Where is Facebook Really Taking Us?

People are beginning to evaluate the trade-off of our personal privacy and security for the mere convenience of Facebook.

Many are vaguely familiar with the unforeseeable dangers of a platform which is ideal for collecting various kinds of personal information. We may be aware and frustrated by this, but if we don't start the movement away from mainstream platforms which are essentially State-owned social media, who will?

The most critical point I would like to make is that we have no reason to trust the incentives of those collecting and analyzing this data or where the development of these algorithms are going to take us. The technology is only getting more advanced, yet we don't know how this mass information is going to be used against the users (specifically, the not-so-complacent users).

Is Facebook Harmless?

Some relevant questions to consider when evaluating if Facebook is really worth the convenience:

• Where will this road of involuntary personal data analysis take us, if this is only the beginning?
• What kind of strategies could be formulated against the masses with such historically unparalleled and valuable information in the hands of the State?
• What kind of psychological insight could one attain from advanced data analysis on such a personal level?
• Why are people so complacent about their personal privacy being invaded?
• Why would we trust that these mainstream figures have any incentive to protect us?
• How could a platform such as Facebook not be, in some degree, State-owned and operated?
• Why would intelligence agencies not use a platform so perfect for intimately spying on individuals for their benefit?
• What are the unforeseeable possibilities in which these findings could be used against us in the future on an individual and collective scale?

How will Facebook fall away if no one begins the initiative to switch to alternatives, merely because it's comfortable, convenient, and addictive as hell?

Perhaps as free-thinkers, it is time to actively seek out and use alternatives to quasi-State owned platforms as a direct action for freedom and for our well-being altogether. These data-organizing algorithms are only getting better everyday, in more ways than most of us can fathom. I see it as a true threat to our safety, not only now, but in the future as the technology improves and these entities can begin to formulate advanced strategies against humanity using this very valuable database of personal information. The possibilities of how they could use this information are endless and disturbing to think about.

While it may seem a daunting task to recover your personal privacy in a world where Google tracks everything, there is no logic in being so discouraged that we don't even bother trying... for that is the same classic Statist trap that encourages the growth of tyranny. As individuals, we have to start somewhere and do what we can with what we have; it's essentially our little piece of the puzzle to stop contributing to these platforms. Economics is our main strategy for liberty, and if anyone is going to influence the decreasing demand for platforms that violate privacy, it's going to have to be the people of integrity who start this switch. Most people do not approve of Facebook's privacy policies, but it's going to take some momentum to actually influence people to align their principles with their actions, most likely from decreasing the value of such platforms.

Thank you for reading/listening; please share your thoughts and ideas!

May peace be with you all.