Time to abandon Meta?

I’m thinking out loud (most of these articles are) and this might be a bit of a hand grenade but can you run an ethical business and promote it using Meta?

It’s long been a dubious company to operate in. I was a huge Facebook fan back in the 2000s but as more information about how the platform works has emerged, it’s become increasingly uncomfortable. I decided early on in my business that I would not run ads and give money to the company. Now I’m wondering whether being on Facebook and Instagram at all is giving tacit approval to a business I find morally reprehensible.

If you haven’t seen the news, this week Meta announced it was getting rid of factcheckers in the US (it isn’t doing this in the UK and Europe yet). Meta also updated its hateful conduct policy and it now allows you to post some awful things.

For instance: “We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality.”

It also says: “We do allow content arguing for gender-based limitations of military, law enforcement and teaching jobs.”

We know that we don’t all see the same things on Facebook. I can be served a completely different series of posts that I didn’t ask to see to the ones you are being served. It means that while we are all ‘on Facebook’ our user experience and view of ‘reality’ is different because we’re being given messages tailored to us and once you’ve clicked on something, the algorithm updates to send you more along those lines. Suddenly, you’re several steps away from where you started.

We don’t see the negative posts or disinformation other people are being served unless they show it to us by interacting with it. And most of us lurk, silently taking things in. The impact of that can have a devastating impact on people’s mental health.

So while I might not get nasty messages, it doesn’t mean other people are not, nor does it mean that other people are not quietly being groomed into believing things that aren’t true.

I have various thoughts about these developments.

1. Run!

2. How do I feel about being part of groups on Facebook?

3. How do I feel about browsing Instagram?

I’ve seen many people say they would leave but they use it to communicate with friends and family, or their business is so reliant on Facebook and Instagram due to ads or because they host a community group there.

Which leads me on to my next thought: how did we all get so reliant on one company? And how do we extricate ourselves from that?

What happens when your values are at odds with a platform that you are handcuffed into?

Then I wonder whether abandoning is the right thing to do. I deleted Twitter a few months ago and am not sad it’s no longer part of my life. Contemplating ditching Facebook and Instagram today, I think I’d welcome the time back and loss of distraction.

But: what happens if we walk? Are we leaving it to become somewhere where misinformation and discrimination rules?

How much does it matter? After all, I’m not in alt-right groups and Musk has altered the algorithm on X so it represses liberal views.

I haven’t deleted Facebook and Instagram yet. I’m still thinking, as you can tell.

But hate is not free speech. Making people feel less or unwanted is not free speech. And making groups of people fair game so you can make more money is not free speech.