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Comment by yuvadam | Hacker News Reader

Of course Facebook is about money, it's a corporation, and making a profit is the only reason corporations exist.

One hates to be a pedant, but that's not strictly true. 501(c)(3) charities are also incorporated as are a whole range of government sponsored enterprises, local governments, and other organisations that are not about making profits.

Does "one" hate to be a pedant, or you specifically?

More or less everyone, I imagine.

Despite the name 501(c)(3), exempt Non-Profits are also about making...profits. It is a giant misconception that non-profits can not make profits, but the reality is that many do make profits. The difference with the non-profit is that there are no shareholders (owners)so profits are not distributed to anyone, instead the profits sit in the 501(c)(3) bank account until they are used.

Also, local and municipal governments are not eligible for 501(c)(3) exemption, they may obtain tax exempt status, as you reference, but it is under different section of the IRS Code.

Right, but municipal bodies in some places are still organised as corporations.

True, but they are still out to make a profit, it goes without saying that if they do not at least generate enough revenue for expenses they can not continue to exist at that rate in perpetuity - but the reality is profit is required to create Trusts to pay pre-existing liabilities such as bonds and pensions, not just cover overhead - in fact we are seeing major cities file bankruptcy setting new precedent in bankruptcy law. See, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-03-31/news/sns-rt-us...

I can not help but like your spelling of organised with an "s", I think I am dropping the "z" and using "s" from now on. Wish I could give a 2nd +1 just for that.

Nothing wrong with focusing on profits, but if they charge for a service it had better be authorized and the service had better be delivered. It appears they did neither in this case based off the info supplied in the article.

For sure, Facebook is negligently charging this man's credit card, and there's nothing wrong with focusing on profits.

But corporations love to talk about acting ethical, changing society for the better, wanting to "help connect people", and other random PR babble. But let's not forget that corporations are here to make $$$, full stop.

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