At first we celebrated social media thinking it was a means to express the views and values of the people, but now we know how this too has been corrupted by money. Confronting our own complicity we wonder if we should exit Facebook. Rebecca Solnit advises "Use them. Try not to let them use you. Remember to disable Platform, which is how they pimp your data, use Adblock and Ghostery, don't click on the ads, and say as many bad things about FB as you can on their platform (and cheer their stock crashing). The time may come when we can say goodbye to a destructive and amoral corporation without saying goodbye to each other."
"Many users are waking up to the fact that what they don’t know can hurt both them and the democracy they take for granted, and now want to limit the exposure of their data to Facebook." writes Irwin Oostindie in the Tyee. "People are increasingly recognizing that data gathered by third party apps was used to help prepare targeted fake news to help elect Donald Trump and promote Brexit."
I am reminded here that the cheapest "deal" is often something we shall pay for down the road, as the ever growing global tapeworm of capitalism grows bigger, crushing the life it exploits.
Where is all this heading? It depends on what we are willing to stand up for. If conversations on social justice bore us, then we shall soon be the new refugees.
Ultimately it will not be how much money we have to bolster our positions, it will be the values we honour and build.
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