Oversight
Facebook Doesn’t Care About You
Scandal after scandal won’t change user behavior — and the company knows it
New Facebook controversies sprouted up so fast this week it was hard to keep track of them. The social media giant managed to hit the digital scandal trifecta: allegedly exploiting children for money, curtailing transparency, and encroaching on user privacy. All while posting record profits.
First up, last Thursday Reveal reported that “Facebook orchestrated a multiyear effort that duped children and their parents out of money, in some cases hundreds or even thousands of dollars, and then often refused to give the money back.” Essentially, “Facebook encouraged game developers to let children spend money without their parents’ permission — something the social media giant described internally as ‘friendly fraud’ — in an effort to maximize revenues, according to a document detailing the company’s game strategy.”
Then on Monday, ProPublica revealed that Facebook was cutting off its journalists from a tool ProPublica itself had built that allowed the public to better see who is paying for the vast amount of political advertising on Facebook. ProPublica’s searchable database was created in the wake of the massive controversy over how ads on Facebook can influence voters and…
