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Thursday, March 22, 2018

You're not Facebook's customer. You're Facebook's product.



From Ed Morrissey in The Week

But should anyone really be surprised that Facebook allowed access to the personal data of 50 million people to outside firms? After all, Facebook has been selling such access to advertisers for many years — and no one forces users to provide the data in the first place. Of all Cambridge Analytica's alleged sins, the data grabbing may be the least of all.

Facebook remains one of the most valuable companies in the world. Where, we might ask, is that value derived? After all, its 1.4 billion daily active users pay nothing for access to the platform, no matter how much they use it. It's free from top to bottom. The money comes from ads. And Facebook's entire advantage in selling ads is that because its user base is so big, it can promise advertisers the ability to target virtually any demographic group it wishes. (Want millennial homeowners in Kansas? Facebook surely has them. Retirees in Japan? It has them, too.)

Facebook sells ads based on what it knows about you. That's its core business. To think otherwise is foolish.

Facebook’s sole reason for being is to gather the most intimate data on its users and sell it to people who want out influence you. It’s their reason for being. And if you didn’t understand that you self-identify as an idiot.

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