Why I deleted my Facebook account
Mark Zuckerberg talks a good game, but fails to deliver on policing hate, violence, fringe conspiracy theories and disinformation/misinformation.
Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t care. Every view, every click, every bit of data that can be converted into advertising dollars or another revenue stream is money to him and to Facebook. And that is why Facebook has done the bare minimum to address the hate speech, incitements to violence, outright death threats, conspiracy theories and misinformation and disinformation that infect its platform.
It’s all money to Zuckerberg and Facebook.
Know how I know? I reported a number of users for repeatedly posting violent threats: Threats to club Black Lives Matter protesters with baseball bats. Threats to take out protesters with sniper rifles. Threats to mow down protesters with vehicles.
Facebook often took down the most overt of these violent threats, but the same individuals posted the same violent threats, over and over and over — without sanction. There appears to be no “three strikes” provision at Facebook, or any sanctioning provision, for that matter.
Mark Zuckerberg wants the clicks. Mark Zuckerberg wants the eyeballs. Mark Zuckerberg wants the data.
Even the most blatantly violent individuals do not get removed from the platform (save for a few militia groups that Facebook recently pulled with much public relations fanfare).
Hate speech also receives the back-of-the-hand from Facebook. More often than not, my complaints of hate speech were met with a response that a post or comment in question “didn’t go against one of our specific community standards.”
As I noted in a piece I published here on July 8 (Facebook Says the Post Pictured Is Not ‘Hate Speech’), Facebook places the onus of dealing with such hate speech onto users:
We know these options may not apply to every situation, so please let us know if you see something else you think we should review. You may also consider using Facebook to speak out and educate the community around you. Counter-speech in the form of accurate information and alternative viewpoints can help create a safer and more respectful environment.
It is not about presenting “alternative viewpoints.” It is about removing incitements to violence from the platform. Why should such a task be up to Facebook users?
It shouldn’t. And it can’t because users have no such power.
Much the same can be said for conspiracy theories, misinformation and provably false disinformation. These are not “alternative viewpoints” that Facebook users should be forced to “counter.” These are blatant falsehoods that do real-world damage, from deliberate misinformation on coronavirus, climate change and social justice movements, to the promotion of content from serial liars and fraudsters.
Know how else I know that Zuckerberg and Facebook only care about money and power? Facebook makes it exceedingly difficult to delete an account.
The recently “refreshed” version of Facebook has made it even more difficult to find the delete function on an account. And when the delete function is found, Facebook refuses to delete an account for 30 days. Sure, people should have time to consider a decision to permanently delete an account, but 30 days? Why not three days or even a week? And what happens in the intervening 30 days? Facebook bombs your inbox with repeated reminders that the clock is ticking on your account deletion, accompanied by a single click to “cancel the deletion of your account and retrieve any of the content or information you have added.”
Every deleted account is money lost. Fewer accounts mean fewer views, less data to resell, less advertising revenue, less of everything that makes Facebook so powerful.
Welcome to Hotel Facebook. You can check out any time you like, but you can (almost) never leave.
I have never been a fan of Facebook. I opened my account many years ago at the urging of a friend who suggested it would be good for my business. I rarely posted. In fact, I despised Facebook for many of the reasons outlined, above.
Then COVID hit. Carol and I were in California and our daughters and friends were back in the Chicago area. I knew our annual three-month stay in Santa Barbara would likely be extended, and even our visits with family in California would be curtailed. Facebook was a useful tool to keep in touch.
I began posting short pieces describing our life in Santa Barbara under the pandemic. (Life was pretty damn good, all things considered.) Rolled into that story, of course, was me dealing with my Stage 4 prostate cancer which had spread to my spine and shoulder.
At the same time, a few old friends and relatives with whom I had little contact started commenting on my posts. I began reading posts by some of these folks that discounted the threat from coronavirus and voiced opposition to even simple solutions like social distancing and wearing masks, all while extolling unproven therapies such as hydroxychloroquine and UV light.
Reading those uninformed, anti-science posts led directly to a piece I posted on Facebook and published here, I Like Science, which focused on medical quackery as it related to cancer.
The more I engaged on Facebook, the more I discovered that Facebook was a primary conduit of disinformation, quackery and dangerous ignorance. This wasn’t a matter of having different opinions. It was the substitution of facts and proven science with lies and disinformation.
When Black Lives Matter rose to the fore, I noted the steep increase in posts fomenting hate and violence, some of these posts emanating from people who were “friends” on Facebook (another term I despise). As I dug deeper into Facebook’s response to calls for violence on its platform, I found *crickets.* Racism, hatred and violence were rampant and Facebook’s curbs were nowhere to be found.
I don’t begrudge anyone who wants to use Facebook to keep in touch with far-flung family and friends. I will no longer, however, contribute to the company’s bottom line by sharing eyes, thoughts or data.
Large organizations often suffer from their own metastases. They come to value power and wealth over the greater good. I know this personally from my dealings with the Catholic Church, detailed in a story I published here in November 2018, The Class of `74: Where are they now?
Facebook has metastasized. It is diseased. In my opinion, it is a cancer on our society. The bad it does outweighs the good. I very much fear for the future of our society. We’ve reached a dark and dangerous point and Facebook is feeding the fury.
When my 30 days are up, my account will be gone permanently. And I feel better already. Mark Zuckerberg and company will get no more traffic from me.
And just for the sake of irony, please feel free to share on Facebook!
