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by frabcus 2186 days ago
"People will have vote with their actions if they want things to change."

That isn't how monopolies work - while some people can individually make huge sacrificies and not use any Facebook product, in reality that isn't practical and few people will because they are a monopoly.

This isn't like buying a car where there are multiple providers who all use the same roads and petrol. Or the mobile phone system, where there are standards (GSM) and regulations so you have a choice of physical and virtual networks.

In my mind, breaking up Facebook would be a massively pro-market (increase choice and competition) and massively pro-capitalist (increase investment of capital, profit and innovation) move.
2 comments
ntsplnkv2 2186 days ago
If it was Facebook alone, I'd agree that people should have the choice.

But its not just Facebook. It's WhatsApp. It's Instagram (the 2nd largest network, no?)

It seems to be very anti-competitive to control 2/3 of the biggest social media platforms. They need broken up.

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scarface74 2186 days ago
It’s now a “huge sacrifice” not to use Facebook?
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dotandgtfo 2186 days ago
Yes, It's a huge sacrifice not to use the primary (and in most cases only) messaging and event organising platform in your local network. And usually that platform is Messenger or WhatsApp. Sometimes it's IG.

And yes, feel free to argue that you can still be reached on SMS, Signal or Telegram or literally any other messaging platform. But good luck convincing even your closest friends and family to join.

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scarface74 2186 days ago
So now we need the government to step in because you can’t convince your friends to use an alternate platform?

I’m part of a non profit that was using FB messenger until one person said they didn’t want to use FB. Everyone switched over to GroupMe.

I have a few ongoing group chats over SMS.

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dotandgtfo 2186 days ago
Good for you. Anecdotally I'd lose touch with casual acquaintances/friends and spontaneous meetups if someone had to send me an SMS to get in touch with me, and people under 30 will corroborate that.

I wasn't saying anything about government regulations, don't put words in my mouth.

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scarface74 2186 days ago
So just like any other product, if you choose not to use it, you don’t get to take advantage of it.
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