Facebook: Stay or Leave

1. There are countless reasons to leave Facebook: its ties to big capital and far-right politicians, interference in the governance and elections of democratic countries, double standards that lead to the removal of critical posts from progressive voices while ridiculous posts spreading misinformation remain unchecked, and the abuse of your privacy data. These are serious concerns.
2. Critical Facebook users indicate they are leaving the platform to join others like Bluesky, Mastodon, Telegram, or LinkedIn. However, this may result in this group becoming fragmented.
3. Whether these smaller platforms are entirely above board is unclear to me.
4. I suspect Sun Tzu might have had something to say about this: don’t engage in battle with an opponent who clearly holds the upper hand, and keep your own group united.
5. The fight against big capital is unlikely to yield substantial results in the short term, so from this perspective, leaving Facebook is neither effective nor efficient.
6. The other reason, one of conscientious objection — that people no longer want to engage with such practices — is understandable in itself but not very consistent. Unless, of course, you also avoid all such platforms, manage to steer clear of every public surveillance camera, ditch your mobile phone (which is produced under highly unethical conditions), close your bank account, destroy your credit card and debit card, never fly again, stop using gasoline, and only drive electric… oh, wait, even that Tesla won’t do. The most consistent stance would be a completely isolated existence. Walden revisited.
7. There is another option. Critical Facebook users could organize themselves within the platform into a private friend group. This has the advantage of allowing continued use of the extensive network while fostering critical discussions within a smaller group, safe from interference by various idiots.

— Cornelis de Bondt, January 2025