NEWSLETTER #153/ March 10, 2019
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ZUCKERBERG DISCOVERS PRIVACY
History's greatest abuser of privacy is now promising to rebuild his empire around a "privacy-focused communications platform." So said Mark Zuckerberg this week in a 3,000 word "manifesto" (manifesto is how bullshit artists pronounce "press release.")
The Z-man seems to foresee a future for the social network in which all postings are private and encrypted.
This raises a few questions in my mind.
- Since his entire business is based on the monetizing of private, personal data scraped from the skin of his users, how does this new thing make money?
- If Facebook cannot control the hateful, racist, disgusting material that now appears on its platform, how in the world are they going to control it when "end-to-end encryption prevents anyone -- including us -- from seeing what people share on our services."
I think the answer to those questions goes something like this: Like every other representation Zuckerberg has ever made about privacy, this latest manifesto will turn out to be unadulterated horse shit.
Let's remember last year when he told the oafs in Washington that he intended to abide by "the spirit" of GDPR. The following week he apparently lost "the spirit" and moved 1.5 billion accounts from Ireland to the US to avoid the consequences of GDPR.
I'll give the last word to Siva Vaidhyanathan, the Robertson Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia... "Despite all the hype, Zuckerberg said nothing about changing Facebook itself. Facebook, with 2.3 billion users and growing, will still watch everything you do, will dictate what you read and see in your Newsfeed, and will feature advertisements targeted at you based on the massive surveillance system Facebook has built over the past decade. It will still distribute pictures of puppies and babies along with hate speech, conspiracy theories, and calls to genocide. It will still chip away at democracy and starve journalism."
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
A very simple test to see how hot an issue is becoming is to see how quickly pols jump on it (and each other.) This week presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren called for the break-up of Facebook, Google, and Amazon.
What this tells me is that whatever the merits of her case are, a sensible discussion of those merits are now no longer possible. And a sensible discussion of the issues of privacy abuse and surveillance marketing are about to go out the window with them. They will get all tangled up in partisan bickering rather than rational discussions of policy.
By the way, if Warren expects to win anything she needs new specs. She looks way too much like the vicar's wife. On the other hand, if Trump can win with that Elvis-from-hell hair-do I guess anything's possible.
And Speaking of Sexism
Is that what we were speaking of?... well, anyway, the great Samuel Scott wrote a nice piece this week about "faux-feminism." In it he documents the virtue-hustling hypocrisy of corporations whose actions belie their words.
I have nothing but admiration for companies that do the right thing because it's the right thing to do. And nothing but contempt for companies who pound their chest and make hay over their so-called commitment to whatever happens to be trending.
Facebook Leaking in US
According to a study conducted by Edison Research, Americans are leaving Facebook by the millions. Edison says Facebook has lost 15 million users in the US since 2017.
Their losses are especially high among the highly coveted (among marketing morons) under-34 age group. According to Edison, in 2017 about 80% of under-34s said they "ever use Facebook." Today only about 60% say so.
Most Horrifying Story of the Week
A parent's disturbing story of how Google has profited from video of his daughter's murder. If you're a parent you may not want to read this. Here. h/t Andrew Hall
Artificial Artificial Intelligence
The 2019 Bullshit Phrase of the Year is artificial intelligence. As we wrote a couple of weeks ago, AI has become "the universal marketing solution." As usual in marketingland, first comes the hype and then comes the con.
According to a report by London venture capital firm MMC, almost half of all companies classified as "AI Startups" in Europe ain't got no AI. Why? Says the head of research at MMC, "Startups that are labelled as being in the field of artificial intelligence attract 15% to 50% more in their funding rounds than other technology startups."
What is AI? Anything some hustler with a new "disruptive" product says it is.
