Why I think #deletefacebook is a scam

I think #deletefacebook is a scam. A lot of the motivation and funding and systematized "outrage" for the delete facebook movement in the wake of Facebook's data “breaches” apparently comes from other social media companies who are trying to gain market share, ad traffic, and profit from Facebook users SO THEY CAN DO THE EXACT SAME THINGS WITH YOUR DATA that Facebook is doing. And of course traditional media companies are piling on because news stories about outrage gain market share and ad revenue for them too.


So while I’m not a huge defender of Facebook and would cry no tears if it crumbled, I also realize that “moving” social media platforms will do precisely nothing in the mid-to-long term for data security or civil society. I think, all things considered, right now we should stay on Facebook and try to make it a better place, rather than giving our clicks and time to another site that will probably be just as bad as Facebook, maybe worse, without the billion strong community base that Facebook has. 

There are only two ways out of this from what I can see. First, we could just opt out of social media altogether and just be social with those we are connected with in the real world. But it is doubtful that will ever happen. Option two would be if we all connected through a non-profit and highly-regulated Social Media service that is not subservient to the Market demands of Consumerism. But it is even more doubtful that people would join this en masse, not to mention how it would be funded or who would regulate it. 

In other words, I don't see a billion people opting out of social media altogether, nor deciding to hangout in the comments section of NPR or BBC anytime soon.

Unless we go one of these two routes, we are probably stuck with Market driven, profit motivated social media companies. And the very nature of Market institutions is that they turn whatever they can into commodities to gain more profit. And in the case of social media, the commodity is you: Your data, your identity, your interactions, your preferences, sold to companies that are willing to pay for it. Or in other words: “When the product is free, the product is you”. 

That is why this data “breach” was no breach at all, but a completely predictable version of something that happens every day on social media. Data was harvested and used for marketing. In this case, political marketing. Every time you take a free online quiz, or free personality test, or subscribe to a company on social media, you are giving away your data to them to use, in whatever way they can, playing as fast and loose as they can with the TOS (terms of service).

Sure we can lobby companies to create ever more exhaustive and protective Terms of Service agreements, but (a) people don't read them as-is, and (b) the bigger the code of rules, the more loopholes there are to exploit. As long as we interact in a medium that is governed by the logic of profit over all else, it will produce profit over all else by making use of as many loopholes as it can. That is the nature of the Beast.

And speaking of Beast: I think all this leaves us at the classic quandary of the Devil you know and the Devil you don't know. If we leave Facebook (the Devil we know) to go to another social media platform (the Devil we don't know), I'm not sure the results will be any better, and there is a great chance they will be worse. So perhaps we stick with the Devil we know and demand he fashions enough chains and fetters for himself that we minimize his destructive capability.

So, at least right now, this is why I advocate staying on Facebook and working together as a community to make it a better place. A kinder place. A more compassionate place. Ignore the ads, and the "free" tests and quizzes, and above all ignore political news and commentary from ridiculous sources. And instead, just be "social" to one another. In other words, instead of constantly moving to where you think the grass is greener, bloom where you are planted. Be the solution you want to see, regardless of what Facebook (or anyone else) does with their Terms of Service.

Or you can delete Facebook. Unless you need it as a tool for work, education, community, or family involvement (like I do). But just remember that #deletefacebook is probably a scam for other companies to get your clicks instead of Facebook. And if you do delete Facebook, don't think you can replace it with another Market-driven service and things will be better in the long run. Because they won't. In my opinion.