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Comment by bamboozled | Hacker News Reader

“Without a massive backlash?”

I’d actually be surprised if this was true.

I’m probably addicted to scrolling social media. I’m tired of it. If it was forcibly removed from my life and there was no social pressure for me to use it. I’d be happy.

I’m sure I’m not alone.

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Come on, I would lose contact with most of my friends if facebook is banned in Europe. Let's stop being obtuse and ignore the fact that there are actual users of the product.

And if you were told it would be banned next month, you'd all find another way to contact each other. You'd congregate around something in much the same way you did around WhatsApp and Facebook, way back when.

It would be inconvenient for many people to migrate but let's stop being obtuse and ignore the fact that there are alternatives that comply with local laws.

There's a real risk for communities, though. A group of communities currently on Facebook may see their members flee to several independent alternatives, which will kill any cross-group participation. That stuff has the ability to break communities which may never grow back in the same form.

I'd much rather see Facebook and Whatsapp follow the law than see the general population get an even worse feeling about data privacy laws. Banning these platforms plays right into the books of the tech giants.

I'd prefer compliance and I think Meta would too.

On potential societal damage, we already risk so much by being beholden to a few private companies rather than a protocol. Meta could turn off Facebook or major features overnight without warning. Governments should do everything they can to encourage diversity of providers.

If it all relies on Facebook, are the friendships even there?

Yes

Yeah. I think the point is I would only lose those friends on facebook.

But you worked for Facebook. Most people have friendships outside of that.

Only recently, its irrelevant

I disagree. Just having FB in your public CV makes you an interested party already. Given you were sec lead at a FB project it is even conceivable you hold FB stock, which would make you a very interested party.

I advise you to add a COI statement if you make future posts/comments about Facebook/meta/Zuckerberg. It is just good practice.

No it's not, there's a reason I joined the company and it's because I always liked and used the product. Not everyone is a hater.

COI is nothing to do with love and hate. We need to know your position. Conflict of interest is important.

Honest question, do you consider these people actual friends or internet acquaintances.

One thing I hate social media for is keeping me hyper connected to thousadns of people, it actually takes up a lot of time. I'm not saying I'm not grateful for having thousands of new friends, but I can also see that the people in front of me get less attention because of it.

It feels like a bit of a hidden cost of social media often unaccounted for.

I do wonder am I saving time because it's now enough to just message someone for their birthday rather than go see them; However I'm now messaging tens if not hundreds more people for their birthday then before.

Real friends

Someone who answers your request to stay in contact on another platform with "no" is not your friend.

Plenty of people would say the same of something like alcohol. Outright banning it tends to be relatively unpopular though.

That said, this is pretty different since you'd just get social pressure to move to an EU alternative.

Unlike alcohol there are substitutes. If Facebook was banned, people would just use the next social network.

They would all move to the same one, including restaurants, events, meetings, etc? Everyone's older family members included? Sounds like it would be disruptive.

You're not. :)

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