EU Parliament Asks Zuckerberg If He Created A ‘Digital Monster’

[Lucian Armasu]

Members of the European Parliament grill Facebook's CEO in a public hearing, but Zuckerberg responds with mostly the same answers he used in the U.S. Congressional hearings.

EU Parliament Asks Zuckerberg If He Created A ‘Digital Monster’ : Read more

 

[bloodroses]

The biggest issue that I've ran into with Facebook is when I go to cancel/delete my account, half my android games no longer work. Luckily, the other half use my Google account. There should be no reason why Android games are not 100% google account compatible; especially since Android is Google's OS and all the games came from the Google Play Store.
I've never used an Apple phone, so I don't know if the same issue persists on the other side with games for IOS.

 

[10tacle]

Facebook has gotten way too intrusive. When I read they tried to access user's health care records and bias their trending stories with a political slant, that for me was the last straw. I am by no means a fan of the EU fat cat bureaucrats sitting in their comfy offices in Brussels telling Brits what kind of electric tea pots they are allowed to own based on power consumption (one of countless fascist examples of EU dictatorship over individual countries).

However, good on the EU for doing what our members of Congress are too cowardly to do in the US. That Senate hearing and questioning that Zuckerberg faced was a farce and accomplished nothing. Facebook has no competition and they know it. It has become too deeply embedded in our society these days. People communicate via FB daily instead of "old fashioned" email because it is a one stop shop convenient portal with friends and family. Then there are businesses that use it for marketing and competing with each other for "what's trending now" graphs.

Now even if Congress does approve to break it up, how would they do it? It's not like you can break up Facebook like they did with AT&T Bell into different regions for local control creating Baby Bells (Regional Bell Operating Companies or RBOCs).

 

[10tacle]

The biggest issue that I've ran into with Facebook is when I go to cancel/delete my account, half my android games no longer work.

That to me sounds like an anti-trust violation worthy of a class action lawsuit against FB and Congressional action. If they were free to play like with ads tied to FB, that's one thing. But if you *paid* for them, that is definitely anti-trust and breach of contract.

I hear from friends, especially Apple owners, that the FB app is a resource and battery train hog. Not surprising considering how it is so interconnected with other apps. I use Google + on my Note 7 and it runs flawlessly. Unfortunately, not many of my friends or relatives use it. That's just the price I (and they) will pay for me rejecting Farcebook. They can call, text, or email me if they want to communicate with me. Sadly, this means I have lost touch with some of them over the years. Oh well.

 

[therealduckofdeath]

I hear from friends, especially Apple owners, that the FB app is a resource and battery train hog. Not surprising considering how it is so interconnected with other apps. I use Google + on my Note 7 and it runs flawlessly. Unfortunately, not many of my friends or relatives use it. That's just the price I (and they) will pay for me rejecting Farcebook. They can call, text, or email me if they want to communicate with me. Sadly, this means I have lost touch with some of them over the years. Oh well.

I hope you're aware that Google isn't any less complicit in this fake news epidemic? YouTube has had the same kinds of spam and Google has done as little there to fix it as Facebook. Google even ignores court orders in EU countries to take down illegal content like hate speech or terrorism promotion. All I'm saying is, if you're deleting Facebook because of ethics, make sure to also delete any of the other big social networks.

 

[10tacle]

Oh I'm well aware of how Google has manipulated their search engines revolving around political bias among other unethical business practices. That's no news to me. I never had a FB account. I use G+ though as it's a tool used for part of my job. Same thing with LinkedIn. I guess I can always try and find a new job, but I like the size of the paycheck so I can deal with Google's shenanigans.

My hatred for Farcebook does not just root in ethics. The fact they are changing our social behavior is deeply troubling as well. My sister can't even go out to dinner with her family without checking her FB app to see who liked what. It's sad really. Women are the worst offenders of it as they constantly try and outdo each other in stories and photos like from vacations, kid's birthday celebrations, holiday celebrations, etc. It sickens me to no end.

 

[DXRick]

Of course! If it weren't for FB, Google, et al, people would be behaving exactly as socialists want us to!

Seriously, it's just something new politicians can demonize to keep us from ever seeing the real issues. Sad that this works so well.

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

"EU Parliament Asks Zuckerberg If He Created A ‘Digital Monster’..."

To which Zuckerberg replied "I didn't create a digital monster... I am the digital monster." as his eyes began to glow red.

 

[bloodroses]

"EU Parliament Asks Zuckerberg If He Created A ‘Digital Monster’..."

To which Zuckerberg replied "I didn't create a digital monster... I am the digital monster." as his eyes began to glow red.

 

[canadianvice]

The one thing I always find so hypocritical about these inquiries is that the people they're attempting to crucify are usually just following the laws they purchased.

It's like Martin Shkreli - barring his actual violation of investment legislation - charging that much for a drug was never illegal. He just had the bad sense to rub the fact in everyone's faces until they wanted blood instead of letting it blow over with a robotic prepared statement.

But they drag him in and get angry at him for being smug, when they're the ones who enabled such things in the first place? If I were Martin or Zuckerberg, I'd have basically just answered every question with (provided it was of course applicable) "I'm merely following the laws that you accepted our money for. Strange I'm in this seat."

To be fair, it's perhaps less relevant in the EU where they don't seem nearly as bent on appeasing the megacorps, but I'd certainly have trotted out the line before Congress and I'd have been fully justified to do so.