[errantmind]

The people who work at companies that seem 'immoral' are able to justify it because they work on such a small part as to avoid any feeling of responsibility.

The same could be said of soldiers in an army used for oppression. They don't feel responsible for the outcomes because they aren't the ones making the decisions, or they work 'behind the scenes'.

I personally don't judge any of them but I can see how you could argue that simply by working for such a company or institution you are partly to blame for their immorality.

[snuser]

It feels off, before working at facebook I was unable to buy a house and wouldn't have been able to retire at 67

I've worked a for a lot of 'nicer' small companies and they pretty much threw me in the trash

[errantmind]

I'm not sure I understand. The companies were nice and threw you in the trash? Perhaps you mean they were 'moral' in mission but bad employers?

Ultimately Google and Facebook are ad agencies (by profit). They need to pay a premium to attract workers because their mission is less attractive, although they dress it up by publicizing ancillary projects. If you go several steps farther, porn companies do the same.

[dragonwriter]

> Ultimately Google and Facebook are ad agencies. T

Now. They are a combination of advertising venues and ad placement agency. “Ad agencies” are the companies you hire to make ads.

Though Google branching out into using AI to generate ads probably isn't too far off.

[tehjoker]

I would never work at Facebook and have declined to apply for their grants before because I think they're a malign influence. It's possible to make such decisions.

[TheSpiceIsLife]

Ah, the Nuremberg defence: "I was just following orders".[1]

Whatever helps you sleep at night I guess.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_orders