"The world no longer needs Facebook and its leaders. It does not need its technology."

Meta owns WhatsApp, which is core infrastructure in many countries now where it has basically replaced the PSTN. If WhatsApp went down without a long transition process first, it would take myriad small businesses down with it. I would love to see harsh punishments and jailed executives, but the world still needs the company for the time being.

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toast0 20 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

> If WhatsApp went down without a long transition process first

The transition mechanism is that your contacts are in your phone address book, and you can call or text them or find them on other platforms indexed by phone number. Although, not for username contacts.

Would it be disruptive? Yes. Would it be world ending? No.

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axelthegerman an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

We really don't. If that finally does happen, people are quick to adapt to change it will use one of the many alternatives, maybe even one that's interoperable or open so we're not in the same mess five years later

	▲	bigyabai 22 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> it will use one of the many alternatives, maybe even one that's interoperable or open If the collapse of Twitter is any indication, it might just drive people to even worse and more exploitative platforms instead.

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drivebyhooting 41 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Wasn’t WhatsApp famously created by a team of 20 people?

It’s not meta’s contribution to the world. It can be cleanly extracted from the company. Or a replacement created if need be.

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MissTake 33 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

A myriad of small businesses also use Facebook as their public facing website.

	▲	SoftTalker 16 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Only out of convenience. There are many alternatives, and search engines will find them. And (although it won't happen) if Facebook were ordered to shut down, hundreds of entrepreneurs would offer alternatives for "small business web presence"
	▲	lrem 18 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I find that truly mystifying. I won’t go through the hassle of opening an account on any platform just to see some dumbed down website. I can’t be the only one, can I?