I'm deleting my Facebook account

[Cirque du So-What]

Granted, I don't have much 'investment' in the account, but the hosting of Russian bots and associate memes elevates my disgust to 11 with the way their business is run.

If I provided server space to racists and fascists, I wouldn't be able to look at my own reflection in the mirror. Thanks, Mark et al who give the deplorables an above-ground platform for hate.

[Madam45for2923]

1. and Facebook still TODAY minimizing and lying about the scope & magnitude!

[Blue_Adept]

2. If you live in America you've always provided space to racists and fascists

And guess what, they use Amazon too

And twitter

And CNN

And a billion other things.

The only way to not be involved is to find yourself a nice little island away from everyone and cut off from existence entirely. Because every tool you use, every service you're involved with, in some way is going to be connected with things that will (or should) abhor you, from child labor sweatshops to the racists and russians.

Enjoy!

[Madam45for2923]

5. Enjoy what? FB f*up majorly this time around. Consumers can retaliate if they want to.

This year racists and fascists all came out like cockroaches in the night and these platforms did more than enable them!

Blue_Adept
2. If you live in America you've always provided space to racists and fascists

And guess what, they use Amazon too

And twitter

And CNN

And a billion other things.

The only way to not be involved is to find yourself a nice little island away from everyone and cut off from existence entirely. Because every tool you use, every service you're involved with, in some way is going to be connected with things that will (or should) abhor you, from child labor sweatshops to the racists and russians.

Enjoy!

[Ghost Dog]

8. Correct.

Bang on target!

[True Dough]

27. If an individual thinks they can live without Facebook and those other services

all the more power to them. If they believe their boycott makes a difference, then have at it.

Personally, while I'm disappointed Facebook compromised its ethics, I'm not about to throw it away as well as the sundry other things you listed.

[Skittles]

43. I live very well without FB

fuck that piece of SHIT site

[AngryAmish]

3. Twitter and Facebook are both cancer.

[Blue_Adept]

4. The people that use it for disturbing things are the cancer

The services are just tools. And huge, huge, swaths of people and organizations use these services in fantastic and life-saving ways.

[Madam45for2923]

13. I disagree. This year these platforms were not just passive tools.

[L. Coyote]

34. Twitter is the leading news source today. Facvebook is the leading news distributor.

They are NOT cancer, they are just platforms. The content is the problem, not the medium.

[dalton99a]

6. You're missing out on people telling you what they had for dinner and when they went to the bathroom

and all their random crappy photos

Not to mention all the amazing alternative facts from Moscow

[Blue_Adept]

7. You must have some terrible friends if that's what you see on your Facebook timeline

[dalton99a]

9. Amazing logical inference there

[Blue_Adept]

11. Hey, I'm just going by what you posted that people would be missing

Which makes it seem like that's all that you see on yours, if you have one.

[Plucketeer]

33. I agree

If your FB presence is rife with "friends" that wanna share the intake and outflow of their digestive tract it's your fault. They actually have a "Block" feature and it works pretty well. The idea is that you weed out the dullards and bozos that post their last "movement" because there's nothing else they can remember from their day that's worth recounting. Assuming there IS a person or two with a skoch of intellect amongst those you call your "friends", you can winnow the pack down to those who can actually draft statements more enlightening than: Wassup? or FU and the like. It's a lot like the real world in that your experience depends on what you put into it. If you hang with dullards and dimwits, don't expect them to go on about theories of the universe or what their favorite piece by Chopin is.

[Blue_Adept]

35. Exactly

I've got friends from all walks of life and professions and there's some great stuff that I get from them. And for friends that I've known for half my life, I love seeing them post pictures of kids that they never thought they'd have, the fun times, the rough times, and everything in between.

I get a good bit of enjoyment out of mine - even at 400+ friends through work related elements - because I fairly well curate it with the unfollow button for those that I don't want to see a lot of. Those that wallow in negativity or are just attention hungry.

Every day I get some pretty great and engaging conversations on a range of topics and am better for it - all while avoiding politics for the most part at that.

[Ghost Dog]

10. The amazingly reality-challenged,

may I be permitted here to suggest, might be yourselves?

[BigmanPigman]

12. Good for YOU! I posted a "boycott Facebook?" question

they other day. I have never used social media and neither has my immediate family. We seem to be living normal, functioning, balanced lives. I do not even take my cell phone with me and have never texted and don't know how to. People who walk around having conversations in a supermarket about their sex life or crossing the street causing accidents since they aren't aware of their surroundings drive me crazy(er).

Social media has become an addiction and the tech people knew it would be. That is why they designed it to give you personal status and an ego boost every 10 seconds with "likes and dislikes".

Facebook can afford to take a hit from a boycott but the larger impact will be a slight bruise on their image. They committed a crime and it seems like Twitter and You Tube, and others, did too. If they are found guilty I hope they are hit hard financially. Boycott away in the meantime.

[Madam45for2923]

14. I really wish they'd get sued. They f*cked up majorly. Did not care.

[Srkdqltr]

17. Cute Bigman

You are using social media now. Don't be so holy go pious. Love those who NEVER watch TV or use media but know all about it.

[Plucketeer]

36. You've got over 4K posts on DU

Do you not consider DU to be "social media"? I'm 72 and never even saw a TV until I was five! Can you BELIEVE it? It was only 15 years ago that I finally knuckled under and got a cellphone. If I were to just leave it on the kitchen counter every day, what would be the worth of having it?

When the first horseless conveyances appeared, the folks still clinging to the reins of their buckboard were really pissed when one them newfangled automobiles passed them or startled ol Dobbin. Time to go with the flow or buy a plot at the cemetery - pre-arrange all the "fixin's" for your inevitable "departure". Have your headstone cut to say: Here lies __________ ______ : They clung to the past til the very last!

[BigmanPigman]

41. I just learned time use the pictures /emojis yesterday thanks to a very

kind fellow DUer and I studied and through trial and error am learning how to cut/paste. I need someone to show me how to do things since I am a visual learner. I live with my dog and she obviously can't show me how to use my tablet with a touchscreen so it is VERY frustrating. Several months ago other DUers tried to help but it seems the touchscreen makes doing tech stuff different than with a mouse. I have my cell phone for emergencies (like an earthquake or the power goes out mostly since I live in CA). I am stuck at home since I am sick a lot now and I am very broke due to not being able to work and the cost of so many medical expenses so I am able to learn how to do some things that I hadn't before when I was busy working. I can't afford any new tech stuff when my bills for meds is over $800 a month alone. So I am slowly catching up to using current tech stuff that I already own with no extra expenses and features and upgrades. I have over 4,000 posts? Wow, does that mean I get to be on a jury now? Someone else was very nice and told me how to buy a star yesterday but that didn't allow me to do anything differently when I post. The little ads did not bother me since I ignore ads.

I know Facebook, etc sold and to Russia but I think it was a lot more than $100,000. I video on DU showed a woman who said that the 45 campaign spent most of its money on Facebook and it was $85 million and without Facebook they wouldn't have won. I am glad I never used their product/services more now than ever. I hope Mueller subpoenas them if they do not voluntarily gives them the requested information for the investigation.

[sinkingfeeling]

15. I deleted mine in November. Takes a month or more to be gone

[Maggiemayhem]

18. Didn't a Russian oligarch buys a stake in Facebook several years back

And then sell it. Russian influence in Facebook is not new, but influencing an election through Facebook ads is.

[m-lekktor]

20. many folks have apps that block ads on facebook, I know i haven't seen an ad since i started my

account there.

[m-lekktor]

19. With 1.15 billion active daily users and counting I am sure they won't even notice!

And the USA has been meddling in other countries' elections for years so this current pot calling kettle black stuff is kinda funny. The rest of the world rolls their eyes at our outrage.

[leftstreet]

26. I don't trust the current negativity directed toward peoples' media

I don't use Facebook but millions do

And now I'm seeing articles and opinion pieces linking FB and Twitter

These are the largest sources of media essentially controlled by we, the people. Unlike corporate controlled televisions and newspapers telling us what's going on

[Roy Rolling]

21. Don't retreat

I thought about the same thing, but that is where the battlefield is. I draw a hard line and let those who challenge me just "unfriend" me.

But there must be some on Facebook to battle the ignorance.

[alicenuffer]

22. Deleting fb account

I deleted my fb account 7 months ago....don't miss it one bit....got tired of the junk that was there and the wingers who were as vile as anyone could possibly be in regards to Hillary....it takes awhile to get it deleted but it can be done.

[Skittles]

44. you're never deleted from the FB borg

never

[ileus]

23. Go fishing instead.

[alicenuffer]

24. Go fishing instead

I took my 6 year old grandson fishing...I even sucked it up and baited the hook...this old granny can't be afraid of worm guts in front of a 6 year old fishing for the first time!😁

[Madam45for2923]

25. More info here!

Link to tweet

[clu]

28. you'll probably pull more tail from snapchat

it's what all the kids are using so I am with you

[L. Coyote]

29. We need a viable alternative to corporate, capitalist social media.

Host your own data is difficult so the massive data server needed is to big hurdle to solve.

[clu]

32. commentary on news sites

I signed up for texture through the apple store since it has new Yorker, atlantic, and time etc. I was hoping that it would provide access to WaPo and LA Times also, but it does not. I don't want to pay $15 a month for the atlantic and people magazine but I cancelled it since it lacked content.

i'm going to resign to a paid WaPo (maybe one other account) and follow commentary there - WaPo seems to have good article commentary.

by it's very nature, the system will not allow a real liberal platform unless it grew organically. mother jones seems to be well established and they were also on texture IIRC. I've linked several people to the LBN forum here at wonderful DU.... as tough as it is to talk politics in person, people need to be engaged it's really the only way. that needs to be understood within the context that we'll never change the opinion of a dyed-in-the-wool rightie, but instead focus of a strong argument that convinces bystanders.

[PatrickforO]

30. I deleted my Facebook account long ago.

But, it is a slippery slope for a company to delete Facebook accounts that aren't politically correct, as you're recommending. This is the net neutrality issue in a nutshell. We cannot have companies that slow access to sites their Boards of Directors disagree with. Because if we allow this, then what would stop Comcast from slowing down this site so much that its customers in effect would not be able to use it. The Facebook thing is the same issue with a slightly different face: if we allow a company to delete user accounts because you or anyone else disagrees with those philosophies, then where is the line? Where does it stop? Who gets to say? Will there be an Un-American Activities Committee, a Censorship Committee, a Decency Committee, or what? Is it just one company?

I don't mean to offend with the slippery slope argument, because of course the NRA uses it all the time to sell more, more, more gunz, but the points I make are quite valid. Unless the statements are inciting violence, are a clear threat to self or others, then we must be tolerant, because we expect others will be tolerant of us.

So what 'incites violence?' Is it merely the presence of some basic philosophy with which we disagree? I'd say no, not until that site has postings like The Stormer did after Charlottesville where the people on there actually WERE inciting violence. Then under my logic, down goes that site. Because you can't do that.

This is a confusing time, because we seem about two inches away from losing our form of democracy. We have the Koch brothers, who run a massively funded fifth column political organization designed (and darned effective) to undermine our democracy, chain us so we cannot push back, and replace this country we love with unrestrained capitalism. When we impose the chest-pounding nationalism of the 'basket of deplorables,' we have a ready mix for fascism.

Yet, we must still preserve free speech, and chaining the ability of anyone to speak freely invites the chaining of we ourselves if we happen to take an unpopular view.

The best way to counteract these things is not to ban or try to censor them, but to lift the rock so everyone can see the maggots squirming underneath.

These are hard issues in this age of social media and information overload. I don't know the answers. I do know that I disagree with the idea that Facebook should be forced to arbitrarily cut accounts on the innuendo they might be Russian trolls. If they have proof, then yes. If not, then no.

[clu]

40. this is a long post

that i'm glad I read - thanks for speaking out

[milestogo]

31. Facebook sucks.

I'm sick of hearing about people's hurt feelings over facebook. The cooperation with Russia just makes it worse. I am sick of Zuckerberg.

[hunter]

37. Do you have cable or satellite television?

Congratulations! You are paying for racist and fascists propaganda whether you watch it or not.

(Yes, I deleted those accounts years ago. My television plays movies. No commercials. That's all it does. No cable, no satellite, no broadcast.)

I think television is the worst possible media for news. It seems to me entities like Fox News or CNN are far more pernicious than Facebook.

[clu]

39. satellite TV (directTV)

used to have worldlink TV it was like cable PBS. they had a show that focused on bush mechanics in the Australian outback - driving their car across a desert, their radiator blew. they busted off a hubcap and used it for a crucible for melting an old battery down for the lead, which they used to fix the radiator I was blown away.

they also showed an advertisement for a show that I missed - some govt in Bangladesh or the SE pacific had a corrupt govt that was being paid off to cut down rainforests for wood for ikea (IIRC). the show focused on some eco-terrorists who boarded the ship on the seas, handcuffed themselves to the wood product and spraypainted all over it. those guys had balls.

does anyone have direct TV and can you confirm if worldlink is still offered?

[Binkie The Clown]

38. I'm tempted to create an account just so I can delete it. nt

[bathroommonkey76]

42. It will never be deleted.

Try logging in a couple of years, it'll still be there waiting for u.