Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday at the company’s F8 developer conference acknowledged that 2018 has been an “intense year” for the company. And many would agree with that statement, including the faithful Facebook users who would either accept that data scandal is part of social media standards or pretend that Cambridge Analytica which is now shutting down has willingly given up the credentials to seamlessly sway their political choices in the nearest future.
Facebook unveiled several new features set to be included in its various platforms, with Instagram and WhatsApp getting group video chats in a few weeks, Reddit-like dislike voting system gradually made available to Facebook users, and the company’s Oculus Rift standalone VR headset hitting our stores in no distant time. The most ‘exciting’ move by the social media giant is its plans to include dating feature to Facebook. Zuckerberg announced that the dating feature which is coming soon is not designed just for hookups, but for “real long-term relationships,” since the platform has plans to enforce dating rules on its users.
“There are 200 million people on Facebook who list themselves as single,” Zuckerberg said. “So clearly there’s something to do here.”
Image: Mark Zuckerberg at F8 2018
It’s rather too hazy that one cannot see where the pressure is coming from. Is it wrong to make money from every avenue available, even when it’s gravely endangering the safety of others and our society at large? Well, that depends on how you choose to look at it. From my reference point, I see jurisdiction or a bastardized society. When it comes to business, policies must play a role to bring sanity; otherwise, no one gets the blame or becomes accountable if corporate decisions go haywire.
As long as millions of users are involved, investors will be ready to cast their hooks into the next available money mining pond. Let the dying center handle potential risks or societal consequences, after all, the most lucrative business is all about harnessing loopholes from debatable policies. Shares in various dating platforms recorded a steep fall immediately after Zuckerberg’s statements on the dating feature, “more than 22% below their opening price,” according to BBC.
We are referring to a company facing fierce criticism and loss of public trust, with various investigations on its recent faux pas consistently launched at different regions globally, each ending our hopes on the promises that have at least once been broken. We can be so sure that our privacy is safe with Facebook; a company trying to introduce new money-making features that would compromise the encryption of the largest most secure social network – WhatsApp it didn’t build. BBC reports that Facebook is building a new clear history feature as a measure to boost the privacy of its users; a tool that should “provide members with more control over how their information is used.” In a better translation; a way of becoming the security puppet so you could share blames for mishaps. Providing your data is the big deal and to control how it’s used is a fallacious position to assume. Either the system protects it or we record the next victims, if not for the second time publicly announced.
Our obsession for Facebook’s prime concept is now looking like what the center cannot tame, with our voices repeatedly misjudged, and every new innovation unconsciously taking us away from our primary cultures in a way we rarely can fight. It may be too early to imagine what our society would become; by the way, our past ugly experience hasn’t promised us a better position.
