Why am I not on Facebook
What does Facebook do with your data?
How addictive is Facebook to youth, and what harm does it do?
How does Facebook make a profit?
What does this have to do with being mayor?
Lets go over these now!
What does Facebook do with your data?
Facebook continually collects a substantial amount of information on people and how they use their services. This includes everything from the posts you make, the people you interact with, what you search for, what videos you watched, and even things like information on the device you are using!
Why does this matter?
Because YOUR information helps Facebook understand you. Meta (Facebooks parent) says “…(Its) advertising systems use signals from activity on its own products as well as activity on websites and services that Meta does not control. Those signals are used to make advertising more relevant and to measure whether advertising works.”
If Facebook makes billions from your data and attention, what incentive does it have to keep us on the platform?
How addictive is Facebook to youth, and what harm does it do?
Meta’s own internal research (35 studies) shows evidence of harms to young people:
Cyberbullying,
Unwanted sexual contact
Body‑image issues
Eating disorders
Increased depression (especially prevalent among adolescent girls)
Meta has even agreed to a $17.1 Billion settlement over youth addition claims! This (although settled and Meta, now get to claim no wrong doing) confirms the concerns about addictive design and youths mental impacts.
How does Facebook make a profit?
Simply put Meta (Facebook) is not a social networking company. It is an advertising company. 97% of Meta’s revenue comes from advertising.
You are the product they are selling. Your data, your experiences and worse of all your attention. The longer you watch something, read something, or just ‘doom scroll’, Meta coalesces that data and finds new products to try and sell you on.
But you are on Instagram, isn’t that owned by Meta?
Simply put yes, Instagram was purchased by Meta back in 2012. I find my use on Instagram limited, before this campaign I would only go on to look at my friends art, music, and creative outlets. Where Facebook has a high data harvesting structure. Instagram allows you to share your work and life visually, with little or no text heavy advertisement (at least for the time being).
So… Why am I talking about Facebook during my mayoral campaign?
Because I am running to represent people in our community, and I strongly believe how we communicate matters. I don’t want my relationship with residences of Squamish to rely on, or depend on a privately owned algorithm, targeted at the youth of Canadians.
The Privacy Commissioner of Canada, ruled that Facebook had violated Canadian privacy law during the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Where they found Facebook’s consent practices “deeply inadequate”.
I stand by my principles. Not wavering because situations change or I want to better my odds at something. Consistency builds trust, and trust builds a better community. I value privacy, youth wellbeing, and most importantly integrity over convenience.
