2k20, what's the worst enormous tech company?

and people still use it

This is a disturbing development.

Last Friday, Facebook sent a cease-and-desist letter to two NYU researchers (@LauraEdelson2 and Damon McCoy), demanding that they shut down their research into political ads and disinformation on FB’s platform.https://t.co/ksBVmqV27K

— Alex Abdo (@AlexanderAbdo) October 23, 2020

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/oct/23/facebook-moderators-forced-to-work-in-dublin-office-despite-high-tier-lockdown

It's always simultaneously sad and hilarious when the tech bros testify on capital hill. You get, like, Jack Dorsey, with his wizard beard and nose ring and obvious tech knowhow, and then on the other side these 75-year old white guys who can barely check their AOL.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?476686-1/facebook-google-twitter-execs-testify-social-media-regulations&live

One of several fantastic answers from various Amazon help desk workers in this thread. (At some point they stop signing their initials to 'em.)

Thank you for that information. We apologize but upon reviewing your location you're in Northern Ireland. Rugby Autumn Nations Cup coverage is exclusively available to Prime members based in the UK. We don't have the rights to other territories. ^RS

— Amazon Help (@AmazonHelp) November 14, 2020

You apologise for the TROUBLES??? https://t.co/LPwwSjA9Ci

— jericho cane stan account (@brynteresting) November 14, 2020

1. A small business began selling camera tripods on Amazon
2. It reached $3.5 million in sales, 0.001% of Amazon's revenue
3. Amazon copied the tripods exactly and sold them as AmazonBasics tripods
4. Amazon banned the tripod company from Amazonhttps://t.co/f930Dvjpdp

— Dan Price (@DanPriceSeattle) December 22, 2020

Time for a new thread?

“RAGA received significant funding from numerous corporations in 2020," including Koch Industries ($375k), Amazon ($100k), Chevron ($50k), the NRA ($50k), Monsanto ($50k), Facebook ($50k), Uber ($50k), Coca Cola ($50k), Exxon ($50k), and Google ($25k) https://t.co/v6EwRXXn2C

— Kate Aronoff (@KateAronoff) January 9, 2021

(RAGA was the group that funded the 1/6 insurrection of the Capitol)

Google threaten to cut off search if the Australian government stop Facebook from bootlegging newspapers

Good, Google search is absolute dogballs. Let another competitor enjoy the traffic.

If only DDG converted easily to a verb.

The experience of searching on Google and shopping on Amazon both absolutely suck now so that should be all the evidence anyone needs to prosecute them for antitrust violations

If they weren’t monopolists nobody would use them anymore

A crazy detail in this @GrimKim story: Amazon got city employees to *change the stoplight* at the facility workers are trying to unionize. Organizers had been stopping cars at the light w/ info on the union.

This is how hard it is to organize when Amazon has govt in its pocket. https://t.co/CJ6kcy54uk

— Asya Pikovsky (@AsyaPikovsky) February 5, 2021

Google threaten to cut off search if the Australian government stop Facebook from bootlegging newspapers

― shivers me timber (sic), Friday, January 22, 2021 11:35 AM (three weeks ago)

Facebook have started classifying and restricting "news" pages in Australia in anticipation of this legislation. It's going well.

Facebook has banned Facebook's own Facebook page pic.twitter.com/bvZGRaO77H

— Andrew Brown (@AndrewBrownAU) February 17, 2021

They also blocked various governmental departments, whole state governments, and the Bureau of Meteorology, before, sadly, reclassifying them.

I'm not sure in this one wether to hate Zuck or Murdoch. Both have mefarious aims here tbh.

Nefarious rather. Stupidfingers.

I hear some dinosaurs had a tiny brain in each one of their fingers and yet they were dumb as a bag of hammers anyway.

there's literally no reason to stop hating either

100% endorse Facebook requiring users to access international news on a platform not riddled with Nazis and publishing conspiracy theories next to the news stories.

Not only has Facebook banned Australian news orgs, it’s Australian users can’t view the pages of international news orgs either. @BBCNews, @CNN and @nytimes are all gone. pic.twitter.com/6x4mvPs798

— Peter Law (@PeterJohnLaw) February 17, 2021

Frankly I never went to FB for any of my news to start with and its weirding me out how many ppl I know apparently do.

I don't understand Facebook full stop but surely if you want the ABC news you go to the ABC website. Would be great if we could get them to fuck off out of australia completely.

This feels like a genuinely interesting development? Like o dunno but I feel this could really fuck up Facebook and drive audiences back toward traditional news sources. Why did I hear the phrase “narrator voice” as soon as I typed that sentence.

Hard to imagine anything at all being of less concern than this

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher says he has spoken to the administrator of North Shore Mums, whose Facebook page has also been blocked, "and that is of significant concern"

— Michael Koziol (@michaelkoziol) February 18, 2021

the Federal Minister for Communications has probably already refunded the ABC's shortwave disaster/emergency regional broadcasting today and is just working right down the bottom of the list though

Arent NSM one of those antivax nobs?

My friend's online vintage store is blocked by this too for some reason. She's not bitching about it to a senator though.

So: Facebook's nuclear-option has really badly distracted from something really serious and significant. Google has entered into an agreement to *pay cash* to spread Infowars-grade misinformation about climate and energy.

My post -> https://t.co/TbmxciyBN4

And a quick 🧵...

— Ketan Joshi (@KetanJ0) February 19, 2021

A rideshare driver terminated an active ride because one of his passengers refused to wear a mask. The passenger ended up punching the driver, grabbing his phone and trying to steal it, and then upon exiting peppersprayed the driver from outside the car.

Here's how Uber responded:

The fundraiser was organized by Cyan Banister, an early investor in Uber who was appalled by the amount of money Uber gave to the driver after the incident.

"Uber then failed to step up to take care of this Uber driver to help him with lost wages and cleaning from having pepper spray chemicals sprayed into the fabric of his car," a statement read on the fundraising page. "They instead began with only offering $20 in compensation for having pepper spray covering his interior fabric. They then upped it to $120 in compensation but this does not come close to the expenses needed to have a professional car detailing to try and remove the strong chemicals of pepper spray and also the lost wages from not being able to work."

Jeff Bezos will soon be the owner of a $500 million superyacht he purchased two years ago, and whose construction is nearing completion, according to Bloomberg. The yacht will be 417 feet long, include several decks, and will also come with its own “support” yacht, complete with helipad.

In other words, this yacht—among the largest ever built in the Netherlands—comes with its own yacht.

Bezos is just one billionaire among many to recently “splurge” on a superyacht. Steven Spielberg is reportedly trading in his modest $158 million yacht for one from the same company currently manufacturing Bezos’s. And overall the “market’s been roaring,” a superyacht appraisal expert told Bloomberg, even (and especially) during the pandemic. Bloomberg explains:

Covid wasn’t a factor when Bezos put in his order a couple years ago, but it has contributed to the industry’s boom. With galas canceled and land borders closed, yachting suddenly seemed the best option for private, socially distanced leisure and a good way to escape from the prying eyes of the public that might look askance at wealthy overindulgence during difficult times.

I suspect part of the mental justification of owning a super yacht is as an insurance policy against the breakdown of social order.

i'm reading https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52019031-notes-from-an-apocalypse right now and there's a good chapter on that

for half a billion dollars you shouldn't have to take a zodiac to the support yacht whenever you want to fly out

Mr Choppy

Facebook will no longer take down posts claiming that Covid-19 was man-made or manufactured, a company spokesperson told POLITICO on Wednesday, a move that acknowledges the renewed debate about the virus’ origins.

how tone deaf is this social media team? this is dystopian, nightmare shit

Amazon's Leila Brown used her background in sports medicine and her passion in alternative therapies to create a space where our employees could focus on their mental well-being. https://t.co/bvk2bw9Lke pic.twitter.com/cEQhsTH0Od

— Amazon News (@amazonnews) May 26, 2021

very good thank you. im jacking off in one of these right now while playing the knight rider theme on my phone https://t.co/AlFIVlttVR

— wint (@dril) May 27, 2021

https://i.imgur.com/1aHabVf.jpg

I'm sure plenty of people have already thought of this but what came to mind:

http://www.reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/suicide_booth_futurama.gif

Hi we’re the portal of record for all information, also we think this is not humiliatingly badly done pic.twitter.com/GGUlZ1pbJd

— Tom Scocca (@tomscocca) June 8, 2021

Regulators told Amazon that its ruthless quotas were injuring workers.

Amazon just said it won't be changing anything.

Its plan instead: a donation and a task force!https://t.co/4eD667Tl1j

— Andy Donohue (@add) June 11, 2021

The new Apple Watch commercial featuring real 911 calls might’ve landed a bit better if the people making them weren’t regularly launching themselves out the factory windows

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/13/capitol-attack-subpoenas-google-facebook-twitter-reddit-january-6

The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack subpoenaed Twitter, Meta, Alphabet and Reddit on Thursday for records related to the 6 January insurrection, as it seeks to review data that could potentially incriminate the Trump White House.

Facebook is part of Meta and Google is part of Alphabet.

Far from the worst thing about either, but good God the renaming of these companies is so mindboggling stupid and irritating.

Is anywhere on ilx hosting the "let's clown the metaverse video" conversation? Lots of pointing and laughing on twitter.

ysi?

Twitter enabling NFT losers even more than they had previously lol

Civil War II won't be fought between MAGA and liberals but people who paid $300k for a racist caricature vs. people who think those people are troglodytes.

this video?

This is the #metaverse... A live rave happening right now in @decentraland for the upcoming @LightbulbmanNFT release by #BjarneMelgaard. Music from @feedelity @prins_thomas @mightbetwins #NFTdrop #rave #virtualevent #NFTCommunity pic.twitter.com/aC4WYRbgH9

— Alex Moss (@alexmoss) January 20, 2022

Yeah, that one. It's just... THIS is what the facebook billions are being spent on? Sub-Second Life garbage for incredibly boring NFT parties?

Good, I want people to stop moving here while still making their coastal salaries.

Well this pretty fucted. Humans suck.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/aug/02/ai-chatbot-training-human-toll-content-moderator-meta-openai

https://erinkissane.com/meta-in-myanmar-part-i-the-setup

ignoring repeated credible warnings that your product is enabling genocide - pretty bad i would say.

they pay very well though.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/11/business/ebay-cyberstalking-settlement/index.html

Seems like a slap on the wrist, though the lawsuit from the targeted couple is still pending.

Should have been more, but:

the $3 million settlement, announced Thursday, is the statutory maximum fine for eBay’s charges

zuckerberg:

I think there’s been this trend over time where the feeds started off as primarily and exclusively content for people you followed, your friends. I guess it was friends early on, then it kind of broadened out to, “Okay, you followed a set of friends and creators.” And then it got to a point where the algorithm was good enough where we’re actually showing you a lot of stuff that you’re not following directly because, in some ways,
that’s a better way to show you more interesting stuff than only constraining it to things that you’ve chosen to follow.

they absolutely believe their own bullshit - that it's good for people, not that it absolutely sucks for people but generates wealth for them.

I think the next logical jump on that is like, “Okay, we’re showing you content from your friends and creators that you’re following and creators that you’re not following that are generating interesting things. And you just add on to that, a layer of, “Okay, and we’re also going to show you content that’s generated by an AI system that might be something that you’re interested in.”

aaargh

https://www.theverge.com/24253481/meta-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-ar-glasses-orion-ray-bans-ai-decoder-interview

“and from there, it’s a logical leap to start showing you turds left behind by the types of animals that people who fit your profile have shown an interest in”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/us/politics/trump-tech-inauguration-parties.html

Facebook, Spotify, X, etc etc

https://i.postimg.cc/KYBr6msQ/Gqjkzcx-Xc-AAR7p-X.jpg

That is some actually successful underpants gnoming! Make the product worse so we can sell more of it.

Same Cart, Different Price: Instacart’s Price Experiments Cost Families at Checkout
https://groundworkcollaborative.org/work/instacart/

Two shoppers walk into the exact same grocery store, at the exact same time, and pick up the exact same box of Cheerios. Then, they head to the cash register to check out. This sounds like the opening to one of those “three guys walk into a bar” jokes — but there is nothing funny about this punchline.

The first shopper is charged $4.99. She pays and leaves the store with her box of cereal. The second customer steps up to the register and is charged $6.12. He’s ticked and tells the cashier that he, too, should pay $4.99, just like the woman in front of him. His response is understandable. Customers expect to pay the exact same price, for the exact same item, and his experience violates our shared understanding of how pricing for essential products like groceries is supposed to work.

But increasingly, this scenario is no longer hypothetical, it’s real. In fact, the proliferation of new pricing practices and technologies has upended pricing transparency. Fair pricing is no longer a guarantee in the cereal aisle or anywhere else. Our research suggests that companies like Instacart — the focus of this study — are developing, acquiring, and perfecting technology to experiment with pricing, at scale.

These new strategies are pervasive in the growing online grocery sector, with $10 billion in sales in a single month in 2025 and more than 60% of U.S. households reporting they have purchased groceries online.1 At a time when food price inflation outpaces overall inflation, and Americans report that the price of groceries is their number one cost concern, pricing experiments used by companies like Instacart are making the situation worse.

One has to wonder across all businesses how many of these schema are running that are small enough to not really be noticed but the results in money made are impressive in the aggregate. Like the plot of 'Office Space' turned the other way. I would think the current climate, it probably could easily and widely go unnoticed except on the company bottom line. People have complained for years or decades about all the weird ass charges that end up on phone bills or cable bills, got to think that is probably all over the place.

Credit card companies/banks have had the sweetest deal of all (outside maybe like a Megachurch) where they get a sliver cut on every sale being made with the plastic, both taking a cut from the seller and buyer. What a racket. I always pay my local people at the garage or that say do some work on my house in cash if I can.

Compounding interest of bullshit world.