The Facebook Business Model Might Die

HackerNoon Reporter: Please state the link of the article you are reviewing:

https://hackernoon.com/how-much-internet-regulation-does-facebook-support

What is your opinion regarding this piece?

It’s a comprehensive article that provides insights into social media problems and efforts to mitigate them.

What are some of the varying perspectives on this subject that you’re aware of?

It’s a very broad topic. There are many facets and points of view. I will recite several of them from the top of my head.

• There are people that support complete freedom for the Internet, thus allowing companies to do whatever they want and let the public choose the best.

• There are people who think that data should be sold to big-tech companies. Suppose you want to track me - fine. Just pay for that. Our attention is the most valuable thing for the companies.

• There are Web3.0 dreamers who think that this concept will allow users to have more transparency into their applications.

What are some of the nuances people frequently miss when discussing this subject matter?

Right now, Facebook collects information about you for free. And when Apple provided a feature to prohibit applications from gathering users’ behavior in other applications, Mark Zuckerberg went crazy. His business model suffered greatly.

He admits the problem, but an incident occurred when a group of activists bought ads from Facebook and showed the users why they’d been targeted.

Like: “Lonely 25y.o. Tech student. Dog lover.”

Facebook suspended this campaign very fast.

I think that this is the real reason why he wants the legislation to be guided by him. He wants his company to generate as much money as possible.

Also, the whole Metaverse move with VR seems to be a step further into personal lives and potential mental issues. It must be regulated too.

I’ve read that Facebook management has chosen to do mental harm to their users just because it traps the attention better. Such practices should be considered unlawful.

What is your favorite quote or paragraph from this article? Why?

“The ads appeared in podcasts and on TV. A few months ago, when she went to the grocery store to make a copy of a key, Simpson was startled to see that even the key copying machine was flashing the message.”

It is incredible how much information tech giants have about us. And if we assume that it can’t be used to modulate our behavior, then we are fools.

Was there a part of the article that you didn’t necessarily think about before, what was it?

I didn’t know that Facebook is lobbying regulations for social media. And they definitely are not doing it because they are thinking about people’s well-being. They just want this process to be in control.

Is there anything else about this you’d like us to know?

Facebook growth slowed already, and its shares plummeted 25% just lately. It’s a good sign. Something needs to be changed in the Facebook business model for it to survive.

So either we will see something completely new, or it will die.