this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2025
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Privacy

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John Oliver cited a 5000% rise in search queries related to leaving Meta and deleting accounts. Among the topics mentioned in the analysis, attention was drawn to early Facebook's naivete with regard to moderation requirements, the constitutional framework, and a history of governmental interference.

Oliver debunks common right-wing "cry censorship" talking points, as well as the objective difficulty of moderation endeavors, and how direct threats by Trump may have influenced Zuckerberg's turnaround.

Oliver went on to suggest Signal, Mastodon, Bluesky, and Pixelfed as alternatives that "do not seem as desperate to fall in line with Trump". For those reluctant to completely ditch Meta, Oliver revealed a new site with step-by-step instructions to "make yourself less valuable to them".

The guide was a collaboration with the EFF, and includes settings' tweaks for Facebook and Meta, whose 98% of revenue comes from micro-targeting ads, the host previously cited, to increase privacy, and recommends Firefox, Privacy Badger, as "other measures" to take in order "to block advertisers and other third parties from tracking you".

The segment culminated in a mock advert, in which the new Meta's approach to moderation is coined as "Fuck it", and hints to racism, internet scams, and calls to genocide running rampant on Meta's platforms.

The clip reminds the origins of Facebook as a site to "rank college girls by hotness", and its implication in genocide in Myanmar, which was more thoroughly discussed in an Oliver's previous special on Facebook in 2018.

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[–] SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Good, glad it's getting some main stream attention. If more people start taking advantage of these settings and alternatives it's going to hurt Meta's bottom line eventually

[–] whydudothatdrcrane@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago

it’s going to hurt Meta’s bottom ~~line~~ eventually

Just hurting Meta's bottom is good enough for me

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

They'll just bury the settings, or remove them. Who's going to stop them now?

[–] Greg@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I don’t want to get my hopes up but is this Facebook’s MySpace moment?

[–] Scrollone@feddit.it 1 points 1 month ago

My personal MySpace moment for Facebook was 10 years ago. Best choice ever made.

[–] Routhinator@startrek.website 1 points 1 month ago

The problem I see with this is that a Meta employee literally came out on Mastodon recently and revealed that non of these settings do anything and are false flags.

https://misskey.de/notes/a3ax4tqomg

[–] perishthethought@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Why don't stories like this EVER mention Lemmy?

[–] OneTwoThree@mander.xyz 1 points 1 month ago

Well, I get that Lemmy is an alternative social media, but it's not really an alternative to Facebook. Anonymous usernames, text-based posts, you can't follow people, Fediverse is somewhat confusing.. I'd recommend it as an alternative to Reddit, but probably not the website where boomers want to check up on their neighbors and friends

[–] CAVOK@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Use Magic Earth or Organic Maps instead of Google Maps too. Neither will track you.