In an post Cambridge Analytica world, the collective imaginary has already established social media as not entirely innocuous. That doesn’t mean our habits have changed: daily use of Facebook, Instagram or Whatsapp, is still considered normal and its possible downsides not seen as automatic consequences on deteriorating our quality of life. Just like tobacco or red meat consumption.
But what has changed is, undoubtedly, the hegemonic discourse. And we can certify that by listening to the change of speech of king of social media itself, Mark Zuckerberg.
Back on the year 2010, days of less digital privacy awareness, Zuck proclaimed that “privacy was no longer a social norm”. Well, actually, it was misquoted, but what he originally said was just a paraphrased version of the same idea. Funny context fact: this is the same man constructing a six-foot tall stone wall surrounding his 750-acre property on Hawaii.
You just can’t say that anymore on 2019. And he knows it. That it is why, on recent public declarations, he states that “The future is private”. And while it’s true that we should make room for everybody to learn and grow, we should not just buy whatever the person who went billionaire by selling our data says. Specially, when measures’ implementation intended to fight against manipulation on his platform are famously inefficient, not well funded and internally sabotaged.
He even addressed criticism: “We don’t exactly have the strongest reputation on privacy right now, to put it lightly. But I’m committed to doing this well and starting a new chapter for our product.” But once again, can we trust the man who claims to be encouraging digital privacy legislation while simultaneously lobbying on parliaments to stop that legislation?
So, what does he mean when he says he wants a “major shift in how we run this company”? Well, basically, nothing really specific. Just a grandiloquent rhetoric on how we, the public, supposedly want the platform to be: a place to share all of your moments just with the ones you love... and with him and the advertisers.
Anyways, digital communications are still a necessity these days, so for your daily needs of messenger, transfers or cloud management, maybe switch to an alternative like get2Clouds. Yes, we are also a company. But we work hard so that our products are entirely private and ad-free, and we rely on donations and mouth-to-mouth to keep going. So, try it, and if you like it, consider making a donation, or spread the word!