobbies and organizations conduct all or most of their communications on facebook. If you are interested in pursuing a hobby, you are forced to use them. I chose to use a very ordinary nom de plume because a refuse to generate a dossier on myself. I spent a full day setting up an account and finding all the related groups I wanted to follow. Made a few comments here and there along the lines of 'nice specimen', "what equipment do you recommend for that'. Months later, I find my account has been disabled for 'violating terms'. Tried again a week later, same deal. Tried again, now it's 'too late for appeal', but I can 'download my data' to see what's going on. Said action results in 10 minutes of churning, nothing happening.
These folks are controlling communications as a common carrier, yet have no accountability to any one or any thing.
Matt, at the “lawlessness at the heart of our economy”, as you write, is predominantly based of the massive deceit of this Disguised Global Crony Capitalist Empire employing this ‘negative externality cost’ pumping and dumping scheme to make massive crooked faux-profits as I have described in commentary published in the NY “Times”:
No, it’s not difficult at all, to prove that all of the looting corporations which make their dirty faux-profits by pumping and dumping ‘negative externality costs’ on “others”; ‘we the American people’, our government, our environment, and our entire fragile little shared-world.
All honest economists fully understand that the dumping of ‘negative externality costs’ on “others” in order to make their massive false and stolen profits is a form of theft by deceit and fraud — regardless of whether their ‘negative externality cost’ dumping schemes are based on dumping; fossil-fuel climate damages, CDOs CDSs & derivative financial theft (EG. 2008/9), destruction of our democracy by Facebook anti-social media crooks et. al., gun deaths, MIC claimed “defense contractors” (AKA) “Merchants of Death”, and all looting through “accumulation by dispossession” by these damned and highly camouflaged Disguised Global Crony Capitalist Empire indirect thieves.
Alan MacDonald
Wells, Maine
This made my day! Sent a complaint to the FCC on FB taking over my account. I am registering a complaint about FACEBOOK taking over my email without my permission. About two weeks ago started getting hundreds of messages in my Google email JUNK file placed in junk by Facebook. I do not like this feature it is my email it is up tp me to determine if email is junk. Email I had been receiving for decades was moved by FB to junk. I determined I could block this feature on my MAC. My server is Google. Somehow my gmail account was no longer accessible. This was devastating. I contacted Google and was able to access my account thanks to their help. I use my married name on my FB account to protect my privacy. I have used my maiden name since my divorce decades ago for email. I can now use my gmail account to send email however the name I use on FB is used as my name as sent not my maiden name. I have spent days trying to recover the use of my maiden name on my email with no success. I know I can close my Facebook account but have posts I want to save from family and friends such as posts received with photos of my son who died in an accident. More important at this time have been settling the contentious issue of my mothers estate with Attorneys. It is vital my name is correct on my email. How did FACEBOOK secure the right to change my name on my Google email account?
I was 12 when Facebook was created. I look forward to what exists beyond the era of ever-increasing monopoly powers in tech.
Did you see the politico article "why the democrats keep losing rural counties like mine"?. I don't know if I can include the link but search by title. Key point, rural farmers were upset when the Obama admin went back on promises to take on the ag monopolies that were running them out of business.
"Rural voters appreciated Obama’s repeated campaign promises to challenge the rise of agribusiness monopolies. But as president, he allowed for the continued consolidation of corporate power in the food system. "
So they turned to Trump.
I'm forwarding this comment from a friend who is not subscribed to substack. His comment follows:
I'm a podcaster, and I had a Facebook group populated by 1,500 members of my audience. I spent a considerable amount of time and effort keeping the conversations taking place there constructive. I used my podcasting sobriquet instead of my given name on my Facebook account, which is what made me vulnerable to what came next.
One day in July of 2018, I posted an opinion to a very large Star Trek discussion community in which I compared Star Trek: Discovery and the J.J. Abrams Star Trek movies unfavorably to older incarnations of Star Trek. Within 2 hours of posting that opinion, I got a letter from Facebook telling me that someone accused me of "impersonation." Facebook locked me out of my own account and demanded that I send them a photo of my ID. When I asked to have a human review the situation, I got another form letter demanding proof of ID, and when I didn't provide it, Facebook deleted my account. Over a decade's worth of content creation and curation was obliterated in an instant. My contributions to a decade's worth of in-depth conversations on the Friends of the C-Realm group and in exchanges with friends, enemies and strangers on my own account were deleted in an instant.
Insoc ain't got nuthin' on Facebook when it comes to flushing a person's life down the memory hole.
Anyway, the Facebook community devoted to my podcast still exists, but I don't have access to it.
I COULD start a new account, but after having been erased by Facebook once, why would I come crawling back for more abuse?
Excellent!! I hope this is making Bezos very nervous, too.
What pleasing news. I despise social media. They commodify your brain. Let's get rid of Google too. Good work!
Hey Matt,
I want you to know that your work has made a real and significant impact to my world view, and has definitely shifted my attitude on antitrust. However, one major concern I am grappling with is that the current wave of antitrust regulation is specifically targeted at big tech. I am not going to argue that breaking up or otherwise regulating big tech would be bad in and of itself, but I am concerned that this will end up being tech specific and not actually deal with the problem of market concentration in the US. In some sense, it is a little disturbing that the first targets of this antitrust action are some of the newer, more innovative companies.
I know that any sort of antitrust action is helpful even just for signaling, but I can't shake the concern that all of the large companies and conglomerates that have been "disrupted" by big tech over the previous decades are going to end up benefitting. Do you think that's untrue (presumably via some argument that busting big tech will let other tech companies thrive and disrupt these companies to a greater extent.)
interesting, i think a factor this article doesn't talk about is FB putting the existential shits up the US by floating and building their own global reserve currency. I think the gov probably doesn't care that much about the destruction of democracy and privacy rights of the public. but the FB sovereign currency thing. that scared the shit out of them. with it's use base of 2bn folks FB would instantly become the largest central bank on the planet. as they say: money talks, everything else walks.
I think this is punishment for libra
Great work Matt!!!