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by indymike 1349 days ago
> While I'm not totally behind "nationalize all the things", do you really think the government is less accountable than Meta? (or Alphabet etc?)

Yes. Absolutely, and without any qualification whatsoever and in every jurisdiction at every level.

Government enjoys sovereign immunity, qualified immunity, direct statutory immunity (laws that prevent suing the government) and operates the forum where they are held to account (be it a regulator or a court). It is very difficult to sue the government, and even more difficult to mount a campaign to change a law in a non-corrupt country. This applies to a tiny sanitation district,

Private companies are easily sued, regulated, and if their behavior is bad enough, reputation damage alone suffices to hold them to account.
1 comments
kjkjadksj 1349 days ago
Your last sentence is not true for facebook and other companies that operate at such scale. Good luck mounting a successful lawsuit against their legal team. Good luck getting their sheep users to jump ship given they haven't already after countless events that harmed their reputation. Good luck passing pro consumer regulation when industry is allowed to lobby, fund political advertisements, and donate money to campaigns.
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indymike 1347 days ago
> Your last sentence is not true for facebook and other companies that operate at such scale.

You are doing a good job of calling them out here. Last I looked, Meta's stock has taken a beating this year, to the point that their largest shareholder has lost roughly half of his wealth. Facebook's loss of users is having a huge effect.

> Good luck passing pro consumer regulation when industry is allowed to lobby, fund political advertisements, and donate money to campaigns.

Yes, getting the government to do anything is very hard, especially when they own a company or a service. You'd have to do all of the same things you have to do to regulate a private business, but with limited rights for redress. Government can incarcerate, take your property or kill you if they want to silence you. Meta can only shut off your account.

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