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Comment by surround | Hacker News Reader

Not to mention the film is funded and owned by Netflix itself.

I was actually baffled by this move. Is Netflix going to war with FB and Google? I mean, Netflix itself collects a tonne of data... The film called out FB, Google and Twitter numerous times while Netflix was conveniently missed.

Not saying I'd expect them to damage their own brand, but it's still very, very close to shooting yourself in your own foot.

Either Apple, Microsoft, nor Amazon were mentioned. All of which collect data.

The difference being neither run a social network. Well, LinkedIn is one, I suppose.

Does Google run a social network? There was plus, but that's gone. Youtube is kind of a social network I guess? But I don't know anyone that uses it as anything other than a one way means of communication.

For Google they talk about how the same search can give you different results depending on the user, so for instance they mention search about "climate change" it can return you first neagtionism or confirmation news, based on what Google estimates that will make you to engage more, not by which one is the most relevant / accurate / true

It doesn't have to be a social network. They track how you use their apps and software and construct them with the goal of keeping you in their ecosystem as much as possible. Tristan Harris, one of the main people in the movie, worked on GMail when he started wondering why they weren't focusing on helping people use their apps in a more responsible, less addictive manner.

yea but the difference is you pay for a netflix subscription. Their main purpose is to keep you paying for a subscription, social media's purpose is to keep you engaged so they can advertise to you.

Yes, but: - They're trying to do the same thing by keeping you engaged by shoving up as much content as they can to you, by making recommender systems that "know you". - They polarize you in just the same way as advertisements do. Once I started watching documentaries on meat, that's all I was suggested further. The only thing I'd say is Netflix's content is regulated and less opinionated, whereas YouTube is a free market and every opinion has its own library of rabbit holes to dig into.

Well, netflix's product is the content they serve and one logs on netflix to consume its content. FB or google are supposed to offer other "services" for "free" and end up abusing that in order to shove ads down your throat. Am I the only who sees a difference there ?

as Bill Hicks warned us against, it's like the anti-advertising dollar the advertisers are marketing to.

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