I do not want to speak ill of the dead. As cynical as the Facebook operation was, as coldly calculated as what the strategy to reduce citizens to consumers, and manipulate them for the benefit of the wealthy, I met my current wife on Facebook, and I met many revolutionary comrades there too. I am grateful to Facebook and its cowardly and corrupt stockholders for that, if nothing else. As the saying goes, the capitalist will sell you the rope with which you will hang him.
But Facebook is in its deaththrows, as is the entire global system now, as it faces the choice between world war and internal collapse. And the consumption and momentary pleasure model that was used to degrade the minds of citizens has reached its end.
No wonder I was subject to a stupid survey out of nowhere from Facebook. No wonder my friends and I were suddenly given these demands for a mythical “PIN” that we had supposedly made up and lost.
The Facebook racket is dead. Long live Facebook. I will keep it, granted the uses are limited, for my amusement. But it is in unalterable decline.
Here are my suggestions for what Facebook could become from a few years back.
New Facebook layout
I was recently (and 'finally') deported from Facebook after 14+ years of use. I admin a number of pages that contain important files, photos and information. None of it frivolous. Some of us, in the 'early' days took to the platform like heat-seeking missiles believing it to be a tremendous way to consolidate and share information- personal and otherwise. I spent money 'boosting' certain posts to gain a wider audience for the subject matter.
Eventually, as we all know, the platform became judge and jury with regard to the material we posted. Often, posts just disappeared into thin air. Or were not shown- the term 'shadowbanned' was born. One of my longest running pages is about the American War (as the Vietnamese rightfully call the genocide). It's impetus was an attempt to reconcile the very broken, divided so-called 'Baby Boomers' who both protested against and were dragged into that hell to 'protect democracy'. We know better, most of us.
Eventually there were warnings about content- talking about the My Lai Massacre was a BIG NO-NO! Agent Orange? Oh, please, tone it down. And so on. That page is tied to my main profile page which is now in limbo. Why? Who knows? My disdain for the Zionist occupation of Palestine and the US CON gress was frequent. War in general? A rich man's game where the poor are used as literal pawns, etc. The Covid Con? Of course.
Anyway- I was warned tons of time that my posts or comments did not meet FB's (mysterious) 'community standards'. I was put on house arrest multiple times- losing access to my profile for sometimes long as 60 days! Losing access to the profile meant losing access to the other nearly half dozen pages I Admin or co-Admin. The first time it happened I jumped through a few simple hoops and was allowed back in with a warning to behave or suffer the loss of access yet again.
Recently, I am being asked to provide a government photo ID that meets a specific standard. I tried to do this but was unsuccessful and then thought- 'what the hell?' It's all a giant psy-op. The trouble is- I have about 14 years worth of material that (at the moment) no longer 'belongs' to me.
Bastards!
I may suck it up and produce an ID as requested, just to salvage what I have. At this point, I have nothing to lose except my dignity.
And yes, I periodically downloaded my pages- but you know, you get lazy or comfortable and...
At this point- there really is NO platform on the internet (including this one) that can be trusted not to kick you out and steal your work.
I predict we will be returning to print material- or nothing at all.