The fact that she did end up setting herself apart is what's remarkable. For every one of her who was able to self-reflect, become horrified of the ethics of what she was doing, and took the hard steps of stopping and breaking away, how many current and former Meta employees don't do this reflection and remain contributors to the problem? 1:100? 1:1,000? 1:10,000?

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Oarch 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

A few years ago I had a date with a backend engineer at Meta.

I asked if they'd ever considered the societal implications of the work they did. They said "Oh wow I've never even thought about it". Probably a solid hire from Meta's perspective.

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nostrademons 8 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I know an ex-Facebook employee who told me that "Nobody at Facebook ever makes a conscious decision about whether something is good or bad. You are given a metric, and your job is to make that metric go up. If it turns out that making the metric go up has negative consequences [for the business, I don't think it's anyone's job to worry about the rest of society], then somebody else is given another metric to ameliorate the negative consequences of you making your metric go up."

He didn't last all that long, he had a conscience. I've heard similar things, but not quite in such clear words, from several other people I know who have worked at Facebook/Meta.

	▲	jonah 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		That's a really effective way to get a group of people to do horrible things. Break it up into small pieces where each one isn't that bad in and of itself.
	▲	motbus3 8 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		I know couple of people who said exactly same thing. One of them is quite smart and I asked what was his/her personal opinion and I've heard: "I'd rather not talk about it ever again"
	▲	knollimar 8 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		That sounds mysterious and important

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kingofmen 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Or you missed the eye-rolling sarcasm in the answer they have to give on every goddam first date.

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ryandrake 8 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Maybe I'm just a wacky Bleeding-Heart, but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect someone who worked on a product that amplified hate, leading up to a massacre in Myanmar, to at least address that without sarcasm while getting to know them.

	▲	sunnybeetroot 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Maybe it’s a question for the third date?

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Dumbledumb 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Getting to know the views and values of your date is not a weird thing to do on the first date. If it’s a question that annoys them, they should consider why.

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throwanem 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Imagine dating someone who works at Facebook, though. I can't imagine who would be so utterly dense as to offer so presumptuous a complaint, but he'd better be at least a 13 out of 10 or I'm not even bothering to pretend to go to the bathroom and then sneak out the back.

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smohare 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

[dead]

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zeroonetwothree 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You sound fun to date

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brabel 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That can only be a sarcastic answer, don’t you think?? You really believe people would get a job at former Facebook, after lots of scandals have been exposed, and not even think about that?? Sorry no way.

	▲	SpaceNoodled 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		You seriously underestimate how myopic people can be. Not everyone is a sophisticated and socially aware HN commenter like you and I.

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BloondAndDoom 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Did you read the book? Because that's not the story, she way too many opportunities to do that, yet didn't. Only after she stopped getting paid, she did an "expose".

I hate facebook more than the next guy but this person just helped Facebook to accomplish usual evil things, and only stopped once she cannot profit. I'm pretty sure she didn't start that way or maybe even saw it that way, but objectively (in her own narrative, if you only take actions and ignore her own emotional justifications) that's what happened.

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bena 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

She didn’t set herself apart. She was fired. She was forced apart.

That’s the issue here. Is this someone who found their morals or someone who found a stick with which to strike back at those who hurt her?

One of those doesn’t require her to change at all.

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petre 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Even if she was fired it was an act of courage and a step in the right direction to write a book about it. The company is cancer, no wonder they named it Meta.

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brabel 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Courage guided by righteousness or vengeance? I feel like the motivation is very important here.

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advael 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I don't particularly think so. What matters is whether the stuff in the book was true, not whether the author is of unassailable character

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ryandrake 8 hours ago | parent [-]

When one's goal is to look for any reason to downplay facts, questioning the character of the messenger is a standard tactic.

	▲	advael 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Indeed it is. One can't help but wonder why such a well-known distraction tactic still remains so effective against so many

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6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[deleted]

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dylan604 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Could be courage guided by a paycheck. Would not be surprised if the publisher did not reach out directly to suggest writing a book.

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prepend 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

How is it courageous? She’s profiting off her book. Seems pretty normal.

	▲	petre 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Are all these comments written by meta AI bots?

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tonetheman 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

[dead]