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Facebook Says It's Standing Up Against Apple For Small Businesses. Some Of Its Employees Don't Believe It. (buzzfeednews.com) 37

Last Tuesday, Facebook launched what it portrayed as a full-throated defense of small businesses. But while the $750 billion company's public relations effort has presented a united front with small businesses, some Facebook employees complained about what they called a self-serving campaign that bordered on hypocrisy, according to internal comments and audio of a presentation to workers that were obtained by BuzzFeed News. From a report: A change in Apple's iOS 14 mobile operating system -- which requires iPhone owners to opt in to allow companies to track them across other apps and websites -- hurts Facebook, some employees argued on the company's private message boards, and their employer was just using small businesses as a shield. "It feels like we are trying to justify doing a bad thing by hiding behind people with a sympathetic message," one engineer wrote in response to an internal post about the campaign from Dan Levy, Facebook's vice president for ads.

"Aren't we worried that our stance protecting [small- and medium-sized businesses] will backfire as people see it as 'FB protecting their own business' instead?" read one top-voted question. "People want 'privacy,'" read another. "FB objecting here will be viewed with cynicism. Did we know this would be bad PR, and decide to publish anyway?" "How do we pick a message that looks less self serving?" one employee asked.

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Facebook Says It's Standing Up Against Apple For Small Businesses. Some Of Its Employees Don't Believe It.

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  • Seriously (Score:5, Insightful)

    by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Wednesday December 23, 2020 @01:07PM (#60860360) Journal

    Did these people not do any research about Facebook before they joined? What expectation did they ever have of it being ethical, and why?

    These are not the brightest bulbs in the drawer, but at least they're waking up.

    • Re:Seriously (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ceoyoyo ( 59147 ) on Wednesday December 23, 2020 @01:21PM (#60860426)

      The quotes in the summary aren't about Facebook acting ethically, they're about the potential backlash in response to Facebook's blatant hypocrisy.

      It sounds like at least the authors of those quotes know exactly what Facebook is, and are simply concerned about appearances.

      • by Corbets ( 169101 )

        The quotes in the summary aren't about Facebook acting ethically, they're about the potential backlash in response to Facebook's blatant hypocrisy.

        It sounds like at least the authors of those quotes know exactly what Facebook is, and are simply concerned about appearances.

        That, or they’re crafting their objections in a way that won’t get them fired.

        • by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

          Your hypothesis is that they're both stupid enough to be unaware of what Facebook does (OP's conjecture), and also smart enough to phrase their objections to what Facebook does in such a way that they don't get fired? Seems unlikely.

    • Re:Seriously (Score:4, Informative)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Wednesday December 23, 2020 @01:23PM (#60860432)

      Did these people not do any research about Facebook before they joined?

      Facebook tracks you whether you have an account or not [vox.com].

    • It doesn't appear that any of them are concerned with the ethics of the company. All of the comments are geared towards how the current message may appear to backfire and make them look even more self-serving and antagonistic towards users than they already look. That's not ethics. That's marketing.

    • Did these people not do any research about Facebook before they joined? What expectation did they ever have of it being ethical, and why?

      The bottom line is - Facebook pays really well, so no one who works there actually cares much about ethics. The ones who are of a somewhat more sensitive disposition pay it some shallow lip service so they can sleep better at night.

    • That's actually easy, and aligns fairly well with my own beliefs on the matter (I don't walk for Facebook though.).

      There is no contradiction here for someone who believes that advertising general, and targeted advertising specifically, is not inherently evil or unethical; BUT who also believes that it IS unethical to force those advertisements (either kind) upon someone who has explicitly indicated that they do not want to receive or view them, by setting their phone and/or browser accordingly.

      The real ques

    • They asked "What new unethical action can Facebook do that it hasn't already done? [slashdot.org]". There was only one sensible answer to this : "Nobody knows, except that Facebook upper management might have a vague clue".

      Such answers don't inspire confidence in people not good at logic.

    • Did these people not do any research about Facebook before they joined? What expectation did they ever have of it being ethical, and why?

      I don't think it's relevant though. People go to work to make a living for their families. On top of that, FB pays very handsomely and offers excellent benefit packages. I think sometimes even a highly moral-oriented person would still accept to work at FB (despite their disagreement about ethics) because they can put their morality at home when they come to the office and make a living. I've been in situation where morality is far less important than how to make ends meet. This is especially the case whe

  • hahahahahaha (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Voyager529 ( 1363959 ) <voyager529@yahoo. c o m> on Wednesday December 23, 2020 @01:21PM (#60860424)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    When even your employees are scratching their heads, you know you're on the wrong side of this to the point where its transparency will not be lost be even the most technologically unaware iPhone user.

    99% of small businesses aren't programming their own apps. 99% of small businesses that farm out their app development are very unlikely to be impacted by the additional privacy controls, because small business apps tend to be simple - could-have-been-a-website, possibly with a contact form or bill pay or something like that.

    The sorts of small businesses Facebook claims to be standing up for are going to be mostly-unimpacted by this. Nobody is fooled, Facebook comes out looking even worse, and the privacy settings will hurt them more than anyone else will make Zuck's tears all the more satisfying to see.

    The most incredible thing we could see, however, is for Facebook's stock to tank as even the shareholders express awareness that Facebook's business model is built around people's lack of awareness of how their data is being leaked, and how the sunlight Apple is bringing is terrible for their business.

  • There's a maximum of 10 people in this country who believe that Facebook gives a rats ass about small businesses, or anything else other than it's own bottom line.

    Not that Apple's motivation is any different. It's just that they sell a different product. Apple provides really nice hardware, an integrated experience, and an upgraded level of privacy as part of their service. For which they charge extra. Facebook provides a social networking site, for free, that serves two purposes: as a platform for sel
    • There's a maximum of 10 people in this country who believe that Facebook gives a rats ass about small businesses, or anything else other than it's own bottom line.

      It could be that Facebook's business strategy (to enhance its own bottom line) relies on small business users/partners thriving on their platform (enhancing own bottom lines), whereas Apple's does not.

      I'm not saying that's the case, but it's not impossible or a logical contradiction or anything.

  • Helping out small businesses would go against the core of who Facebook is and what it does. This is an oxymoron at best.

    --
    The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. - Robert Burns

  • Facebook must have quite a few not very smart employees then. Or ones that know when to keep their mouth shut.

  • Does anyone? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Altus ( 1034 ) on Wednesday December 23, 2020 @02:48PM (#60860648) Homepage

    Is there anyone who actually believes that Facebook is standing up for small business against apple? I'm not even sure the folks who produced those full pages ads believed it.

  • Really the best thing that could come out of this is for both facebook and apple to become ex-companies.

    Facebook's niche could esily be filled and apples already is.

    • by yagmot ( 7519124 )

      I get that your an anti-Apple troll, but I'm going to hold out a little hope that maybe, just maybe, you'll be kind enough to explain to us (who are clearly fools, in your eyes) just how Apple becoming an "ex-company" would benefit consumers.

    • If any companies need to disappear, it's Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft. The Internet would be much better off, both for computers and people.

  • I'm so sick and tired of transparent lies from mega corporations. Seriously, we spend our entire lives getting kicked in the balls by them. We grow up watching movies where they're the villain. We're constantly bombarded with news stories of all the ghastly things they do... and still nothing changes. We just suck it all down like good little drones.
  • But keep trying for your lizardman masters, Suckerberg. #zuckerpunch
  • Face it, you can't get 30 random people to agree that a particular restaurant is worth going to tonight.

    Why should we expect everyone to agree as to who should be sued and who should be left alone?

  • So I think FB has every right to speak up when their mainstream business model gets affected by something another company does. However, saying that their opposition campaign is on behalf of small business is not the right thing to do. Hell, if I lose revenue because of Apple's new policy, I'd be pissed too. But I won't take out a fullpage ad attacking Apple because "they harm someone else". I will say that they hurt my revenue directly and that 's the end of it. FB is a megacorp, why can't they just admit

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