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Comment by arthurcolle | Hacker News Reader

Last couple days ~ many articles related to an ex- Top Mind @ Facebook who asserted that they 1) knew effects of insta on young children's minds, 2) used these incantations for profit, 3) tried to hide it, and 4) downplayed the relevance of the previous 3 in order to pursue their yotta-growth strategy at the expense of human civilization.

On the back of the findings from a couple of weeks ago that most human trafficking (measured by active sex trafficking cases) is happening over Facebook neo-forums, and Whatsapp chats, as well as Instagram [1] - the "uproar" you are questioning is the small little uptick in stories that are (IMO) correctly attributing the growth of facebook with the decline of Western values and democracy on the whole.

[1] - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/facebook-sex-trafficking-online...

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I think CSAM & human trafficking is happening on every platform possible, the only reason may be Facebook might be at the top because they are actively working with law enforcement. But saying crimes are happening because of facebook is dishonest.

As far as I know the only social media company that didn't have any political leanings is Facebook. I think that's the only reason it is getting targeted repeatedly in the political circles and in the media. For me every rich tech/social media companies are same including Google, Apple & Facebook. At least Facebook didn't collude with other companies to suppress salaries of their employees. Open up every company and they would be caught doing same thing as Facebook.

> I think CSAM & human trafficking is happening on every platform possible

Sorry, but that is ridiculous. Only a fraction of platforms allow uploading and sharing of media. Someone wise on HN said they would handle such stuff like toxic waste. Facebook (like others) considers the risks worthwhile. There will be no solution until that changes.

As for your second argument, look up "straw man'.

Isn't it extremely ironic that the media, which almost always has a liberal slant, would complain about "the decline of Western values"? If they want teens to stop killing themselves maybe they should also consider stopping pushing all kinds of degeneracy to them.

Also, the average Joe doesn't care about this. People won't stop using Instagram. All of these stories are nothing but masturbation for intellectuals. Thus this "uproar" is fabricated. It's not based on what people feel, but on what the media elites want them to feel.

I was being a little facetious with the 'decline' rhetoric but like actually. Media is shaping people's minds more rapidly and with self-reinforcing mechanisms that have never occurred before - I just think on a societal level we need to have a frank conversation about expectations and responsibilities.

The world was a lot smaller 75 years ago. But now it's a massive echo chamber. Resonance is causing crazy flare ups of niche parts of social discourse. You can consider SJW movements an example of that, as well as the far-right or incel movements. Large niche populations identifying as new self-identified groups. Social change, or self-reinforcing propaganda (social contagion) manifesting in novel ways after 25% of your life spent in front of a computer?

And because people are disconnected, the real world actions are implicitly given less weight because most actors have spent near a majority of their lives on a machine simulated interaction with someone else instead of with subtler cues that you would get in a true "village"

Not trying to wax poetic, I just really think things are getting weird because of the new hyper-dynamism.

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